On September 13, 2001 — a mere two days after the 9/11 attacks — Tomas Young, a Kansan with an overwhelming sense of patriotism and loyalty to his country, felt moved to enlist in the United States Armed Forces. Equipped with the courage to fight and rid the world of the threat of terror, Young anticipated an appointment in Afghanistan that would enable him to join his fellow soldiers in rooting out and bringing to justice Al-Qaeda operatives. This did not occur, however, and President Bush’s order to invade Iraq stunned everyone, including Tomas. He soon found himself shuttled off to a land that posed no obvious threat to the United States, where he was instantly struck by a bullet from behind — and rendered both paraplegic for life and unconscious. Airlifted home, Tomas slowly regained awareness of himself and his surroundings, settling in for a long, grueling recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation’s capital, with the assistance and loving support of his mother. But the young man’s journey did not end there. As he lay in his hospital bed, unable to move, Tomas learned of the countless injuries and deaths afflicting hundreds of thousands in Iraq. In the process, he became one of the nation’s most ardent opponents of the Iraq invasion. With their nonfiction work Body of War, longtime television pundit Phil Donahue and documentarian Ellen Spiro join forces to relay Tomas’ heart-wrenching and yet deeply affirming story — both a testament to one man’s enduring inner strength and a towering condemnation of a localized conflict that owes much, if not everything, to the miscalculation and intrusion of the United States.
Oliver Stone, the most outspokenly political American filmmaker of the 1980s and ’90s, directs this epic-length biography of Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the U.S., who was re-elected by a landslide in 1972, only to resign in disgrace two years later. Taking a non-linear approach, Nixon jumps back and forth between many different periods and events, from Nixon’s strict upbringing at the hands of his Quaker mother, through the many peaks and valleys of his political career, to his downfall in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The facts of his life are blended with supposition and speculation to create a portrait that is often critical of the man’s policies but displays an unexpected compassion toward his failings as a human being. Anthony Hopkins stars as Nixon, Joan Allen plays his long-suffering wife Pat, Mary Steenburgen portrays his mother Hannah, Bob Hoskins is cast as J. Edgar Hoover, Powers Boothe plays Alexander Haig, Paul Sorvino portrays Henry Kisinger, and Ed Harris plays E. Howard Hunt.
Ben Stiller’s satirical look at Hollywood, Tropic Thunder concerns the production of an epic Vietnam War film that quickly derails thanks to the giant egos of everyone involved in the production. Stiller stars as Tugg Speedman, an action hero trying to segue out of that genre. Jack Black plays Jeff Portnoy, a drug-addicted fat comic also attempting to change his image by taking on such a serious film. They star alongside Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), one of the world’s most awarded actors, and a man who insists on immersing himself totally in a role. In this case, that means Lazarus has had his skin dyed in order to portray an African-American soldier. After their outrageous behavior lands the film’s director, Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), in very hot water with producer Les Grossman (Tom Cruise), Cockburn takes the advice of grizzled Vietnam vet Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte); in order to gain control of his performers, Cockburn drops the actors off in the jungle, planning to film the movie guerrilla-style with hidden cameras. When the group stumbles upon a heroin production camp, the actors are unaware that they are in very real danger.