Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
Unsatisfying
Frustratingly apolitical Gulf War biopic, adapted from Anthony Swofford's bestselling memoir. This isn't a Full Metal Jacket or a Platoon, full of rage at the dehumanizing power of war; it's about soldiers left wandering in the desert while air power wins the day. It is like no war movie I've ever seen.
But, while it might be subverting genre conventions, it's frustratingly detached. Our hero gets bored. He suffers. He displays a mysterious knowledge of Arabic. In one startling sequence alternately threatens death and begs for it. But he never says why. The film self-consciously obscures his motivation -- in his opening voice-over, he states that he will not be talking about his mother, or his father, or his sister. In the audience, we are trapped as mere observers. It's not his story, not really: it's a sequence of things that occurred in the place he happened to be, but there's nothing of him in it.
Incredibly unsatisfying.