Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: JB73 on November 17, 2007, 11:05:19 PM
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I had never watched this movie before, and I knew it had mixed reviews, but I decided to buy it for $4.99 a few weeks ago.
I just watched it finally.
How many of you just couldn't get into it? All the flashbacks from unknown actors, I couldn't keep track of who's who some times, didn't understand the "message" they were trying to say, and never really understood Nick Nolte's character.
Sean Penn to I think sucked in it, in fact the more I see of him, the worse an actor I consider him.
It also bugged me that it took almost an hour to get to any "military" action. I just watched Flags of our Father and wanted to see some more action.
Overall I have to say I give it only 2 of 5 stars, maybe lower. Anyone else dislike this movie?
as a point of reference, top marks go to movies like Downfall, Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Band of Brothers, Dark Blue World, Hamburger Hill, A Bridge too Far, Full Metal Jacket, and a few others.
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I watched it in the theaters.
The first words out of my mouth once was over were:
'Quick, let's get out of here before it starts again."
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The Thin Red Line:
A Movie Review by RPM
It sucked balls.
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Thin Red Line: Almost as bad as Saving Private Ryan.
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Originally posted by lasersailor184
Thin Red Line: Almost as bad as Saving Private Ryan.
Curious. What's your issue(s) with SPR?
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Originally posted by Arlo
Curious. What's your issue(s) with SPR?
Tom Hanks.
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Originally posted by lasersailor184
Thin Red Line: Almost as bad as Saving Private Ryan.
Hmm. I thought Saving Private Ryan was pretty good.
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Originally posted by Fishu
Tom Hanks.
This something LS revealed to you previously or are you tossing in your own issue? :D
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Originally posted by Arlo
This something LS revealed to you previously or are you tossing in your own issue? :D
Tossing one's own salad, err, I mean issue, seems to be a rather popular activity here.
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TRL sucked. Confused mess resulting from some idiot director trying to make a war movie "artsy".
SPR was an excellant movie, and Tom Hanks is a good actor.
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Heh.
I found TRL a bit esoteric (or seemingly intended to be).
I know what the movie seemed to be shooting for (perhaps the book did better) but Nick Nolte's character (Lt. Col. Tall) is introduced more by his inner dialog lamenting a wasted life in pursuit of advancement in the military as he walks about on the deck of a ship with his lips figuratively attached to John Travolta's character's (Brig. Gen. Quintard) backside.
Quintard is portrayed as a stuffed shirt with his own insecurities who occasionally spouts off something he thinks of as insightful and inspiring, in spite of it's general disconnectedness. He treats Tall condenscendingly, which just makes the colonel more determined to prove himself. Apparently proving himself involves ordering subordinates to follow reckless tactics so glory can be bought with blood.
The "main" character's thoughts/inner monolog is offered up as a man questioning the useless slaughter of war where the gains are measured more in aquiring enemy property, no matter the cost, than anything else.
All in all, an interesting counterpoint to SPR but not particularly moving, inspiring or entertaining.
Now, SPR, from the first seconds of the movie, is sensory overload. It numbs, it shocks the senses .... but it does drive home a very hard point. A point it shares with TRL .... wars cost lives. Good lives. Maybe some not so "good" (but that's a perspective denied since once a young life is snuffed out who knows the potential lost). But it certainly evoked emotion when Hank's character (Capt. Miller) tells Ryan (Matt Damon) to "earn it." To earn the price Miller paid to save Ryan. And the movie comes full circle when the older Ryan weeps at the grave of Miller and the audience, hopefully (and I think the movie succeeded at this, for the most part), feels the full realization of what it's relied on suspician before. The brotherhood of men who served together in combat transends just about any other kind of relationship possible.
Both movies came out in `98. And their differences are as interesting as the critques surrounding them.
Anyhoo .....
*ShruG*
Not like I'm a professional movie critic or nuthin'. :)
p.s. TRL is a remake of a 1964 film http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058648/
I've not seen the earlier film. May be worth a try just out of curiousity.
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Ya thin red line was a cross between a war movie and a national geographic explorer show. It totally blew.
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I concur with your review of both films.
And James Jones' book, The Thin red Line, is definatley a book one should read and contrast with the film.
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Thanks. I'll put it on my short list.
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I hated Thin Red Line, I'd dubbed it the Thin Brown Stream before it was halfway through.
Saving Private Ryan was excellent by comparison.
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It was just far too slow of a movie.
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Only thing that had my attention was the scene with the guys rushing the machine gun nest. After that I fell asleep.
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There are just a handful of really good war movies. The Thin Red Line is NOT one of them.
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for all its inaccuracies and fancies I still like "Enemy at the Gates" a "Band of Brothers" type series set on the Eastern Front would rock hardcore.
as for Thin Red Line. it bit very much so.
As for SPR they didnt even get the MG-42 sound right.:cry
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Originally posted by Pooh21
for all its inaccuracies and fancies I still like "Enemy at the Gates." a "Band of Brothers" type series set on the Eastern Front would rock hardcore.
Agreed ~ watched that one earlier today in fact.
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Enemy at the Gates Rocked!
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personally, i felt that aside from the battle scenes, flags of our fathers was the sux.
the ira character was wayyyyy over acted...over emphasized. pointless.
letters was better. imho.
;)
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Ira Hayes rocks yours socks you Al Kada loving commie swine
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Originally posted by lasersailor184
Thin Red Line: Almost as bad as Saving Private Ryan.
SPR was a good movie. The thin red line sucked arse!
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Originally posted by Fishu
Tom Hanks.
...............blows chunks.
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Originally posted by rpm
The Thin Red Line:
A Movie Review by RPM
It sucked balls.
and with RPM being the resident expert on that topic I'd guess that inarguably it must have been an awful film.
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I really didn't think it was that bad of a movie.
Slow...Indeed. But not horrible, Its worth owning and is in my collection.
War movies don't have to chocked full of explosions, or based on stereo-typical roles which is a predominant feature of nearly all war movies. I'd rather watch a movie of the struggle and inhumanity of war and conflict, that actually explores its characters, and offers a sense of what it may be like to be at the front (Whatever Front that is) than some movie where the black corpsman always dies, or the Nazi bad guys have no more than a three word vocabulary, Or the Hero is some roughneck who ends up having a heart at the end of the movie.
Call me artsy, but I think the TRL is a good movie, while not the best war movie ever, it clearly shines above some other recent war movies.
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Originally posted by Nefarious
I really didn't think it was that bad of a movie.
Slow...Indeed. But not horrible, Its worth owning and is in my collection.
War movies don't have to chocked full of explosions, or based on stereo-typical roles which is a predominant feature of nearly all war movies. I'd rather watch a movie of the struggle and inhumanity of war and conflict, that actually explores its characters, and offers a sense of what it may be like to be at the front (Whatever Front that is) than some movie where the black corpsman always dies, or the Nazi bad guys have no more than a three word vocabulary, Or the Hero is some roughneck who ends up having a heart at the end of the movie.
Call me artsy, but I think the TRL is a good movie, while not the best war movie ever, it clearly shines above some other recent war movies.
With that in mind, Nefarious, you would think that someone would make a movie portraying the fall of the phillipines and the Death march from Bataan. Apart from a couple of old John Wayne films' that I can't even name off of the top of my head, It seems' nobody touches on the subject of the fall of the phillipines.
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I recommend TRL, it isn't a great war movie, but if you actually pay attention
the messages the director was trying to get across were very clear.
Its not an action thriller...
If you pick it up in the bargain bin for $4 you could have done much worse considering what's out there...
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mostly.. if sean penn is in a movie I know that it is gonna be a stinker.. lots of male out of control weeping.
In this case.. I believe the movie could have been good. It wasn't but.. the production values and filming were so good that it is still worth having at $4.99
Flags of our fathers seemed pretty good but.. letters.. was terrible. I couldn't get over the disconnect of what really happened with those japs and what the film was saying they were like... just like you and me right? maybe one or two bad leaders but... really.. just good guys like the guy down the street.
lazs
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Originally posted by Pooh21
for all its inaccuracies and fancies I still like "Enemy at the Gates" a "Band of Brothers" type series set on the Eastern Front would rock hardcore.
as for Thin Red Line. it bit very much so.
As for SPR they didnt even get the MG-42 sound right.:cry
Enemy at the Gates, the movie, failed miserably to capture the book. They turned the movie in to a @#$@#$ love story, which is typical, I suppose
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war movie= all quiet on the western front.
i always thought the "thin red line" referred to the British army during the empire period when the British soldier wore a red coat.
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The Thin Red Line is a philosophers view of the war. I could actually really relate to the main character. What is this great evil that causes men to kill each other? Especially when it was set in such a beautiful and serene place as an island in the South Pacific.
The Thin Red Line can be thought of as a motive that shows the emotional motives behind the men in war. Saving Private Ryan leaves much of that out and focuses more on the actions.
The three scenes in TRL that I like the most are : When the U.S. soldier kills his first japanese, when they assault the machine gun nest, and when they overrun the Japanese base camp. The emotion portrayed in those scenes is very interesting.
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Originally posted by FrodeMk3
Apart from a couple of old John Wayne films' that I can't even name off of the top of my head, It seems' nobody touches on the subject of the fall of the phillipines.
"They Were Expendable"
"Back To Bataan"
Did I miss any?
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TRL is a good movie.
IMO the problem is today's audience is more interested in special effects and gore than the story of the movie.
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The Thin Red line was a classic. It does however suffer from being a bit to cerebral and many of the simpleminded simply dont get it. Which is probably why we get some many crap movies out of Hollywood.
The TRL wasnt exactly a war movie. It was a study about good an evil in men and the utter hopelessness of the individual in society.
"War doesnt en-noble men". "It turns them into dogs".
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Originally posted by bj229r
Enemy at the Gates, the movie, failed miserably to capture the book. They turned the movie in to a @#$@#$ love story, which is typical, I suppose
I haven't read the book; I may consider doing that though. I didn't think it was a love story ~ happened to be a love interest in the story, but I that's never what I pictured it as being...
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Originally posted by AquaShrimp
The Thin Red Line is a philosophers view of the war. I could actually really relate to the main character. What is this great evil that causes men to kill each other? Especially when it was set in such a beautiful and serene place as an island in the South Pacific.
The Thin Red Line can be thought of as a motive that shows the emotional motives behind the men in war. Saving Private Ryan leaves much of that out and focuses more on the actions.
The three scenes in TRL that I like the most are : When the U.S. soldier kills his first japanese, when they assault the machine gun nest, and when they overrun the Japanese base camp. The emotion portrayed in those scenes is very interesting.
agreed.
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*cough* when trumpets fade *cough*
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Then See Both TRL Films....Read the Book...compare...films vs book...
and you will begin to see that TRL is an Anti-War film, as are, All Quiet On the Western Front, and, Johnny Got His Gun.
I agree with Vulcan here....
When Trumpets Fade is another sleeper...not well known, that is...but a film worth seeing.
This thread is showing generations of educational, and experiential differences. I wonder what kind of a conversation might take place between Erik Remarque, Dalton Trumbo, and James Jones, if they were able to respond to this thread.
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Originally posted by lasersailor184
Thin Red Line: Almost as bad as Saving Private Ryan.
SPR won oscars for Best Cinematography,Best Director,Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing,Best Film Editing and Best Sound.
Hardly a bad film.
:rolleyes:
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Originally posted by Ripsnort
SPR won oscars for Best Cinematography,Best Director,Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing,Best Film Editing and Best Sound.
Hardly a bad film.
:rolleyes:
Those are all technical awards, and technically speaking, it was well made. It says nothing of how captivating the story was, or how sympathetic the characters.
Even if you believe in the validity of the academy awards, the fact that this flick was boring, slow, pretentious, patronizing and disjointed is not refuted by these accolades.
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Originally posted by Neubob
Even if you believe in the validity of the academy awards, the fact that this flick was boring, slow, pretentious, patronizing and disjointed is not refuted by these accolades.
It's merely refuted by the majority of posters in this thread. Everyone's opinions count. One at a time.
:)
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a midnight clear
trumbo was a communist
james jones actually served in combat was wounded and decorated. he still comes across as bit to left leaning though I know nothing much of him but his writing, his novels.
as for remarque, hitler was correct in banning his writings. he married some actress and was the long time darling of the hollywood set, likely a communist
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I didn't take a poll of the opinions, Arlo, and if I failed to include that the above statement is just my opinion, and not fact, then I'll own up to that mistake. All opinions on movies are simply that--opinions.
I'm a fan of war movies from all eras. All Quiet on the Western Front remains in my mind as the one of the most, if not THE most haunting war movie of all time. Having read the book before seeing the movie may have helped to retain my then teenaged attention, but it was still an unerringly human and sympathetic look at hell. Stalingrad is another that sticks out.
Thin Red Line just pissed me off. Perhaps because it came on the heels of Saving Private Ryan, and I was expecting something else, but it just never made me care about the characters. To me, that's failure.
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Originally posted by Neubob
I didn't take a poll of the opinions, Arlo, and if I failed to include that the above statement is just my opinion, and not fact, then I'll own up to that mistake. All opinions on movies are simply that--opinions.
I wasn't condemning you. I said your opinion counts. It's just the exception to the rule, in this case. I've my own, regarding other instances. Guess that makes us occassionally exceptional. ;)
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OK, I went ahead and did the count...
TRL is still behind in the polls though. You can recount to confirm my accuracy, but I don't think that it's a winner with this crowd, Arlo.
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Originally posted by Neubob
OK, I went ahead and did the count...
TRL is still behind in the polls though. You can recount to confirm my accuracy, but I don't think that it's a winner with this crowd, Arlo.
I'm guessing the confusion between us involves you seeing a "TRL" when an "SPR" was posted:
Originally posted by Ripsnort
SPR (Saving Private Ryan) won oscars for Best Cinematography,Best Director,Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing,Best Film Editing and Best Sound.
Hardly a bad film.
Originally posted by Neubob
Those are all technical awards, and technically speaking, it was well made. It says nothing of how captivating the story was, or how sympathetic the characters.
Even if you believe in the validity of the academy awards, the fact that this flick was boring, slow, pretentious, patronizing and disjointed is not refuted by these accolades.
:cool:
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Doh.... Alright, I'm a tard.
However, I went back and counted more carefully.
Clearly against TRL:
JB73
Neubob
RPM
Lasersailor
dago
filth
sd67
crocket
tango
nilsen
pooh21
skyrock
Clearly for (in the event of an ambiguous statement, I gave TRL the benefit of the doubt):
Nefarious
tojo
aquashrimp
tac
rich46yo
jb88
patches
Arlo
Still 12 to 8, by my count... And yes, I know, I have too much time on my hands.
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wayyyyy to much time.
:cool:
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Originally posted by texasmom
I haven't read the book; I may consider doing that though. I didn't think it was a love story ~ happened to be a love interest in the story, but I that's never what I pictured it as being...
The love angle was a teeny part of the book...BIG part of the movie. I found the book to be riveting---sat and read the whole thing on a flight cross-country
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Originally posted by Neubob
Doh.... Alright, I'm a tard.
However, I went back and counted more carefully.
Clearly against TRL:
JB73
Neubob
RPM
Lasersailor
dago
filth
sd67
crocket
tango
nilsen
pooh21
skyrock
Clearly for (in the event of an ambiguous statement, I gave TRL the benefit of the doubt):
Nefarious
tojo
aquashrimp
tac
rich46yo
jb88
patches <- said in no uncertain terms he agreed with me
Arlo<- not ambiguous, obviously not a fan
Still 12 to 8, by my count... And yes, I know, I have too much time on my hands.
Again, I don't know why you're counting heads to see if TRL is popular amongst the posters in this thread. You were responding to somone who mentioned the Academy awards Saving Private Ryan received.
Nevertheless, if, out of your own curiousity about TRL, you desire an accurate fan count in this thread regarding that movie, I still suggest you doublecheck your findings. :)
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I assume you're just pulling my chain, but I guess I have to include this just to make it official:
I meant TRL... The confusion was mine about Ripsnort's post. I somehow managed to miss the acronym and assumed he was talking about Thin Red Line. I thought Private Ryan was a great movie.
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Then ... you are no longer "exceptional." ;)
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Originally posted by Arlo
Then ... you are no longer "exceptional." ;)
You're so cruel... snif...
:)
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TRL jumped around to much, making it difficult to follow any of the characters.
When they advertised the show, they mentioned all these big time actors who were in the movie. This gave an impression they were playing some big part in the movie, which was not the case.
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war movie= the longest day.
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Originally posted by john9001
war movie= the longest day.
That one was just as bad.... in fact it reminds me of how TRL was done..
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C'mon! Red Buttons hanging off a church steeple! :D
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Count me as another vote for the "it sucked" category.
The whining portrayed has been done, usually and much more effectively against the backdrop of Vietnam or a small "sideshow" war where ambiguous feelings make sense. In a WWII film against the Japanese -- I had a very, very hard time swallowing that after Pearl Harbor and stories coming out of the Phillipines that there were many people who had those ambiguous feelings.
Even if I could set that aside, I don't think the format they chose was very effective, and I thought the acting was poor (although in their defense, staring blankly while there is a voice over is hardly acting).
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Originally posted by soda72
That one was just as bad.... in fact it reminds me of how TRL was done..
better get off the crackpipe bro...it's one of the greats!
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Originally posted by Rich46yo
The Thin Red line was a classic. It does however suffer from being a bit to cerebral and many of the simpleminded simply dont get it. Which is probably why we get some many crap movies out of Hollywood.
The TRL wasnt exactly a war movie. It was a study about good an evil in men and the utter hopelessness of the individual in society.
"War doesnt en-noble men". "It turns them into dogs".
This and Aquashrimp's post are the only two posts in the first two pages, that "get it".
TRL was NOT a "war movie", it was an "anti war movie/book". I've read it, and seen em both.
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I'm pretty sure I got it. I think I even hinted I got it. I just didn't find the movie particularly well done. Coulda been better.
Saving Private Ryan was.
*ShruG*
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Originally posted by Masherbrum
This and Aquashrimp's post are the only two posts in the first two pages, that "get it".
TRL was NOT a "war movie", it was an "anti war movie/book". I've read it, and seen em both.
What difference does it make what the overriding theme was when you don't care what happens to the characters?
It could be a war movie, an anti-war movie, a comedy, a horror flick or a documentary, the point is, the execution was such that the characters are unsympathetic, and the plot unengaging--at least in that was my issue with TRL.
There are plenty of other anti-war movies, some that I mentioned earlier, that had no trouble keeping the audience captivated. Discouraged and sometimes disgusted, but still captivated.
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Originally posted by JB88
better get off the crackpipe bro...it's one of the greats!
HA,
Bad acting, a different storyline from one scene to the next ,and just plain boring... Makes it one of the worst war movies of all time...
some of my fav's---------
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)
The Red Badge of Courage (1951 film)
The Young Lions(1958 film)
To Hell and Back(1955)
platoon(1986 film)
Saving Private Ryan(1998 film)
Windtalkers( 2002 film)
Midway(film 1976)
They Were Expendable(film 1945)
Back to Bataan (film 1945)
In Harms Way(film 1965)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (film 1957)
Mister Roberts (film 1955)
PT 109 (film 1963)
Sands of Iwo Jima (film 1949)
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"War" movie .... Sand Pebbles. :aok
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Originally posted by bj229r
Enemy at the Gates, the movie, failed miserably to capture the book. They turned the movie in to a @#$@#$ love story, which is typical, I suppose
Agreed. It is one heckuva book. The movie covered about a page and a half of the book. it could have been lot more.
As for war movies.
"Battleground". Still at the top of my list. Band of Brothers long before Band of Brothers.
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Originally posted by storch
and with RPM being the resident expert on that topic I'd guess that inarguably it must have been an awful film.
This from someone famous for swallowing large objects...
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Originally posted by soda72
HA,
Bad acting, a different storyline from one scene to the next ,and just plain boring... Makes it one of the worst war movies of all time...
some of my fav's---------
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)
The Red Badge of Courage (1951 film)
The Young Lions(1958 film)
To Hell and Back(1955)
platoon(1986 film)
Saving Private Ryan(1998 film)
Windtalkers( 2002 film)
Midway(film 1976)
They Were Expendable(film 1945)
Back to Bataan (film 1945)
In Harms Way(film 1965)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (film 1957)
Mister Roberts (film 1955)
PT 109 (film 1963)
Sands of Iwo Jima (film 1949)
:huh
that you put windtalkers on there...and then you put sands of iwo jima at the bottom without even bothering to add full metal jacket or hamburger hill, only goes to show that you are clearly on the crack pipe. if not crack...it's gotta be at least a class three.
hell, why don't you just add pearl harbor to the list while yer at it?
;)
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Originally posted by JB88
:huh
hell, why don't you just add pearl harbor to the list while yer at it?
Dude, where's my P-40?!?!
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/entertainment/movies/images/pearlharbor.jpg)
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"When Trumpets Fade" really is a good movie. I believe it was made by HBO. It shows the disastrous Hurtgen Forest campaign fought by the U.S.
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Originally posted by AquaShrimp
"When Trumpets Fade" really is a good movie. I believe it was made by HBO. It shows the disastrous Hurtgen Forest campaign fought by the U.S.
Yup, it was a good movie.
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One of my favorites is an overlooked classic, Decision Before Dawn. It is the story of german POW's recruited to be spies. Very good film.
(http://www.telefonica.net/web2/elcine/Oscar/Carteles/1950/1950/Decision%20before%20dawn.jpg)
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I think anyone who thought TRL was just to hip and smart for most of us to get is fooling himself.
I got it.. it was a waste of talent and production values. I did not read the book beforehand.. had I read it....that may have helped the movie but as a standalone.. it was a weepy, disjointed mess.
It has some high points. the attack on the pillbox and the attack on the camp/hospital.
cerebral does not mean unrealistic to make a point.. trying to make it look like some tropical paradise was being destroyed by the war gods.
I had just read Eric Bergeruds excellent "touched with fire" about the land war in the pacific and that may have helped turn most of the scenes in TRL into groaners for me and made me less sympathetic to in the hospital scene.
Letters from Iwo suffered from the same disconnect to make it's point and that made it less of a movie because of it also but.. TRL was worse because it didn't even seem to take place in battlegrounds of the pacific.. at least letters showed what a hell hole Iwo was.
It is hard to connect the stories of the men who fought in the Pacific with most of the movie TRL
lazs
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I thought "Letters" was fine. Pretty much. Well, Flags too, considering that it is after all made after the book, - which I read before and didn't enjoy particularly much. (Maybe the first time I though that the film was better than the book, but I cannot deny that my opinion here is somewhat skewed :D)
TRL, - I remember it as being too long, but a very beautiful movie. Nice camera. Wasn't all that happy with the whole plot though...
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Originally posted by soda72
That one was just as bad.... in fact it reminds me of how TRL was done..
Blasphemy!!!!! Some of the greatest character actors and superstars were in this movie. Some of whom were actual WWII vets.
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Originally posted by Angus
Wasn't all that happy with the whole plot though...
What plot?
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skyrock.. what are you talking about? who cares how good the actors were? I wasn't talking about that.
You need to read some books on war in the pacific and then try to watch "letters"... It explained nothing. you wondered what the hell was going on.. I mean.. the japs all tried to save wounded Americans and the Americans all shot any prisoner they got? No wonder there were no/hardly no jap survivors in any of the island battles... we shot all the prisoners!
It didn't go into the minds of people who would encourage their own civilians to jump off cliffs clutching their babies.
It tried too hard to say "hey.. they are just like us with a different diet" They were nothing like us. They did not become like us until they were defeated.
lazs
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Originally posted by JB88
:huh
that you put windtalkers on there...and then you put sands of iwo jima at the bottom without even bothering to add full metal jacket or hamburger hill, only goes to show that you are clearly on the crack pipe. if not crack...it's gotta be at least a class three.
hell, why don't you just add pearl harbor to the list while yer at it?
;)
The first part of full metal jacket was good. I haven't seen it in over ten years but I can still remember the main characters and of course the tragic ending. The second part was completely forgetable. The first part was so good the rest of the movie seemed anti-climatic. They would have been better off making the entire movie focusing on the first part, and cutting out the second.
Hamburger hill was ok, but I've seen documentries on the event that were more entertaining than this movie.
As for Pearl Harbor, I can at least go to my grave knowing that I didn't spend any money to see this movie....
:D
However if I only had three movies to choose from being TRL, the longest day, and Pearl Harbor. I would pick Pearl Harbor simply becuase the other movies are bad+boring instead of just bad....
:)
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war movie= "A Walk in the Sun", a US platoon in Italy 1943, released in 1945.
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Why y'all always gotta complain about Pearl Harbor? It was a greeeeat love story.
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Originally posted by texasmom
Why y'all always gotta complain about Pearl Harbor? It was a greeeeat love story.
It's quite simple really.. Don't name a film 'Pearl Harbor' when it's a love story.... They should have named it 'don't rub another man's rhubarb' or something similar...
longest day and Pearl Harbor are polar opposites...
One tries to maintain historical accurracy making it boring to watch, while the other makes watermelon up to make it entertaining....
Both are bad.....
:)
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"Thin Red Line" was a long boring movie. I saw it at the theater and walked out half way thru.
To give you a sense of scale, I didn't even walk out on "Pearl Harbor". Heck, I didn't even walk out on "WindTalkers"!
Wab
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I seen TRL at a theater with my brother.. he wanted to walk out half way through but the filming and sets were so good that I made him stay.
I couldn't help feeling like the film was a huge waste of resources tho.
lazs
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Originally posted by texasmom
Why y'all always gotta complain about Pearl Harbor? It was a greeeeat love story.
The best part in that movie was when the champagne cork hit Affleck in his nose. I was howling with laughter at that.
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jarhead was another pooper.
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Originally posted by Curval
The best part in that movie was when the champagne cork hit Affleck in his nose. I was howling with laughter at that.
Yeah, me too. That was indeed good. LOL. Actually, I like that whole set of scenes at the physical.
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Thin Red Line had the potential to be a seriously good film for one reason.
Woody!
ever since natural born killers and white men cant jump i have considered woody a top rate actor, plus many other good roles.
so...WHY would you get woody to blow himself up? i gave in to the misses after woody died and we watched X-factor.
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Originally posted by B@tfinkV
Thin Red Line had the potential to be a seriously good film for one reason.
Woody!
ever since natural born killers and white men cant jump i have considered woody a top rate actor, plus many other good roles.
so...WHY would you get woody to blow himself up? i gave in to the misses after woody died and we watched X-factor.
Hey, sorry for the hijack, but it's already been off course a few times & wandered back ~ so I'm sure it will survive.
Hey, you know that guy Cheffrey in the game? I think he's just got the funniest name ever. You know Rosie Perez from White Men Can't Jump?
Each time I see Cheffrey's gameID I want to acquire her obnoxious Puerto Rican accent & yell at him to take the trash out.
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Woody killing himself by throwing the pin instead of the grenade is one of the few scenes I remember from the movie....
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surprised that you can remember anything with that crack habit.
:p
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Originally posted by JB88
surprised that you can remember anything with that crack habit.
:p
You don't need crack to forget those movies you listed, they acheive that on their own merits....
full metal jacket and hamburger hill, never would have seen screen time if it had not been for the commercial success of 'Platoon'....
:p
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I have Tora,Tora,Tora, on DVD. Its one of the greatest flight movies ever made. I would be hard pressed to find another movie that has so many WW-ll aircraft in it. This is simply a great war movie.
I also have "All quiet on the Western Front". You really have to respect the producers of that movie for having the guts to make a anti-war movie at that time. And it was an "anti-war movie by virtue of its honesty. Two scenes I'll never forget were, 1, the schoolmaster filling them with war furor right before they all quit to enlist. And 2, The scene in the shell crater with the dieing Frenchman.
I also have " A walk in the sun", which is a pretty good movie with very good acting.
Im not sure I have a favorite but i do lean towards the "thinking mans" war movies like the TRL and Apocalypse Now. The TRL was a very dark, tragic movie.
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Originally posted by Rich46yo
The TRL was a very dark, tragic movie.
and long and boring. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zz
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Originally posted by soda72
The first part of full metal jacket was good. I haven't seen it in over ten years but I can still remember the main characters and of course the tragic ending. The second part was completely forgetable. The first part was so good the rest of the movie seemed anti-climatic. They would have been better off making the entire movie focusing on the first part, and cutting out the second.
To hear Lee Ermey tell it (many years ago on a radio show in Chicago), they shot the second part first. The actors had little idea who their characters were and what they were all about. Then they shot the first part (the training) after the "war" part of it was complete.
IIRC, Ermey said they had another actor that was supposed to be the drill seargent, and Ermey was supposed to teach him the jargon. But it got to the point that the film makers just decided they needed Ermey to do it himself. He said he did his best to really make the actors feel like they really were in boot camp, and that eventually, he thought they were responding pretty well. They were actually starting to think / act like people really training to be killers . . . unlike how they acted in the second part (or, rather, the first filmed part).
Had they shot the movie "in order," it might not have seemed so much like watching two separate movies.
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Lazs:
"You need to read some books on war in the pacific and then try to watch "letters"... It explained nothing. you wondered what the hell was going on.. I mean.. the japs all tried to save wounded Americans and the Americans all shot any prisoner they got? No wonder there were no/hardly no jap survivors in any of the island battles... we shot all the prisoners!"
All title recommedations are welcome. Thinking about bying "Fire in the sky", "Samurai", and "Baa Baa black Sheep" (?)
However, about letters, I had no problems understanding it, and the mindset of the Japanese became clearer too me.
And the survivors from the Jap side were....1%?
But they were toasted and blown up anyway. In flags, you can see when they are taking a bunker after a very bloody advance. They moved in with a flamethrower, the japs caught fire, ran out and got gunned down. I was there when they shot that scene. I can never forget what our officer said about it.
"WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THAT JAP SOB WHEN HE CATCHES FIRE AND COMES RUNNING OUT ?"
"- Gun him down Sir?"
"YEAH, OR MAYBE YOU SHOULD ALLOW THAT SOB TO COOK A LITTLE"
You may also spot a guy with Doberman dogs later in the film.
Dogs were set down the tunnels to either find, or even chew up the japs. And there was excessive use of grenades, flamethrowers, explosives and petrol. Iwo was one hell-hole. And the Japs would go suicide by the hundreds. They would also (As seen in letters) pretend to be dead/wounded while holding a grenade. They would target the medics and BAR equipped soldiers as primary targets. So, in short, they did not face a lot of mercy, - understandable.
But Saigo, - he lived ;)
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Originally posted by B@tfinkV
Woody!
I always assumed that was just an adjective describing his performances ...
and yeah TRL gets a :aok from me
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angus.. "touched with fire" is the best. it goes into every aspect of the land war in the pacific.. including culture, weapons, tactics and food and.. what life was like for both sides day to day.
I think it is fair to say that by the time of Iwo... both sides knew their enemy. even so.. if the japs would have marched across some open ground with white flags waving.. they would have been treated well. The US had a well deserved reputation, along with the brits, as treating prisoners better than any army past or present.
The japs set the rules for conduct long before Iwo. If you only read one book on the land war in the pacific read "touched with fire" it is by Eric Bergerud I know him personally and he is now teaching in the naval war college.
lazs
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I'm reading Touched by Fire at this moment, Laz2. A few months ago I finished reading another of Bergerud's books, Fire in the Sky. Bergerud takes a similar approch with Fire in the Sky as he did with Touched by Fire. Excellent reads.
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"I think it is fair to say that by the time of Iwo... both sides knew their enemy. even so.. if the japs would have marched across some open ground with white flags waving.. they would have been treated well. The US had a well deserved reputation, along with the brits, as treating prisoners better than any army past or present."
Well, agree with that, but the thing with the japs is that they were usually dead before becoming prisoners, and had less chances of being caught alive even with their hands raised or a flag, because they had abused that.
They were also not members of the Geneva convention.
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Japs mostly fought to the death because they were taught that the west was a bumch of barbarians. Those that were captured and put in POW camps were very surprised at how well they were treated.
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patches... I like the fact that Eric uses the same style in all his books.
He goes into great detail on all aspects of the weapons and culture and tactics of both sides and how that all came together to bring about the various outcomes.
Angus.. even at Iwo.. some japs were captured... mostly those to sick or wounded to continue to hold out. They were treated well... extremely well in light of the GI's they had tortured and mutilated throughout the battle.
lazs
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Reminds me, did you see the film "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence"?
Still remember the music...