Stop-Loss

a review by Sam Osborn

In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, Redacted, Lions for Lambs, and now Stop-Loss. It’s been proven over the last year with the failures piling higher and higher: these films about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan just aren’t very good. None of them are particularly bad, which makes it all the more mystifying as to why we don’t care for them. It’s maybe a symbol of this generation’s bland annoyance with the government’s blunders. Previous generations would be enraged by America’s current foreign situation. We find it blandly obnoxious. Put a bumper sticker on our cars? Sure. But hold a sign at a rally? I’d rather just vote for somebody new when November rolls around.

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21

a little review by Sam Osborn

March is a fine time to dump off mini-blockbusters like 21. Last year saw Disturbia, brandishing a similarly rising star in Shia LaBeouf as 21 has with Jim Sturgess. Not likely to rake in as much coin as other Summertime tentpoles, these medium-sized studio pics serve up medium-sized entertainment. They’re mild and standard, passable and pleasing.

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