Posted on 11/01/2005 11:10:17 AM PST by laney
Part coming-of-age story, part military-training horror show, part bawdy male-bonding romp, and part poetic meditation on the murderous impulses of men at war, director Sam Mendes' Jarhead (opening Nov. 4) doesn't offer much in the way of conventional, audience-pleasing payoffs.
It's about being worn down by fear in a combat zone where the war could start at any minute, but doesn't in fact commence for months after deployment. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a grunt who's molded into an expert sniper, then left with no chance to strut his stuff because the Gulf War is over in a flash. Peter Sarsgaard is his loyal, hard-nosed sniper-scout partner, but it's not a warm-fuzzy, buddy-buddy kind of relationship — no cute clips to push on that score — while Jamie Foxx (pictured with Gyllenhaal), the Oscar-winning star of Ray, takes a peppery supporting turn as a tough-love sergeant.
As journalists take in the film for the first time, Mendes is suddenly realizing that misperception could be an issue. ''I can feel people talking about the movie they expected to see,'' he says. ''They expected a much more specific political commentary about what's going on in Iraq right now. I think they were shocked that it was so comedic, and that it was so specifically about Desert Storm.'' The director, in turn, has been taken aback to see prerelease articles writing off Jarhead's impact sight unseen. ''I've read pieces about why this movie's already in danger of becoming irrelevant,'' he reports, looking incredulous. ''That the problem is, real-life events are going to overtake it. Huh? It's about Operation Desert Storm! How can events overtake it?''
Jake Gyllenhaal
Yep, you remembered correctly.
Brokeback Mountain - Homo on the Range
I read the book and it was very good - entertaining and well written.
The book is of the author's life in the Corps - which he and other Marines called The Suck - and his life right after the Corps.
The reason I can stomach movies like Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket is by ignoring the political message and taking it as a dry humor. The politics in the book were very subtle, and probably unintentional - I don't believe the author was making a political statement in his book (but the author didn't direct the movie and probably had little say in its final product).
But all-in-all, one thing has to be remembered: Snipers are creepy people and live in a world all their own. I got a sense throughout the book that something bigger was being aluded to, maybe a Marine was able to figure it out, or maybe it was just the sniper being a sniper.
Yeah, I would hate to put all the movies I like up here someone might let JimRob know and I would be in some trouble. Safe to say I also like Fight Club which has some ardent detractors on here as well.
I haven't seen it, but, I can vouch for DOOM!!!!
That's okay. My CD collection is full of artists whose politics I don't care to know.
Fight Club was great, one of my favorite movies. I try to make it a point to keep entertainment and politics seperate otherwise you'll miss out on too many things.
I don't think I can sum it up any better than this...except to say that I'm glad I checked this POS book out of a library instead of buying it.
I'm currently about halfway through Generation Kill, a much more fair appraisal (IMHO) of Marines at war.
What ever happened to heroic John Wayne type war movies?
I don't think he's in Blackhawk Down.
How much do you really see that isn't derivative of something that came before it? The real crime in that is that it takes away from the original works. I'm not sure why I like American Beauty as much as I do, but some movies people like more than they should. I think I might just leave it at I like Kevin Spacey a lot and in the end I like most of his movies even if they are kind of preachy and boring (Life of David Gale I'm looking at you).
But American Beauty? Why did you like that one?
You are correct - Wilson was not in Black Hawk Down
"but everyone that I know who has read it (about 10 people) have said the book is great."
I saw the author on C-Span. He seemed like a hoser.
I made the mistake of going to see
"Prime"
GARBAGE.........
I have noticed that it is easier to enjoy actors who do not make their politics well known. Or at least actors the media don't make it a point to let us know what their politics are. Even though I can assume what they believe, it is easier to believe they are a character they play if they aren't showing how they really are all the time.
Like I said, I haven't read it. I will reserve judgement until I have though, same with the movie.
What ever happened to heroic John Wayne type war movies?
I just saw my first (and last) episode of the TV show 'CSI'.
I don't know if I missed something or what- but it featured Bruce Willis as an Army general. (I might have missed something- I have a lot of hearing damage, and I don't usually want the TV turned up to where I can hear it completely. It doesn't really interest me and it disturbs the neighbors)
His unit, in fighting the War On Terror in the US, was depicted as small minded clumsy brute force that randomly shot the crap out whatever it wanted to, and imprisoned anyone with olive skin and black hair that it could find. It was a grotesque caricature- ridiculous and insulting- but it offered a look at the level of ignorance that we're dealing with here.
I walked away from the TV after a while, so I didn't see the whole thing.
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