Letters from Iwo Jima (2007)

Featuring: Ken Watanabe, Shido Nakamura. Director: Clint Eastwood.

Warning: This movie is only supposed to be available for streaming until Jan. 1st. Act fast!

I hadn't really heard much about Letters from Iwo Jima when I turned it on. I vaguely remember hearing it was pretty good and I knew Clint Eastwood was directing so that made it worth a shot despite my World War II movie fatigue. I'm sure I can't be the only one that has it. There have been so many good WWII movies that it feels like I've seen every angle you could take on the war of wars that any other movie on the subject would seem like a cliche or a retread.

After about five minutes I realized that this movie was entirely from the perspective of Japanese soldiers. It never really occurred to me that anyone would ever think to film a WWII movie from the Japanese perspective and once I realized that I was suddenly intrigued. Clint, you sneaky bastard. The reason you never see any movies from that point of view is because the Japanese were the bad guys. WWII wasn't the kind of war that had much moral ambiguity to it like say, any war since. I'm of the opinion that the allies were on the side of good. Sure, in war there are always bad things done even by the side in the right. And, if you're going to point to any war as being a "Just War" then it would be this one.

Showing the other side is sort of a risky step by Mr. Eastwood. Some could, and probably have thought of this movie as being almost apologetic for the Japanese in WWII. Instead, in my opinion, it shows that even a just war is completely absurd and that the people who are hurt by such a war are never the evil mother f****** who started it. It's the hardworking men and women with families that suffer. That's whats happening now, and that's what always happens in war. It's just a bad business and ideally we'll have a lot less of them once we realize that the poor bastards on the other side are probably just like the poor bastards on our side.

I realize this hasn't been much of a review, but it was a movie that got me thinking. And sometimes, we need movies like that. Well acted, thought-provoking, slightly daring and touching as well. Give it a try, we all need to be a little more anti-war.

Click here to add this to your Netflix queue.

According to Netflix this movie will stop streaming on 1/1/12. Of course, sometimes they lie.

The Standard 5:

Why is it in your queue? Clint Eastwood is a pretty darn good director so I thought it deserved a shot.

Is it artsy? No, but the movie is almost entirely in Japanese so expect to do plenty of reading.

What stood out the most to you? I didn't know much about this movie going in, so finding out it was told from the Japanese perspective was pretty surprising.

What mood should I be in to watch this movie? Needing a reminder of the absurdity of war.

What rating did you give it on Netflix? 4 Stars. 

Tweet

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Featuring: Tom Cruise, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe. Director: Oliver Stone.

Warning: This movie will only stream until May 1st so act fast!

We all know Tom Cruise is a d-bag. I think we can all agree on that. All the Scientology crap, the jumping on couches and the whole closeted homosexual bit just turns people off of him and for good reason. He's a weird little man. All of his eccentricities make it very hard to take him seriously these days. He's not a bad actor though. There was a stretch there when he was a decent leading man and Hollywood's golden boy.  Sure, he's no Paul Newman, but he's not a talentless hack posing as a leading man like say, Warren Beatty, either.

In Born on the Fourth of July everyone's favorite Scientologist  gives one of the best performances of his career as a young man who goes to Vietnam as an idealist and returns a cynic and a cripple. Believe it or not, I thought Cruise was really believable in this role and probably even deserved the Oscar nomination he got for it.

The movie itself seemed a little uneven to me. It seemed to sort of just bounce around and there wasn't nearly enough about his time as a protester. I don't really get the academy's love of Oliver Stone (he won another best director award for this one) in the 80's. I've enjoyed a lot of Oliver Stone movies but he has never seemed to be a master of the craft like say, Scorsese (who was continually snubbed in the 80's). His movies all feel rushed and unbalanced. It's like he won his awards based on how good his movies could have been if he wasn't coked out the entire time he was making them. That being said, this is a good movie and worth watching for Cruise's performance. Yea, I just said that.

Click here to add this movie to your Netflix queue.

According to Netflix this movie will stop streaming on 5/1/11. Of course, sometimes they lie.

The Standard 5:

Why is it in your queue? It's an Oliver Stone movie I hadn't seen yet, it stayed there so long because Tom Cruise was on the cover.

Is it artsy? No.

What stood out the most to you? A surprisingly awesome performance from Tom Cruise.

What mood should I be in to watch this movie? In a good mood so the depressing life of a troubled Vietnam vet won't bring you too far down.

What rating did you give it on Netflix? 3 Stars. 

Tweet

Platoon (1986)

Featuring: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whittaker,  Johnny Depp.
Director: Oliver Stone.

Warning: This movie is only streaming until April 1st so act fast!

War movies are never really "fun" to watch. They often deal with subject matter that shows humanity at it's worst. Every once in a while you'll get a movie like Saving Private Ryan that makes you get all teary eyed with the heroism, but for the most part, in the last few decades anyway, you get movies like Platoon that shock and disgust you with how awful war can be. Which isn't a bad thing, it's just a thing.

Because war movies deal with such horrifying content they need to be really good or else it feels like you're just watching some sort of sick snuff film. Platoon, which is director Oliver Stone's Oscar winning take on the Vietnam War is a good war movie. Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe give absolutely incredible performances, easily some of the best ever in a war film. The rest of the supporting cast is excellent as well but the biggest problem I have with the movie is that Charlie Sheen is in the lead role.

Now I hate to get on the man's case after all the recent bulls*** he's been through, especially because it's not really his fault. Charlie Sheen acted his ass off, he's just no Martin Sheen and this ain't no Apocolypse Now. The comparisons with Francis Ford Coppola's classic are unavoidable with this movie and for me, Apocalypse Now is just better. I would have loved to have seen how this movie would have been with a young Johnny Depp or Forest Whittaker (who were both in the supporting cast) in the leading role. With such incredible performances from Berenger and Dafoe the main arc of the story just comes across as being overlooked.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good movie and if you've never seen it before by all means you should watch it. However, this isn't a great movie and if you're going to watch something with such heavy subject matter wouldn't you rather watch the best?

To add this movie to your Netflix queue click here.

According to instantwatcher.com this movie will stream on Netflix until 4/1/11.

The Standard 5:

Why is it in your queue? Look at all the names in the cast, why wouldn't it be?

Is it artsy? No, but it has a clear anti-war message.

What stood out the most to you? Berenger and Dafoe going head to head was incredibly intense.

What mood should I be in to watch this movie? Looking for a good war drama.

What rating did you give it on Netflix? 4 Stars. 

Tweet

The Pianist (2002)

No matter how good the movie is supposed to be it's still hard to get excited about watching a holocaust movie. It's just such a depressing topic and movies are generally used as an escape from reality. However, sometimes it is important to use the medium as a mirror to reflect the worst of what human beings are capable of. While he may or may not be a sleazebag, director Roman Polanski (himself a holocaust survivor) demonstrated a masterful touch in telling the story of Polish holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman.

Everyone's favorite lanky actor, Adrien Brody, gave a brilliant performance in this film that he'll probably never again be able to match. He apparently went to great lengths to realistically portray his character, going as far as actually starving himself during shooting. He was really incredible and definitely deserved the Oscar he received for his performance.

The story itself is gripping, horrifying and at times seems almost surreal. What the Nazi's did was so unbelievable that it even seemed unbelievable to the people it was being done to at times. It's an awful, depressing tale told in a brilliant and moving way. You really can't help being riveted by this movie. If you've never seen this movie before you should take the plunge and check it out. It really is a brilliant film.

Click here to add this movie to your Netflix queue. 

According to instantwatcher.com this movie will only stream until 3/15/11.

The Standard 5:

Why is it in your queue? Somehow I never got around to watching this movie till now even though it was supposed to be really good.

Is it artsy? No.

Most memorable moment? The guy towards the end that gives him the coat.

What mood should I be in to watch this movie? In such a good mood that it won't send you into depression.

What rating did you give it on Netflix? 5 Stars!

Tweet