movie review

last night i went to the movies, at night, with girlfriends. yes, i know! you'd think, ok six chicks---they're going to see a chick flick right? uh, no. we went to see stop loss.

to be honest i wasn't sure what it was supposed to be about before i decided to go, i just knew it was a movie and going with friends and, as i've said, this is a rare thing for me. before i get to the review i will say that it will be a long, long time before i go to a night time movie in a real movie theater again because that shit cost $9!! can you believe that? in our little town we have a $3 movie theater (it is not plush and fancy but hey, it's $3) and the hubs and kids all got in to see horton hears a who last night while i paid $9 for my ticket alone. (the seats WERE incredibly cushy and big though).

ok, the movie. i'm curious to know which of my friend's idea it was to see this particular movie, not that i'm going to kill them or hold it against them or anything, i'm just curious. i will not spoil the movie tell you the ending but i will review it for you.

the story is that there is this platoon of soldiers in iraq who are about to end their tours and some of them are getting out of the army, so they think. there is this thing called stop loss--that is where, during times of war, the government does not have to actually let you end your stint in the army; sort of like a backwards draft. so, whether you want to reenlist or not, you're back in the army. it sucks. i'm an army brat, the hubs is an army brat, both of our dad's were in viet nam and i think stop loss sucks balls.

i did tear up a time or two because i kept seeing the story from the mother's perspective and kept thinking that when the boy comes of age, if there is a draft, we will move to canada. the hubs is violently opposed to this. (we're on different sides of the fence on this one.) however, i never really felt invested in these characters like i could have been if the movie had been done better. i've seen jarhead, with jake g. and it was so much better. not the same story, but i mean as far as modern day war movie goes, jarhead rocked.

one thing that irritated me about stop loss is that it was full of cliches. no doubt soldiers come home every day and they're fucked in the head; how could you not be? but there was the typical drunk soldier; the one who can't imagine any type of life but the army and violence and killing; and the one who can't deal with the killing he did and just wants to be a peaceful, non-soldier now. they rednecked it up way too much (cos several of these boys were from texas) and there was beer drinking and target practice a lot. let's get drunk and shoot some stuff up and that will make us feel like we're still soldiers. then let's do the typical guy fighting--the kind where they are so close to each other and care so much about each other but they can't say it in words so they get mad and beat the shit out of each other? yeah, that kind.

ok, enough trashing. i still had a good time and it was interesting in that i didn't know what stop loss was, didn't realize how many soldiers (like 81,000) had been stop lossed since the war started and how incredibly unfair it is.

if you're torn between seeing this movie or jarhead, see jarhead.

and broad and donut, don't get mad cos i didn't love the movie : ) i loved going with you guys!

oh, oh wait. there was one really funny thing that happened before the movie started. they showed a trailer for nick cage's upcoming movie. it's all action packed and drama and guns and in thailand and dark--thriller trailer right? then they flash the name of the movie on the screen and all six of us busted out laughing at the same time (there were all of 3-4 other people in the theater)--the name? bangkok dangerous. roflmao.