The Top of the Bleeping Obstacle: MoFo Top 100 War Movies Prelims!

→ in
Tools    





Women will be your undoing, Pépé
THANK YOU!! @KeyserCorleone for Hosting - VERY sure you'll do a truly DAMN FINE job!!

I
AM
PSYCHED



gonna check out that group watch too
__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes
~Mr Minio



Unlike other countdowns, most of the top films in this category have been canonized, so I don’t think there will be any suspense on whether the following films will appear, just where they will place on the list.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) [#10 on the list]
Paths of Glory (1957) [#4]
Bridge over the river Kwai (1957) [#3]
The Human Condition: No greater love (1959) [#27]
Doctor Strangelove or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.(1964) [#6]
The Battle of Algiers (1966) [#24]
Catch 22 (1970)
Apocalypse Now (1979) [#1]
Das Boot (1981) [#9]
Come and See (1985) [#2]
Glory (1986) [#38]
Platoon (1986) [#16]
Full Metal Jacket (1987) [#7]
Empire of the Sun (1987) [#41]
The Thin Red line (1998) [#17]
The Grave of the fireflies (1998) [#12]
Saving Private Ryan (1998) [#8]
We were soldiers (2002)
Downfall (2004) [#13]
Incendies (2010)
Dunkirk (2017) [#47]
1917 (2019) [#31]



Looking forward to participating. This is going to be an interesting countdown since I feel like most war movies (rightfully) have the message “War is bad.” So we gonna get 100 movies with the same theme?



The trick is not minding
Eh, I wouldn't argue against that, tbh. I mean, at least they didn't say Saving Private Ryan.
SPR is amazing.



I love Platoon, and I would still put Apocalypse Now a couple of notches above it.



Re: Saving Private Ryan, I love it. It's probably a lock on my ballot.



'Casualties of War' (1989)


First time I’ve watched this for about 30 years. I remember enjoying it as a young teen. I’ve since been to the bridge were the infamous POW death scene was filmed (Thailand) so it’s quite poignant to see it now.

It still has some great scenes and de Palma directs pretty well. But there are some real corny moments of dialogue that I felt were unnecessary - Shooting the enemy out of a tree while shouting “Get some mother****ers” seems more in tune with a Schwarzenegger action film than a serious war film, and the ending was really quite dreadful in a saccharine, dreamy, god bless multi-cultural America type of way.

That said it’s not a bad film, just a slightly dated one.

6.9/10




Just like you, I hadn't seen Casualties of War in a very long time. I revisited it about a year or two ago and although it uncovered a bit more flaws than I remembered, I still think it holds up pretty well. It has a possibility of sneaking into my ballot. Who knows.

My review of Casualties of War

I do agree with your two points, which I think I bring up on my review... the corny dialogue, which I think gets a bit worse in the last act, and the closing scene which I think is pretty bad.



That's one I haven't gotten too, but also Dunkirk and 1917. I feel like I should watch those before setting up my ballot.


As for the original question, my gut response would probably be... The Thin Red Line? I don't know. I didn't like it back then, but that was 25 years ago and my first Malick. Who knows how it would fare now.



Out of curiosity, which film's inevitable placement on this list will you be dreading the most?
I don't know how many voters will actually have Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor or John Woo's Windtalkers on their ballots, but I pity any who do.
__________________
"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