Movie Forums Top 100 War Movies - Group Watch

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Regeneration (1997)


If I was to describe Regeneration in one word it would be, 'unfocused'. If I was to expand that to a phrase it would be, 'interesting premise with intriguing characters who unfortunately never seem to complete their character arcs.'

This is my type of film and I was looking forward to watching it. I liked the characters and the actors who portrayed them were very good...I like films that are more psychological, reflective and dialogue heavy...fast paced action often doesn't do it for me. So I was into watching this but it felt like the first episode of an eight part mini series in that we get all this foreshadowing of these damaged men but their stories never really gets focused and their resolves felt incomplete.



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I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
it felt like the first episode of an eight part mini series in that we get all this foreshadowing of these damaged men but their stories never really gets focused and their resolves felt incomplete.

That's interesting because the book it's based on is actually the first in a series of books. The sequels focus more on the original character, Billy Prior.


I think it's like that for two reasons. One, that it is focused on Craiglockart and what happens there (although the film expands the world a bit with battle flashbacks which adds context but perhaps undermines the sense of a contained world). Two, that a lot of them didn't get to resolve their stories anyway as they were killed in the war.


If you are at all interested in what happened to Siegfried Sassoon after the war, last year there was a film called Benediction which was a Sassoon biopic. I found it a bit of a slog overall but the it was interesting to watch the scenes of the war, his time at Craiglockart and his relationship with Wilfred Owen and compare them to the portrayal in Regeneration.



I'm hoping to get to this but I might be out for a couple days. My day off was yesterday but wife had surgery (she's good), but I was busy shuffling around all day. Now I've got 3 dogs coming over that we have to watch.



The trick is not minding
Sorry, I couldn’t find Regeneration on Tubi, even though just watch claims it’s available there.
It’s grown more difficult for me to watch films during the work week, I’ve come to realize as I only have a few hours during the morning and a few at night to really do anything. Weekends are increasingly my binge watching anymore.



I'm hoping to get to this Friday. It's high on my war film watchlist after ScarletLion also recommended it.
Mark f, had City of Life and Death as his #25 on his ballot for the Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown. So far it hasn't made any countdown list, I'm hoping it will make the war countdown list.



Mark f, had City of Life and Death as his #25 on his ballot for the Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown. So far it hasn't made any countdown list, I'm hoping it will make the war countdown list.
No kidding, good catch. Have you seen it?



No kidding, good catch. Have you seen it?
Just seen it last night. I had planned on watching it the night before because it looked like it would be my turn to pick a movie...but the damn subs didn't work and it was late so we just watched something else. I did get the subs to work just fine and the copy I seen was a HD, looked stunning.



Just watched City of Life and Death, and I really enjoyed it. It probably won't make my ballot, but I might not have heard of the film otherwise, so I'm glad it was nominated.




City of Life and Death (Chuan Lu 2009)

I'm speechless, the beauty of the cinematography is in sharp contrast to the very real atrocities commented by the Japanese Imperial army. The film is bleak and the invading army is cruel and so was the actually war crimes committed in the 'Rape of Nanjing'. The usage of b&w film and the eye for artistic detail is a hallmark of Chuan Lu's retelling of the horrors inflicted upon the Chinese population of Nanjing.


I love that above photo with all of the actors looking astray of the camera's lens, except the young woman who's the focal point of the composition. It's emotionally very telling...and was also repeated here:


So many amazing shots in this film...and the best shot, I couldn't find an image for. My favorite shot starts with the back of a Japanese solider as the camera pans upwards we see the vastness of the sky in contrast to the lone man...then the camera moves even further up and we see 1000s of captured Chinese soldiers bound with ropes...then we see the machine guns open up cutting them down like blades of grass. It was a beautiful composition to a brutal scene. Sad that it's all true.




Current candidates to host the next round...

Nobody so far. Let's hope some more people join in.

You guys have about 24 more hours left to watch the film.



Current candidates to host the next round...

Nobody so far. Let's hope some more people join in.

You guys have about 24 more hours left to watch the film.
You would be a current candidate right? You watched the last film City of Death and you've only chose once I believe. Or am I missing something?