Word: men
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...need caffeine to keep up with this energetic if wall-eyed movie, which switches between Dillinger's exploits and the efforts of Hoover (Billy Crudup) and Purvis to track him down. The bureau, still in its infancy, was initially hamstrung by Hoover's insistence that his agents be stouthearted men, not wily, patient predators. Incompetence caused the bungling of more than one stakeout. Some agents also made use of what the bureau called "vigorous physical interviews" - torture during questioning - as if Billie were an al-Qaeda suspect at Guantánamo. (The one gasp from a preview audience exploded when Billie...
...nonfiction book by Bryan Burrough that inspired the movie is a panorama of G-men and gunmen: Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, the whole colorful rogues' gallery. The movie concentrates on Dillinger, known as Public Enemy No. 1, so the plural in the title suggests that not just he but also Hoover was a national menace. Dillinger is seen as an independent businessman being squeezed by two ruthless cartels: Frank Nitti's gang and Hoover's FBI - the Chicago Mob and the wrong...
...lore and chivalric code of the bad guy. And moment by moment, it delivers details that seem true to the time - like the bank-robbery hostages mounted on the getaway car's running boards to discourage fire from lawmen in pursuit and the numbing hours Purvis and his men must put in, waiting for a malefactor to emerge from his hideout. (See the 100 best TV shows of all time...
...soldiers heading to Iraq, especially before the 2007 surge, had little to look forward to. Just the 130° heat and streets full of men, women and kids, any one of whom could detonate an improvised explosive device (IED) and blow a street and all its people, American and Iraqi, to bits. In this hell-storm, what's left for an ordinary soldier...
These worthy films were based on fact and told a microscopic truth, but they left untold the larger ache of an Iraq tour: how men in peril survive. Finally comes The Hurt Locker, a scary, thrilling patrol of those Baghdad streets by men who defuse IEDs. Written by journalist Mark Boal (whose reporting was the basis for Elah) and directed by action-movie maven Kathryn Bigelow, this film looks, feels and smells real; you'll need to rinse off the grit after seeing...