tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post9078330676866283475..comments2024-03-05T21:05:36.848-05:00Comments on CommentaramaFilms: The Great (film) Debates vol. 52AndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger142125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-7423025569605519062012-09-11T05:16:28.978-04:002012-09-11T05:16:28.978-04:00I just thought of something. I guess it's not ...I just thought of something. I guess it's not really a war movie,it's more of an adventure story or a period drama,but The 13th Warrior was about the war between that group of Vikings and The Eaters Of The Dead.<br />Lo there.do I see my father... :)<br /><br />GypsyTygerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-5104427600069900762012-09-11T01:23:51.138-04:002012-09-11T01:23:51.138-04:00Andrew: Just a guess, but perhaps he objected to m...Andrew: Just a guess, but perhaps he objected to my whooping and hollering during the movie when the American helicopter was taking out the Russian APC. Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16289856510554336990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-39747730861132413312012-09-10T13:10:13.461-04:002012-09-10T13:10:13.461-04:00rlaWTX, Careful, Bev might hunt you down! LOL!rlaWTX, Careful, Bev might hunt you down! LOL!AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-64737063998719267302012-09-10T13:09:30.798-04:002012-09-10T13:09:30.798-04:00tryanmax, I liked parts of that a lot, but couldn&...tryanmax, I liked parts of that a lot, but couldn't get into the whole thing for some reason.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-79400540394350689372012-09-10T13:09:03.589-04:002012-09-10T13:09:03.589-04:00Big Mo, Hollywood can't help themselves... the...Big Mo, Hollywood can't help themselves... the heroes must do everything.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-45410109701088455962012-09-10T13:07:49.982-04:002012-09-10T13:07:49.982-04:00K, Amazing. You lost a friend because you enjoyed...K, Amazing. You lost a friend because you enjoyed a movie that went against his ideology? Some people.<br /><br />I have not seen "The Fall of Berlin." I'll have to look for that.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-13458136737089379772012-09-10T13:06:41.343-04:002012-09-10T13:06:41.343-04:00Koshcat, I would love to see a good movie about Na...Koshcat, I would love to see a good movie about Napoleon, but the few I've seen have been more romances than war films. <i>Master and Commander</i> and the PBS series "Sharpe" have been really good.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-73588774465963932942012-09-10T13:05:27.374-04:002012-09-10T13:05:27.374-04:00Kit, We call got together and agreed to do that to...Kit, We call got together and agreed to do that to annoy you. ;)AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-47132677372554568942012-09-10T13:01:39.118-04:002012-09-10T13:01:39.118-04:00I forgot a fav that likely few have seen. "Th...I forgot a fav that likely few have seen. "The Fall of Berlin". A Soviet epic war movie directed by Mikhail Chiaureli which chronicles the German invasion to the end of the war in Europe from the view of several hero workers in Stalin's Russia. At the end, a Stalin lookalike flies into Berlin (never happened) to the worship of the crowds carrying the Allies flags. Both tear jerking and frightening at the same time. Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16289856510554336990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-76086507398065147972012-09-10T11:53:16.132-04:002012-09-10T11:53:16.132-04:00y'all have mentioned the ones I know, so I wil...y'all have mentioned the ones I know, so I will only add that GWTW in NOT - I repeat, N.O.T. - irresistible to all female southerners!!!<br />Perhaps, and I am attempting to be gentle, it is female southerners of a certain age - my mom LOVES the movie!!!<br /><br />Otherwise, once y'all have been extremely exhaustive...rlaWTXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09319344164726195144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-4843995721236140632012-09-10T10:35:00.619-04:002012-09-10T10:35:00.619-04:00Kingdom of Heaven<i>Kingdom of Heaven</i> tryanmaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09881154741574720094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-71473019963393416352012-09-10T10:27:28.390-04:002012-09-10T10:27:28.390-04:00ScottD - two things turned me off to "Pearl H...ScottD - two things turned me off to "Pearl Harbor". First, the P-40s and Zeros were flown like they were X-Wings. Second, the whole final act of the movie involving the Doolittle Raid was preposterous. <br /><br />One of the first grown-up books I ever read was Ted Lawson's "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," his memoirs of the Doolittle Raid. It's still one of my favorite books, and the movie version of the same name starring Van Johnson as Lawson was very good. <br /><br />In a movie that went to great lengths to get history right -- or at least as accurate as possible within the constraints of the story -- the final act was one gigantic "Yeah, riiiight." Having the two heroes re-train as bomber pilots and trained to do carrier takeoffs instead of keeping them as veteran fighter pilots who would lead and train other green fighter pilots was silly -- and shattered the suspension of disbelief. (Not to mention Alec Baldwin as Doolittle. Bad casting.) <br /><br />The whole love story/triangle was fine. But if the movie had ended shortly after the attack on Pearl, it would have been a far better film. BIG MOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10556263286375426353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-53324921713475027612012-09-10T07:51:28.706-04:002012-09-10T07:51:28.706-04:00Well, "favorite" or "best" are...Well, "favorite" or "best" are two words that often get confused. :)<br /><br />If we are going by a strict "favorite" definition then "Glory" and "Dirty Dozen" would rank high.<br /><br />Going by "best", DOWNFALL. Not the most easily watchable movies but a brilliant one nonetheless.Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-35529861497464920322012-09-10T07:33:26.280-04:002012-09-10T07:33:26.280-04:00Kit, I didn't mention those films because I...Kit, I didn't mention those films because I've never seen them and I don't particularly care to either.<br /><br />The subject was what are your "favorite" war films. I can't imagine that someone would say that either one of those is a "favorite". <br /><br />I would rather watch the kind of clunky Korean War F-86 fighter jet saga The Hunters with Robert Mitchum chewing up the scenery a thousand times before I would watch the two you mentioned. <br /><br />I know the nazis we horrible, I have actually read books on the subject. I don't really care to see depictions of their evilness on a movie or TV screen. But that's my opinion. Others may beg to differ.<br /><br />Outlaw13https://www.blogger.com/profile/17232117096525959967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-12085190168373982362012-09-10T02:43:34.134-04:002012-09-10T02:43:34.134-04:00Speaking of Red Dawn - saw it with a fellow gradua...Speaking of <em>Red Dawn</em> - saw it with a fellow graduate student "friend" when it came out. He asked me what I thought of it and I said I liked it, quite a bit actually. He never spoke to me again. <br /><br />One of the few war movies that get you that response. I imagine his idea of a good war movie would be <em>"Johnny Got His Gun"</em>Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16289856510554336990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-8329388588917978772012-09-10T02:06:48.591-04:002012-09-10T02:06:48.591-04:00Also, the actress who plays Eva Braun, Juliane Köh...Also, the actress who plays Eva Braun, Juliane Köhler, is magnificent. She has an old Hollywood glamour about her. The kind that came from the Golden age of Hollywood. Managing to give of a warm, almost maternal, glamour especially towards the female lead, Traudl, while the war rages around them. At the same time she is also, well, utterly devoted to the man who is the love of her life: Adolf Hitler. <br /><br />Juliane Kohler balances these two aspects, the warm and maternal with the fanatical loyalty and outright delusional kookiness in a way that is both seamless and perfect. Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-45678589898299147462012-09-10T01:16:49.385-04:002012-09-10T01:16:49.385-04:00Just about all the movies I would mention have bee...Just about all the movies I would mention have been mentioned (Glory, Gettysburg, Longest Day, etc. all great ones) except two. <br />And one's lack of mention puzzles me.<br /><br />ANNE FRANK THE WHOLE STORY. Probably under-rated. This ABC mini-series stars Ben Kingsley as Otto Frank and an amazing Hannah Taylor-Gordon as Anne Frank. It describes her life before going into hiding and depicts her life in the death camp. Brilliantly depicts Anne not as some sainted prodigy (like the 1950s movie did) but as a normal teenage girl, warts and all. The kind of girl you could easily imagine having as a classmate; the girl you might have had a crush on in Junior High. She is a normal girl.<br />Which, in my opinion, makes her ultimate fate even more horrible.<br />She was a normal teenage girl who, like many other normal, average people, was killed by a great and terrible evil.<br /><br />DOWNFALL: Okay, why has no one mentioned this movie? I can understand the Anne Frank one as it may not be that well known but what's the excuse on Downfall? Come on, Andrew, T-Rav, Lawhawk, rest of you. What's your excuse? <br />I want to know.<br />This is probably the best war movie of the last decade! (Yes, better than Black Hawk Down) Everything about it is amazing, the acting, the directing, the cinematography, the script. Everything! <br />This German-made film tells the story of Hitler's final ten days and does so in a way that depicts him as a human being (which he was) without garnering sympathy. Pity, maybe. But not sympathy. <br />Bruno Ganz IS Hitler. Alexandria Maria Lara is great as Hitler's secretary, giving the audience a frightening stand-in for viewing the apocalypse that is hitting Berlin. <br /><br />It also contains two of the most disturbing scenes in movie history: SPOILERS! (1) the Hitler Youth committing suicide and (2) Frau Goebbels killing her children. <br /><br />If Schindler's List and Anne Frank: The Whole Story told you about the victims of the Holocaust, Downfall gives you the man responsible and where it all ended. A truly pathetic man and his followers ranting and raving about delusions of "final victory" in a bunker as the Russians steamroll Berlin.<br />Watching it reminds me of Churchill's speech where he called Hitler "A haunted, morbid being who, to their eternal shame, the German people have worshipped as a god."<br />In this movie, we see where the worship of the "haunted, morbid being" has led.<br /><br />So, again, why has no one mentioned this one yet???<br /><br />P.S. I would also recommend the HBO TV Movie "Conspiracy", which depicts the Wannsee Conference. It stars Kenneth Brannagh, Stanley Tucci, and a young Colin Firth as men at the conference. Another chilling movie about Nazis.<br />Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-19989998598667668802012-09-10T01:10:41.210-04:002012-09-10T01:10:41.210-04:00I haven't seen all of the Iraq war movies but ...I haven't seen all of the Iraq war movies but I liked The Hurt Locker. Not saying there wasn't a political bent but maybe not as bad as some of the others. <br /><br />For Napoleanic I really like Master and Commander. "don't you know, doctor? One must always choose the lesser of two weevles."<br /><br />It's a little long, but I also like A Thin Red Line and Flags of my Fathers along with the other WWII movies mentioned. <br /><br />They're political but there are some really good Vietnam pics. Platoon is very good. I always stop surfing when I find Full Metal Jacket, the first part of the movie is awesome. AN is probably the most messed up and the best of the three. <br /><br />War movies seem so good. I suspect it stems fom the tension that seems more real than other movies. <br />Koshcatnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-76782501220752573472012-09-10T00:52:48.273-04:002012-09-10T00:52:48.273-04:00Outlaw, Yeah, people like to put down the John Way...Outlaw, Yeah, people like to put down the John Wayne version because it's unapologetic. Personally, I like it for that very reason. :)<br /><br /><i>Act of Valor</i> did do well, but I still suspect it's just too financially risky right now to bet on a potentially controversial film... it's safer to put out another superhero film or cop movie.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-79681748301101252202012-09-10T00:47:58.522-04:002012-09-10T00:47:58.522-04:00Andrew,
I understood about you politics comment. ...Andrew,<br /><br />I understood about you politics comment. I just think if they were really motivated by the bottom line then they would make more films about the current conflict. Look how well Act of Valor did recently.<br /><br />I assume when people put down The Alamo they are referring to the John Wayne film and not the more current one with Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett...which wasn't that bad either and more historically correct. But as I am sure will be pointed out didn't have John Wayne in it. :)Outlaw13https://www.blogger.com/profile/17232117096525959967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-26378825180591708672012-09-09T23:56:26.058-04:002012-09-09T23:56:26.058-04:00Jen, I like The Alamo a lot. That's one of th...Jen, I like <i>The Alamo</i> a lot. That's one of those films that's proud about its history and is just made in such a grand style.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-9914335118200633082012-09-09T23:12:27.001-04:002012-09-09T23:12:27.001-04:00I'm commenting for my dad since he is computer...I'm commenting for my dad since he is computer challenged. Some of his favorites that haven't been mentioned are:<br /><br />A Bridge Too Far<br />The Fighting 69th<br />30 Seconds Over Tokyo<br />Bataan<br />Guadalcanal Diary<br />For Whom The Bell Tolls<br />The Alamo<br />Beau Geste<br />War And Peace<br />Dr. Zhivago<br />They Died With Their Boots On<br />The Sullivan Brothers<br />The Four Feathers<br />The Fighting Seabees<br />The Birth of a Nation<br />Above and Beyond<br />13 Rue Madeleine<br />The General (1926)<br />Schindler's List<br /><br /><br />Jennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-73819492480559450532012-09-09T22:48:54.684-04:002012-09-09T22:48:54.684-04:00As far as the Japanese POW experience, how about &...As far as the Japanese POW experience, how about "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" with Tom Conti and a (surprisingly effective) David Bowie?PikeBishophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05761380937971970762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-22213568252677885852012-09-09T22:44:27.733-04:002012-09-09T22:44:27.733-04:00Anonymous - I enjoyed Gallipoli and really like3d ...Anonymous - I enjoyed Gallipoli and really like3d Breaker Morant. I quite enjoyed Australia as well which did touch on WWII a bit.Tennessee Jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604275115906776992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-90027171948971427602012-09-09T22:32:28.899-04:002012-09-09T22:32:28.899-04:00Scott, We used to get miniseries all the time in t...Scott, We used to get miniseries all the time in the 1980s, but they seem to be out of fashion these days. And during that period, we had a lot of things about US troops in various wars, but they were rarely worth watching. I think the film/story-telling style at the time was a problem. They weren't very dynamic.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.com