Spam my WAR Countdown ballot!...movie recommendations needed

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"Lois, I never lie."
03-26-23
Originally Posted by cricket
I think I saw Midway as a youngster but I don't remember anything about it.
Did you watch the whole thing... or stop half way through?
You know, somewhere near the median time stamp? Did you stop watching somewhere near the central portion, or have to turn it off somewhere betwixt and between the beginning and end; averaging a nearly equidistant time frame to both? Did you only see it up to the medial section of the film?

(Do you see what I'm getting at? Okay, I'll stop now.)



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03-26-23
Originally Posted by cricket
I think I saw Midway as a youngster but I don't remember anything about it.
Time to watch again You might like it if you like exciting war battle based on the real exciting war battle.


Originally Posted by Captain Steel
Did you watch the whole thing... or stop half way through?
You know, somewhere near the median time stamp? Did you stop watching somewhere near the central portion, or have to turn it off somewhere betwixt and between the beginning and end; averaging a nearly equidistant time frame to both? Did you only see it up to the medial section of the film?

(Do you see what I'm getting at? Okay, I'll stop now.)
Ha Nope I watched it all



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03-26-23

Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

What sets this film apart from other major WWII war films is the vast amount of detail and historical facts that's included in this 2h 24m movie.

I appreciated the large amount of screen time that was dedicated to telling the Japanese side of the story. Some of the best cinematography was of the Japanese sailors on the hanger decks of their aircraft carriers. Kudos for having the Japanese speak in their own language. Note: you'll want subtitles for the Japanese scenes, I'm glad I had them.

Tora! Tora! Tora! was a huge undertaking in the vein of The Longest Day It manages to cram in just about everything that happened (or didn't happen) in regards to the attack on Pearl Harbor. I read that this film is popular in Japan, probably because the Japanese are treated quite well in how their story is told.

If I had one complaint it might be that the script tends to make the American admirals and generals look like inefficient goofs. Maybe one other complaint: with all the historical happenings included in the film there's little time for character development. It would probably help to watch a documentary or two about the attack at Pearl Harbor before watching Tora! Tora! Tora!

- (3.75/5)



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"Lois, I never lie."
03-27-23
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules

Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

What sets this film apart from other major WWII war films is the vast amount of detail and historical facts that's included in this 2h 24m movie.

I appreciated the large amount of screen time that was dedicated to telling the Japanese side of the story. Some of the best cinematography was of the Japanese sailors on the hanger decks of their aircraft carriers. Kudos for having the Japanese speak in their own language. Note: you'll want subtitles for the Japanese scenes, I'm glad I had them.

Tora! Tora! Tora! was a huge undertaking in the vein of The Longest Day It manages to cram in just about everything that happened (or didn't happen) in regards to the attack on Pearl Harbor. I read that this film is popular in Japan, probably because the Japanese are treated quite well in how their story is told.

If I had one complaint it might be that the script tends to make the American admirals and generals look like inefficient goofs. Maybe one other complaint: with all the historical happenings included in the film there's little time for character development. It would probably help to watch a documentary or two about the attack at Pearl Harbor before watching Tora! Tora! Tora!

- (3.75/5)
But compared to Pearl Harbor (2001) Tora-x-3 is a freakin' documentary.
Because Pearl Harbor, despite its excellent visual effects (and Tom Sizemore ), was a rewriting of history that injected things that never happened and people that never existed just for the sake of added drama (like we really needed more drama for such an event)!

I always have a hard time picturing the pitch meeting...

"The most violent attack in American history... but it's missing something... let's see... I got it! A love triangle between 3 really good looking actors! Yeah! Yeah! Women won't want to see a movie about how the U.S. entered WWII, but if we have a nurse fall in love with two pilots, that will get their butts in the seats! And didn't two pilots get off the ground that day? Now, what were their names? Oh, who cares what their names were, we'll give 'em NEW names and make them both in love with a nurse who looks like a super model (even though nothing happened like that in real life)! We'll put fictional people next to real people! We'll have dogs and cats living together! We'll have FDR stand up without help because he's so mad!!! "



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One Ornery Sumbitch
03-27-23
I am more in line with the cheeky review of the day that simply proclaimed, "Bore-a! Bore-a! Bore-a!"
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



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03-28-23


Midway (2019)

I just about shut this off after the first 10 minutes which was the Pearl Harbor attack scene. It was hard to tell that it was the infamous sneak attack as the film was cut hyper fast and everything was CG...Oh and everything was on fire, I mean everything.

OK but then the film goes to a real set with officers discussing the attack. The acting was mediocre and with a lot of the scenes being done in front of a green screen the movie doesn't always feel real. However there are some cool POV from the pilot's line of sight. Such as the dive bomber runs, that no film could capture unless it was CG. So that's a plus. Another plus is the film in 2hours 18minutes covers a lot of the back story of the war in the Pacific and even shows us scenes within the Japanese command war rooms so that we can see their POV. You need subs unless you speak Japanese for these scenes.

I haven't bothered to research what was accurate and what wasn't. It did seem to include more detail about Midway than did the 1976 movie of the same name. There's even a few scenes about Doolittle's Raiders and what happened to the Chinese civilians who helped them escape...I was surprised that the film was honest about the Japanese army atrocities commented in China and against captured U.S. flyers.

Midway (2019) might not be a cinematic marvel but it gives a good overall view of the war in the Pacific and I wasn't bored.
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"Lois, I never lie."
03-28-23
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
I keep seeing Pearl Harbor being mentioned, it must be a sign
Let me sum it up for you: 3+ hours: 2 of which are dedicated to a fictional love triangle between people who never existed, and 1 hour of exciting (mostly CGI) action depicting the actual attack (and a little bit about the Doolittle raid on Tokyo at the end... except Doolittle is played by Alec Baldwin... yuck).



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03-28-23
Originally Posted by Captain Steel
Let me sum it up for you: 3+ hours: 2 of which are dedicated to a fictional love triangle between people who never existed, and 1 hour of exciting (mostly CGI) action depicting the actual attack (and a little bit about the Doolittle raid on Tokyo at the end... except Doolittle is played by Alec Baldwin... yuck).
That sounds good enough for me. I'm not expecting much, I'm more about seeing a visual recreation of the war in the Pacific and I'm ok with fictional romances as long as the scenes are engaging.



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"Lois, I never lie."
03-28-23
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
That sounds good enough for me. I'm not expecting much, I'm more about seeing a visual recreation of the war in the Pacific and I'm ok with fictional romances as long as the scenes are engaging.
I'd compare it to Titanic - both are films about historical events that are intentionally historically inaccurate (to allegedly heighten the drama - as if such disasters need their drama heightened!) - mostly because they feature fictional plots within the greater event. Both are visually stimulating with more modern effects. Both have superior movies preceding them made about the exact same topics and which are more accurate.



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"Lois, I never lie."
03-29-23
On that note... I almost forgot about the movie version of Dieter Dengler's story: Rescue Dawn (2006).
Don't know if it's been mentioned on this thread yet, but it's a very gripping war, POW and escape movie.



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03-29-23
Originally Posted by cricket
Little Dieter Needs to Fly

On the documentary list, I thought it was phenomenal.
I've heard about that and wanted to see it as I seen the movie that was based on Dieter's story. The movie Captain Steel just mentioned, it was good too.



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03-29-23
Originally Posted by Captain Steel
On that note... I almost forgot about the movie version of Dieter Dengler's story: Rescue Dawn (2006).
Don't know if it's been mentioned on this thread yet, but it's a very gripping war, POW and escape movie.
Kudos to that, and I had forgotten all about it. Good movie.



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04-02-23

Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay 2001)

Well...everyone complains about the romance taking up so much of the 3 hour movie time. I felt the romance was the best part of the movie, the worst part was the action scenes. The thing is half of the film is drama-romance and half is action war and that mixes like oil and water. I get that most movies have a back story for the soldiers with a romance or two and that gives them depth so that when they risk their lives in battle we know that their death will crush someone back home. But this 3 hour movie has 90 minutes of a love triangle with two best friends loving the same nurse. BTW I thought the nurse was a young Rachel Mc Adams while I was watching the movie and only found it that's Kate Beckinsale playing the role.

I wish this had been a two hour movie about America's pre WWII feelings, that then would've been fresh as there's not been any movies specifically focused on dealing with how America was conflicted about joining the war or not. Also that would be the perfect story for hanging a romance on. But instead we get a lot of Pearl Harbor attack scenes complete with our two heroes flying their planes sideways between buildings so that they can defeat the Japanese Zero pilots, which had me thinking of The Final Countdown (1980).

If you're going to do a movie about Pearl Harbor and Doolittle's Raiders get the damn facts straight! This movie didn't do that...there's lots of historical inaccuracies.

I did like Rachel Mc Adams err I mean Kate Beckinsale and Ben Affleck too but the guy who played his shy friend Josh Hartnett wasn't up to par either was the actors who played President Roosevelt and Admiral Yamamoto, bad casting choices.

I guess I was entertained but not impressed....




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"Lois, I never lie."
04-03-23
This review got me thinking about the last war movie I watched: PT-109 (1963).
And it suddenly occurred to me, there wasn't a single female in the entire film, not even in a bit part as a nurse or secretary or something... (so no romance, no sub-plots, no Jackie Bouvier or Norma Jeane Mortenson).
Yet, it's still a top rate movie!



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04-03-23
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
I wish this had been a two hour movie about America's pre WWII feelings, that then would've been fresh as there's not been any movies specifically focused on dealing with how America was conflicted about joining the war or not. Also that would be the perfect story for hanging a romance on. But instead we get a lot of Pearl Harbor attack scenes complete with our two heroes flying their planes sideways between buildings so that they can defeat the Japanese Zero pilots, which had me thinking of The Final Countdown (1980).
I don't think there's a H'Wood studio brave enough to fund that film and there's probably not a writer rich enough to bother writing it. It'd probably be populated with British actors doing American accents because there probably isn't a H'Wood actor brave enough to play the part of a doubting US politician/ordinary citizen/military man to the point where there'd probably have to create a Lady Macbeth type to put all the blame on for why the man didn't send troops to fight Nazis for 2 years and, even when they did, it was because Hitler declared war on the US.

I think we can all see why that film hasn't been made for a US audience in the last 70 years.
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