Reviews

I found nothing to like in this film. Not one thing. This is an example of a bunch of self-aggrandizing self-indulgent so-called artists get together and play Cowboys and Indians in a western for the sake of other so-called artists And speaking of self-indulgent so-called artists Neil Young mostly just banged out distorted over driven chords on an electric guitar while watching the movie. I don't hand out one star ratings very often but this film sucks. If it's actually about something it should have come with a guide. The movie-going public spoke loudly because even with Johnny Depp in it nobody went to see this film. It lost 89% of its initial investment. There's a lot of good actress in here and only God knows how they got paid.

The best way to watch this movie is to turn the sound off cuz you're not going to understand what's going on anyway. Did I already say the movie sucks. Was just in case I didn't................. the movie sucks.

Most helpful review says eva's greatest performance. Unbelievable, such a thing could be said about this obviously shallow and downright stupid performance. I lasted 30 minutes into this film. It was all I could take.

I enjoyed this a whole lot more than I thought I would. I'm not as high on Mark Wahlberg as most people are and I don't really like Will Ferrell generally. In fact I hate some of his work. But this movie works and they work together. I'm going to give the writing most of the credit here. The comedy writing is so good here but it's almost hard not to pull it off. I'm glad they got that jumping off the building thing out of the way early in the movie and honestly I think the movie could have done without it but I liked all of the individual performances in it but honestly, I think you could have plugged many different actors into these roles in the movie would have worked cuz the script is hilarious and the movie is well put together. I know Michael Keaton didn't play a big part but I've been a huge fan of his like forever. I'm 70 years old so when I say forever I mean it LOL I'm not sure this movie could even have got made in a post me-too movement world I'm sad to say but somehow the storytelling managed to take this absurd comedy and create the perfect ending. Endings are the hardest part of movies. I've seen so many movies with endings that failed the rest of the movie. I was touched by the ending and didn't find it corny at all. It was a great ending to a really good movie.

The only thing the keeps me from rating this movie one or even two stars higher than I did is that I am sick to death of the notion that you've got to put long ridiculous Chase scenes in every movie. Fortunately, I streamed it so I could just speed through the chase scene. Any Movie Makers out there reading this please get the point. That chase scene is no better or no worse or no different than dozens of other movies. Are there really that many people who want to watch a movie like this just to see crap get blown up? I'm hoping there are more people out here like me that appreciate this movie because of the performances and the great comedy writing. I'm not going to remember this movie because of the stunts. In fact, I could say I'm going to remember it despite the stunts. Problem is that movie studios are in fact just like most any other huge corporations in that they are increasingly driven by their marketing departments. the marketing departments are the tail wagging the dog. The marketing department probably thanks it has data from surveys on charts and graphs that show that if you do this and this in a movie it will make more money. Funny thing though, nobody's ever surveyed me. If they'd surveyed me I'd be telling them that I don't watch movies very much anymore because there are certain things that I'm sick to death of. I wonder when they count the moviegoers that they attract if they're aware of the moviegoers they lose. Not meaning that they watch some other kind of movie, but meaning they stopped watching movies altogether. Movies and TVs are far from the only source of entertainment these days. Nobody seems to be interested in getting people like me back into the theaters. But I do realize this is an odd time to be making this argument when we can't go to movies at all until we're sure we're not going to catch a deadly disease.

The story goes that In 1963, (before the Beatles hit) there was a record promoter who thought the notion pop music was an art form was so laughable, and he thought he was so good a promoter and salesman that he could record absolute trash and crap and make a top 10 hit out of it. So he created a band called The trashmen and wrote a song with the lyrics..

A-well-a ev'rybody's heard about the bird B-b-b-bird, b-birdd's a word A-well, a bird, bird, bird, bird is a word A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word A-well, a bird, bird, b-bird is a word A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word A-well, a bird, bird, b-bird's a word A-well-a don't you know about the bird? Well, everybody knows that the bird is a word Bird bird bird bird bird Wella Wella, and a voice that sounded like wolfman Jack and it went all the way to number four and he made a buttload of money.

That story came to mind while I was watching this movie. Gee, I wonder why?

Maybe the difference is that the song "surfin Bird" made money and was popular and this movie lost money and was not.

So in this case insulting the art form didn't work.

I'm sorry I spent the time watching this and waiting for the "aha!" moment which never came..😡😡

The movie is well reviewed by others and most people find it very compelling. I like it to but am bothered by some shifts in tone in the final third although I think Kubrick deserves credit for not dodging the issue of atrocities.

I prefer war movies that don't glorify war more as in "Platoon" or the great German U-Boat film "Das Boot" (see it in German with English subtitles, when they overdubbed it in English they wrecked a great background soundtrack). All in all there's a bit too much flag waving in this for me but it's a great movie but I can help remembering that part of the promotion for "Full Metal Jacket" including displaying the novel that served as source material for it in supermarket checkout lanes. Seeing Kubrick's name on it I picked it up. The novel was called "the Short Timers" written by Marine Gustav Hasford who was in theater during 1968-69. The great prolific essayist, columnist, novelist, screen writer (including my favorite sci fi movie, "a Boy and his Dog") Harlan Ellison said of Short timers "It is one of the most amazing stretches of writing I've ever encountered." Even though I know this is a movie review, not a book review, I have to tell you the source for most of the movie was written largely in a different kind of English called jarhead lingo. It was very cool to read inspired sections that are prose written with those word.

Unfortunately, way more people were interested in watching Kubrick's movie than reading the real deal, the book didn't sell well, his deal with Kubrick wasn't very good and Hasford died alone almost broke in a motel room in Greece of heart related diabetic problems.

I don't know which is more heartbreaking. Hasford's early death or the fact that "the Short Timers" is out of print while people still buy Kubrick's movie and somebody gets paid.

The book has now become a rather expensive collector's item selling online for between $15 and upwards of $400.

If you Google the title and his name you'll find a link to a scribd page that will load the whole book like a pdf. But you can't save or download it without paying. But you can read it.

There are many reviews here that are critical of various aspects of this movie and many of them are valid in one way or another. but, and this is a really big but with me, the movie has several scenes that glorify the beauty of the human body, and spirit, through motion in space. in other words, it has some great moments showing dance. It pokes fun at the stick up their butt judges, and deservedly so in my book. Personally I think the artistry of dance is well combined here with the unreal things gymnasts accomplish. it had just enough of that to keep me on board all the way.

Jack

this is one of the worst films i've ever seen. to me, it represents the worst aspects of the movie "business". it's a product. not brand name at that. it's the grocery chain generic version of laundry soap or pop corn or a cheap version of a scouring pad/sponge. in order to sustain an industry you have to have product and this is pure product. OK, i've seen worse. at least they try to make a statement about finding love and the hoops we jump through but it contradicts itself time and time again until the characters stand for nothing. personally, i don't relate to any of them or care for them any more than i would poor schmucks caught in the wrong line in a grocery. and their plight seems to me no more serious than that. i give it four yawns. fortunately i was learning my new cell phone so it wasn't a total was of time. (sarcasm on) and how is it that Paul Schneider hasn't gone on to stardom. sarcasm off). this film is as replaceable as a piston rod.

This is not good because it's a Busby Berkley film. It's not good because of the corn fed mom country and apple-pie sentiment. It's not good because of the Rogers and hart score.

This is great to watch because it comes from the hard years of the depression where even in hard times young people learned how to sing, or dance, or act, or sing dance and act.

This large cast of performers is packed with showbiz musical theater talent born of Vaudeville, that represents an era that was unparalleled and we will never see again. For all his goofiness Rooney does it all here. And Judy, oh dear Judy, she shines in absolutely every thing she does. Giving more than we have a right to expect in every thing she does.

Even with it's flaws as an over the top movie, the black face routine is not defensible even in it's own time, there are moments in this moving where if you don't see the awesome musical theater talent of the whole cast of "PERFORMERS", you are miserable indeed.

Cool was a word that was used for many things back in the day when this series aired. 1968 was a very serious year yet here was something that wasn't serious yet I thought it was very cool, this despite the fact I was an antiwar peace love hippie. I was 18 and Alexander Mundy was my fantasy life alter ego. It wasn't about the plots, although the twist of the government turning to a convicted felon for help was novel. Nothing really groundbreaking about this series, nothing that sticks out in my memory all these years later about particular episodes, although I do remember the addition of Fred Astaire to the cast being a great way do show where Mundy got his mojo. It was all about Robert Wagner in his prime being the coolest of cool guys. The looks, the confidence, the overall attitude, Women wanted him; men wanted to be like him. I loved it and I recommend it.