Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

This is topic The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 12-03-2009, 03:24 PM:

CINEMA: Megaplex 12 at the Gateway, Salt Lake City, UT
AUDITORIUM: 8
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema DLP
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None
RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

Let me count the ways you'd hate this auditorium. The top-masking screen is set to the right to make way for the exit door, which is on the opposite side of the entry. You can't even call it a "wall-to-wall" screen...it's wall-to-door. I've noted before that I didn't have a problem with this in Century builds because the seating was centered to the screen. Well in this case, the seating is not centered to the screen. It's all over the place. My row is 18 seats wide. Care to guess what seat is center to the screen? Seat 6! Even the projection is off-center...it runs parallel to seat 7.

THE PLOT: An all-star cast makes fun of Art Bell and Star Wars. Wackiness ensues.

The film relies on a lot of flashbacks, not unlike Watchmen, and has an ending nearly as ridiculous. But it's half the length and far more entertaining. Not that it matters since it's on the end of its theatrical run. Am I seriously the only one who's seen this?

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 12-03-2009, 03:47 PM:

I saw it a few weeks ago. I thought it was quite good. Apart from brilliant performances by everyone involved, the movie itself was an extremely insightful look into the psychology of soldiers and war. I always appreciate a serious film under the guise of humor, and this is just that. I'd heard a lot of people didn't like it, but I suspect they thought it was supposed to be humorous, which isn't to say it doesn't have humorous aspects, but the film is not a comedy at its heart.