War Flixs

BradH wrote:

I can't believe I forgot to mention Downfall (AKA Der Untergang) (Oliver Hirschbiegel, Germany/Italy/Austria, 2004). A German WWII movie detailing the last days of the war inside Hitler's bunker. The acting is superb, especially the guy playing Hitler, who is so good it's scary.

I would like to see this, but then it would ruin one of the best resubtitlings of all time: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=UOqlH4YZBkM

I think one of my favorite parts of watching the old war movies like Paths of Glory, All Quiet on the Western Front, Red Badge of Courage and others is watching the total chaos and fear from a soldiers stand point. All over the screen is stuff is going on that makes absolutely no sense at all from the soldiers or movie viewer point of view. Its just the opposite of the stylized Hollywood choreographed war scenes where everything seems so organized. The explosions, wounds and deaths may be more fake looking in the older war movies but I think the fear and chaos was done better in some of the older movies.

I thought Black Hawk Down did a great job of capturing the fear and chaos with the realism and gore of war. But a agree with PseudoIntellectual, it's not my one of my favorite war movies because it was just constant war scenes without the character development and story.

Similar to the guy that posts Twilight Struggle in the wargame thread, I am going to say my favorite war movie is Dr. Strangelove.

Two words: bodily fluids.

Michael Barnes wrote:

One of the best depictions of medieval warfare is still EXCALIBUR...men-at-arms lumbering around, practically in slow motion...siege engines taking forever to do anything because they're so awkward...an armored soldier falls in shallow creek and drowns because he can't get up.

I will second EXCALIBUR. It is a great depiction of medieval warfare and still my favorite on-screen depiction of the story surrounding King Arthur

Any thoughts on Gallipoli? (Mel Gibson, early 80s, WW1 about ANZAC troops).

I agree with Barnes about Saving Private Ryan. It was beautifully made, and when actual combat was shown it was horrific and gritty. But it was still a surface level "us vs them" type of thing.

What I liked about the film was how "realistic" it attempted to be, or rather to graphically show how terrible war is.

Ultimately I think Spielberg was more successful in Band of Brothers, which while still a sort of a hero story, attempts to show that the guys on the ground were just regular dudes doing their jobs. It still maintained a sort of "us vs them" type of feel, but I guess you could argue the series was about the friendship and bonds that were forged during such a terrible ordeal.

I don't much care for Apocalypse Now to tell the truth as a War Film. It just seems to me that the Vietnam conflict is so secondary to what else is going on in the film, that it doesn't necessarily qualify as a war flick. I mean, it really transcends just one defined genre, but so do a lot of great films - Paths of Glory for example.

Michael Barnes wrote:

One of the best depictions of medieval warfare is still EXCALIBUR...men-at-arms lumbering around, practically in slow motion...siege engines taking forever to do anything because they're so awkward...an armored soldier falls in shallow creek and drowns because he can't get up.

Yeah, Excalibur is definitely high on the medieval list (if not in the #1 spot), Braveheart is pretty good too, but the non-battle parts are too long and slow to warrant sitting through them and waiting for the three great battle scenes.

Kingdom of Heaven is a thousand times better if you buy the Directors Cut, which adds in like 45 minutes of footage. The theatrical release was dreck, and when I saw it I couldn't believe that it was Ridley Scott, but the Directors Cut shows that it wasn't his fault, it is much better, fills in plot holes in the theatrical release, gives almost every character more depth, and over-all makes a mediocre movie into a decent movie. It explains, for instance, the puzzling question "Why does Legolas, a peasant blacksmith, know anything about siege/agricultural engineering?" by mentioning that he was a siege-engineer for ten years in the French army (a slightly important part of the story).

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN was a debacle. I saw the original theatrical cut and I knew right away that there was critical story material missing. Once you see the rest of the movie, it coalesces rather nicely and it turns out to be one of the better of that "epic battle" genre films.

What is it with Ridley Scott and editing? LEGEND was missing 20 minutes...BLADE RUNNER has been cut over and over again...

GALLIPOLI is a cool movie...I actually saw that in middle school, a bored biology teacher/coach showed it to us at the end of the year.

Hey, anybody seen INGLORIOUS BASTARDS? That one is pretty good...it's kind of like if a 10 year old boy made a WWII movie.

Michael Barnes wrote:

LEGEND was missing 20 minutes...

WTF! Why wasn't I informed of this? Apparently, I have been living under a rock for the past 25 years.

Yeah man, extra unicorn footage.

I love LEGEND. Definitely get the director's cut DVD. The new agey music is out too, Jerry Goldsmith score in.

Wow, now I don't know whether I saw the regular version or the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven on DVD. I know it was one of my favorite movies that year so maybe it was the directors cut.

The conception of Aurthur in Excalibur was also the best love scene in movie history. It helped make Excalibur my favorite movie during puberty.

I remember really liking Gallipoli when I saw it high school. I haven't scene it 20 years so who knows how much I'd like it now.

After reading all these movie ideas, I just bumped up my Netflixs to 3 movies at a time. The weather sucks, TV sucks and football seasons over. So I might as well catch up on some movies.

More spy than war movie, but no one's yet mentioned Where Eagles Dare with Clint Eastwood. Cool movie. You never really know who's on which side.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Yeah man, extra unicorn footage.

I love LEGEND. Definitely get the director's cut DVD. The new agey music is out too, Jerry Goldsmith score in.

I was just watching this the other day (not for the first time, either). I completely agree the director's cut is better, including the score.

Not many films about the Boer War. The only one that I know of is 1980's 'Breaker' Morant , which is brilliant. "Rule 303" is unforgettable.

Michael Barnes wrote:

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN was a debacle. I saw the original theatrical cut and I knew right away that there was critical story material missing. Once you see the rest of the movie, it coalesces rather nicely and it turns out to be one of the better of that "epic battle" genre films.

And when it is allowed a more solemn pace it comes of as less cheesy and hollywood.

What is it with Ridley Scott and editing? LEGEND was missing 20 minutes...BLADE RUNNER has been cut over and over again...

GALLIPOLI is a cool movie...I actually saw that in middle school, a bored biology teacher/coach showed it to us at the end of the year.

Gallipoli, with Mel Gibson right? I couldn't get over the music for that one. The movie itself was pretty good, but the score! So 80s... So very 80s...

I love LEGEND. Definitely get the director's cut DVD. The new agey music is out too, Jerry Goldsmith score in.

It definitely needed a new score, badly. I remember watching it as a kid I just couldn't get over the fact that that cool Goblin guy was actually a lame gnome or whatever it/he was once he took off his helmet.