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PAGE 16, DECEMBER 1, 2008, THE ISLANDER
“Goin* to
the Show...”
with...
Roland
Willis
TROPIC THUNDER
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Nick Nolte,
Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, & Brandon T. Jackson
Directed by Ben Stiller
Written by Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux & Eton Cohen
Running Time: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Rated R - Violence and profanity
The cast of the comedy Tropic Thun
der includes Robert Downey Jr., Jack
Black, Nick Nolte, Matthew McCo
naughey, and Tom Cruise. These are
all very employable actors and it is
a testimony to the popularity of the
writer, director, producer and actor,
Ben Stiller, that they signed up for
this, possibly his best, movie.
They also might have been attracted
to the over-the-top, crazy characters
they play and the fun the movie pokes
at the movie industry.
As the movie opens the crew of
the movie mogul Les Grossman (Tom
Cruise) is out in the tropics of Viet
nam filming a battle under the hapless
direction of Damien Cockbum (Steve
Coogan). Everyone and everything are
being blown to pieces in a battle scene
which might have been taken from
Platoon, The Deer Hunter, Bom on
the Fourth of July, Forrest Gump or
We Were Soldiers, while cocktails and
fruit plates are being served behind the
cameras.
In a scene immortalized by William
Dafoe in Platoon, the heroic figure of
soldier Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller)
is riddled by machine gun bullets as
he tries to make it to the helicopter
and falls in slow motion with his arms
raised in a half pleading and half sacri
ficial final gesture.
This is too much for his mates in the
helicopter, Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black),
Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), Alpa
Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and Kirk
Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.
Kirk jumps down and tries to res
cue Tugg, but it is too late. However,
as Tugg is dying, the actors Stiller
and Downey get into a fight over who
should be crying the most.
The director has lost control and his
boss (Tom Cruise) goes ballistic back in
Hollywood.
This is all hysterically funny!
A new strategy is adopted: the
actors will be forced to take things
more seriously by dropping them into
a pre-arranged survival situation in
the North West accompanied by the
director, the special effects guy, Danny
McBride, and the author of the book,
Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte).
Of course, they run into a drug
operation run by a child-soldier, Tran
Movie Night
at the Casino
Nowhere in Africa
Wednesday,
December 17
7 p.m.
Casino Theater
"Nowhere in Africa." Germany, 2001,
directed by Caroline Link. Winner of the Academy
Award's Best Foreign Film in2003,this isthestory
of a Jewish family in Germany who emigrate
short before WWII. They move to Kenya to start
running a farm, but not all members of the
family come to an accommodation with their
new life. Shortly after their departure, things are
changing in Germany very quickly, and a turning
back seems impossible. So everyone has to adjust
to a new life in a new continent. In German with
English subtitles; 141 minutes; Rated R.
Movies are free, but contributions are appreciated.
Sponsored
mons Library League
(Brandon Soo Hoo), and their predica
ment becomes quite real.
The movie now pokes fun at the
“escape from jungle prison camp” genre
such as Rambo II and the Chuck Nor
ris classic, Missing in Action 2: The
Beginning.
The catch is that Stiller and Downey
can’t shed the movie characters they
have been playing; Stiller still thinks
that he is Rambo and Downey is still
immersed in his role as a black sol
dier.
Downey is amazing, walking the
walk and talking the talk with the
weight of the black experience on his
shoulders while driving the real black
soldier, Brandon T. Jackson, absolutely
nuts.
Jack Black is great as this huge piece
of blubber with a serious drug problem.
He gets some of the best lines.
Back in Hollywood, Stiller’s agent
Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey) is
getting these incoherent calls on his cell
phone and in a wild extension of Gerry
McGuire, he’ll solve anything even if he
doesn’t understand the problem.
All the actors are great but Downey,
as usual, steals the show.
Ben Stiller has come a long way
from the memorable hair gel scene in
There’s Something About Mary. He
starred in the comedies Night at the
Museum, Meet the Fockers, and Starsky
and Hutch. His directorial talents have
improved substantially from Zoolander
and The Cable Guy, and he delivers a
great, multi-faceted comedy in Tropic
Thunder.
I wasn’t expecting such a great com
edy to show up at the tail end of sum
mer.
I can’t wait to see it again! My rat
ing is A.
Roland is on vacation for a week;
this review was originally issued on
August 18, 2008.
Tropic Thunder has just been
released on DVD. □
S ’AY A N
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