Hacksaw Ridge

I came it with fairly low expectations for Hacksaw Ridge. I'm not a big Andrew Garfield fan, so to have him playing an American war hero originally drew my ire. I was pleasantly surprised with his performance, it's very good, as are all of them. I really like Vince Vaughn, and Sam Worthington is also very good. The film tells the story of Desmond Doss. Desmond is raised in the hill country of Virginia, so he's not a Rhodes Scholar. His father fought in WWI, or THE GREAT WAR as it's referred to as. He's played expertly by Hugo Weaving. His dad's a drunk from the fact that he's unable to come to grips with his friends dying in France. He has a brother, younger or older is never said, though they are close in age. Desmond falls in love with the nurse who draws blood at the nearby hospital (5 miles). After his brother enlists it's the final straw and he decides to enlist shortly after as a medic. He's interested in human anatomy, etc., and more importantly he refuses to kill another man, or even pick-up a weapon. This causes all sorts of issues during basic training, but after a court order and Brigadier General's note, he's set to head off to Okinawa. Okinawa was crucial, like all of the contested islands, to get within bombing distance of Japan. This movie was particularly meaningful as I watched it on Veterans Day. It helped remind me of how awful my Grandpa's role was in WWII. He was an "Island Hopper", a role that I used to explain as the beach landing of Saving Private Ryan, only in the Pacific islands. He suffered tremendously with what he saw, did, and experienced. He left with a full head of hair and came back bald. His unit had a survival rate of between 10-15%. The Pacific Islands were definitely one of Dante's Spheres of Hell. Something that even after watching Hacksaw Ridge, which from what I can tell is the most accurate depiction of what happened in the Pacific Islands regularly, you can't possibly grasp the true horror of what occurred regularly. Getting back to the movie, what happens on Hacksaw Ridge is after a push to secure a good part of the "Ridge" the Japanese burrow underground for the night. At first light they charge and force Doss' unit off the Ridge, leaving many men wounded on the Ridge while battleships bombard it. Doss works tirelessly throughout the day and night to lower wounded troops down the cliff to safety all while being unarmed. It's totally amazing. The sum total of his efforts produces 75 wounded men lowered to safety. I'm not certain if all survived, etc., but that's a gargantuan effort for a group of medics, but Herculean for one man. Bottom Line: 8.6 out of 10. Believe the Rotten Tomatoes scoring, it's another rock solid movie from Mel Gibson, that crazy racist drunk.

Sorry, but Another Sharp Departure From the Norm

Today, and I'm not sure why, I'm compelled to make a sharp turn from my normal talk of movies and television to talk about people that I'm in awe of and that I admire greatly. There are certain professions that amaze me, and today I'm going to dive into one of them that I feel like deserves tremendous praise. This isn't to say there are numerous other roles in our society that deserve me recognition, but today I'm focusing on the role of the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) nurse. My sister-in-law made a life change seven years ago that I was in awe in. She took herself out of working for a company that managed very large retirement accounts (similar to a hedge fund) and decided to go back to school for a nursing degree. I feel like that profession is a calling, not a choice, and her decision perhaps even more than an amazing and incredibly admirable career in nursing. She works in a PICU unit that sadly often sees tragedy more often than many other units. Children (anyone under the age of 18) that has severe "issues" because I'm not sure how to define the "regular" case they deal with, are assigned to this particular unit. NICU is also an amazing profession too, but I'm focusing on PICU for now, though I greatly respect the people that work in the health care profession. I try to talk about her "job" that deals with tragedy that would probably cripple most people. An example, that is far from ordinary, but is the type of "case" they deal with would be a child that has a skin condition that prevents any physical contact. Hours are spent changing bandages because their skin blisters and bleeds with the contact of even gauze bandages, yet those bandages need to be changed at least daily despite the pain it causes. They are responsible for providing care and I'll go as far as saying love to those tough cases. I can't possible imagine going to work on a daily basis with the knowledge that patients in my care might not see tomorrow, or the next week or month. I'm in absolute awe and in total admiration of the amazing fortitude and resolve that those people show on a daily basis. I can't imagine the difficult moments and conversations had within that wing that occur regularly. I am so appreciative of the people who go to work knowing that their worst case is tragedy, yet they face it with such courage and compassion that it is totally amazing. I sincerely hope that nobody I know would ever deal with a situation that their child may be one of those cases, but I also want to highlight how amazing the people are that are on the front lines of such tragedy. If anyone knows someone that's amazing in a similar way, please reach out and share your thoughts and admiration with that person. Thank you for allowing me to share my heart today with you.

War Dogs

War Dogs follows a premise I enjoy. Taking a strange, yet historically unique event, and expand on it. War Dogs follow two friends from youth as they embark on an amazing adventure. Due to the Halliburton scandal (Dick Cheney selling defense contracts to friends/former colleagues) our military contracts were open for bid on the internet to various licensed gun dealers. Insert Myles Teller and Jonah Hill. Two twenty-somethings with no clue how far over their head's they are. They start small by winning minor contracts for generally small arms. They gain experience, contacts, and knowledge. They fly to Jordan to smuggle an arms shipment to Iraq and our troops for Beretta's to use with the Iraq army being trained. They bid on I presume one of the largest contracts in history to outfit the Afghan national army and they win. Millions of dollars is on the line to supply a variety of weapons and ammunition and they have everything figured out, or so they think. Bottom Line: 6.7 out of 10. It was pretty interesting, though it's tough to believe some of it, it's just an amazing time and story. I'd pay attention when it's on cable.

The Nice Guys

The Nice Guys attempts to bridge the gap somewhere between L.A. Confidential and every buddy cop movie. Ryan Gosling plays the smart, fragile detective and Russell Crowe reprises his role from L.A. Confidential as the Muscle. He beats people up and Gosling tries to be funny and smart. The film focuses on the attempt to find a girl named Amelia and the death of porn star Misty Mountains. Gosling is hired to look for Misty Mountains, but is coincidentally searching for Amelia when Crowe beats him savagely because he was paid by "Amelia" to make two strange men stop following her. There are a few twists and turns, some comedy, but nothing too special. I'd await it's arrival on cable before committing two hours of your life. Bottom Line: 6.7 out of 10. Wait for TBS to pick it up.

Paper Towns: TEENAGE ANGST Part 891

Paper Towns follows the story of Cara Delevingne (Margo, such an exotic name she must be complex and a unique rebel) and Q. Neighbors since they were 8, Q has a crush on Margo, but they grow apart in town and rarely speak now that they are seniors in high school. Margo takes Q on a tale of revenge against her cheating boyfriend and her friends, but after their night of fun and debauchery, SHE DISAPPEARS. In typical Margo fashion she leaves clues for Q, but he works to piece them together and find her. He has a couple friends, like in all angsty, nerdy, teenager movies that are with him throughout. The acting is pretty solid surprisingly and Delevingne definitely has a career acting if she wants it. It's harmed by being similar to every other movie of this genre ever made, but that doesn't mean it isn't alright. Bottom Line: 6.4 out of 10. Take a flyer on this one when it hits the cable circuit. It's worth that much.

Don't Breathe: (The Movie, I'm not telling you to stop breathing)

Don't Breathe is an interesting movie focusing on three 18-ish year olds living in Detroit. One of them dreams (Rocky, but it's a female) of moving away to L.A., but is raising capital (Financial term I think sounds fancy here) by robbing homes that her friend Alex, has keys and information on since his dad owns a security company. They keep theft under $10,000 to avoid federal prosecution (The second movie I've seen that rule preached in this month, which is weird) and therefore much attention. They stumble upon a house on an abandoned block in Detroit where the man living there received a large settlement (not generally public knowledge) from his daughter being hit and killed by a drunk driver, who happens to have very wealthy parents. The man is a veteran who was blinded by grenade shrapnel. They throw all rules out and decide to try to find the cash. Coincidentally the man is Stephan Lang, who is awesome in the role and is the only reason the movie is viable. Despite being blind, he is still terrifying and extremely capable. His home is his castle and he doesn't need vision to find his way around. They find themselves trapped and some twists and turns ensue. Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. Worth seeing in theatres, though when I went someone made a really loud farting noise, maybe it was the pleather seat, but it was hilarious and mood ruining all at once. Lang is fantastic and that's worth the price of admission alone. It made me wonder if I could win a fight if he were truly blind? I'd cheat and grab something to hit him with, but I think he'd beat my ass all things being equal. I'd do better than Alex though, I know that much.

Hell or High Water

Sorry for the unintentional hiatus, but I've still been watching movies. I just saw Hell of High Water yesterday and felt like I should talk about since it's a pretty good independent film that won't get a lot of attention. It's a very simple film centering around two brothers who look nothing at all like brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster, who is awesome). Foster is the slightly crazy and regular prison inhabitant older brother and Pine is the quiet, shy, boring younger brother. You jump in immediately on a bank robbery, but they only take small bills ($20 or smaller) from two small, local banks. It isn't the bank robbery you normally think about. It stirs up little attention other than from a retiring Texas Ranger (Jeff Daniels). He drags his partner into this seemingly minor case and digs in. You learn the rest of the plot along the way, but it's very simple and well done. The scene of quiet, open, Western Texas is generally pretty. Foster is excellent and Pine is pretty good (shockingly) as a couple of simple brothers trying to make life a little better. Bottom Line: 8.5 out of 10. Solid film that's pretty believable, which is rare. The cast is excellent. It's refreshing that nothing is extravagant at all, it adds credibility.

Tigerland: Colin Ferrell's Start

I found Tigerland for under $2.00 and jumped in. I remember this is what Ferrell's big break was, then all of the sudden he was in Minority Report, Phone Booth, and Recruit, SWAT and Alexander. Tigerland follows a group through their initial training in the Army knowing that at the end of training they are heading right to Vietnam. Colin Ferrell is Roland Bozz, a dissenter who has a penchant for getting people excused from service. He doesn't get himself excused, but tell him your story and he may be able to get you excused from the Army. It's very odd, but it follows them through basic training and into "Tigerland", the closest training to real, live combat action the Army can create. The different characters in the unit become exposed and you'll recognize Shea Whigham, Clifton Collins, Tom Guiry, and Michael Davis, though none are "stars", they pull together a very good cast. It's a good mix of characters coming from different places and circumstances. Bottom Line: 6.8 out of 10. Glad I re-watched it to see how a lot of the cast is now known, but nothing amazing.

Michael Moore: Who We Should Invade Next

The pinnacle of Smugness, Mike Moore, made a documentary highlighting a bunch of strengths of other countries and how much better these ideas are than how they are done in America. It highlights workplaces, schools, even how we approach our shameful history of slavery. The part that always gets in the way is Moore himself. He's insufferable, self-serving, and always debatably leads people into what he wants. His editing tactics have always come under fire, most notably from Marilyn Manson and the South Park guys who after being interviewed by him and having their words twisted, blew him up on Team America: World Police. I can't stand him, therefore this movie wasn't for me. It should surprise not a single person that other countries are better at a few things than America and watching Moore parade himself around looking like Rosie O'Donnell's homeless, fatter, uglier brother is awful to watch. Bottom Line: 2.3 out of 10. Read about it, don't bother watching it. Synopsis: Sweden has better schools than us because kid's get to do what they want and have no homework, Italy is a better place to work because you get six weeks vacation and don't have to work as hard, Germany is better than us because they teach their children in school about the evils of the Nazi regime and Holocaust, Iceland is better than us because women have more political power and they punish their white collar criminals. There you go, saved you wasting almost two hours.

X-Men: Apocalpyse

There was excitement with the introduction of an excellent villain in Apocalypse. Then, I noticed it was Oscar Isaac, who I really like, but they didn't DO enough to him. He was short, with a big coat and some blue facepaint. He looked too human for my liking. Interesting premise in that he existed for centuries accumulating various mutant powers throughout, yet he consistently fails in using them well... Fassbender is awesome in being domesticated Magneto. I like McAvoy's Professor X. I really like Jennifer Lawrence in any capacity. This tries way too hard to introduce various X-Men themes and it ends up being exhausting and sloppy. It's like Singer took a bet to see how many X-Men plotlines he could tie into this thing. The simple premise is Apocalypse is trying to end the world by gathering his Four Horseman and getting to it, but the subplots really get in the way. It's a pleasure to see Olivia Munn as Psylocke, but she is seldom used. I enjoyed some of the film, for the most part besides a sloppy scene with a ship and containers the CGI is top notch. The acting is generally decent. There's just too much stuff getting thrown into the pot for this film that for me, it ruined the stew. Bottom Line: 6.5 out of 10. Just not much to be impressed by and those fleeting moments get furthered buried by 34 different subplots.