The Films They Dare Not Make Today

Does Dune glorify Islam? Is Starship Troopers too dead-on a satire of how Bush tries to sell this current military action?

"Starship Troopers" is a penetrating satire of post-9/11 war hysteria as might be imagined by an idealistic New World Order fascist. It's hard to believe it was made pre-9/11; impossible to think it could be made post-9/11.

I reread Starship Troopers recently. Incredibly better than the movie which is an over-the-top satire. The book demands careful reading and is one of the most thought provoking and controversial books almost 50 years after publication. The book's major political science fiction premise is that the right to vote and hold political office should be earned by volunteering to serve your country however she needs you. Among its oddities, the book is a praise of the infantry soldier by a navy man.

Dune was a great book which had many steadily declining sequels. It spawned a movie and a mini-series, both controversial adaptations. Critics argue why neither does the book justice. My link to the mini-series DVD is the new unreleased director's cut which should be the best. The story is very loosely inspired by oil and Islam

The other two movies the writer considered I haven't seen. Is Fight Club too anti-corporate and the ending too terrorist? Should a student film by a director who later hit the big-time and staring a young Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman even be included? I would like to see the DeVito film but I don't have access to NYU film school archives.

Recently we had a book club meeting at a friends house. As part of the meeting, people were asked if they wanted to read a favorite section out of a book. I choose the ending of Starship Troopers. Two other people choose sections from Armor, which was inspired by Starship Troopers. Way too much testosterone in that group. I was thinking of Iraq and my nephew when I choose my selection and perhaps the war preparations were a factor in all of our selections.