Post by Pulpmariachi on Nov 3, 2005 23:44:34 GMT -5
FINALLY! Something in this goddamn city that's actually decent.
We got a sneak preview of Sam Mendes' new one tonight. Jarhead.
You watch the previews and you pretty much know the story. Young marines are stationed in the desert during what we know as OPERATION DESERT STORM.
The film is about the characters. The way they interact and cope and all that stuff you know Mendes for. How did Kevin Spacey cope with his mid-life crisis? How did Tom Hanks deal with the death of his family? And how, it's how do Marines put up with war?
There's some great acting on all fronts here. Jamie Foxx proves that he deserved every single win and piece of praise he's gotten as an actor, again. Gyllenhall breathes the instensity into his character. And Peter Sarsgaard has that quiet, calm look that shows you know this man is some sort of psychopathic.
Mendes keeps the story well-paced, mixing in intensity and humor. I don't want to say action because really, the movie isn't about that. It's about the intensity. The intensity of the situations, of the characters, of everything. The humor itself is scary, and there are some funny moments.
Again, the cinematography is amazing. I do feel it is Mendes' least-well photographed film because, come on, you just cannot top the work that Conrad Hall did in American Beauty and Road to Perdition. Still, it remains...amazing. Just watch the scenes where the mine-fields are on ablaze. You'll see what I'm talking about.
There is a lot of influence from Full Metal Jacket, especially in the beginning. However, we people get shot the bullet doesn't enter and exit out of them in super-slow motion (one of the major disappointments for me with Full Metal Jacket). The film is well aware of the other war movies before it. In fact the characters watch Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter at a couple points of the film.
The soundtrack works too, I suppose. My favorite moment is set to Nirvana's "Something in the Way." There may have been a couple songs in there that I was really annoyed with. But they don't hurt the movie at all or really.
I'd have to say that this is the best film I've seen so far this year, but I've missed out on a bunch, too. It's just something where everything works. Totally worth the money you pay for it (I didn't have to pay with currency, but some bastard in the theater flicked the fire alarm so we had to wait about 15 more minutes before the movie could start).
***1/2 /****
We got a sneak preview of Sam Mendes' new one tonight. Jarhead.
You watch the previews and you pretty much know the story. Young marines are stationed in the desert during what we know as OPERATION DESERT STORM.
The film is about the characters. The way they interact and cope and all that stuff you know Mendes for. How did Kevin Spacey cope with his mid-life crisis? How did Tom Hanks deal with the death of his family? And how, it's how do Marines put up with war?
There's some great acting on all fronts here. Jamie Foxx proves that he deserved every single win and piece of praise he's gotten as an actor, again. Gyllenhall breathes the instensity into his character. And Peter Sarsgaard has that quiet, calm look that shows you know this man is some sort of psychopathic.
Mendes keeps the story well-paced, mixing in intensity and humor. I don't want to say action because really, the movie isn't about that. It's about the intensity. The intensity of the situations, of the characters, of everything. The humor itself is scary, and there are some funny moments.
Again, the cinematography is amazing. I do feel it is Mendes' least-well photographed film because, come on, you just cannot top the work that Conrad Hall did in American Beauty and Road to Perdition. Still, it remains...amazing. Just watch the scenes where the mine-fields are on ablaze. You'll see what I'm talking about.
There is a lot of influence from Full Metal Jacket, especially in the beginning. However, we people get shot the bullet doesn't enter and exit out of them in super-slow motion (one of the major disappointments for me with Full Metal Jacket). The film is well aware of the other war movies before it. In fact the characters watch Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter at a couple points of the film.
The soundtrack works too, I suppose. My favorite moment is set to Nirvana's "Something in the Way." There may have been a couple songs in there that I was really annoyed with. But they don't hurt the movie at all or really.
I'd have to say that this is the best film I've seen so far this year, but I've missed out on a bunch, too. It's just something where everything works. Totally worth the money you pay for it (I didn't have to pay with currency, but some bastard in the theater flicked the fire alarm so we had to wait about 15 more minutes before the movie could start).
***1/2 /****
