I really wish I could nail down what Flight of the Intruder is trying to be.  I think the problem is it tries to be too much, and fill too many different 'roles' as a movie that it never really succeeds at any of them.  If that makes any sense.  Maybe another case of good-book doesn't make quite such a good movie, I'm not sure.

What you've got is a Vietnam-era Navy A-6 Intruder pilot, Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton (Brad Johnson) who loses his bombadier/RIO in a mission and starts to get the feeling that his number is up soon.  He gets paired up with the quirky legend and long-timer "Tiger" Cole (Willem Dafoe) and things start to go all over the board.

Kind of like that quote from Beetlejuice, "it just gets funnier, every time I see it!!"  Yeah, so I like Pauly Shore's In The Army Now.  Not because I'm a child of the late 80s and early 90s, but just because it really is funny, and its got a decent story and isn't too far fetched.  Well, not compared to some disastrous military-themed comedies (like, say, Delta Farce...)

Perennial slacker and altogether oddball Bones Conway (Pauly Shore) convinces his friend Jack (Andy Dick) that the solution to their problems is to sign up for the Army Reserves.  Insert the usual comedic-basic training routine here, where they meet up with fellow water-purifiers Christine (Lori Petty) and dentist Fred (David Alan Grier)...and then they return to the real world....

Awww, come on.  If you were alive in the 1980's you've seen The Final Countdown.  It was on TV like every other weekend on one of the big cable networks.  And you watched it.  Every time.  Because it was cool.

You know what? It still is.  Maybe its just the nostalgia factor but I still like this movie.

In the biggest "what if" scenario that's ever existed, the carrier USS Nimitz gets sent back in time to the day before Pearl Harbor, and has to contend with the decision to stand idly by while Pearl Harbor is attacked, or to interefere and change history forever.

Just in case you're one of the four people who hasn't ever seen it, I won't spoil the outcome.  But I still have to rave about the movie.  Sure its chock full of 1980-isms.  Semi cheap production, bad special effects and some corny writing, but an all star cast and some unfettered access to the carrier and its crew and planes more than make up for it all.

K-19: The Widowmaker is based on the true story of the Soviet nuclear submarine K-19, which suffered a disastrous reactor failure and nearly resulted in a worse accident, and possibly could have started World War III.

Honestly I'm struggling to write this review.  The first half of the movie is a struggle to get through.  The second half, well, more than makes up for it.

K-19 is a new class of nuclear sub, and she's been cursed it would seem before even getting wet.  Several men have died during construction, and during her christening ceremony, the bottle doesn't break.  Not good omens for any ship.

Alright, let me just start by saying that I'm not a big fan of James Cagney, and I'm not really sure why.  Maybe its just because every role I've seen him in has just been either flat and uninteresting, or just downright annoying.  Like his portrayal of the misfit Private Plunkett in 1940's The Fighting 69th.

The Fighting 69th purports to be a tribute to a Father Duffy, who was a chaplain attached to the newly formed 42nd Infantry, aka "The Rainbow Division", and formerly part of the New York 69th Infantry, as the Army started getting away from the practice of having these regional divisions and moved to more mixed and diverse units.

In October 1918, one battalion of American soldiers gets trapped behind enemy lines, thinking they are at the lead of an offensive, the reality is quite different.  Based on the Johnson and Pratt book of the same name, The Lost Battalion is a dirty, bloody, gritty look at life in the trenches, and at the reality of war.

This made-for-TV movie falls into the category of 'best war movies I've never heard of.'  Yeah, its really quite good.  Surprisingly good as far as made-for-TV films go.  New York lawyer turned Major Charles Whittelsey (Rick Schroder) reluctantly takes his men where ordered, straight into the sights of the Germans.  He thinks the offensive is succeeding all around him, while in reality everyone else has pulled back, leaving his unit stranded up against a German battalion hell-bent on keeping them at bay.

Ah, the merchant marines, the unsung heroes of WWII. Putting their lives at risk on the open waters of the North Atlantic to deliver much needed supplies to Allied forces in Europe. The Long Voyage Home follows the crew of the Glencairn in just one of these voyages.

And what a misfit, motley bunch of guys this is. Through the length of the picture, we witness the bond between these guys grow, get tested a few times, get re-affirmed, and finally tested again. That's what this movie is really about, is how a crew of sailors (or soldiers, or whomever) winds up more-or-less as a family.