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Have you ever seen a film where nothing really happens and yet it feels like everything happens ? No ?, Try Jarhead.
Based on a book by Anthony Swofford (played here by Gay Cowboy Jake Gyllenhaal) it tells the tale of his time spent in the Corps, from his first day in boot camp to his last day in Iraq.
Sitting around for six months doing nothing. Playing football, sleeping and masturbating until finally ordered to make their way to the front line of battle. However the initial air attack on the Iraqi forces was so efficient that most soldiers didn’t even get to fire their gun once.
It's grim, and plays up the futility of war, the mindless hours spent training to do nothing, exercises in wasting time and gearing up to fight a war for oil.
Doesn't sound gripping does it ? I was on the edge of my seat, you can really feel the tension.
Jake Gyllenhaal's expressionless hangdog face portrays the underlying emotions (and at times lack thereof) of the lead character perfectly.
Additionally there are some great performances from the supporting cast, in particular Peter Sarsgaard as Troy, though I had trouble connecting with Jamie Foxx's Staff Sgt. Sykes character that seemed to be pulled directly out of the big book of clichés.
The cinematography is excellent, and the shots of a burning Kuwait, raining oil and burned out vehicles and people in the desert were nothing short of breathtaking and other worldly.
It's not a War Film, it's not even really a film about a war, it's just one mans viewpoint, nothing more, nothing less, no soapbox, no preaching.
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Vikram told me that Kate Moss and Lindsey Lohan wrote 'SCARLETT IS A **** ' on the wall of some toilet in some bar somewhere if that helps? I have only ever in my life written that another girl is a **** on a toilet wall, and she WAS, so I reckon it's probably quite likely that Scarlet is also.
It's investigative journalism skills like that that got me where I am today, folks.
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i liked that film a lot, especially you broke my fucking sitar motherfucker. also, i think the brian jonestown's bez might actually be better at bezzing than bez is. what do you think, roy?
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I really enjoyed Jarhead. Jakey G was great (especially in the many near-buff scenes), making the character mostly likeable and very believable. I thought it looked amazing, and was taut, and occasionally very funny. It was also incredibly loud- lots of drill shouting and war noises of course, but the soundtrack was the most thunderous I've ever heard in a cinema. The scene where a room of whooping marines watch Apocalypse Now, roaring along with Wagner in exultant glee was genuinely astonishing.
My only criticism was that it got a little heavy-handed towards the end (plinky plink, look, it's serious now, ok? piano music as the old vet boards the parading bus etc). I think Sam was thinking about the gold shiny little men at that point.
-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
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