Friday, August 20, 2010
GETTING YOUR GOAT
Today's film was
with Jeff Bridges, George Clooney and Ewan McGregor. The usually execrable Kevin Spacey is in it too but, as a villain, he is not only bearable but welcome as a punching bag.
The title of this movie is awful. I have no alternative but it would certainly explain why this funny and sincere film didn't get much of a reception.
Look. It is not about goats. It is about the military's psy-ops cuddle with the forces of the human potential movement.
All the reality and clichés of the 70s are there. I was there too. It is credible. it is funny. Psy Ops is one thing but moving to mind reading and bodily displacement is quite another.
When the stiff backed generals come up against the gurus, Bridges perfectly cast and Clooney carving a new persona for himself, there is a huge mind fuck and we get to see its origin as well as its death throes in the second and biggest Iraq war.
As a film about Iraq, it is quite something. A different take. The great skill of the writers and director is to take the clichés of the war and turn them into a soup of crazy possibility.
I enjoyed the movie a great deal and, as a Bridges fan, was philosophical about his limited use. Any more and he would have stolen the film into another dimension. As it is, we get to see a serious film about the military and the war put in terms that are amusing and enjoyable. The medicine goes down a bit more smoothly.
I wouldn't mind seeing this again and Bridge's performance (which is not a repetition of "the dude" despite what Ebert says) would prompt its inclusion in a future Bridges fest which is almost a sure thing in a year or so.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
