Unsure when the promotion for this started, but I just saw the ads on TNT.  This looks like it could be good.  Really good....   Here's the blurb from the official site:

With this cast, and the same  minds that brought us Band of Brothers, I suddenly can't wait!

This summer, TNT proudly presents The Company, the story of the Cold War -- its beginnings in the early 1950s, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the Bay of Pigs fiasco in the 1960s and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 – as told from the perspective of the soldiers involved: the spies of the CIA and the KGB. This epic three-week television event stars an international cast headed by Chris O’Donnell (Scent of a Woman, Grey’s Anatomy), Alfred Molina (Frida, The Da Vinci Code, Spider-Man 2) and Michael Keaton (Live from Baghdad, Cars). It comes to TNT from Sony Pictures Television and acclaimed executive producers Ridley Scott (Gladiator), Tony Scott (Man on Fire), John Calley (The Da Vinci Code); and co-executive producers David W. Zucker (Numb3rs) and David A. Rosemont (Into the West). The series will debut in August in two-hour installments over three consecutive Sundays, with the Sunday, August 5, premiere being presented with limited commercial interruption, sponsored by Ford and Quiznos. In addition, a special 10-part broadband series Spy Toys of the CIA, hosted by O’Donnell, will be available at tnt.tv beginning Friday, July 13.

Directed by Emmy winner Mikael Salomon (Band of Brothers, TNT’s Salem’s Lot) and adapted by Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down) from the best-selling historical novel by Robert Littell, The Company follows a game played over four decades, from the rainy streets of Berlin to the shores of Cuba, from secret revolutionary gatherings in Budapest to high-level meetings in the halls of Washington and Moscow. The chessboard is the entire globe, with pieces being moved and counter-moved carefully to try to gain advantage in the standoff between two super powers. In the end, the primary casualties were felt on the national and personal level by both willing participants and innocent bystanders.

Each night of The Company has a unique tone, with Night 1 presenting the early years of the CIA during the Cold War as a taut espionage thriller set mostly on the streets of East and West Berlin, where the cat-and-mouse games between the CIA and the KGB begin. Night 2 is an action thriller, with the primary focus placed on two violent and tragic events: the Hungarian uprising of 1956, which was quashed by massive Soviet involvement, and the Bay of Pigs, in which Cuban rebels attempted to oust Castro from power. And Night 3 is a complex psychological thriller, with the CIA desperately searching within its own ranks for a KGB mole who has been undermining CIA missions for decades.

Visit the official "The Company" site for photos and other info...

Link: The Company (Official Site)
Link: The Company on IMDB

Technorati Tags: The Company, Tnt, cold war, soviet union, CIA, central intelligence agency, chris o'donnell, alfred molina, michael keaton, ridley scott, tony scott, mikal salomon, john calley, david zucker, david a rosemont, ken nolan, war movie news

"Tonight we dine in hell!"

Well, I finally did it.  I broke down and put 300 on the top of my Netflix queue.  And I have to say, I'm impressed.

Either 300 is a total piece of hyper-stylistic, cheeseball, violence-celebrating, FX-laden garbage...

...or its pure friggin genius.  I'm still trying to figure it out.

300 tells the story of King Leonidas of the Greek city-state of Sparta, whose citizens were bred and taught to be the warrior elite.  Faced with imminent destruction by the king of Persia, Xerxes, he takes a band of 300 men, against the will and laws, to face them.

Saigon.

Shit.

Few movies could pull off opening with those two words.  Apocalypse Now is that movie.  Period.

Apocalypse Now:Redux is a "director's cut" of sorts which puts back several scenes / episodes into the film that were dropped from its initial 1979 release.  Additionally it puts back the original ending.

A.N. is the story of one already-unstable Captain Willard (played by Martin Sheen) and his top-secret mission to "terminate the command" of one Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has gone stark raving mad and disappeared into the jungles of Cambodia.

Of course most of the film isn't so much about that, as it is about getting there, and how Willard prepares himself (and events prepare *him*) to meet this madman.

Along the way we're exposed to a lot of general madness.  A gung-ho surfer-dude Colonel in search of the perfect break, tigers in the bush, Playboy bunnies, the battle for a bridge that has gone completely out of control, what should be a routine riverboat insepction, native spear and arrow attacks...

... and in this release a couple of other deviations, namely the re-appearance of the aforementioned bunnies at a more-or-less abandoned "wild west" station, and the discovery of a group of French colonials defending their "plantation" in the midst of the war, complete with proper table settings.

I'm not sure putting these scenes back in was a good idea.  A lot of times the "director's cut" of a film rings truer to the original "vision" of a film.  If that's the case here, then its probably for the best that these scenes were dropped.  While the original "episodes" served to illustrate the madness of war, and prepare Willard somewhat for his final encounter, these two additions just don't make much sense at all.  The re-visited bunnies scene just comes across as twisted and morbid, and the French colonials just a boring sidestep.  I can somewhat understand the reasoning behind that bit being filmed, but the first?  It's just too "out there", even for this movie.

Of course eventually he and the remaining personnel on board "PBR Streetgang" finally meet up with Kurtz, and the journey towards madness is complete.  For both Kurtz and Willard.  The insanity of Kurtz is played brilliantly by Brando here.  And if nothing else, Dennis Hopper's short performance as the just-plain-weird photographer under Kurtz's spell is nothing short of genius.

I'm not going to spoil the ending, but the superimposition of the native's sacrifice with Willard's execution of his duties gets the message across.  Loud and clear.

The "fixing" of the final scenes in this version also tells us what happened to Willard.  The original it wasn't quite clear if he made it out before... well, I guess you'll have to see both to find out.





Technorati Tags: war movies, apocalypse now redux, vietnam, madness, dvd, reviews

Every once and a while I like to throw a documentary out there, especially when I haven't much of a chance to check out any traditional "war movies" (like lately! sorry!)

Battleground: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge is a multi-faceted look at the war in Iraq.  There's lots I could say, and we all have our own opinions on the subject, so let me just leave it at this:  "Battleground" is...  well its interesting.  I can't say I agree with a lot of the ideas they push, and I sure can't agree with some of the viewpoints of those they focus on, but its interesting nonetheless.

It takes on the subject through the eyes of a few different individuals.  One is a former Iraqi who fled the country after the 1st Gulf War after he joined the resistance movement which was abandoned by our first King George.  I'm not really sure what the point of this was, except maybe to somehow show that things are better now?  That he was able to return without facing death for himself and his family?  *shrug*  His observations and subsequent reunions were probably the most satisfying part of the picture.

You'll have to pardon the R-rated nature of this review, but damn, after seeing this (actually for the 2nd time) I can't help it.

In a word, Black Hawk Down is intense.  In two words: Fucking Intense.  So intense that when its over you will feel worn out, angry, and down.  And that's just as it should be.  You'll also feel thankful, at least I hope you will.

Black Hawk Down is based on actual events surrounding the capture attempt of General Aidid in Somalia in 1993.  I'm not going to repeat history, you can read all about it on good ol' Wikipedia.

What strikes me most about this movie is that if you were to look up the definition of "clusterfuck" in the dictionary, there'd be instructions to watch it.  The series of decisions and events are portrayed that culminated in the loss of 19 (or 18 depending on your source) lives and over 70 wounded in a single operation over 18 hours or so.  If nothing else, it should show just how totally fucked up the current (even then) military "micro-management" style has become.  You start yelling at the screen, and getting downright pissed off....

If I go down that road I'll be writing for hours, so that's all I'm going to say about that.  Back to the movie....

Actually things start off rather slow, but really all we're doing is the obligatory character development and story set-up.  It's unfortunate it takes 30 minutes, but once that's over, the fight is on.

And it does. Not. Stop.  The constant pinging of ricochets, the low growl of the Blackhawks, the hurried buzzing of the Kiowas, and the yelling.  It just doesn't stop until its all over.  The confusion and mis-steps that result, and compound the situation will make your head spin.  The General walking into the operating room and wiping up pools of blood was a nice touch.  A bit obvious, but a nice touch none the less.

Is it graphic?  Yes.  Make no bones about it, if you've got a soft stomach then you should probably avoid it, prep yourself, or watch it with someone who's seen it already.  You will see things that aren't pretty, nor are they fun.  Understand that also, this is by no means a "fun" movie.  There is no "happy ending" where everyone waves the flag and triumphant music rings out, quite the opposite in fact.  Not something you just pop in on a Saturday afternoon with a bowl of corn and a brew.

You'll also wonder just what the fuck we were doing there in the first place.  I know I did then, and still do now.  Even after watching this.  Yeah you get the Delta's little speech at the end, about doing it for the guy sitting next to you and all that.  But I don't really see how after the last hour and a half of hell on earth, that matters at all.

So what should you take away from this?  After you watch it, go outside to your patio, sit down, listen to the quiet, and thank God you weren't there.  And then thank the guys who do do this stuff.  And if you are one of them, then I'm glad you're still here to read this, and thanks.

The cast?  I can't really fault anyone's performance.  Although it is funny watching Ewan MacGregor as "Grimsey" try to feign an American accent.  Also starring is Josh Harnett as Sgt. Eversmann, Tom Sizemore (who oddly seems to fall back into his "Private Ryan" role at the end), Eric Bana, William Fichtner, Sam Shepard, Ron Eldard and many, many more.

The audio and cinematography is also quite well done, I viewed this on DVD on a proper digital 5.1 setup, and it is utilized as well as it can be.  I imagine though if you were to view this on a standard two (or even one) channel set the noise would start to "mush" together, for lack of a better term.

I'm giving Black Hawk Down a full nine.  I have yet to give out a total ten, and I'm not sure what would make that happen, but this is close.  Prepare yourself, put away the kids, and watch when you're ready.


Technorati Tags: war movie review, black hawk down, 2002, mogadishu, somalia, army, rangers, delta force, josh hartnett, ewan macgregor, eric bana, sam shepard, ron eldard

You know anytime you put Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts together, you're going to get something which is at least a fun, well-acted ride. Charlie Wilson's War is no exception.

It's the "true" story of one Texas Congressman, Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), who throughout the 1980's managed to get oodles of money to fund weapons for the Afghan Mujahadeen to fight the invading Red Menace(tm). While there may not really be that many typical "war movie" elements to speak of here, the premise is just as relevant.

OK, I know what you're thinking.  "What are you smoking over there! Children of Men isn't a war movie!"'

Well, you're right it isn't.  It falls somewhere in the "dystopian future science fiction" category.  Children of Men follows the story of Theo (Clive Owen) who is somewhat forced into the situation of delivering the first baby born in the UK in eighteen years, and her mother, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) to safety.  Along the way we're witness to a lot of 'bad future' scenarios.