Machine Gun Preacher (2011)

Starring: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon

Director: Marc Forster
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1586752/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Gun_Preacher

You know how Africa has a lot of problems? All those wars and child soldiers and everything? Ever wanted some guy to go around and kill all the bad guys with a machine gun and then make a movie about him with the guy from "300"? Then this is the movie for you! Or is it...?

Based on the true story of Sam Childers, Gerard Butler plays the protagonist, a drug addict just out of jail who does not seem too concerned about changing his ways. But after a night on the town goes terribly wrong, he decides to follow his wife's advice and becomes a born-again Christian. He starts to turn his life around by getting a job as a building contractor before eventually starting his own company. But things really start to change when he takes part in a Sudanese outreach program and becomes heavily involved in their cause. Wanting to build and run a church, he is constantly under attack by the rebels who are trying to either kill the children in the area or turn them into soldiers. Eventually he has enough, so he picks up a machine gun and starts wiping them out, determined to stop them at all cost.

This movie is one of those films that "is what it is." Despite its title, it is not really about religious faith, but it does highlight the moral issues surrounding the plight of African children. Childers represents these issues at various points in his mission and it becomes clear that he does not do well with the word "no." Despite his controversial ideas and actions, he keeps pushing forward until he gets his way. He gets very angry when a friend of his who shortchanges him on a check to give to his church while throwing a party at his multimillion dollar house. However, it also happens when his daughter asks to rent a limo for her formal, with her responding with the quote "you care more about those black babies than you do about me." It shows how people in the developed world can dismiss those in the developing world, but also that those who fight for a good cause can sometimes go overboard, however pure their intentions may be.

You have to give credit to Butler as he does a good job showing Childers in the various stages of his life. While it is not exactly an Oscar-worthy performance, for his own sake, it is good to see that he can actually act. Not that he did not do an amazing job in the classic that is "Gamer," (http://docuniverse.blogspot.com/2010/10/review-gamer-2009.html) but it just seemed like he got overshadowed by a masturbating fat guy and Dexter trying to pull off Frank Sinatra/Michael Jackson. Yes...classic...

There are probably two big flaws with this film. First of all, it does not have very good pasting, particularly in the beginning. It just bounces from Jail, Drugs, Redemption, Happy Life, Africa in really short order. I know that this first part is not really the main focus of the movie, but they could have slowed it down a little it by adding an extra scene here or there. Luckily it gets easier as the film goes on.

The second problem is that the film comes off as being really heavy-handed. This may seem a bit obvious since this is about genocide in Africa. I guess it feels especially so because it is very blunt; while it may talk about the big issues and how it effects people, there is no real subtly to it and at times it feels like it is being thrown in your face. But in a way, that is kind of the point. Childers is a very straight forward person and the style of the picture seems to put that upfront and center.

So that is that. Like always, I am judging the movie based on what I saw, not on what actually happened (they do show some photos of the real-life Childers during the end credits and it concludes with a video in which Childers poses a poignant, if rather disturbing question, to the camera). I cannot say that this movie is for everyone because of everything I just mentioned, but I personally liked it overall, and if it seems it suits you, I recommend it.

I do not own the rights to these pictures and links; they belong to their respective owners and are being used for entertainment purposes only. Please do not sue me.

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Starring: Matthew Modine, Vincent O'onofrio, R. Lee Ermey

Director: Stanley Kubrick

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093058/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Metal_Jacket

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Did your parents have any children that lived?
Private Gomer Pyle: Sir, yes, sir.
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: I bet they regret that. You're so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece! 

Well, it is Memorial Day, so it is time once again to commemorate the day by reviewing a classic war film. Granted, it is a film that shows a group of Marines as they are psychologically traumatized in boot camp before heading over to be further traumatized by an actual war, so I cannot say it is the most patriotic of films to spotlight. That being said...it is a war film and it is by Stanley Kubrick and awesome, so I am going to do it anyway!

Based on the novel "The Short-Timers" by Gustav Hasford, the movie follows a soldier nicknamed Private Joker (Matthew Modine) who in the first half of the picture attends the Parris Island boot camp, under the command of the tyrannical and profanity-laced Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey). The drill sergeant is particularly cruel toward a sub par recruit whom he names Gomer Pyle (Vincent O'onofrio). Joker nervously watches as Pyle morphs into what Hartman wants them all to be: lean, mean, killing machines. The second half shows Joker in Vietnam as he heads to the front lines and witnesses the horrors of war and the effects it has on himself and his fellow Marines.

Like "The Deer Hunter," the film is intriguing in how it follows people as they go through the different stages of the Vietnam war. The boot camp is meant to be a training ground, a safe place for soldiers to hone their skills. Instead it seems more like the first phase of the conflict as they struggle to survive their commanding officer's wrath. Ermey does an outstanding job as Hartman, the iconic character who has come to epitomize the angry military authority figures we see in many of today's movies, television shows, and commercials (remember that GEICO commercial where Ermey is a therapist? Yeah, I liked that one too...). While it is likely that Hartman gets a bit of a sadistic pleasure out of torturing his cadets (for a supposedly model citizen and Christian, he sure does have a sexual-explicit vocabulary), it does seem to serve a twisted purpose, which is wear them down until they ready to release their fury upon the enemy when they face them. It should be noted that Ermey himself is a Vietnam veteran who was also a drill instructor while serving in the Marine Corps and he improvised a lot of his now infamous lines. Must have been pretty disturbing for the other actors! Another standout is Pyle, who is overweight and is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but seems to be a nice guy. However, the camp takes a toll on him and while he becomes a much better soldier, his mental well-being worsens, resulting in a disastrous conclusion. His struggles symbolize the destruction of innocence being inflicted on Joker and the rest of the men heading off to fight. 

When the troops are finally sent off to Vietnam, things really start to go downhill for them. They are caught in the middle of the Tet Offensive, putting them in the path of danger and destroying their morality. This is made clear when witnessing the actions and personality of Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin), a courageous but dangerously unbalanced Marine who you would not want to meet in a bar...or anywhere else for that matter. Except maybe the battle field, but ONLY if he was on your side (though I have to admit, along with Hartman, he is one of my favorite characters)! He basically replaces Pyle as the movie's poster boy representing what constant exposure to combat can lead to: effectiveness, but also to a loss of humanity.

It sounds like I am not paying much attention to Joker in this review. This is mainly because, even though he narrates the story and the plot is basically about what he did during the war, he is not really the main star. In reality, it is the actual atmosphere that is the real attraction of the film. There is relatively little use of music, but when there is, it is usually a low humming sound or drum beat that indicates impending danger, giving it a very chilling quality. Okay, the "Surfin' Bird" scene was a little weird, but hey, Kubrick always had a dark sense of humor. This can clearly be shown in various instances involving prostitutes, bigotry, and frank talk about the politics of the war. Needless, to say it also has a good amount of violence and heavy moments to pass around. The movie is a real psychological event to behold. Obviously, I cannot say how accurately this portrays the mindset of a soldier during Vietnam, or any war for that matter. From an entertainment standpoint, however, it certainly succeeds.

It is a classic for a reason and if you have not seen it already, I definitely recommend it.

I do not own the rights to the image and links in this post; they are the property of their respective owners and are being used here for entertainment purposes only.

War Horse (2011)

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, a bunch of horses

Director: Steven Spielberg

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568911/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Horse_(film)

The year is almost over, but I got time for one more review, so let's check out this popular film that is currently in theatres.

Based on the book and the play of the same name, the movie is about a English boy named Albert and his horse Joey (played by 14 different horses, believe it or not). However, this bond is threatened when the horse is sold to a soldier (Tom Hiddleston) about to head off to fight in World War I, beginning a long journey as the animal exchanges owners over the course of the conflict.

I will start off with the good stuff. The film has great scenery, with beautiful shots of England and mainland Europe. The battle scenes are also well shot (it was almost as if the directer did "Saving Private Ryan" or something), and even though the violence is relatively mind in order to maintain a PG-13 rating, it still maintains a level of intensity. One of the best moments from this is when a character is literally facing his death and has a look of complete dread in his eyes before it all comes to an end. There are some other really good parts (both on and off the battlefield) that really allow the characters to shine and they try to find hope in times of darkness, determined never to give up.

I will say that the film has one major flaw. In the course of changing owners, the horse ends up with a spirited but frail girl and her grandfather (Celine Buckens and Niels Arestrup, respectively). The problem with this? There is simply no reason for this subplot to exist. It focuses exclusively on them for a good 20 minutes or so, but it does not progress the story at all. The segment is not brought up again until the end, but it is resolved fairly quickly (and almost cruelly). I am not sure if this was included in the book or the play or if it was added to bring in the younger female audience. Either way, it should have been cut out. It would have shaved the film's rather lengthily 2 hour, 26 minute running time, allowing for more focus on the actual war itself, and may have given it more of an adult appeal, which is what a movie about a boy and his horse usually requires in order to make it a generally "well-rounded picture," for lack of a better phrase.

Overall, this is a fine, heartwarming family film. Granted, I think it suffers from its attempts to try reach different audiences. It's a difficult task, though quite frankly I expected more out of Spielberg, who has probably had more success with this strategy than any director or producer alive today. Still, it was good for what it was and the negatives are comfortably outweighed by the positives. I recommend it.

I will be posting my Top Ten List very shortly, so stay tuned!

These images and links do not belong to me and are being used for entertainment purposes only. Please do not sue me.

Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

Starring: Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill

Director: Henry King

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041996/quotes

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_O'Clock_High

Based on the novel of the same name by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay, Jr., the film (after two brief scenes in the "present day") starts out in 1942 England, where the American 918th Heavy Bombardment Group is suffering heavily losses against the Germans during World War II. It is determined by Brigadier General Fred Savage, played by Gregory Peck, that the unit's commanding officer, Colonel Keith Davenport (Gary Merrill) has become too emotionally attached to his men, making him reluctant to criticize or endanger them in anyway and thereby inadvertently hurting the 918th as a whole. Davenport is released from duty and Savage takes over in order to get the men to develop the mentality needed for war and to put in their "maximum effort". Despite intense resentment from the group at first, he wins them over as their performance begins to improve and their fatalities go down. He also receives a lot of help from the Group Adjutant, Major Harvey Stovall (Dean Jagger) and a few of the 918th's best combatants. As the war goes on, however, tragedy becomes inevitable, and even the tough and disciplined Savage starts to develop the same problems as his predecessor. To make matters worse, his psychological health begins to deteriorate as he find out for himself just what putting in your "maximum effort" really means.

I was looking for a word to describe this film, and I finally settled on an appropriate term: "honest". I say that because it does an impressive job of portraying the two unfortunate correlating aspects of war: the cold-hearted but necessary tactics that are needed to win and the horrific emotional costs that are inflicted on those who fight it. Savage does not believe that his men are like toys being carelessly tossed around in a sandbox, but he also knows that the only way that any of them are going to get out of this conflict alive is if they set aside their personal attachments and fears and focus on their importance to the unit. At the same time, the war takes its toll on Savage as more of his men are wounded or killed (he personally flies on a number of the missions and witnesses a number of their deaths first-hand). He puts up a brave front, but it becomes clear that no matter how well you plan your strategy and how determined you are to preserver, there is no denying the fact that war is, in fact, hell, and there is no way of getting around it.

Overall, it is a really solid and well-balanced story-line. It may not have as many action scenes as some other war movies (though the ones it does have use real footage from Word War II), but it excels in showing what goes on inside the minds of the fighters themselves. While this is pretty common place nowadays (it is almost required for movies about Vietnam), this is the first time I have seen this technique used for a WWII picture that was made when that conflict was still fresh in a lot of people's memories and I give the filmmakers a lot of credit for taking on such difficult subjects as mandatory sacrifices and post-traumatic stress disorder, which is not mentioned out loud but vividly shown onscreen. In addition, it has a great cast, particularly the always-enduring Peck and Jagger, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance (I admit that I mistook him for Karl Malden for almost the whole film, though to be fair they kind of look a lot alike).

This is truly a classic war film and I recommend it.

Happy Memorial Day.

I do not own the rights to the poster above; it is being used for entertainment purposes only. Please do not sue me.

Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) (2005)

Starring: Benno Furmann, Guillaume Canet, Daniel Bruhl

Director: Christian Carion

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424205/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyeux_Noël

"Joyeux Noel" (or "Merry Christmas" in English) is a 2005 French film about the real-life World War I Christmas truce. It focuses on a number of German, French, and Scottish soldiers who in December of 1914 lay down their arms in order to put a stop to the fighting, if only briefly, and fraternize with each other.

This movie kind of has an unfair advantage. I say this because it was probably going to be good no matter what anyone did to it just because it is such an amazing story. Well, then again, anything is possible, especially in the realm of film making; I guess we should be thankful that this was a foreign film as opposed to one created by Hollywood. Anyway, whatever the case, it turned out very well. It did a fantastic job of showing the difficulties of fighting a war against those with such a similar culture and who under normal circumstances would be your friendly neighbors instead of the people who you are being ordered to kill. While there are strands of uneasiness and animosity, the troops genuinely want to be at peace with their counterparts, as they drink together, exchange information about themselves and their living conditions in the trenches, and even play soccer against one another (okay, they're European, so its technically football).

You know how when you are a little kid (or even as an adult) you get really depressed when Christmas comes to an end? Well...how do you think these guys must have felt? Almost needless to say, the soldiers on both sides find it very difficult to go back to the bloodshed after two days of harmony. They refuse to shoot the enemy, and even go so far as to hide them in their respective trenches during artillery bombings. Eventually, however, the military leaders intervene and the inevitable realities of war rear their ugly heads. Still, the extraordinary peace that these men experienced during those few days remains with them, if only in mind and spirit.

I know this review seems more like a summery than an actual critique, but that is mostly because the story itself does reveals most of the emotion and power involved in the movie. As I mentioned, there was the small possibility of that it would fail, but this was far from the case. The performances are excellent, there are a number of great lines exchanged between the characters and the music that is sung or played throughout the picture is fantastic. All of these factors make it a really wonderful and inspiring film to watch anytime of the year, but especially over the holidays, and I strongly recommend it.

This review, while a little short, seems like a fitting one to post on the site on Christmas Eve, though more reviews will be featured before the year comes to a close. Merry Christmas.

Review: The Deer Hunter (1978)

Director: Michael Cimino

Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, Meryl Streep

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077416/

"One shot."

-Michael

I never really thought about the psychological ramifications of Russian Roulette before I saw The Deer Hunter. The wait once you pull the trigger – the second that lasts for an eternity – must feel agonizing. This film, focusing on three friends who get sent off to Vietnam, has this as a central theme. De Niro, Walken and Savage find themselves forced by brutish Vietcong to play Russian Roulette for sport, with their lives on the line. Even though they all escape with their lives, they find themselves traumatized and changed as they come back home.

Really, even without the Russian Roulette angle this story would be believable and tragic. That just adds cinematic flair, making for a symbolic point to draw in the viewer. This is a long, long movie, stretching out to the 3 hour mark, and worth every second of it. It starts out slow, building up the uncertainty of our main characters to go away to war, especially when they have so much going for them back at home. John Savage’s character Steven just got married, and the guys have a big community of friends that really feels like a big community of friends. I found myself completely immersed. They really don’t make movies like this anymore. Watching the guys hunting one last time before our three heroes have to go to Vietnam is just heartbreakingly good. Look at the scene where De Niro runs down the street toward the pier, tearing his clothes off in one final, defiant act, one final act of free will before the military takes him. You really get a feel for what it’s going to be like for them to leave this all behind.

The scenes in Vietnam are pretty harsh and bare-bones. It is cinematic in that hard-hitting ‘70s style, but it never feels cheapened or melodramatic. De Niro and his friends are holed up in a cage like pigs, and when they’re done playing Russian Roulette, they’re thrown out into the water. One thing I really like about this is how quickly and subtly the tone changes – after they kill the Vietcong and escape into the nearest city’s war veteran hospital, everything seems to have shades of grey. As De Niro wanders the streets, and as Walken goes to visit a prostitute, everything feels so aimless, in such a dismal way…nothing will be the same again for these men, you can tell.

Surprisingly, it is the previously cool and collected Walken, the character I least suspected, that cracks the hardest. He starts going to an underground Russian Roulette betting pool and starts obsessively playing, putting his life on the line again and again. De Niro returns to the US an even quieter and more withdrawn man than he was before, more serious and grown up. In a bittersweet victory, he finally gets the girl he wanted, played by Meryl Streep, who in the beginning of the movie promised to marry Walken when he came back. But he never came back, and so she gets with De Niro instead. Both men wanted her fiercely, and one of them finally got her. Sometimes, though, she still cries for Walken…

Again, I am just in awe of the mature, deep-rooted character drama going on here. It never shoves itself in your face and never feels hamfisted or Hollywoodesque. It’s just fantastic. Watch the scenes after De Niro gets back into town. I really enjoy the scenes where he gets greeted by the townsfolk at the supermarket, or at the bar. And the one where they all go bowling is great. But things take a darker turn once we see the remains of Savage’s marriage, and how he did actually come back home after all…albeit not all in one piece.

Yes, the hunting is a focal point in this film…they take their guns and go out into the mountains to shoot deer. It’s a form of bonding, and it was what tied them all together. It just isn’t the same after De Niro comes back without Walken and Savage, though. He goes hunting with the guys back home, but it feels…different, somehow, and less happy, like a hollow shell. All that is left for him to do is to go back to Vietnam in search of Walken, where he finds him at last on the losing end of his treasured new game.

The Deer Hunter is a very vital and important film. It’s about how people deal with war, and at that, it excels in many great ways. It’s about friendship, and about how it changes over time. Christopher Walken’s character is probably the most fascinating of all, as the way he keeps on playing Russian Roulette even of his own will is crushing. He’s been pushed over the edge, and this is the only way he can cope – perhaps he hears the clicking of a hollow gun every night, wondering when it will stop. I don’t know. This film is great, with wonderful acting, powerful direction and a metric ton of majestic sorrow to boot.