Paul VerHOOFEN

Dutch director whose name - much like Max von Soodorf - Mark has learned to pronounce correctly (it is spelled Paul Verhoeven) and would like everyone else to know this fact. VerHOOFEN has a fine body of work - Robocop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct amongst it - but suffered a severe loss of form with 1995's Showgirls. His verdict on his own film Hollow Man - "is hollow film, isn't it?" - is often quoted by Mark.

VerHOOFEN's Starship Troopers - a space bugs Nazi allegory film starring Doogie Howser MD and loved by both Mark and Simon - is the film that disproved the rule that no good movie gets released on Boxing Day.

In more recent years VerHOOFEN moved back to the Netherlands where he continues to work. The review of his film Zwartboek (Black Book in English) gave Mark the chance to unleash his Dutch accent on the world and expose football manager Schteve McClaren for the true amateur he is.