Film Review: Stop-Loss

Can anyone make an Iraq War film that the public wants to see? There have been a few very good films with the Iraq War as a theme/backdrop. None have made even a ripple at the box-office. "In the Valley of Elah" was released last fall to glowing reviews and featured an Academy Award nominated performance from Tommy Lee Jones. It topped out at 6.7 million domestic gross earnings. That was the highest grossing Iraq-themed film out of the half-dozen that made it to theaters. This week Paramount Pictures and MTV Films released "Stop-Loss" with a heavy advertising campaign that prominently mentions a 4 1/2 star review from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. The movie features a young, good-looking cast, and promised to be the film that finally brought a mainstream audience to a movie "about" the Iraq War. "Stop-Loss" debuted at # 8 for the weekend with 4.5 million in receipts, well behind a movie about MIT students who win big at the blackjack tables in Vegas. The American moviegoing population is just not interested in this war. Maybe no one is. A recent audit of the major newspapers in the US showed that only 6% of all stories published on the front page were about the Iraq War. About the film. It's a very sombering story of a small town Texas soldier who has served the five years he signed up for. A clause in that contract he signed says the military can recall him to serve out what normally is "inactive" time as an active duty soldier. This is called being "stop-lossed". The director tells us in her coda that out of 650,000 troops that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 80,000 have had this happen to them. The main character aptly calls it a "backdoor draft". The center piece of Kimberly Peirce's film is a road trip through the US that Staff Sergeant King(Ryan Phillipe) and his best friends fiancee embark on after he goes AWOL. On his way to see a Congressman in DC who once told him to "see me if you need anything", he visits a multiple amputee from his platoon, a deceased soldiers' parents, and encounters a sort of underground group of other stop-lossed soldiers who are "hiding out". Back at home in Texas his best friend has decided to re-enlist, and his other friend has started self-medicating with alcohol. During his journey we see that Sgt. King is suffering from severe PTSD. We won't reveal what ultimately happens or what is decided, but it's one of the most haunting and heart-breaking final shots of any war movie I've ever seen. My wife and I left the theater feeling angry and helpless. After seeing the box-office totals I felt sadness.

HBO Series "In Treatment"

In Treatment: HBO Original Series

I stumbled across "In Treatment", a 45 episode original series that has been airing on HBO Monday-Friday for the last nine weeks, during some down time at my job as a PTSD screener. HBO was showing the early episodes online to garner interest in the show. I rationalized watching it at work since it dealt with individual counseling and at least one character MIGHT have PTSD.
The basic structure and set up of the series is this. A therapist and his patients' sessions. HBO would follow one patient every Monday, and so on through the week. So for nine weeks we get to sit in on these sessions with the psychiatrist. Mondays it was a beautiful young doctor named Laura, Tuesdays a Navy pilot mandated to get treatment after bombing a school inadvertantly on a mission in Iraq was shown (MY PTSD TIE-IN!). Wednesdays it was a teenage gymnast who may or may not have driven her bike into oncoming traffic. Thursdays a couple with many issues are featured, and finally on Fridays the therapist sees his own therapist to help make sense of his week. The acting and writing are top-notch and award-worthy considering this is television. Gabriel Byrne, who usually annoys me in most of his big screen outings, is in full command here as the therapist with his own family and marriage issues. There are Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe nomination can't miss performances from at least two of his patients. Blair Underwood as the Navy pilot Alex has NEVER been close to this good in anything. The teenage gymnast is played by Mia Wasikowska and she is nothing short of a revelation in this role. Solid work is also turned in by Michelle Forbes as the psychoanalysts' wife, Dianne Wiest as his mentor, and Glynn Turman turns in an unforgettable one episode shot as Alex Sr., the Navy pilots Dad, looking for answers. HBO is now airing the first fifteen episodes for free on hbo.com. The episodes online are edited for language but you don't lose any of the content. One minor criticism of the show is that it was slightly hampered by its' structure when it tried to introduce other characters from the therapists' personal life. Just give us the sessions.

Music March Madness

I don't download much music, don't burn cd's, so when I move to a new area one of the top priorities is finding a good drive time/commute radio station. It didn't take long to fall in love with 94.9 in San Diego. When they say "It's about the music", they mean it. Most, heck ALL other commercial radio consists of am drive time dj/idiots who laugh at their own material in-between traffic, weather and news reports. I often get twenty full minutes of music during my twenty two minute commute to Camp Pendleton(imagine that!). The station features what is best described as "progressive rock" with healthy doses of Eddie Vedder, Muse, Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins. Some bands I've discovered I like include Radiohead, and Death Cab for Cutie. Of interest, and how this ties into the theme of my blog, is that this March 94.9 has started it's own version of March Madness. They've "seeded" rock bands using the popular NCAA men's basketball tourney format and have a "play" off during certain hours of the day. Instead of West/East or other geographical regions they have broken up the regions into musical decades. They've seeded the best bands from the 70's 1-16, and the 80's, 90's and 00's(aughts?). There was no backlash though for the "committee" leaving out certain bands, and bands from say Seattle weren't mad that they got sent "out east". Winners are decided by online voting during certain hours of the day when the station plays selections from the two bands facing off head to head. The "tourney" is well underway and there have been a few upsets. Devo, a # 14 seed, knocked off the # 3 seed in the 80's The Beastie Boys. All the # 1 and # 2 seeds survived the opening round and are preparing for much tougher battles in the round of 32. The # 1 seeds are as follows: 1970's-Led Zepplin, 1980's-U2, 1990's-Nirvana, 2000's-Radiohead. Here are Nixed's Picks for this particular Music March Madness. I see U2 coming out of a relatively easy 80's bracket taking down REM in the Elite Eight, and then going on to face the 70's winner Led Zepplin but not having enough to take out Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. The other finalist will come from my surprise winner of the 90's bracket, The Smashing Pumpkins, seeded at a ridiculously low # 7 vs the 00's winner Nirvana. I see Nirvana taking this mainly because of the demographics of the listeners. Those same listeners won't be able to sleep at night voting in Nirvana over Led though. The winner is Led Zepplin!