Full Metal Jacket Movie Review

Full Metal Jacket; Kubrick's 1987 war movie. The first half of the movie, the story arch all taking place at the boot camp, is really good. I think it would make a really strong short film on its own. But I think Hollywood told Kubrick “No! We want a movie long enough to have a theatrical release so we can make money! Add more to it! Chop, chop!” That’s what the rest of the movie basically feels like. It’s kind of a bloody mess. Yeah, the Vietnam War was a bloody mess, but the movie doesn’t really accurately convey that. A lot of the soldiers are portrayed as horny psychopaths, as if it’s saying all of the soldiers in Vietnam lost their humanity and became total monsters. Yes, I’m sure a lot of them did, but not all soldiers become serial killing rapists. If you compare it to other war movies, they often show the pain soldiers go through and the trauma they experience in killing people and seeing their friends die. This movie seems to think soldiers all just go insane and end up actually enjoying killing people. This is neither accurate nor is it particularly respectful to Vietnam veterans. It's basically how the American public viewed the soldiers fighting in Vietnam. To me, it’s another very basic movie about how war is bad. Yeah, everyone knows that, would you like to add more to that message? Or expand on it a little? No? Okay, pointless violence it is then. I would only recommend it if you’re a hard core Kubrick fan and just want to say you’ve seen all of his movies. Or if you like violent war movies in general and don't want to watch one that tries to tug at your heart strings, then this is for you. 6/10

Across the Universe Movie Review

Across the Universe is a 2007 film directed by Julie Taymor. It stars Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess, with a very random appearance by Eddie Izzard. The film is basically the director’s favorite Beatles songs with a poorly constructed story written around them. The movie is about a couple living in the war torn 1960’s who sing Beatles songs with their friends. There are moments where there is potential for good character development, but then they sing a song and it stops that moment dead in its tracks. If there was less singing and more story-telling, the story would have more room to breathe. I would only recommend it to Beatles fans, but maybe not even then because they may not agree with the composition of the songs. The songs are well done and the visuals for the song numbers are really good. I personally enjoy it as a two hour long music video/tribute to the Beatles and 1960's culture. So if you’re a fan of musicals with cool visual effects and you don’t mind a choppy story line, then I would recommend it. 7/10