In the Valley of Elah | Josh Brolin, Barry Corbin

In the Valley of Elah | Josh Brolin, Barry Corbin | an excellent dvd

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In the Valley of Elah

	In the Valley of Elah Josh Brolin, Barry Corbin Warner Home Video, 2008 average customer review:based on 94 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The movie of Jones

In the first place, the camera should not have left Jones. Superb performance as usual. It is an affecting movie that touches every heart. I strongly recommend this title.

an excellent dvd

a little drawn out , but well worth the money and time invested in this movie it gives us all a little insight on what goes on in the military and since it is based on a true story it is well worth adding to anyones dvd collection.

In the Valley of Elah

Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron give stand out performance in this drama about a retired Army Sergeant, played by Jones, trying to find out why his son has gone missing after returning from Iraq. His investigation takes him from his sons closest friends in the military to local bars and a restaurant. He gets the assistance of a female police detective, played by Theron, that is first reluctant but then more than understanding of his concern. The support cast were excellent and do a fine job making the story come to life. I am a fan of Lee's anyway, but this movie is well worth owning because of the acting, directing, story, sets, and music. Great quality DVD with good replayability. If you enjoyed this be sure to catch "Courage Under Fire" "The Package", and "Off Limits". - C. Luster

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Complicated Characters Brilliantly Portrayed

Usually when I'm told that anyone is "complicated," I shy away, having too often found the term a cover for someone who is a self-dramatizing bore. However this movie presents complicated people who are inherently interesting, and a complicated situation that is inherently moving and not just a layer-cake of contrived emotion.

This might be one of the few movies you'll see that does NOT assume a young enlisted person who fought in Iraq is automatically "a hero." In fact, much of the compelling drama of this film revolves around the viewer's discovery of just how unheroic young Mike Deerfield was.

The disillusionment is made all the more poignant in that we see it through the eyes of the young man's father when he goes to his son's state-side base to find out the circumstances of the young man's grisly death. The disappointment in who his son had grown up to be comes in subtle ways at first, as when Tommy Lee Jones goes to Mike's regular off-duty hangout and finds it's a sleazy strip-joint. One could dismiss that - boys will be boys. But the realization of the young man's character flaws starts to go deeper.

Two mysteries haunt this drama. The first is the obvious one about who killed the young man. But the second mystery, the one that is legitimately complicated, revolves around how this young man, born with so much promise, could have devolved into such a flawed and actually corrupt human being.

Was it his father's stern military influence skewing the boy to place more emphasis on spit-and-polish appearance than on warm human exchange? Was it the brutalizing circumstances of the guerilla war in Iraq? Was it humankind's innate propensity for evil?

The bonus material on this DVD includes one particularly telling outtake. I usually agree with Director's decisions about which scenes were best left on the cutting room floor. But in this case, the main outtake would have added a lot to the character study. In any case, be sure to check it out in the DVD extras.

Susan Sarandon doesn't have a great deal to do in this movie, and outside of one or two wrenching scenes, is almost wasted in the role of the quietly suffering, marginalized wife. However Tommy Lee Jones gives a tour de force performance, really making us feel the consequences of a family's emotional estrangement. This is a memorable film all the way around.

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Power of the Media

This film is solid in terms of acting and direction. The story is exciting and well constructed. But the film subtly projects a message (subtle in that it is hidden in Tommy Lee Jones's quest to solve his son's murder) that our soldiers in Iraq are self-destructive psychos with no moral fiber. War is, indeed, hell. But it does take two to fight, another truism. It is very easy to criticize when all seems to be secure; our soldiers are fighting to protect our security. The main thing that I got out of this taut drama is that the media can manipulate our sentiments. When Jones flew the flag at the end, I thought he was going to fly it the proper way to honor his son. I was surprised.

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