Sexy Trash at the Criterion: Showgirls!

A friend-of-the-blog recently alerted our under-a-rock asses to the almost-midnight movies at New Haven's Criterion Cinemas and so it's back to scenic envy from WeHa to NeHa as usual. Last weekend John Waters' classic Pink Flamingos was playing. This weekend you can catch Showgirls at 11:30 p.m. Showgirls is a fucking riot, a T&A fest, a cheese factory, a tool shed, and maybe even a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. Our favorite critical source (besides ourselves), the AV Club, reconsidered the film as a contemporary camp classic in their New Cult Cannon feature. This is worth the read - tackling the big questions like "is this film intentionally or unintentionally hilarious" and "does it matter?" and linking some great scenes for your entertainment. The AV Club also spoke with the film's brain trust, Paul Vorhoeven (the Dutch director whose sexy trash repertoire also includes Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers - a body of work that poses* the question "is this satire" and "does it matter?") and screenwriter Joe Esterhas (the two also teamed on Basic Instinct, the most ridiculous, retarded male fantasy about predatory female sexuality ever - shah, Michael Douglas wishes!). Vorhoeven's body of work has an addictive quality - we challenge you to turn off any of his hits when you hit them up channel surfing, no matter how badly you wish to resist.

We support the AV Club's elevation of "contemporary camp" to classic status and believe that the Hollywood films that defined our youth are as worthy of analysis and reverence as the classics. More so even. Ugh, there's nothing worse than trying to have an enthusiastic discussion about movies with some peeps you've just met at the horror convention and then having some douchebag try and take the wind out of your sails by saying something like "So what are you favorite films by Jodorosky?" Um, none of them?

See you at the show!**

*not "begs" - we're not going to fall into that mis-usage trap.

**maybe