Touches You

Lack of good storyline.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

R. Lee Ermey, a former Marine gunnery sergeant, and the star of the movie Full Metal Jacket, is the host of a half-hour question-and-answer show, in which he answers questions about military technology. Send him your questions and if they use them, you'll be notified. OO-RA! SEMPER FI, CARRY ON!

THE MAN IN THE CAP R. LEE ERMEY, that's who!MAIL CALL is the perfect show for people like me who are unhealthily obsessed with military history, but just can't listen to their Ben Stein-esque history teachers any longer. R. Lee Ermey is both informative and entertaining. He has the coolest job in the world, I am convinced.WATCH THE SHOW TODAY, MAGGOT!

I like watching Mail Call whenever it's on. R. Lee does an excellent job of answering probably every question you'd want to know about military technology, past and present. And when he answers a question, he's out there with the people who actually do the job, and sometimes even gives demonstrations himself. R. Lee's delivery style on this show always manages to bring a smile to my face, even though my mom didn't think much of it.

R. Lee pulls of a great program in terms of both historical relevance and his own inimitable humor and style. The show, surprisingly, doesn't focus merely on machine guns and guided missiles, but digs back into important - yet rarely considered - military equipment, personnel and history. When I first heard about "Mail Call", I was afraid that the History Channel would reign in the R. Lee Ermey we all know and love through characters such as Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann in Full Metal Jacket.Far from it, Ermey acts just as irascable and tough-as-nails here as he does in any of his roles. Sometimes, the jokes are a little stiff, but overall everything seems to work well, and I must admit I do smile when he answers questions from younger viewers with all the patience and kindness of a first-grade teacher. (Please, no-one ever tell him I wrote that!)If the show has any shortcomings, it's that it's only 30 minutes long. To dig into the real history behind some of the events, innovations and deeds he discusses would be far better served by an hour-long program instead of crammed down into a half of that time.Overall, if you're tired of "blah" historical documentaries and watching the same grainy footage over and over, as punctuated by the droning voice of an unknown narrator when it comes to military historical shows, shut your piehole, stand tall before the TV and watch some "Mail Call", scumbag!