This curious little picture opens this weekend. I only mention it because it involves a young English boy whose mind is 'blown open' by watching Rambo: First Blood, the first movie he's allowed to see.

Unsure why they'd pick something like that, or how this will turn out. But it will likely be an interesting look at the effect war movies have on people....

Link: Son of Rambow (2007) - Plot summary

Been a little while since I've heard any news on Oliver Stone's upcoming 'Pinkville' film on the '68 My Lai Massacre...

He still has a chance, especially if he takes the part of Lt. William Calley in Oliver Stone's Pinkville. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's currently in talks for the role, and if he's smart he'll just go ahead and grab it. Calley is the central figure in the Vietnam war film, which deals with the investigation into the 1968 Mai Lai Massacre; the Army officer was the one found guilty of giving the orders that sparked the incident. Pitt would join an ensemble cast that already includes Bruce Willis (or as I like to call him, Bruce Billis), Channing Tatum (another young actor continually teetering on the verge of stardom), Michael Peña (previously seen in Stone's World Trade Center), Woody Harrelson and Xzibit, who just joined on this week. Also joining the film is Toby Jones (Infamous), who will portray Lt. Andre Feher, the chief warrant officer who tries to convince Willis' character, Gen. William Peers, that the U.S. Army is responsible for the massacre.

Link: Michael Pitt in Talks for 'Pinkville' - Cinematical

Technorati Tags: pinkville, michael pitt, oliver stone, my lai, vietnam

Well, as usual I'm always the last to know about these things. It seems that Tom Cruise's Valkyrie movie has been pushed back until February of next year. It would also seem that there's a lot of stink floating about, regarding the future of United Artists and how Valkyrie was supposed to be some kind of vehicle to bring it back from the nethers....

Whatever, just give me Valkyrie already! In case you didn't know, Valkyrie is the true tale of a plot within the ranks of the Nazi officer corps to assassinate Hitler, rather than stand by and watch him destroy the country.

Links:
UA, MGM push back 'Valkyrie'
Tom Cruise’s Release Date Shame: Trade Roughage 04/08/08
For The Valkyrie Record...
The Nazi Plot That’s Haunting Tom Cruise and United Artists
Valkyrie: It is fine. EVERYTHING IS FINE.

I'm always the last to know!

This conference just started today, too bad there's no way I could get to it, sounds very interesting... from the site:

Films, documentaries and newsreels all played a pivotal role in how information and memories of World War II were recorded over the years. The Museum’s Second International Conference on World War II, held April 10 - 12, 2008 in New Orleans, examines the key role motion pictures have played and continue to play in shaping America's understanding of World War II. All sessions will be held at the Marriott Convention Center Boulevard, just a few blocks away from the Museum.

Presenters and panelists include renowned historians Donald L. Miller, Gerhard L. Weinberg, Antony Beevor and Hugh Ambrose, who is currently working on The Pacific, HBO's sequel to its Emmy-winning miniseries Band of Brothers. USMC combat photographer, SSgt. Norman “Norm” Hatch will appear with never before seen footage of live combat film of the Battle of Tarawa. Carlo D’Este, Author of Patton: A Genius for War; James McBride; author of Miracle at St. Anna, now being made into a film by Spike Lee; Benjamin Patton, grandson of General George S. Patton; James Moll, Emmy and Oscar winning Director and Producer of Price for Peace; actor Michael Cudlitz and screenwriter John Orloff, from the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, Dr. Mario Barrera, – Professor Emeritus, Chicano Studies, UC Berkeley, Director, Producer “Latino Stories of World War II” are all scheduled to appear.

The ribbon cutting reception for the accompanying special exhibition and the closing Band of Brothers banquet will be held at the Museum. Program updates and Conference tickets can be purchased online at http://warmovies.nationalww2museum.org or call 877-813-3329 x 257 for additional information.

If anyone attends, maybe they could shed some opinions this-a-way?

Link: Classic Films- Real to Reel- The International Conference on World War II

This could be just plain hilarious... Looks like a Vietnam war movie send up, starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte and a bunch more. "Shit blows up." Gotta love it.



Check out the sparse (for now) official website: Tropic Thunder Website, and the IMDB Entry.

Entertainment Weekly has psted their review of "Rambo."  Pretty short, but they do give it better than average marks, which does surprise me.  Haven't had a chance to see it yet (can't get away!)

This closing statement does give a little bit of hope that the old Rambo's not dead yet....

The brutality, tough enough to take, would be intolerable if Stallone didn't toss the movie like a cant-clearing grenade at notions of stay-the-course righteousness (not to mention at the sermonizing of more faith-based agonies staged by Mel Gibson). Rambo teaches that fighting sucks, good intentions can be futile, and coalitions of the willing are a charade: A man's got to do what a man's got to do. Sometimes that means tying on the old bandanna to hack one's way out of the Hollywood jungle so disorienting to aging action stars.

Link: Rambo | Movie Review | Entertainment Weekly

Technorati Tags: war movie news, new releases, rambo, review, stallone

Hm, not sure what to make of this, as I've been steadily digesting war movies now for almost a year (and not so steadily for most of my life) and haven't found myself on any berzerker rampages yet....  but correlation makes for good news, so here it is:

In a paper in the Dec. 5 on-line issue of PLoS ONE (published by the Public Library of Science), Columbia scientists show that a brain network responsible for suppressing behaviors like inappropriate or unwarranted aggression (including the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex, or right ltOFC, and the amygdala) became less active after study subjects watched several short clips from popular movies depicting acts of violence. These changes could render people less able to control their own aggressive behavior. Indeed the authors found that, even among their own subjects, less activation in this network was characteristic of people reporting an above average tendency to behave aggressively. This characteristic was measured through a personality test.

A secondary finding was that after repeated viewings of violence, an area of the brain associated with planning behaviors became more active. This lends further support to the idea that exposure to violence diminishes the brain�s ability to inhibit behavior-related processing.

None of these changes in brain activity occurred when subjects watched non-violent but equally engaging movies depicting scenes of horror or physical activity.

Just keep in mind that a good war movie doesn't necessarily have to be violent.  I think you can find plenty of examples on this site which prove that.  It also doesn't really say what constitutes "violence" per se.  So I don't know really where they draw the line.   Do what you will with it.  Plenty of discussion going on at /. too.

I do think that, especially when it comes to war movies, you have to approach them with a certain caution and preparation that "OK, this is going to be ugly, and it's not going to be pretty...."  Above all, try and use that couple of pounds of rubber gray stuff in your skull and think about what you're watching.

Link: This is your brain on violent media

Technorati Tags: war movie news, violence, media, brain activity, science, theories