Topic: War movies (Read 12972 times)

evernew · « **on:** 23 Nov 2008, 12:48 »

I like them.

A few days ago I watched Battle of Britain (with a wrinkle-free Michael Caine and tons of great scenes in German) and Sink the Bismarck!
And I remembered how much I loved war movies as a child and teenager - going so far as reading the weekly TV schedule and marking everything that contained the word "war" no matter how shitty it would probably be.
A few gems I remember from that time are the original Stauffenberg - Hitler assassination movie "The plot to kill Hitler", a movie about the "desert fox" Rommel, the Bridge at Remagen and probably too many B-movies about "elite units" on a super-secret mission.

Next on my list is the Battle on the River Plate.

Which movies, war, anti-war, war comedy, anti-war comedy, ... are your favorites?

the_pied_piper · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 13:08 »

Personally, i'm a fan of some of the more recent war movies. The two movies by Clint Eastwood, 'Flags of Our Fathers' and 'Letters From Iwo Jima' are two of my favourite all-time films. Not only do they show the battle sequences themselves in great cinematographic detail but they also detail the story of the war to make them more in-depth and emotional.

I really hate the war films that try to be serious yet only show people blowing each other into pieces. There is no way anyone can believe that is real war.

plumbob78 · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 13:17 »

Breaker Morant is very good, although it's as much a courtroom drama as it is a war move.

For WWI pictures, I think my favorites are Gallipoli and The Lighthorsemen, which are both about the war against the Turks in the Middle Eastern Theatre, and about Australian units.

WWII: Battle of Britain is great, despite some horrible translation of the German radio chatter. It's probably one of my favorites. I also LOVE Das Boot, but I recommend the directors cut or the full min-series. That movie has the best sub scenes ever. Patton is a great character driven movie. And if you want a funny war move, watch Kelly's Heroes I like Saving Private Ryan, but haven't seen it since the theatre. The HBO mini-series Band of Brothers is just as good.

evernew · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 13:50 »

I watched Band of Brothers in less than a week.
It had a little telenovela flair (b/c of the continuity etc.) but I _always_ wanted to know what was in store for Easy Company.

And my favorite war comedy is Stripes.

Dazed · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 14:39 »

Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Black Hawk Down, Three Kings and the first half of Full Metal Jacket for modern war.

If we want to kick it old school, Braveheart.

In terms of comedy, Tropic Thunder was great. Also, Troy and Alexander are unintentionally hilarious.

CardinalFang · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 18:05 »

I second Kelly's Heroes.
An excellent film.
For a 'comedy' they went through some pains to make the film realistic. i believe either the writer or the director served in Europe during WWII.

KickThatBathProf · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 18:52 »

Quote from: Dazed on 23 Nov 2008, 14:39

Platoon, Apocalypse Now

Yes.

Also, Jacob's Ladder, Dr. Strangelove, Hotel Rwanda

(As you can tell, I'm pretty anti-war)

Surgoshan · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 19:19 »

Band of Brothers is the awesome.

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 01:20 »

I watched Full Metal Jacket recently and I must say Kubrick is teh shizz.
For the Australian war movie viewer, Kokoda is a frightening and exciting watch.
Three Kings had some brilliant comedic elements to it.

I really, really dislike the movies that are too heavy on the "anti-war monologues". If I wanted such a thing I could just go back in time to sing Kumbaya around a log campfire.

evernew · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 03:32 »

I like the first part of FMJ only. The vietnam scenes (even though they are the origin of "me love you loooong time" and have some decent battles in them) don't do it for me.

I wish there were more recent navy war movies. The storylines of these movies are very intense but the sophistication of today's cinematic possibilities could do wonders for the pace and visual impact of them. Just imagining a remake of Sink the Bismarck, e.g., with Titanic-like visuals and CGI galore makes me giddy.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 06:32 »

I used to love war movies. Now, not so much. Dr. Strangelove is brilliant, The Thin Red Line is a poetic and awfully pretty (in terms of how it's shot) war film, Saving Private Ryan was awesome and had a great sense of ambiguity about war until that fucking scene where the German prisoner they let go comes back and kills the Jewish guy - that was one of the poorest plot choices I can think of pretty much ever and it totally undermined a lot of what made the movie interesting. Lets see.....those two Eastwood movies, I thought, were pretty terrible. I felt they were pandering and, in many cases, overly choreographed. I'm not a fan of Platoon or Full Metal Jacket either. I dunno why but nothing really clicks for me when I'm watching those. Of course, they weren't as bad as, say, We Were Soldiers or Windtalkers. I did like Three Kings though. As far as the genre goes, I tend to prefer to comedic war films like the aforementioned Dr. Strangelove, MASH, Good Morning Vietnam, Tropic Thunder and so on. A compelling war movie is hard to make since it's so easy to fall back on the merits of pandering to patriotism and indulging in ultraviolence.
All those old B war movies the op mentioned sound awesome though. I love stuff like that.

Border Reiver · « **Reply #11 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 08:40 »

From when I was a younster, Sundays meant getting back from church, getting the chores done, changing into less formal clothers and then often sitting down with Dad to watch either a war movie or a western.

I never really cared for John Wayne war movies, but over the years I saw a good number of movies that rank up there as good movies, regardless of whether they were war movies or not. And so, in no particular order here are some of my recommendations:

a. The Lighthrsemen;
b. Breaker Morant;
c. Gallipoli;
d. ANZACs (my god, Paul Hogan was really acting in this one);
e. Glory;
f. The Immortal Battalion (Peter Ustinov and David Niven);
g. The Longest Day
h. Tora! Tora! Tora!
i. Kelly's Heroes;
j. The Dirty Dozen;
k. Saving Private Ryan;
l. Enemy at the Gates;
m. Cross of Iron;
n. Das Boot;
o. The Sharpe series (I like the books and the made for TV movies are pretty good);

And although I was touting the movie earlier, I haven't been able to get to see Passchendaele due to the passing of my mother in law (she went into the hospital just before it was released and the memorial service was last Saturday).

evernew · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 09:18 »

In recent war movies I don't often see both sides being portrayed equally as unwilling participants in their conflict.
E.g., in Enemy At The Gates, there is a classic good/evil split. No ambiguity.
It's one of the things I appreciate about older movies.

Have any good war movies come out recently? I remember seeing a trailer with Daniel Craig as a Polish guy who goes Robin Hood for his village in WW2. That one looked great.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #13 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 14:05 »

It did look cool. I forget what it is though. Looks like the long-delayed Tom Cruise "I'm a nazi who wants to kill Hitler and all us Germans have British accents b/c Hollywood has stupidly decided that whenever they're going to make a movie with people from a country in Europe in it they'll just give them British accents because it sounds foreign and most Americans won't know the difference" movie, "Valkyrie," is coming out soon. It looks potentially OK but will probably be lame.
I remember enjoying that movie "Gettysburg" when I saw it as a kid as well. That was a cool one.

plumbob78 · « **Reply #14 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 18:52 »

Quote from: Border Reiver on 24 Nov 2008, 08:40

From when I was a younster, Sundays meant getting back from church, getting the chores done, changing into less formal clothers and then often sitting down with Dad to watch either a war movie or a western.

I never really cared for John Wayne war movies, but over the years I saw a good number of movies that rank up there as good movies, regardless of whether they were war movies or not. And so, in no particular order here are some of my recommendations...

Based on this list, I think I want to come over to your house.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #15 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 19:20 »

Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 24 Nov 2008, 14:05

Tom Cruise Nazi Movie

Why is Tom Cruise in that movie? Doesn't everyone know how funny he looks with that eye patch?

My favorite war movie would have to be Saving Private Ryan, though I can't say I can think of any other ones I have seen.

Uber Ritter · « **Reply #16 on:** 26 Nov 2008, 19:05 »

STALINGRAD

No, not "Enemy at the Gates," the German movie "Stalingrad" about wehrmacht grunts in the 6th army who march off to their predictable fate. One of my all-time favorites, without a doubt. Along with "Ran" and "The Seventh Seal" part of the pretentious triumvirate of favorites of my pretentious adolescence, but like the other two, with good reason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_(film)

Nodaisho · « **Reply #17 on:** 26 Nov 2008, 20:33 »

Quote from: evernew on 24 Nov 2008, 09:18

In recent war movies I don't often see both sides being portrayed equally as unwilling participants in their conflict.
E.g., in Enemy At The Gates, there is a classic good/evil split. No ambiguity.
It's one of the things I appreciate about older movies.

Have any good war movies come out recently? I remember seeing a trailer with Daniel Craig as a Polish guy who goes Robin Hood for his village in WW2. That one looked great.

Oh yeah, I saw the trailer for that one. Anyone know the name?

allison · « **Reply #18 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 05:19 »

Has anyone seen Passchendaele yet? I've heard it's pretty good...and well, Paul Gross wrote/directed/starred in it and I'm a little in love with him.

Vendetagainst · « **Reply #19 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 14:59 »

I really liked Behind Enemy Lines.

SonofZ3 · « **Reply #20 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 15:52 »

What about The Thin Red Line? That movie is amazing.

Dazed · « **Reply #21 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 17:40 »

Quote from: Nodaisho on 26 Nov 2008, 20:33

Quote from: evernew on 24 Nov 2008, 09:18
In recent war movies I don't often see both sides being portrayed equally as unwilling participants in their conflict.
E.g., in Enemy At The Gates, there is a classic good/evil split. No ambiguity.
It's one of the things I appreciate about older movies.

Have any good war movies come out recently? I remember seeing a trailer with Daniel Craig as a Polish guy who goes Robin Hood for his village in WW2. That one looked great.
Oh yeah, I saw the trailer for that one. Anyone know the name?

The name of the film is Defiance. Story of Polish-Jewish brothers who escaped the ghetto (I think Warsaw?) and made it out into the woods, and began resisting the Nazi occupation. Based on true events. IIRC, it's due out late December or early January. My family's in the theatre business though, so I already have a snazzy T-shirt for it.

edit: for http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034303/ . Apparently due out January 19, 2009.

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #22 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 22:50 »

Behind Enemy Lines... I seriously couldn't take that film seriously enough. While it was a fun film to watch, I didn't feel the sort of feeling I felt when I watched other war films. Instead of "Wow shizz this is pretty intense" it was "Hahahah Owen Wilson hahahah trip-wired mines hahahah stock Hollywood asplosion sequence".

RedLion · « **Reply #23 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 01:05 »

Black Hawk Down was the first R-rated movie I ever saw...my dad took me to see it when I was, I think, 12? It was really fucking intense. I remember my muscles being tense the whole time. I hadn't seen anything that explicitly gory and bloody before.

satsugaikaze · « **Reply #24 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 21:41 »

Black Hawk down is MA15+ in Australia, 1 down from R18+. That's the uncut version. The cut version (ie. TV size) is M15+. That's another level down.

Seriously, it's quite tame compared to the garbage we see these days, but I also remember seeing it when it came out. It was pretty much the best war film ever since the last one they called the best war film ever.

knives · « **Reply #25 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 09:29 »

I really like that one with the sixth sense kid and Jesus, it's way cool. Grand Illusion's great especially when I don't have the time for the Great Escape. Just because of my Kubrick love I'll throw Paths of Glory out there. It's a quick watch so, you know, watch the dammed thing.

cmdrnmartin · « **Reply #26 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 11:10 »

Jarhead, fantastic movie. A truly modern take on Apocalypse now. The movie trudges along, with fantastic visuals, fantastic characters, and a sense of futility.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #27 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 11:20 »

I thought the best part of jarhead was the trailer.

Dazed · « **Reply #28 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 11:33 »

Pretty much. Jarhead was decent I guess, but calling it a modern Apocalypse Now is ridiculous. They're on entirely different levels.

cmdrnmartin · « **Reply #29 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 12:26 »

Quote from: Dazed on 30 Nov 2008, 11:33

Pretty much. Jarhead was decent I guess, but calling it a modern Apocalypse Now is ridiculous. They're on entirely different levels.

Not really. Both build, with no real climax, just denouement. The atmosphere of both films is similar, heavy, tense. I'd say that they share the same roots.

evernew · « **Reply #30 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 14:29 »

I like Jarhead because it's a war movie without very much war.
Still have not seen the Stalingrad movie but I feel like I really should since both my grandfathers were in the army in Eastern Europe.

And casting Tom Cruise as Stauffenberg caused an uproar in Germany. What a ridiculous pick. Stauffenberg's family opposed it fervently. I have since likened the choice to nominating Palin for VP since it is pure demographics and 'target segment pull' in both cases.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #31 on:** 30 Nov 2008, 18:40 »

Quote from: knives on 30 Nov 2008, 09:29

Grand Illusion's great.

This is so true! Renoir is an amazing director to be sure.

plumbob78 · « **Reply #32 on:** 01 Dec 2008, 12:05 »

Quote from: evernew on 30 Nov 2008, 14:29

And casting Tom Cruise as Stauffenberg caused an uproar in Germany. What a ridiculous pick. Stauffenberg's family opposed it fervently. I have since likened the choice to nominating Palin for VP since it is pure demographics and 'target segment pull' in both cases.

I consider that casting choice a strike against the film myself, but I still really want to see it.

Uber Ritter · « **Reply #33 on:** 04 Dec 2008, 07:02 »

Quote from: SonofZ3 on 28 Nov 2008, 15:52

What about The Thin Red Line? That movie is amazing.

I need to rewatch this. I saw it when it came out, and I was like 13, which I'm pretty sure is too young for Terence Mallik (sp).

Blademan · « **Reply #34 on:** 04 Dec 2008, 09:11 »

No mention of The Dirty Dozen or Big Red One? Those were both amazing movies.

RedLion · « **Reply #35 on:** 04 Dec 2008, 20:36 »

I'm not entirely sure if this counts as a "War" movie, since it's more focused on human drama than action, but Downfall is an absolutely amazing movie. Not just an amazing war movie, but amazing in general. One of the best, ever, I would say.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #36 on:** 04 Dec 2008, 21:08 »

It was really good, but I felt that it didn't have a very solid frame of reference. I was completely conscious of the camera because there was no real singular character or characters that the movie relied on to show the story. There was the doctor and the secretary, but then there were random other scenes or characters only briefly used as a lens that made my point of view a bit of a jumbled mess, and that kind of killed the immersion for me. It's still a very solid movie.

CarrionMan · « **Reply #37 on:** 04 Dec 2008, 21:17 »

So, I was listening to the Band of Brothers soundtrack. It is so beautiful.

RedLion · « **Reply #38 on:** 04 Dec 2008, 23:33 »

Quote from: Dimmukane on 04 Dec 2008, 21:08

It was really good, but I felt that it didn't have a very solid frame of reference. I was completely conscious of the camera because there was no real singular character or characters that the movie relied on to show the story. There was the doctor and the secretary, but then there were random other scenes or characters only briefly used as a lens that made my point of view a bit of a jumbled mess, and that kind of killed the immersion for me. It's still a very solid movie.

Really? I was completely lost in it. Bruno sold me on his role, too. The man is Hitler.

lprkn · « **Reply #39 on:** 05 Dec 2008, 00:20 »

Funny, everybody told me that Bush was Hitler.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #40 on:** 05 Dec 2008, 06:13 »

Bruno was goddamn amazing. Hitler was more of a frame of reference than anybody else, but since the movie is about him and is supposed to be observing him, it made it that much more difficult for me to be immersed by it.

Uber Ritter · « **Reply #41 on:** 06 Dec 2008, 16:03 »

I think Downfall is about the experience of a nation being completely obliterated as a polity (after arguably committing suicide) rather than any individual experience. I think it did that beautifully, and thus didn't in my mind suffer from the lack of a central driving character. There's just so dramatically appropriate (as well as historically accurate) about Bruno mumbling, shaking and ranting in the bunker as everything crumbles. He's so insignificant and irrelevant to the forces his actions have unleashed.

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Author Topic: War movies (Read 12972 times)

cmdrnmartin

cmdrnmartin

Blademan