Woodyanders 1989. Impudent and incorrigible American soldier Ray Elwood (an excellent and engaging performance by Joaquin Phoenix) is involved in West Germany's black market while serving on an army base during the last days of the Cold War. Complications ensue for Ray when he begins dating rebellious teenager Robyn Lee (a winningly brash portrayal by Anna Paquin), who's the daughter of tough no-nonsense new top Sergeant Lee (Scott Glenn in splendidly steely form). Director Gregor Jordan, who also co-wrote the bold and subversive script with Eric Axel Weiss and Nora MacCoby, maintains a gutsy'n'edgy tone and delivers a wickedly funny sense of gloriously irreverent humor as he bravely takes barbed satirical potshots at the desperate measures folks will resort to in order to alleviate boredom, the disintegration of military morale and discipline during times of tedious peace, the winding down of the Cold War, and the quintessentially American spirit of capitalism and opportunism run amorally amok. Moreover, this movie makes a strong and provocative central point that man's greatest enemy is himself during peacetime eras. Phoenix's Elwood makes for a charming anti-hero; the battle of wits he has with the formidable Lee leads to a tense and exciting climax. The super acting by the first-rate cast keeps the film humming: Ed Harris as the naive and inept Colonel Berman, Gabriel Mann as the eager Pfc. Brian Knoll, Leon Robinson as the laid-back Stoney, Dean Stockwell as the hard-nosed General Lancaster, Elizabeth McGovern as the unhappy Mrs. Berman, and Michael Pena as the antsy Garcia. Kudos are also in order for Oliver Stapleton's polished cinematography and the cool rocking score by David Holmes. A real spiky delight.

foxwood9 i served August 61 to August 63. there was no shooting war at that time, however when i was drafted there was something called The Berlin Crisis going on, where pre-Berlin wall, we had American tanks facing down Russian tanks at Checkpoint Charlie, so we had an "quickie" Basic Training. may i add that everything was up in the air, so anyone who walked into the induction station, was deemed "fit for service", no matter what. there were a bunch of lame and halt servicemen during my time. then of course there was the Cuban Missle go around where we all held our collective breath. Viet Nam was bubbling, but would not be brought to a boil until after my release from active duty. this film, The Buffalo Soldiers was certainly not within my military experience. i was stationed at a army general hospital in France for the final eleven months of my tour of duty. it would seem that at a hospital there would be many opportunities for all kinds of hanky-panky but i can state from my position in hospital headquarters, there was not even a hint of any wrong doing such as was outlined in this film. we had our share of drunks among the enlisted personnel. i can't speak for the officers,but as i said, i was in the hospital headquarters, so i would have heard of seen any type of such major or minor wrong doing.to tell the exact truth, i viewed my time in service as something akin to a two year tooth ache. as the years piled up however, i came to the conclusion that my service did have a purpose and was something to be very proud of. maybe i mellowed, or perhaps just grew up.at any rate Buffalo Soldiers was not a film i could enjoy or identify with. no matter how i look at this film it was a bad work of fiction. if you are interested in a truer picture of military service, i would suggest Gardens of Stone. if a factual view of actual wartime combat is wanted, Saving Private Ryan can show the real face of combat and being in the military during wartime. a more sanitized version of combat is shown in Band of Brothers. people are shot or hit with major explosives, but not a lot of blood is shown as spilled.

Lil' Jul The story about soldiers in a midst of a peacetime really proves to be an excellent example of a darkly humorous crime story.The story is set in 1989 on the American Army base. It is a period of stagnation in army; there is no one to fight with, and soldiers try to spend their free time by all ways and means they prefer.The main character is an ingenious clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix; gorgeous, simply gorgeous) who tries to get profit from everything that is available in the base. His problems start when the new top sergeant Robert Lee (played extremely well by Scott Glenn) who appears to be a Vietnam veteran, prevents poor Ray from making an important deal and tries to make his life hell and even worse when he finds out about close relationship between Ray and sergeant's daughter.The screenplay is based on the novel written by Robert Connor. Undeniably, the modish anti-military skit, pure black army humor, breathtaking story about cynical (mis)adventures of dashing Yankees in the Western Germany, when the soldiers have their heads in the clouds of homemade heroine - all that makes the movie incredibly good. Equally good are professionally filmed close-ups and long shots.Another remarkable feature of the movie is the soundtrack. De la Soul performance suits incredibly well.In spite of the success of the movie in Europe, in the US the first showing was in the wrong time - in 8th of September, 2001. After the 11th of September it was furtively shown only in 24 cinemas, and was a box-office disaster.The most remarkable character in the movie is beyond doubts Ray Elwood. He is a very contradictory character; he is at the same time cynic and in despair, fable and strong, enjoying life and losing his face, tormented by discrepancies. The lead is portrayed awesomely by Joaquin Phoenix. Ed Harris, as usually, shows very enjoyable high-class performance. Also I like the performance by Gabriel Mann; it is a minor role, though quite noticeable. I do not like Anna Paquin in this role; she unnaturally has tried to be intense and alluring.On the whole, the movie, being at the same time funny, serious and sad, is perfect, and it is worth watching at least because of the outstanding performance of Joaquin Phoenix in one of his best roles.

Jackson Booth-Millard I may not have understood the entire story, but I can certainly see the black comedy and drama of this (today) significant film. It is 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the world will be made safe with the new world order, but in Stuttgart, West Germany soldier Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) still sees some battles ahead. He and his battalion make a living and eliminate boredom (not for ambition) by making their own smack. The only other thing that also stands out the story is Elwood's love with Robyn Lee (X-Men's Anna Paquin) who loves the feeling of falling (diving into a pool), which Elwood doesn't, he has a constant nightmare about it. Also starring Ed Harris as Colonel Berman, Scott Glenn as Sergeant Lee, Elizabeth McGovern as Mrs. Berman and Michael Pena as Garcia. The best sequence for me is the guys drunk driving a tank through a town, creating chaos. Good!