Comments on: THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS http://www.atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/ Reviews, Trailers, and Much More! Wed, 23 May 2012 04:57:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Ernesto A. Eusebio http://www.atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/comment-page-1/#comment-2751 Ernesto A. Eusebio Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:46:45 +0000 http://atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/#comment-2751 This movie is a must-see, even if you like it or not, in the end it has a very good message, it is an excellent movie regardless of other commentaries i've read here. <br /> <br />I recommend this movie just like i would: K-pax, Donnie Darko, Gladiator, and others. Rating: 5 / 5 This movie is a must-see, even if you like it or not, in the end it has a very good message, it is an excellent movie regardless of other commentaries i’ve read here.

I recommend this movie just like i would: K-pax, Donnie Darko, Gladiator, and others.
Rating: 5 / 5

]]> By: Michael J. Tresca http://www.atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/comment-page-1/#comment-2750 Michael J. Tresca Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:06:55 +0000 http://atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/#comment-2750 When I discovered a movie was being made about The Men Who Stare at Goats I was excited, until I realized it was a comedic work of fiction. Thing is, The Men Who Stare at Goats isn't funny. <br /> <br />Oh, it's darkly humorous as the author, Jon Ronson, attempts to get to the truth while keeping a straight face. But it's not funny, and the conclusion Ronson reaches by the end of the book, after tracking the noble origins of a twisted, sadistic form of psychological warfare, is a punch in the face. So why was it made into a comedy? <br /> <br />Fortunately, comedy is too broad a stroke for the movie. It's actually a gonzo buddy journalism movie, where the actors play everything utterly straight. The humor is in what isn't said. <br /> <br />For example: When Ewan McGregor's journalist character Bob Wilton, he of Obi-Wan fame, asks "What's a Jedi?" nobody so much as snickers. Unfortunately the audience didn't seem to get it either: only my wife and I were laughing. <br /> <br />Wilton is on a mission to prove to his wife that he's more of a man than the one-armed editor who steals her from him. See? One armed men are funny! <br /> <br />Partnering with Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a Special Forces psi-ops soldier, the two travel around Iraq on a mysterious mission. Just about every eccentric Ronson encountered in his book is collapsed into two characters in the film, Cassady and Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), Cassady's mentor. <br /> <br />And that's pretty much where The Men Who Stares at Goats loses its way...literally, as the two characters repeatedly get lost in the desert. Eventually, they end up at a secret base where more than just goat staring takes place. <br /> <br />The film is faithful to its source in surprising ways, from the Today show broadcast of Barney music used in torturing prisoners to a picture-for-picture reproduction of the First Earth Battalion manual (here titled the New Earth Army). The problem is that following Ronson/Wilton's journey to its logical conclusion should end with court marshals, public outrage, and an official inquiry. The strength and weakness of The Men Who Stare at Goats is that it unflinchingly deals with this problem...it's just that the solution is patently ridiculous. The film drives right off the cliff into a wish fulfillment fantasy that saps the strength of the rest of the movie. <br /> <br />The film ends with a sucker punch (SPOILER). Wilton publishes the truth, and instead of outrage, the world just laughs. The moral is that mass media turned the awful true story into a comedy...just like a comedic buddy movie did to a certain book you might have read. <br /> <br />Too bleak to be funny, too lighthearted to be serious, The Men Who Stares at Goats ends up as a hot mess of hippy idealism smashed together with modern conspiracy. It should have been a documentary. <br /> Rating: 2 / 5 When I discovered a movie was being made about The Men Who Stare at Goats I was excited, until I realized it was a comedic work of fiction. Thing is, The Men Who Stare at Goats isn’t funny.

Oh, it’s darkly humorous as the author, Jon Ronson, attempts to get to the truth while keeping a straight face. But it’s not funny, and the conclusion Ronson reaches by the end of the book, after tracking the noble origins of a twisted, sadistic form of psychological warfare, is a punch in the face. So why was it made into a comedy?

Fortunately, comedy is too broad a stroke for the movie. It’s actually a gonzo buddy journalism movie, where the actors play everything utterly straight. The humor is in what isn’t said.

For example: When Ewan McGregor’s journalist character Bob Wilton, he of Obi-Wan fame, asks “What’s a Jedi?” nobody so much as snickers. Unfortunately the audience didn’t seem to get it either: only my wife and I were laughing.

Wilton is on a mission to prove to his wife that he’s more of a man than the one-armed editor who steals her from him. See? One armed men are funny!

Partnering with Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a Special Forces psi-ops soldier, the two travel around Iraq on a mysterious mission. Just about every eccentric Ronson encountered in his book is collapsed into two characters in the film, Cassady and Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), Cassady’s mentor.

And that’s pretty much where The Men Who Stares at Goats loses its way…literally, as the two characters repeatedly get lost in the desert. Eventually, they end up at a secret base where more than just goat staring takes place.

The film is faithful to its source in surprising ways, from the Today show broadcast of Barney music used in torturing prisoners to a picture-for-picture reproduction of the First Earth Battalion manual (here titled the New Earth Army). The problem is that following Ronson/Wilton’s journey to its logical conclusion should end with court marshals, public outrage, and an official inquiry. The strength and weakness of The Men Who Stare at Goats is that it unflinchingly deals with this problem…it’s just that the solution is patently ridiculous. The film drives right off the cliff into a wish fulfillment fantasy that saps the strength of the rest of the movie.

The film ends with a sucker punch (SPOILER). Wilton publishes the truth, and instead of outrage, the world just laughs. The moral is that mass media turned the awful true story into a comedy…just like a comedic buddy movie did to a certain book you might have read.

Too bleak to be funny, too lighthearted to be serious, The Men Who Stares at Goats ends up as a hot mess of hippy idealism smashed together with modern conspiracy. It should have been a documentary.

Rating: 2 / 5

]]> By: Paul J. Werbos http://www.atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/comment-page-1/#comment-2749 Paul J. Werbos Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:17:46 +0000 http://atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/#comment-2749 For me -- I found this movie far exceeded my hopes for it, which in turn were <br />much better than the niggling reviews from local movie critics. <br />Why the difference? Maybe because most people go to movies in order to find help in escaping from reality. They want war movies to be a clash of perfect heroes against perfect evil, or, alternatively, a moral drama of enlightened pacifists confronting the <br />perfect evil of war. In addressing the sensitive subject of human paranormal <br />abilities, they want either a total righteous debunking of "parapsychology, cold fusion and religion" (a curse chant I have heard from cetain folks in the halls of power), or <br />a kind of morality play of perfect omniscient and omnipotent heroes doing miracles. They approach all of life that way. <br /> This movie actually is relentlessly heroic in its own way -- in trying to chase the truth, in presenting an entertaining and important chapter of reality (both war and paranormal), and in trying to see at least some way thorugh the very challenging maze we are still facing. <br /> My wife (who was well trained to fight in Afghanistan about 15-20 years ago, but never went when folks decided it might remind too many locals of the movie "Barbarella") <br />did not like it quite so much, even though she too is a realist. "Who could believe this? Especially that part about Barney?" So we went to google ... (regular google, on "Iraq Barney"). <br /> I wouldn't really empathize fully with any of the main characters. I really, really do not like or respect the attitude of certain folks regarding LSD. LSD is a disaster in many ways. But the movie had to mention it, to be true to the real-life drama. <br />LSD did play a decisive role in wiping out the army's activity in this area -- and <br />that, too, is very clear in the movie, and needs to be remembered. <br /> On the other hand, we really should not be self-righteously dismissive of "hippie style thinking." Some of us still remember that Jesus Christ himself engaged in a lot of hippie style thinking -- and some of us believe it would be a huge mistake to <br />be totally dismissive of his style of thinking and feeling and trying to "let the scales fall from your eyes." He who has an ear, let him hear. <br /> The movie concludes with the thought that "we really need Jedi." This is worth thinking about. Certainly we have more than our share of Sith Lords in the world today -- from Al Qaida to Cheney. The alternative view is that our situation is already hopeless, as nuclear capabilities proliferate and groups who would misuse them also proliferate, and freedom for individual humans erodes in subtle but decisive ways <br />all over the world. Still, there are huge challenges in trying to fill this vacuum, <br />and it would not work to just rerun the imperfect (though important) efforts of the past. The biggest challenge would be how to prevent corruption at the top from screwing it all up as it screws up many other things, such as the eroding capabilities in access to space. The next, of course, is how to insert real science so as to upgrade the best of what can be found from prior history, of which California is only one small part. <br /> Rating: 5 / 5 For me — I found this movie far exceeded my hopes for it, which in turn were
much better than the niggling reviews from local movie critics.
Why the difference? Maybe because most people go to movies in order to find help in escaping from reality. They want war movies to be a clash of perfect heroes against perfect evil, or, alternatively, a moral drama of enlightened pacifists confronting the
perfect evil of war. In addressing the sensitive subject of human paranormal
abilities, they want either a total righteous debunking of “parapsychology, cold fusion and religion” (a curse chant I have heard from cetain folks in the halls of power), or
a kind of morality play of perfect omniscient and omnipotent heroes doing miracles. They approach all of life that way.
This movie actually is relentlessly heroic in its own way — in trying to chase the truth, in presenting an entertaining and important chapter of reality (both war and paranormal), and in trying to see at least some way thorugh the very challenging maze we are still facing.
My wife (who was well trained to fight in Afghanistan about 15-20 years ago, but never went when folks decided it might remind too many locals of the movie “Barbarella”)
did not like it quite so much, even though she too is a realist. “Who could believe this? Especially that part about Barney?” So we went to google … (regular google, on “Iraq Barney”).
I wouldn’t really empathize fully with any of the main characters. I really, really do not like or respect the attitude of certain folks regarding LSD. LSD is a disaster in many ways. But the movie had to mention it, to be true to the real-life drama.
LSD did play a decisive role in wiping out the army’s activity in this area — and
that, too, is very clear in the movie, and needs to be remembered.
On the other hand, we really should not be self-righteously dismissive of “hippie style thinking.” Some of us still remember that Jesus Christ himself engaged in a lot of hippie style thinking — and some of us believe it would be a huge mistake to
be totally dismissive of his style of thinking and feeling and trying to “let the scales fall from your eyes.” He who has an ear, let him hear.
The movie concludes with the thought that “we really need Jedi.” This is worth thinking about. Certainly we have more than our share of Sith Lords in the world today — from Al Qaida to Cheney. The alternative view is that our situation is already hopeless, as nuclear capabilities proliferate and groups who would misuse them also proliferate, and freedom for individual humans erodes in subtle but decisive ways
all over the world. Still, there are huge challenges in trying to fill this vacuum,
and it would not work to just rerun the imperfect (though important) efforts of the past. The biggest challenge would be how to prevent corruption at the top from screwing it all up as it screws up many other things, such as the eroding capabilities in access to space. The next, of course, is how to insert real science so as to upgrade the best of what can be found from prior history, of which California is only one small part.

Rating: 5 / 5

]]> By: Lazzlin http://www.atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/comment-page-1/#comment-2748 Lazzlin Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:34:17 +0000 http://atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/#comment-2748 The ONLY redeeming quality of this movie? George Clooney. And that was just to look at him. No plot, and one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Not worth viewing, much less renting or buying! Rating: 1 / 5 The ONLY redeeming quality of this movie? George Clooney. And that was just to look at him. No plot, and one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Not worth viewing, much less renting or buying!
Rating: 1 / 5

]]> By: Lisa Spinelli http://www.atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/comment-page-1/#comment-2747 Lisa Spinelli Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:27:15 +0000 http://atatheatrenearyou.org/the-men-who-stare-at-goats/#comment-2747 A road less traveled, off the beaten path kind of movie. More here than meets the eye. Rating: 5 / 5 A road less traveled, off the beaten path kind of movie. More here than meets the eye.
Rating: 5 / 5

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