Netflix Tuesday - 8/24

 I need to hear from someone who was around in the 60's and early 70's about the quality of movies that were made about the Vietnam war during this period. Off the top of my head I can't think of any movies that actually addressed the war directly. MASH made a commentary on the war but used a backdrop of the Korean war to make its point. The John Wayne vehicle The Green Berets turned out to be more of a pro-war propaganda piece rather than a film that made any kind of statement on the war.

It wasn't until the late 70's that powerful movies like The Deer Hunter and Coming Home began to show up in theaters. However, these movies attempted to make their point by examining the struggles of those returning home from the war. Aside from Apocalypse Now, it wasn't until the late 80's early 90's, nearly twenty years after the war ended, that we began to see movies that told the story of the soldiers and their experiences in the jungles of Vietnam.

So, how good have the films made about the Iraq/Afghanistan war been? Whether you're for or against the war you probably have to agree that we've had one truly great film on the subject, The Hurt Locker, a really good miniseries, Generation Kill and a mixed bag of other mediocre to terrible movies. Unless you're a big Jake Gyllenhaal fan and you thought Jarhead was the tits (it wasn't).

And on that note......

Green Zone - Don't See -This is just another in an increasingly long line of mediocre to bad movies made about the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, Green Zone follows a very familiar recipe. Get a cast of good talent, Matt Damon, Greg Kinear, Amy Ryan and Brendan Gleeson. Then provide them a poor script to shoot. Ugh. I found myself bored throughout the movie. Maybe it was poor writing or maybe it's just too hard to write a good mystery when the secret is obvious and pretty well known. Either way this movie misses big.






One Day in September - See - Pretty good documentary on the Israeli hostage crisis during the 1972 Munich Olympics. I say good but not great mostly because it drags on a bit too long. The most compelling part the documentary is how badly the Munich/German authorities handled the situation. From their refusal to bring in an experienced military strike force their use of terrible intel to having a strike team quit minutes before they were to spring a trap on the terrorists. The interviews with family members of the hostages border on gut wrenching and you can't help but feel a bit sick and angry while the one surviving terrorist proclaims how proud he is of what they accomplished.



The Losers - Don't See -I hate when actors I really like are in movies I really hate. This is the case with this movie and Idris Elba. You should know him as Stringer Bell from The Wire. If not, stop reading, go to Best Buy and get The Wire box set. You can then return once you've watched all 60 episodes. Don't worry, I'll wait. Don't waste your time with this movie however. It's ridiculously terrible. On top of it being a terrible movie, it stars Chris Evans. The same d-bag that plays The Human Torch in those horrible Fantastic Four movies. I wanted to make a rule that I wouldn't see any more movies this guy is in until I looked up his IMDB resume and saw that he's in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and has been cast as Captain America in the upcoming movie of the same name and then plays the role again in The Avengers. Thanks Hollywood for trying to ruin one of my favorite comics.

The Day of the Jackal - See -The latest in my 70's classics series. There is very little chance a movie like this could be released today. It takes patience to watch this movie. They tell you upfront what is going to happen and when but the story is the journey to the accomplish the objective. The journey develops slow and methodically but never boring. There is a beautiful cat and mouse game being played between the Jackal and the authorities trying to hunt him down and you never know whether he can stay one step ahead of them. All the way up until the last scene the movie keeps you captivated and even in those final moments you're still unsure who you want to succeed. There's a crappy Bruce Willis remake from about 10 years ago called The Jackal. Don't waste your time, it sucks. Go rent this instead it's worth it.

Rollergirls season 1 disc 3 - ? - One disc left then my verdict but I do love me some Roller derby chicks.