Scary Movie 3 (2003)

The third in the series loses the secret weapon of the Wayans and installs the director of The Naked Gun, while lowering the rating from R to PG-13. It gets dumb in a hurry, with most of the humor coming from broad physical gags and people getting hurt. I was always disappointed how quickly it devolves into lowest common denominator humor, but watching it with fresh eyes, it has a lot going for it. As long as you don't directly compare this to the two films that preceded it, it's rather enjoyable in a way. Parodies include The Ring and Signs.

2½ cursed tapes out of 5

STARSHIP TROOPERS [1997]

Director Paul Verhoeven takes Robert A. Heinlein's sickly propaganda pulp novel Starship Troopers and turns it into a satirical sci-fi slap across the face to war, fascism and the U.S.'s fear of the unknown.
As a war film it's ruthlessly violent, loud and deceivingly appears to glamorize violence, as a satire it's just as ruthless only on a completely different level of wit, humor and cunning.  Like Verhoeven's Robocop, the film works just as well as a cheeky satire as it does a SFX spectacle of explosions and death.  There's a few groan-worthy moments that don't do anything for the narrative or message but I suppose without it we wouldn't be engaged with these witless pro-militarized characters.

4 censored news reels out of 5