Stop-Loss (2008) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I am not a professional critic of any sort by any means, but after watching the movie and reading some of these reviews, I will say that my review is as professional and "accurate" as it gets. I am a Soldier amongst thousands, who has experienced these parts, as 'acted' out in the film, in reality, and what you see and experience in the film are not so and are far fetch. From the most ridiculous setup of a hasty checkpoint to the suicidal pursuit of the insurgents upon their attack (into an easily predicted ambush in a random small alley, at that) in the opening scenes. The Soldiers are equipped with ISR's (internal squad radios), and yet they yell at each other in an insurgent infested building when one Soldier is wounded...Then you have the main character (SSG King) who gets "individually" stop-lossed on his very last day of clearing, only to report, with another unit, back to Iraq... In the midst of this, the movie portrays that just about every Soldier who has just returned home, to include SSG King, as having the worse PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) possible, leading to one fellow Soldier's suicide. Due to this PTSD, King, at one point in the movie, notices his car has been broken into and items have been stolen; at which point, he so very easily locates the perpetrators in a nearby alley (3 that I recall, armed with a handgun) and has a severe flashback of Iraq leading him to defeat these 3 thieves. Also, once King has been informed of this stop-loss, he reports directly to his LTC, superseding an unseen and unknown NCO support channel and Chain of Command. It's all bogus.
There were many things that were Very inaccurate in this movie and I think it is the wrong way to go about Honoring America's Military. Stop-loss is real. I have experienced it myself as I was in the middle of a PCS (permanent change of station), with my family to another Overseas assignment, only to be kept at my current station for 3 months leading into me deploying. It can be very inconveniencing, but not anything like it is portrayed in the film. I was not stop-lossed as an individual or as a small group for that matter. My entire Division was stop-lossed and stop-moved. I will also say that no Soldier, or Division or Unit even, will ever get stop-lossed directly after a Combat tour anywhere to be directed to report back to Combat effective immediately. That is not to say that a Soldier will not see another Combat tour during the Stop-loss cycle however. Combat sucks, especially for those who have endured it themselves, especially on more than one occasion, and even more so for the families who have suffered the Ultimate Sacrifice. Today's Army is an ALL volunteer force and Soldier's should be well aware of what their specific job within the Army entails them to do and the commitment they hold.
Soldiers do go through MANY hardships. More than any person who has not experienced the Army or Military life themselves, will EVER know. Soldiers do fight everyday in many locations and some do pay the Ultimate Sacrifice. Soldiers do get stop-lossed, but will not quit, give up, and then go AWOL when it happens. They will complain and get disgruntle over it, more than likely, but those same Soldiers will, as we say, "suck it up and drive on." Many Soldiers do have and will get PTSD, but will experience and deal with it in their own ways. Families will be happy when their loved ones return and indescribable when they don't... These things happen in reality, both good and bad and this movie is a piss poor example of how Soldiers live their lives and how the Army works. If you are going to make a movie to Honor Soldiers, their families and their sacrifices, don't make the movie about ONE Soldier who gets stop-lossed as an individual to report back to Iraq specifically, 2 weeks after returning home and then have that Soldier RUN away and go AWOL in rage. Films like "Band of Brothers" and "Black Hawk Down" are films that Honor our Soldiers and give the civilian people a little taste of what a Soldier endures. Not this. I have yet to see any movie that accurately portrays the Soldiers today in Iraq and Afghanistan and the hardships they and their families endure, and honestly I don't wish to see a "movie" that does so. However, if a movie is going to be made, I would rather see that than what this movie did portray. Although many Soldiers have been through more than anyone can imagine, true Soldiers do not quit and run away from anything. God Bless the Troops and their Families!!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Stop-Loss (2008)

Decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty. He tries to resume the life he left behind with the help and support of his family and his best friend Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) who served with him in Iraq. Along with their other war buddies Brandon and Steve try to make peace with civilian life. Then against Brandon s will the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq which upends his world. The conflict tests everything he believes in: the bond of family the loyalty of friendship the limits of love and the value of honor.System Requirements:Running Time: 111 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:DRAMA/MILITARY & WAR Rating:R UPC:097363476542 Manufacturer No:347654

Get 31% OFF

Click here for more information about Stop-Loss (2008)

Bright Star (2009) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Through brilliant, stunning visuals and intelligent, witty dialogue, Jane Campion's Bright Star celebrates the rapture of passionate love. Using many of the Romantic John Keats' own words--captured for posterity in his poems and love letters to Fanny Brawne, his `sweet Girl'--Campion has weaved together one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen.
Rich 19th-century fabrics and breathtaking English scenery make Bright Star a sensuous pleasure to experience. But these visuals merely reflect the beauty within, the soul of this film: the love affair of Miss Brawne and Mister Keats.
Brawne is passionate about and proud of her fashionable and daring needlework, as is Keats his aspiring albeit more fine-spun poetry, and both share an ardent love of life and a longing for someone with whom to experience it completely. Theirs is the inspiring true story of the rare uniting of equals--of two strong, independent, and intelligent individuals with unique talents and dreams yet deeply matching values and desires.
The emotional, intellectual, and subtly sensual affair between Brawne and Keats is captured wonderfully in Bright Star, owing in part to the portrayal and backdrop of those closest to the lovers in their own lives, such as Keats' coarse but caring friend Charles Brown and Brawne's warm mother and endearing siblings. The obtrusively vulgar Brown serves in stark contrast to the gentlemanly Keats, whose integrity and will Brown deeply admires but cannot quite live up to in his own life, while Brawne's loving family--woven seamlessly into the storyline through their presence in scenes of playfully benevolent games, strolls, and dinner-parties--serves as foil to the equally loving yet singularly feisty Brawne. Through the meaningful and often-tender dialogue and interactions between these vivid characters, Bright Star is able to match beauty of setting with that of soul, a rare feat in a film...as it is in life.
Now Bright Star has been attacked as sentimental by the modern, cynical skeptic, and if it were the hackneyed story of a princess and a pauper mindlessly frolicking to their "fairytale" ending, his criticism might merit a modicum of respect. But Bright Star is not a fairytale in that empty sense; for the fact is Keats died at the age of 25, and he and Brawne were anything but mindless. So unhappily for the cynic, his venom is ineffectual against this film; for in Bright Star, his normally insidious strain of attack finds its antidote: reality. Bright Star is a *true story* depicting the love affair of two exceptional souls who lived a life (however brief for Keats) of happiness *in this world*. In today's angst-ridden, often gloomy atmosphere of humility and despair--where so many either consciously diffuse or unwittingly (and tragically) breathe in the modern liberal claim of man's depravity (itself merely a mutation of the ancient Christian notion of Original Sin)--the little-known Bright Star shines through in rebellion with pride and exaltation, demanding its viewers resurrect the self-esteem and aspiration they once had as children, and should never have let die as adults.
Although Bright Star is deeply uplifting and truly benevolent, one must be prepared to leave its resplendent world tinged with a real sadness. But this sadness does not--it cannot--abide if one recalls Keats' own poetic words to Brawne (from an early love letter), which encapsulate the film's essence: passionate love for this wondrous world and one's `Bright Star' in it...
"...I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days--three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain."

Click Here to see more reviews about: Bright Star (2009)

From Jane Campion, Academy Award winner of The Piano, comes a sweeping love story that will carry you back through time to experience the passion and romance between acclaimed poet, John Keats and his beloved muse. London 1818: a secret love affair begins between 23 year old English poet, John Keats, and the girl next door Fanny Brawne, an outspoken student of high fashion. This unlikely pair began at odds, he thinking her a stylish minx, while she was unimpressed not only by his poetry but also by literature in general.

Get 45% OFF

Click here for more information about Bright Star (2009)