MOTA Review Thread. Keep It Civil!

[Spikes]

I feel like the series would have been much better had they implemented the interviews from the Bloody Hundredth documentary by Hanks and Spielberg that also released on Apple TV+.

I'm torn on this. On one hand, it would be cool to have the actual historical accounts and whatnot, but I think it would detract from the feel of the show being a show. I haven't watched the doc yet, but am eager to. Just finished the show.

[Animl-AW]

A friend, who is s walking library on WWII, dropped this book off yesterday.
The Mighty 8th at War. A large hardback book.

A little late but appreciated. Really good book. It has a lot of pictures, so I’m able to read it.

https://shop.mightyeighth.org/the-mighty-8th-at-war-the-missions-the-aircraft-the-full-story-told-by-the-by-chris-mcnab-men-who-were-there-hardcover/

[Dadtallica]

I'm torn on this. On one hand, it would be cool to have the actual historical accounts and whatnot, but I think it would detract from the feel of the show being a show. I haven't watched the doc yet, but am eager to. Just finished the show.

Documentary was only an hour but has some good info in it.

[nopoop]

I enjoyed it. It was ok. Not close to the Pacific or the series that started it all. But I enjoyed it.

[Animl-AW]

I think I might like it more because I didn’t see the other movies to compare it to. Since I don’t watch very many movies it may have been easier to not critique it very hard. I’m a doc guy. CGI was passible. I’m not fond of scripts and acting.

Some of us put it under a microscope and actually looked for reasons to not like it. Some of which have patterns of seeing ghost that are not there and critiqued it much harder. It wasn’t going to be great before it even started. If you’re fixated on finding errors in a movie you’ll find them.

The average viewer is not going to pick out wrong planes. They aren’t even going to be looking.
They probably enjoyed it and call it great. I see this on FB pages if the movie. I actually advertise MotA on those pages.

I think people who aren’t as deep into 3D graphics and see it every day enjoyed it more. My friend who studied WWII pretty much his whole life, never played any game, liked it. He didn’t pick out one single call on wrong planes.

There is a doc on Apple (maybe somewhere else too) “The Bloody Hundredth”. That has interviews, including Spielberg.

Point being, it didn’t suck.

My friend told me the military filmed WWII in color. A guy who collected films to take back lost the bags that contained the ones he picked up. The ones that remained were collected by others or from guys who lied and didn’t turn them into those who collected them. The reason we saw them in black and white is because tvs and theaters were B&W. He can recite slmost every part on all Harleys and same with WWII. That’s his thing.

My dad and uncle were in the AF then. My uncle flew the B-29 and became president if American Airline maintenance for a log time. My dad took me and my brother (RIP) to the local airport every Sunday after church to watch the planes and parachutes. Grew up near my cousins farm where we raised livestock, the farm right next door who grew produce had a crop duster and his own airstrip we used to watch him spray. My cousin was trained on it and got his license.  I was suppose to get my pilot’s license at 18yrs old, but got a failing grade on my report card and my punishment was no license. Never pursued it again, fell into the entertainment world. So I have natural interest.

[shotgunneeley]

I read the MOTA book twice, last time being close to 10 years ago. Based on my memory of it, I was surprised that it seemed to follow other sources pretty heavily like Crosby’s A Wing and a Prayer. Felt like a lot of MOTA was left undeveloped, like the political challenges and the strategic choices made by the likes of Eaker, Arnold and Doolittle. They should have used a different title to the series more in line with the focus on the 100th BG instead of the broader 8th AAF that the book MOTA really develops.

I have been eager to see this since they first announced it over a decade ago. While not as good as Band of Brothers, I could definitely re-watch it more times than the Pacific (which I have only seen three times as compared to like 12-15 times for BoB). I did not have any problem with the CGI. It will take another to really get to know the many faces and be able to better link characters off-mission with their faces unobscured as compared to when they are flying with oxygen masks. I don’t know, the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission turned out a bit more muted than what I expected it to be - like the results were on target, balanced out the losses, and didn’t setback the 8ths strength as much.

My first introduction to AH was flying with the 100th BG. Miss you guys - Irish, Hooch, Malak, Chewi, Coogan, Bull and all the others <S> 100

[Dadtallica]

I had a lot of issues with the show and will probably watch it again someday. I will also still be mad the air battles fizzled out as the show wound down.

At any rate, good on these two fellas for appreciating the sacrifice they represented. Mad respect for Callum nailing a NY dialect! #Yankees

[Baloo]

That was a great interview, thanks for sharing