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Surprisingly, film critics rail against Sam Mendes’ Jarhead. It seems that their biggest complaint is: nothing happens. I haven’t read Anthony “Swoff” Swofford’s memoirs yet, but I’ve recently seen the film and I think that’s the point. While most film depictions of war are all blood and gore, in Jarhead, Swoff takes you into the barracks and through the testosterone to discover that, sometimes, nothing happens. Swoff’s observational commentary brings you face-to-face with his self-reflections on the purpose of the war, the effects it has on the soldiers and the manner in which you can train up 18 year boys and turn them into killing machines. “Are we ever going to get to kill anyone?" asks one of the young Marines. If you haven’t already seen the movie, I recommend it. It’s slow-moving and there isn’t a lot of action. But, again, I think that’s the point. Oh, and, get ready to hear a lot of Oorahs. (Sgt. Siek: I. Love. This. Job ... I thank God for every day that he gives me in the Corps. Oorah.) If you don’t know already the story about that stuff, apparently it originally stems from HUA. Heard. Understood. Acknowledged. There are slight variations on this throughout the branches of the military such that people in the Army say hooah and it’s hoorah in the Navy, hooyah in the Navy SEALS, and of course oorah in the Marines. So, in the movie, when with colonel says “we’re gonna win this” the Marines call back, “oorah!” Oh yeah ... and one more thing ... Jamie Foxx and Jake Gyllenhaal are both especially hot in this film. (Surely, you didn’t think I’d write about this movie and not mention this.) That scene with Jakey in the shower? Yummy!