Scribe & Green on the BIG screen

There are far too many people out there writing “reviews of movie-films & articles about them with absolutely no clue what the hell they’re talking about." Here are 2 more of them! (Well, one of us knows what the h___ we're talking about, but we'll leave it up to you to decide who that is...) Ultimately, can two people as opposite as Scribe and Green agree on anything?? That's where the fun begins. Won't you join us? (Every now and then we'll add a guest review, just for kicks.)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Stop-Loss

Some time ago, the great bluez suggested that we review this movie. It's taken a while to actually get it done, but here you are hon. We aims to please, we do.

GREEN'S "I’M ALL FILLED UP AND AINT GOIN’ BACK" REVIEW:

Dedicated Army soldier Brandon King (Ryan Phillipe) has just returned from his tour of duty in Iraq to a heroes welcome from his small Texas hometown. He plans to leave the Army for good until he is surprisingly stop-lossed, meaning that he was recalled for another tour of duty shortly after the first tour ended. Problem is that King feels that he has fulfilled his duty and does not want to go back. What follows is the story of inner conflict and his attempt to run away, with help from his best friend’s fiancee’ (Abbie Cornish), first to Washington DC, then to Canada and Mexico.

This was a decent movie but not one that I was excited about watching and one that I don’t need to watch again. See, I just can’t get into this kind of movie. I suppose I’d have a different opinion if I had been in the Army and had served overseas on the front lines, came home expecting to be done and then was told I had to go back. Or if I knew someone who was. But I don’t.

No one in the cast really stood out to me as giving their best performance. I've seen Abbie Cornish now in two movies and I've not been impressed. Ryan Phillipe has been in one really good movie that I can recall since "Cruel Intentions" and this isn't it. The script is nothing that will knock your socks off but is okay.

Sorry, bluez, that’s all I’ve got for you on this one.


** out of *****

SCRIBE'S "I WANT MY F******G SH**" REVIEW:

No lie. About four hours before I watched Stop-Loss, I went to a local Laundromat in an area with its share of rednecks. A guy in a green T-shirt bearing the slogan, "Death from the North” on the back emerged from an SUV with bumper stickers on the back that said: GIVE WAR A CHANCE & BESIDES STOPPING SLAVERY, FACISM and NAZISM, WAR NEVER ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING.

He also happened to be a Marine. I felt like I was watching his life story when I placed Stop-Loss in my DVD player.

The film follows a young sergeant in the Army (Ryan Philippe) during his tour of duty in Iraq. He and his fellow soldiers are like a close-knit family of course, and disaster looms on the horizon during a routine checkpoint procedure. As vehicles drive toward them, the U.S. soldiers stop the drivers and decide whether or not to let them through. One car comes through with guns blazing, sparking off a violent confrontation that spills over into a local neighborhood.

Beloved fellow soldiers are killed in action or mortally wounded, and it becomes obvious that he made a bad call when he decided to pursue the gunmen. That doesn’t stop the residents of his small Texas town from greeting him as a hero when he goes home to a parade that comes across as so hollow it actually feels like a bad stage play.

It isn’t until the soldiers try to interact with the people in town that we start to see just how damaged they really are. One gets so drunk he starts digging in as if he’s in Iraq even though he’s in his own front yard. He passes out in the hole with a .45 in his hand.

Phillipe’s character is ready to leave the Army and come back home. His buddy who volunteered with him and comes form the same town also seems ready to com home and marry the local ho chick. Unfortunately, when (Phillipe) reports in for his discharge, he is given orders to re-deploy to Iraq. Stunned, he is advised that he has been “stop lossed,” which is another name for a backdoor draft. Furious, he confronts his CO, whose smarmy, unconcerned response throws him into a rage. When the lieutenant colonel informs him that the President’s orders cannot be refused, Phillipe replies with an emphatic, “FUCK the president!”

Not a good idea to make such a statement to your CO and suddenly he finds himself being escorted to the brig. In a moment of spontaneous fight or flight, he disables the guards and makes a run for it.

Stop-Loss was not at all what I was expecting. Yet another movie with a poorly designed DVD cover, this looked like it was going to be a slow-paced melodrama about a guy coming home from war and pissing off his small-town neighbors by becoming an anti-war activist. Instead, Stop-Loss focuses on a man who has done his part and feels forced to go AWOL so he can spread the word about the backdoor draft, with mostly disastrous results.

The acting in this film is top notch. Had I known Phillipe was in the film, I would’ve seen it much earlier. He has always been an underrated actor with an incredible range and an often disturbing intensity. His co-stars are also good and lend authenticity to their performances by not overacting.

The battle scenes and flashbacks are handled extremely well. That fuzzy, news camera style of shooting is quickly becoming a cliché but it’s effective here. The screenplay is surprisingly good and provides plenty of moments for reflection. In fact, it is a crime that those idiots at the Academy didn’t acknowledge this film, because it is actually worthy of some Oscars.

Oh, that’s right. Nobody has a disease in this film. Perhaps if the whole movie had been about the guy who lost his arms and legs it would have won.


****1/2 out of *****

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16 Comments:

At 18 March, 2009 20:34 , Blogger Tim said...

AG is a huge fan of war and the military in general - I'll bet he'd love this film!

 
At 19 March, 2009 15:37 , Blogger scribe said...

I am shocked by your lackluster response to this film.

 
At 20 March, 2009 08:10 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Me too scribe. Me thinks Green just doesn't like military films in general.

I thought Abbie Cornish did a great job and so did Phillipe. All in all it was a good film I feel everyone should see. The fact that this goes on is beyond reproach to me, enough is enough.

For me the beginning of the movie was great, Pierce did a great job of depicting what goes on over there, however for some reason she seems to back off and run out of steam by the end of the movie.

I for one had no idea about this stop loss policy and I think it sucks.

 
At 20 March, 2009 15:38 , Blogger c nadeau & t johnson said...

I don't get that! What kinda straight guy doesn't feel at least a tiny amount of simpatico???

 
At 20 March, 2009 20:23 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

green maybe you should watch her other film "Boys don't cry". That'll get you goin!

 
At 20 March, 2009 20:23 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

speaking of "straight" heh

 
At 20 March, 2009 20:25 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Have any of you guys watched "Milk" yet?

 
At 21 March, 2009 09:46 , Blogger scribe said...

I have no interest in watching Milk...

 
At 21 March, 2009 11:59 , Blogger Tim said...

bluez: you're right, I don't like military films in general.

I too thought the whole concept of stop-loss was bad and shouldn't ever happpen. The fact that it does did give the film authenticity. I didn't know the gov'mint did that either, sort of like the feeling I got after watching "Rendition."

I would bet, without knowing for sure, that Pierce actually served in the middle east.

Was Cornish in "Boys DOn't Cry?"

scribe: sure I felt bad for Phillipe's character but can't really relate on a personal level.

Just because you don't want to watch "Milk" (neither do I), probably means it would be a good film to review on our blog, one of these days....

 
At 22 March, 2009 09:01 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

No no greenie, I was talking about the director Kim Pierce. She also directed "boys don't cry"...

 
At 22 March, 2009 09:02 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Although Cornish did a film with Heath Ledger called "candy" you may want to check out...

 
At 24 March, 2009 10:32 , Blogger ~AprilD said...

Hm. I may have to pick this one up and see it...

 
At 24 March, 2009 12:11 , Blogger c nadeau & t johnson said...

Please do. Ignore Green on this one. he is not a true man.

 
At 24 March, 2009 16:30 , Blogger Reality's Bitch Slappa said...

better they're over there getting shot and shot than over here shooting at oppressed peoples...minister faust would say.

 
At 24 March, 2009 19:41 , Blogger c nadeau & t johnson said...

I can't believe you guys didn't know about the stop loss policy.

 
At 24 March, 2009 21:56 , Blogger Tim said...

"Candy" was the other film I saw Abby Cornish in - also based on your recommendation, bluez. Wasn't impressed with her in that movie either.

 

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