Yesterday we were lounging around lazily on the couch flipping channels when we stopped on Starship Troopers. I feel like that film can't figure out what it is. It's satire, then serious drama, then satire again. It's inconsistent. The Beefcake and I discussed this at length.
Then we flipped to Courage Under Fire. Man, is that not a perfect film? Lou Diamond Phillips does his best work in that film. Hell everybody does their best work in that film. It says so many important things about what it means to be a hero, about women in combat, about women in authority positions, about the nature of truth, and probably some more things I haven't thought about yet. But what I love the most about that film is how each character hides pain. The actors did a spectacular job of expressing that as each individual person put on their manly military facade to cover the obvious hurt they lived with each day. We discussed that too.
And that's what I love about movies. I love to just look at the art and pick it apart and bask in the beauty of a well-constructed film. It's so rare a film gets from conception to completion without being fucked up by the many people who stand in its way, so when a film comes out so beautifully I just get excited to watch it. I want to sit and talk about why it's so amazing, but that's also the English teacher in me, I suspect.
What we do, when it's done well, is amazing art. We're lucky to be a part of it.
Was 'Courage Under Fire' on TBS? That movie is on at least 7 times a week on that channel. The Boyfriend and I have watched it twice. Well, he's watched it twice. I've watched it in pieces.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I can't watch movies on TBS. Must be the commercials.