Wow. Just wow. What a totally dreadful movie. OK, it starts out well enough, with a group of guys in a tank under fire in combat during the Korean war. Mission accomplished, they head back to base after about five minutes of screen time. And then they get stuck there shmoozing it up with... »
"The story of carrier X" or so the tagline says. Presumably to try and preserve some sort of classified-ness in the Pacific fleet, since, well, things were still going on. Wing and a Prayer is a period piece surrounding the Battle of Midway. Mostly it takes place on board "Carrier X", or as we... »
A Bright Shining Lie is based on the true story and biography of John Paul Vann (played by Bill Paxton), who started out as a Lt. Col. and military advisor in the early days of the Vietnam War (c. 1962-3) and went on to return as a high-ranking civilian advisor until his death in... »
With all the frenzy in our house surrounding the Super Bowl (yay Pack!) I neglected to post this juicy little tidbit I received over the weekend. Shame on me!! I'll quote in its entirety... Its only available on YouTube for 2 weeks starting Feb. 5th..... ‘Cat Shit One’ PRESS RELEASE February5, 2011 The full... »
Lebanon is a tight little movie about an Israeli tank crew in the early days of the 1982 Lebanon/Israel war. And really, that's about all I have to say about it. Well, OK, maybe not *all*.... Despite winning several awards, (see the IMDB page) I just couldn't bring myself to like this film. It... »
This year's Restrepo is probably one of the best war-movie documentaries I've seen in a long time. In 2007, filmmakers Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger went to Afghanistan to embed with an Airborne platoon for an entire year, and condensed their efforts into a 90 minute masterpiece. The focus is on an outpost on... »
Interesting little blurb about an upcoming Japanese war movie in the works.... ‘‘I felt many things that I could not learn from textbooks,’’ Takenouchi said, commenting on the film ‘‘Taiheiyo no Kiseki’’ (Miracle in the Pacific). The film depicts a true but little-known story of 47 Japanese soldiers who held out against U.S. forces... »
If you've read this blog for very long you know I've got an up-down relationship with low budget indie stuff. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I rail on it, sometimes I'm on the fence. This time, though, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Thundering 8th." A tribute to the guys of the 56th Fighter Group of... »
In case you're unaware, this coming Thursday is Veteran's Day in the US, and as such many of the big cable/satellite networks trot out a war-movie-laden schedule... Here's what I can find so far.... Turner Classic Movies Usually the "go to" on events such as this, they seem to be skipping the usual marathon... »
All I can say (for starters) is that its about time! For one, seeing "Apocalypse" in its full 2.35:1 aspect ratio is worth the price of admission alone. Seriously. Unless you saw it in theatres, you haven't seen all of it. But, I'll let most of my review of "Apocalypse Now Redux" stand. Mostly. ... »
The Red and the White appears to me to be a Communist propaganda film straight out of the East Block. I can't see it any other way. It seems to get rave reviews from every source I see, but quite frankly, I just don't see it that way. First and foremost, this seems to... »
Take a beautiful piece of classical music, Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem", toss in a healthy dose of opera-ish direction and production, some fine actors, a lot of artistic vision, shake well, and throw in some preachy bits, and you've got War Requiem. Frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this. I'm not a... »
1917. The "war to end all wars" is raging on in Europe. The brand new technology of the motion picture is just coming into its own.... Combine the two, and you get an interesting snapshot of history. Unlike the previously reviewed Civil War Films of the Silent Era, which approached the Civil War with... »
