Day: November 25, 2005

I was hoping to see ‘Syriana’ today but it turns out that there are no “selected movie theaters” in Ohio, so I watched ‘Jarhead’ instead. It was much better than I expected, given the way the trailer is cut and the New York Times review. ‘Three Kings’ is the obvious comparison, and it lacks the absurdism of that movie and its emotional detachment from either war or the main characters. ‘Jarhead’ is not as good a movie as ‘Three Kings.’ But it is trying to do different things, and it ends up being a pretty damn good movie.

A few random thoughts. First, its subversiveness is more clumsy and obvious than ‘Three Kings,’ but it is nonetheless devastating. The failed equipment, the charred bodies on the Highway of Death, the way the first Gulf War was oversold, the stupidity of the military commanders, all add up to an indictment of the war, and the connections to what is happening today are made quite clear.
Continue reading Jarhead

Maybe I should post this under the Jesus Silverman thread–but bloggengruppenfuhrer Chakladar can make that decision later, if he so chooses. Borat lives! Given our conversation there about ‘mocking’ racism, I’m curious how people respond to Sascha Baron Cohen’s trio of disruptive personae? In particular, Borat, getting a crowd of country-western fans to sing “Throw the Jew Down the Well”….

For the trivia fans: Seth Rogen was writing for Da Ali G Show… and I hear Borat will be the star of his own film in the not-distant future.