Posts tagged advice
“The Messenger” Sober Notification of War
Mar 4th
Sober Notification of War
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE MESSENGER is about one aspect of the modern-day Army that you don’t see much these days: the notification of next of kin that someone in their family has been killed in war.
However, the focus isn’t on the families who are notified. The focus is on two of the soldiers whose job is to do the notifications.
Ben Foster plays Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery. He was severely injured in combat, he has three months left to serve on his enlistment, and he is assigned to be one-half of the casualty notification team on an Army base.
The other half is Capt. Tony Stone, played by Woody Harrelson. Capt. Stone is a veteran at this unpleasant duty, and he tells Sgt. Montgomery, “We’re just here for notification, not God, not heaven.”
As further instruction, Capt. Stone says, “You do not speak with anyone other than next of kin. Avoid physical contact. In case you feel like offering a hug, don’t.”
And as one final word of advice, Capt. Stone says, “I should warn you, some of them do have guns.”
Their first notification together doesn’t go well at all, not that you could imagine that any of them would be easy.
Capt. Stone reveals to Sgt. Montgomery that he has been sober for three years and doesn’t drink anything stronger than soda pop. Although now single, he has been married three times, twice to the same woman.
Sgt. Montgomery, on the other hand, has just been informed by his girlfriend that she is getting married soon and to someone he knows.
Sgt. Montgomery tells Capt. Stone that he is ready to handle the second notification, and he informs a man that his son has been killed in combat, but that one doesn’t go well, either.
Finally, their third notification together goes better, this one to a woman about her husband, but Sgt. Montgomery gets affected enough to return to the widow’s house to see how she is holding up.
There are other encounters, as well, in public, and eventually the two of them become friends, which is strictly against Capt. Stone’s directions.
Unfortunately, Harrelson is all quirky mannerisms, and he acts as if he is always trying to upstage the other person, even when he is the only one onscreen.
THE MESSENGER is a sober notification of war.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Extract” Dumb, but Extremely Funny
Sep 9th
Dumb, but Extremely Funny
Hotshots” looks at a movie!
EXTRACT is the latest comedy written and directed by Mike Judge, who previously made the 1999 OFFICE SPACE and created the TV series “Beavis and Butt-Head” and “King of the Hill,” and so you know that you are in for a treatment of one poor schlub swimming against a sea of dumb guys and gals.
Rudyard Kipling wrote about keeping your head when all about you are losing theirs. Well, Jason Bateman does an excellent job as Joel, who is trying desperately to keep his head while everyone around him is losing theirs and some are even being stolen.
Joel owns a company that makes flavoring extracts, but his two biggest problems are trying to avoid talking to his annoying neighbor, expecially when Joel is trying to get home to his wife every evening after work before Suzie puts on her sweat pants and ties the knot.
That means that there will be no sex that night, and Joel laments to his buddy, Dean, that there hasn’t been any sex in months.
Dean is played by Ben Affleck, and he is a bartender where Joel used to work. Dean calls himself “an entrepreneur, spiritualist, healer,” but mostly he dispenses advice and pharmaceutical drugs.
When Joel tells Dean about his problem with Suzie and that a new hot-looking temp he hired seemed to be coming on to him, Dean advises, “You hire a gigolo to cheat on your wife.”
That way, you see, if Suzie takes the bait and cheats on Joel with the gigolo, then Joel can cheat on Suzie with the new temp and not have a guilty conscience.
To his credit, Joel resists the advice, but when Dean gives Joel a pill to calm him down, he gets his pills mixed up and gives Joel a horse tranquilizer instead. So, without thinking clearly, Joel takes Dean’s bad advice, hires a dumb kid that Dean knows to pretend to clean Joel’s swimming pool, and even agrees to pay Dean 10 percent.
Meanwhile, a freak and very funny accident at work causes an employee to lose a testicle, the hot-looking temp is much more than she appears to be, and Joel ends up with more problems at work than he has at home.
EXTRACT is full of the dumbest characters you will ever meet, but also extremely funny.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”