Twin Bill
BEAUFORT
This tense, tough war movie is a modern classic. It’s about a small detachment of Israeli soldiers defending a 12th Century crusader castle in southern Lebanon in 2000. But after 18 years of bloody occupation, the Israeli army is pulling out of Lebanon – and these are the last guys left. The movie never raises the question, but the implication is clear: as the GIs said in Vietnam, who wants to be the last soldier to die here?
The Israelis have gotten used to daily barrages of mortar fire, more a nuisance than an outright threat, but when Hezbollah fighters up the ante with US-made missiles, things start to look very dicey. When an appealing young soldier is killed by a roadside bomb, the officer in charge, Liraz (Oshri Cohen) begins to crack under the pressure. The countdown begins to their ultimate withdrawal, but first they will mine the entire fortress with high explosives. Then they’re told to stay put for at least another day – and the tension ratchets even higher. We never see the enemy in this war movie, but we always know they’re out there, somewhere in that beautiful mountain landscape.
Joseph Cedar directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Ron Lesham, who wrote a novel about his real life experience in a situation very much like this one. “Beaufort” was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign language film (it’s in Hebrew). Look, I know you’re probably not going to run down to the Movies on Exchange Street to see this one, but look for it in your next Netflix order.
It’s rated R for realistic warfare.
HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY
Now for something completely different. I really enjoyed the rude, crude humor of the first Harold and Kumar movie. Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) are sort of a stoner Abbott and Costello, bickering buddies who get into all sorts of hot water over the smallest issues.
In “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” the two set out on a quest for burgers that seemed to go on forever. In this new one, they’re on a plane for Amsterdam when their bong is mistaken for a bomb, and before they know it they’re in orange jumpsuits at Gitmo. The humor here is pretty dark: Guantanamo is seen as a cross between a medieval dungeon and a homosexual rape camp, a broad and unfunny reference to Abu Ghraib, I suppose.
Fortunately for H & K, their sojourn in Cuba is cut short and off they go on another cross-country quest, in search of someone who will get them out of this mess. They are pursued by an implacable moron from the Department of Homeland Security (“Daily Show” alum Rob Corddry), and along the way encounter some moderately amusing characters, including a Texas madam (Beverly D’Angelo), a Ku Klux Klan Wizard (“Law and Order SVU” star Chris Meloni, using a fake name in the credits) and President Bush hisself (James Adomian).
This edition of the Harold and Kumar series was written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who co-wrote but did not direct the original. Maybe that’s why I felt this one was bogged down by leaden humor and slow-moving gags. Oh, it has its moments, particularly when the Rob Corddry’s character comes up against the very Americanized parents of the two fugitives and has an interpreter address Harold’s family in pidgin-Korean, even when they respond in perfect American English. In fact, the real subversive joy of the Harold and Kumar movies is not the grossout gags, but the fact that a Korean-American and an Indian-American are the new faces of American comedy.
Rated R for sexual and scatological humor.
This tense, tough war movie is a modern classic. It’s about a small detachment of Israeli soldiers defending a 12th Century crusader castle in southern Lebanon in 2000. But after 18 years of bloody occupation, the Israeli army is pulling out of Lebanon – and these are the last guys left. The movie never raises the question, but the implication is clear: as the GIs said in Vietnam, who wants to be the last soldier to die here?
The Israelis have gotten used to daily barrages of mortar fire, more a nuisance than an outright threat, but when Hezbollah fighters up the ante with US-made missiles, things start to look very dicey. When an appealing young soldier is killed by a roadside bomb, the officer in charge, Liraz (Oshri Cohen) begins to crack under the pressure. The countdown begins to their ultimate withdrawal, but first they will mine the entire fortress with high explosives. Then they’re told to stay put for at least another day – and the tension ratchets even higher. We never see the enemy in this war movie, but we always know they’re out there, somewhere in that beautiful mountain landscape.
Joseph Cedar directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Ron Lesham, who wrote a novel about his real life experience in a situation very much like this one. “Beaufort” was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign language film (it’s in Hebrew). Look, I know you’re probably not going to run down to the Movies on Exchange Street to see this one, but look for it in your next Netflix order.
It’s rated R for realistic warfare.
HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY
Now for something completely different. I really enjoyed the rude, crude humor of the first Harold and Kumar movie. Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) are sort of a stoner Abbott and Costello, bickering buddies who get into all sorts of hot water over the smallest issues.
In “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” the two set out on a quest for burgers that seemed to go on forever. In this new one, they’re on a plane for Amsterdam when their bong is mistaken for a bomb, and before they know it they’re in orange jumpsuits at Gitmo. The humor here is pretty dark: Guantanamo is seen as a cross between a medieval dungeon and a homosexual rape camp, a broad and unfunny reference to Abu Ghraib, I suppose.
Fortunately for H & K, their sojourn in Cuba is cut short and off they go on another cross-country quest, in search of someone who will get them out of this mess. They are pursued by an implacable moron from the Department of Homeland Security (“Daily Show” alum Rob Corddry), and along the way encounter some moderately amusing characters, including a Texas madam (Beverly D’Angelo), a Ku Klux Klan Wizard (“Law and Order SVU” star Chris Meloni, using a fake name in the credits) and President Bush hisself (James Adomian).
This edition of the Harold and Kumar series was written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who co-wrote but did not direct the original. Maybe that’s why I felt this one was bogged down by leaden humor and slow-moving gags. Oh, it has its moments, particularly when the Rob Corddry’s character comes up against the very Americanized parents of the two fugitives and has an interpreter address Harold’s family in pidgin-Korean, even when they respond in perfect American English. In fact, the real subversive joy of the Harold and Kumar movies is not the grossout gags, but the fact that a Korean-American and an Indian-American are the new faces of American comedy.
Rated R for sexual and scatological humor.
posted by The Grappling Greek at
2:56 PM
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