Do It Again Sam

The November 4th issue of Entertainment Weekly devotes its cover story to the upcomming film Jarhead. The movie, based on the best selling book by former Marine Anthony Swofford, chronicles his experiences in Saudi Arabia as U.S. troops waited for combat to begin for the Gulf War of '91. The article, by Steve Daly, is quite good and really makes me want to see this film. Director Sam Mendes has always taken on interesting material for his films. From the Oscar winning American Beauty, to the vastly underrated adaptation of Max Allen Collins' graphic comic book novel Road to Perdition, he is one filmmaker that knows what he's doing. What is going to make Jarhead a unique "war" film is that there are no real scenes showing millitary combat. The only other example that fits into that category, and does the same thing is the lukewarm but still watchable Tigerland from 2000.

... I'm really hoping thogh that Jarhead will be a better movie than that one was. Given the Mendes track record, I would say that the odds are in my favor, for that to be the case. Look for the film to open in theaters on Friday November 4th 2005.