The Men Who Stare at Goats

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: After getting dumped by his wife, a journalist (Ewan McGregor) goes to Iraq to write a story that will win her back, and ends up getting the adventure of his life when he meets an eccentric military man from the psychic superpower division (George Clooney). It's somewhat based on a true story.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang, Robert Patrick, Waleed Zuaiter, Stephen Root, Glenn Morshower

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. The premise shows more promise than the execution, which has a perfect wacky tone, but leaves you wondering what it was all supposed to be about.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It is highly reminiscent of a Coen Brothers comedy, only the jokes are a little more laugh out loud. And there are some inside jokes for people who have seen Star Wars... which I guess includes just about everyone.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Really not at all. Although when you see how they torture the prisoners, you may feel terrible for those poor little terrorists.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Jeff Bridges could finally get that nomination he was passed over for when he played The Dude in The Big Lebowski. This character is pretty much the same, except he doesn't bowl, and he's a Colonel in the military.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Aside from Ewan McGregor sometimes slipping into his Scottish accent, the performances showcase four great actors, each playing the role they do best.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Grant Heslov has clearly been paying attention on set. He doesn't quite have that Coen Brothers' flare, but you can still tell he studied at their school.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The structure jumps around in both time and place, but is nonetheless easy to follow, thanks to a running voice over by McGregor's character. Unfortunately, while the jokes are good and the characters are special, the story never really draws you in.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/38908/trailers

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W.

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Biopic about a man (Josh Brolin) who becomes president of the United States (George W. Bush) to prove to his father (George H.W. Bush) that he's not a disappointment.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks, Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Burstyn, Thandie Newton, Jesse Bradford, Rob Corddry, Dennis Boutsikaris, Scott Glenn, Michael Gaston, Toby Jones, Stacy Keach, Bruce McGill, Jason Ritter, Marley Shelton, Jeffrey Wright

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. All the facts we already know. What's interesting is getting to see W's emotional state as these incidents unfold, his relationship with his father, and finding out who said and did what within his cabinet... Unfortunately, all those parts of the movie are based on pure speculation, and not to be trusted.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Not nearly as much as when you watch the real W. trying to speak English.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Again, not nearly as much as when you watch the real thing.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: The whole thing would be a lot more insightful if it came out 30 years from now.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: In many cases the cast of Saturday Night Live could have done these characters more justice. While they are all reminiscent of the actual people they play, either by their looks or by their speech cadence, there is at least one false thing in each of them which keeps you focused on the actor playing the real person, rather than the real person they're playing. For example Josh Brolin sounds right, but he's much too good looking. Thandie Newton looks like Condoleezza Rice, but her speech sounds as if someone has glued her lips together. And Richard Dreyfuss just smiles way too much to be Dick Cheney.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: As is to be expected, watching this film causes you to learn more about Oliver Stone, and his personal fantasies of what it might be like to be George W. Bush, than it teaches you about what it's actually like to be George W. Bush.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It would have worked better as a Reality TV show... In fact, I think there was a similar show on TV once. Wasn't it called something like, "The News"? I don't know, who can remember such things.

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Body of Lies

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A CIA operative in the Middle East (Leonardo DiCaprio) tries to take down the head of a terrorist cell, but his biggest challenge is figuring out which of his allies he can trust.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Goldshifteh Farahani, Oscar Isaac, Ali Suliman, Alon Aboutboul, Simon McBurney, Kais Nashif

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Nearly as difficult to follow as Syriana, and not necessarily as fresh or interesting. If you go to the movies to escape or check out, you won't be able to do that here, as you have to pay attention every moment, and think to follow-- or you can do what I did, and cat nap when your brain starts to hurt. Okay, so I didn't like it very much, but that doesn't mean you won't. I mean, I'd be hard pressed to find a woman who enjoys this. But if you're a guy, and you like to watch guns and blood and war and things blowing up and sand-- this is whatever the male equivalent of a "Chick Flick" would be called. "A Him Flim?" "A Guy High?" (Feel free to submit better suggestions, so we can finally have a derogatory term for movies that alienate women.)

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: I laughed really hard once at a poorly framed shot of a guy in a suit standing in front of a fountain with his legs open. Completely unintentionally, the water was spurting up and down between his legs, making him look like he's either peeing through his suit or standing over a bidet, washing his rear. That was my favorite part of the movie. I like to laugh.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it will give you a sense of hopelessness about the war on terror. Our plan to fight terror with terror doesn't work. For every terrorist you kill, at least 10 new vengeful ones sprout up like the water fountain between that guy's legs. We need a new strategy-- and how! So if you have any suggestions, please post them on Facebook.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I liked the song that played over the closing credits... or maybe I was just happy the movie was over.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Russell Crowe plays a caricature of a bad guy. He's cold, he doesn't care about anyone, and we don't care about him. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance is fine, but his character is like an automaton: he does what he's told-- and he has integrity, too! Every character in the film feels like an object, only put there to accomplish a goal. None of them offer anything compelling for the audience to relate to, latch on to, or care about.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Ridley Scott sure does like to blow things up and shoot people dead. Hey, why shouldn't he? He's damn good at it!

Q: How is the story/script?

A: This story has no emotional through line. I don't know about you, but I remember things whether in conversation, in movies, or in life, by how a moment made me feel. Without feelings, you only have the words to remember things by. So in this movie I tried to pay attention to the words, and I tried to retain them so that I could recall them later when I would need them again... but I couldn't.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: If you want to see a great thriller about the clusterf**k we've gotten ourselves into in the Middle East, go see Traitor with Don Cheadle. It's smart, it's emotional, and it's a much clearer demonstration of the ambiguities between good guys and bad guys, when it comes to us and them. Here's a link to my review:
http://moviereviewfaqs.blogspot.com/2008/08/traitor.html

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Stop-Loss

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A soldier comes back from his second tour in Iraq, and right when he thinks he's getting out of the Army, he gets Stop-Lossed, which means that the government sends him back despite the fact that his contract is over, because in the fine print it says that they can do that during times of war.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Timothy Olyphant, Victor Rasuk, Rob Brown, Ciaran Hinds, Mamie Gummer, Linda Emond, Alex Frost

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! While this is not an 'important' film, it deals with important issues, about how difficult it is for soldiers to recover from the atrocities they see at war, and how the government is taking advantage of the people who are nice enough to volunteer. This movie isn't brilliant, but it's an easy to swallow way to understand the complexities of the situation. While war is not the answer, it does make you wonder if we need to re-instate the draft.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If you find gunshots funny.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It definitely makes you feel hopeless and helpless.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Probably not any movie awards, but maybe a Nobel Peace Prize... What? Al Gore proved that movie makers are, like, totally eligible!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Easy on the eyes... Although I sometimes had difficulty telling Ryan Phillippe and Channing Tatum apart when they are dressed the same and maneuvering in the shadows.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Kimberly Peirce makes a lot of interesting choices, like inter-cutting one soldiers' personal video footage to advance the narrative of the film, and breaking out into music videos a couple of times, in an effort to stir emotions. And the final shot of the film almost says it all, but Timothy Olyphant, who plays their commanding officer is just a few levels short of the level of the emotion he needed to convey to drive home the point.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It definitely makes you feel like the main character is between a rock and hard place with no way out, and it does a great job of helping us non-military-folk relate to what it must be like over there, but it takes a bit too long to get to the conflict, and the ending is only half satisfying-- which is mostly because the truth in this story is that there is no satisfying ending besides ending the war.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: Should we reinstate the draft? Should Stop-Loss be illegal? If it were, would we be forced not to fight, because we wouldn't have any fighters? Or is it the fault of those idiot soldiers for not reading the fine print when they signed up? (support our troops)... Talk amongst yourselves.

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