‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’ Download and Reviews
“The Men Who Stare at Goats” Movie Details
The Men Who Stare at Goats tagline: No goats. No glory.
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| Directors: Grant Heslov | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IMDB Rating: 6.6/10 out of 12,475 votes |
“The Men Who Stare at Goats” Movie Review
“The Men Who Stare at Goats” Plot Summary
A reporter in Iraq might just have the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army’s New Earth Army, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions. add synopsis
I loved this film. Clooney and Spacey were particularly hilarious
The story borrows liberally from the exploits of Joe McMoneagle and Ingo Swann and the cadre of Remote Viewers stationed at Fort Meade, MD, under the operational detachment Project Stargate. Yes, as the film states upfront: ‘More of this is true than you would believe’. There are instances in the film that incorporate actual Stargate operations: tracking submarines, finding a kidnapped American General in Italy and the search for Noriega following the US invasion of Panama. The comedy comes from the disconnect that the professional military hierarchy has from the rest of us. The Pentagon has too much money at its disposal and its internal political dynamics encourage a bizarre mixture of risk-averse yet forward-thinking innovators. This was particularly rampant after our loss in Vietnam. Vietnam and the Cold War combined to pull the Pentagon Brass in a thousand different directions and created a schism in the strategic planning sectors that is ripe for comedic exploration. Grant Heslov deftly captured this cultural watershed through his direction of the film. He ably guided the actors in performances that while sometimes brief, captured the totality of the real absurdity that the military can sometimes give us, while keeping the characters real and grounded and not drifting into farce. Heslov has captured an elusive tone, entirely his own, that I’ve only previously seen in Coen Brother’s films. This is a story I’ve longed to see told on the big screen and it was worth the wait. You could say its a story about the Military-Insanity Complex, but that’s too broad a brush for this slice of American military history. Clooney is brilliantly understated as always, he’s a master of subtlety and an actor that understands how powerful the camera can be. Kevin Spacey is throughly despicable as the film’s only real villain. If the film has any flaws at all its that Spacey is not in it enough. But the most poignant character is beautifully drawn by Jeff Bridges, who in just a few scenes depicts the inevitable trajectory of the innovative free-thinker in a rigid, uncaring system. Bridges shows us the cost of being that individual and Heslov gives the film room to explore this aspect of the story without sacrificing the reason we’re all there to watch: and that is to have a laugh at something that maybe should never have happened but did.
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‘Get Smart’ Download and Reviews
“Get Smart” Movie Details
Get Smart tagline: Saving The World. And Loving It.
 Get Smart DVD Cover |
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| Directors: Peter Segal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IMDB Rating: 6.8/10 out of 53,413 votes |
“Get Smart” Movie Review
“Get Smart” Plot Summary
Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for CONTROL, battles the forces of KAOS with the more-competent Agent 99 at his side.
A superb updating of a classic production!
The new ‘Get Smart’ does a masterful job of capturing the style, tone and humor of the ’60s series, while transporting it into a modern sensibility. I had hopes for this film after seeing the two leads doing a 30-second skit on the Academy Awards show and thought they were dead on. So I invested $11.50 and was proved right
First, this is no cheap knockoff. The production team captured Buck Henry’s creation very credibly both in tone and substance. It reminded me very much of the late ’80s homage to ‘Dragnet,’ which was executed with love and great attention to detail (right down to the product placement of Camel cigarettes and a photo of Jack Webb on the Dan Akroyd’s desk). It’s no small feat updating something as much a part of its era into a modern sensibility. There were even echoes of the early James Bond films (especially in The Rock’s ladykiller character flirting with CONTROL’s ‘Miss Moneypenny’ and in some of the musical cues). On the other hand, the production values were all first-rate and contemporary, including a CGI effect of an aerial fly-around and push-in to a 747 that was reminiscent of the key shot in the pilot of Star Trek
Steve Carrell makes a very reasonable Agent 86; where Don Adams played the character as a bumbling naif, Carrell makes him into a goodhearted wannabe who, despite having the kind of personality that renders him invisible in society, still has intelligence and an earnestness that can make him into hero material when he works at it. He reminded me of Jim Varney’s portrayal of Jed Clampett: pure of heart and belief in his fellow man, yet with a bit of chops in dealing with the dark side of society. He fumbles around a lot getting his sea legs after years of being an ineffectual fatso (viz. impetuously slamming a fire extinguisher into the noggin of his boss at one point) but in a pinch, he’s quickwitted and moves with decision. (He also quite reasonably feels more secure in briefs than boxer shorts; I don’t know what Adam’s take on this issue was).
On the other hand, Anne Hathaway nails Agent 99 with a performance absolutely capturing Barbara Feldon’s creation, right down to the tone of voice, the raised eyebrows, and at least three different dead-on intonations of ‘Oh, Max!’ Nevertheless, Hathaway moves the character beyond the pre-feminist liberation era and invests 99 with a believable 21st century sexuality and sense of empowerment. She’s clearly in charge during the first half of the movie, only slowly yielding to an appreciation of Carrell’s growing sense of command (and her own feelings toward him) as we move into Act 3.
Alan Arkin brings an odd turn to the Chief, playing him with a much-less-exasperated fatalism than did Edward Platt. In an interview, Arkin says he saw the character as a very good principal of a very bad middleschool. He comes across as a somewhat old codger closing in on retirement who’s comfortably in charge and doesn’t try to micromanage, and he has an important role in the climax piloting a Cessna over Disney Hall downtown, but I missed one of the catchlines they didn’t include in this revision: namely, the Chief getting one of his headaches. (The other catchline they left out was 86’s frequent ‘That’s the second biggest (fill in the blank) I’ve ever seen.’)Everything else was there, though: We see the Cone of Silence (technologically updated), a very clever CGI revision of the entrance passage to CONTROL HQ, cameos by both Hymie the Robot and Fang, and there’s even a passing utilization in this cellphone-obsessed society to the shoe-phone (appropriated from the Smithsonian institution display of the old ‘defunct’ CONTROL). On the other hand, the agency is now under the Homeland Security Department and answers to the Vice President (when they can find him) and uses lots of high-tech, satellite surveillance and GPS gear. Chaos is in cahoots with terrorist organizations around the world and we know they’re bad because they drive around in SUVs (the most satisfying and ‘green’ event is seeing one of Satan’s Sedans being demolished by a freight train).
Oh, and BTW, it’s also a love story.
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