"Once upon a time there was a great war that brought so much sadness to so many people. Hardly anyone could remember what happiness was like. But something happened that changed all that..."

“Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do …” starts a popular song written by Kenny Loggins, recorded first in 1970 by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with a more popular and enduring version by Loggins And Messina a year later. Hundreds of millions of children since the 1920's know who Winnie the Pooh is. He's the happy-go-lucky bear who lives in the 100 Acre Wood with Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, Kanga, and Roo. But Pooh's best friend of all was a young boy named Christopher Robin. The books have entertained children for nearly 100 years. Walt Disney introduced us to very different but equally as endearing animated versions in the 1960's. The stories have continued with Saturday morning cartoons, feature films, and an upcoming live action Disney production. Pooh and his friends remain a fond memory for most of us. But most of us don't know the story behind the iconic characters. Goodbye Christopher Robin does an admirable job of bringing that story to life as vividly as the stories have brought Pooh to life over the years. But this is not really a happy story at all. Real life seldom is, and I credit director Simon Curtis for being brave enough to tell the unhappy story without so many of the trappings of Hollywood and the need to have our stories end in happily ever after.

Thank You For Your Service is an enterprising look into what is like for some soldiers who return home from war. Some come back to find life has gone on without them, and so have the people they hold most dear. Some return only in body, with their minds reliving things that happened to them over there. Others will do anything just to go back, because that is the only reality that makes sense to them. All three of these circumstances are portrayed in a way that will hit close to home for some while allowing others an enriched perspective that will have them uttering those words with more emphasis than they would have in the past, “Thank you for your service.”

The story follows the return of three soldiers, Staff Sergeant Adam Schumann (Miles Teller), Specialist Tausolo Aieti (Beulah Koale), and Private First Class Will Waller (Joe Cole). The three of them survived the odds and hellish circumstances, which include IED detonations, firefights, and the loss of beloved comrades, and are returning home to resume their lives with loved ones who have been patiently awaiting their return. Although excited to be returning, each of them is struggling internally. For SSG Schumann, he is struggling to overcome the consequences to decisions that he made while in command, decisions that resulted in lives lost. Schuman also finds it difficult opening up to his wife, Saskia (Haley Bennett), who has been holding down the fort and raising their two kids in his absence.

As a director, George Clooney just hasn’t managed to reproduce the magic he had in his first effort Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.  I keep hoping that we’ll get another film at that caliber, but it seems over and over it is a swing and a miss.  Now he has his new film Suburbicon, and this could be his most divisive work to date.  There is nothing wrong with adding a social commentary to a film, but sometimes adding it can be a distraction from the film.  In the case of Suburbicon, it is a tale of two films that couldn’t be any more different from each other.  First we have a tale of a family attempting to keep their lives together following a home invasion, and then we have the story of a black family moving into a white neighborhood and the backlash that follows.

The original script was penned by Joel and Ethan Coen. This was initially what got me curious about the film, since I’ve been a fan of their work for some time.  With George Clooney’s history with the Coens in the past, I figured he would be a good fit to bring their work to the screen.  The first red flag should have been that George Clooney and his long-time writing partner Grant Heslov have writing credits to the film.  This isn’t a jab at their work, but writing-wise they wouldn’t be the go-to pair I’d pick to rewrite the Coens, since they have their own very distinct style.  As expected, you can see the jarring difference in style and tone in the film.