Wow, are those guys ever getting pummeled over on the Ain't It Cool boards. I suppose it could be warrented.

I'll always have a soft spot on my heart for both of them, though--Carpenter for The Thing and Verhoeven for RoboCop and Total Recall (guilty pleasures all, I know).

Verhoeven does get pretty political for a mainstream Hollywood director, but at least his distopian fantasies tend to have spirit (and plenty of gunplay).

Carpenter...well lately I've pictured him scribbling final drafts of scripts on the backs of envelopes during lunch, and making films mostly because he just can't figure out what else to do with his time.