Best/Favorite War Movie

[dragonboy]

(def better than Dances with Dogs)

Thin ice muthafucker, thin ice  >:( ;)

[Jaimoe]

I listed Last of the Mohicans as a pre-WW1 option in the OP, but I think thats it.

Awesome movie. My favorite native american involving flick (def better than Dances with Dogs)

I was just thinking about that western thing...Its def a war movie since its about the French & Indian War, but it has some western flavor

There's gladiator movies and countless swashbuckling films with epic battles, but they don't fall into the war movie genre. Same with Last of the Mohicans. That film is a historical epic or colonial film all the way, no matter if there's battles or not. Same with The Man Who Would Be King. Not to offend, but this is not my opinion. Great films all around though.

[Ruckus]

I guess not technically a war movie and more a military drama but man did I love the Caine Mutiny.  I just really enjoyed Herman Wouk's writing also.

[Jaimoe]

I guess not technically a war movie and more a military drama but man did I love the Caine Mutiny.  I just really enjoyed Herman Wouk's writing also.

Awesome film. Same with Mister Roberts.

[Ruckus]

I guess not technically a war movie and more a military drama but man did I love the Caine Mutiny.  I just really enjoyed Herman Wouk's writing also.

Awesome film. Same with Mister Roberts.

Will have to check out Mister Roberts

[Jaimoe]

I guess not technically a war movie and more a military drama but man did I love the Caine Mutiny.  I just really enjoyed Herman Wouk's writing also.

Awesome film. Same with Mister Roberts.

Will have to check out Mister Roberts

You haaaaaave to check out Mister Roberts. Cagney, Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, William Powell and Ward Bond. Cagney plays a mean cargo ship captain during WWII. Lemmon's character, a very lazy Ensign Pulver, silently terrorizes Cagney - Lemmon won an Oscar for his performance. John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy directed. A masterpiece and one of the best comedies of the 50's.

[Angry Ewok]

RED DAWN

[dragonboy]

Seeing James McAvoy is Band Of Brothers last night (watched another 2 episodes) reminded me of Atonement. Has anyone else seen it? Part drama, part love story, part war film - highly recommended!

83%: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atonement/
7.9: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/

[Jaimoe]

Seeing James McAvoy is Band Of Brothers last night (watched another 2 episodes) reminded me of Atonement. Has anyone else seen it? Part drama, part love story, part war film - highly recommended!

83%: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atonement/
7.9: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/

I want to see it.

I hope you have an HD-TV and a good sound system, DB? It makes the viewing experience that is Band of Brothers all the more powerful and terrifying.

[dragonboy]

I hope you have an HD-TV and a good sound system, DB? It makes the viewing experience that is Band of Brothers all the more powerful and terrifying.

Silly question Jaimoe - I live in Japan, remember?  ;)

We've got the whole set up, big HD TV with a home theater sound system. When an airplane flies over or a tank comes rumbling by it sound fantastic. & the bullets?



Atonement has an incredible tracking shot set on the beach in Dunkirk, I'm sure you've heard about it:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-12-19-atonement_N.htm

"Quarterbacks throw "Hail Mary" passes. Tightrope walkers work without nets. Opera companies tackle Wagner's complete Ring cycle.

All these showboating moves are risky yet surefire crowd-pleasers.

But when filmmakers want to display their skills, no other camera trick impresses quite as much as the tracking shot, a long sequence that runs several minutes without an editing cut.

Many top directors are masters of the art, such as Martin Scorsese (his best is the trek through the Copacabana in Goodfellas) and Paul Thomas Anderson (the opening of Boogie Nights).

The latest filmmaker to impress with such a bravura segment is Joe Wright, whose tracking shot arrives midway through Atonement, a tragic romance set during World War II starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

The 51/2-minute tour de force depicts thousands of Allied soldiers — dazed, drunk, disgruntled and determined to go home — crowding a bombed-out beach in France while awaiting the evacuation of Dunkirk in June 1940.

"I like the theatricality of the event," says Wright of the sequence filmed at the British seaside town of Redcar with 1,000 local extras and 300 crewmembers. "It is a microcosm of filmmaking, a testament to the collaborative effort."

The shot doesn't merely dazzle. It heightens the emotional impact of a massive effort that was considered a victory, resulting in the rescue of more than 300,000 troops. But lives also were lost.

"It is about the waste of war," says Wright, who personalizes such surreal images as a ghostly barge run aground and a military chorus singing a hymn by occasionally focusing on McAvoy's war-weary Robbie and his two soldier pals as they wander the beach.

A montage of individual shots was considered but dismissed. "It was done out of necessity and a fear of montage sequences," says the director, whose budget for Atonement is estimated at a modest $30 million or so. "A montage would require 30 or 40 setups — you can manage 15 a day at most — and we could only afford the extras for one day."

The drama behind the camera nearly matched that on screen. From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., on one of the final days of shooting, the cast and crew rehearsed before attempting to film the shot four times.

"The first take was pretty awful," the director recalls. "The second was even worse. The third take miraculously seemed OK." The fourth was halted when the natural light began to wane. And they couldn't immediately check the playback of the third take because only white fuzz showed on the monitor.

The next day, a crowd of 150 held their breath as the rushes played. They soon happily exhaled.

A few reviews have suggested that the sequence might be too distracting. Says Wright: "I do ask myself, 'Am I just being flash?' I don't have an answer. But I do get a kick out of those shots."

[Angry Ewok]

The sound is good and, thankfully, accurate. I'm able to differentiate between the sound of a Garand and a Kar, MP40 and a Thompson, etc - so when war movies just toss in any random gunshot byte, it really grinds my gears. It all matches up in Band of Brothers.

(I really need to grab BoB on Bluray)

[capt. scotty]

I thought there was a thread for this, so since you brought it up Yac, whats your favorite War movies?

Id also add Inglourious Basterds to my list. Not sure how high, but Christoph Waltz and a few great scenes in that one would put it up there.

[Jaimoe]

I thought maybe this was the time for a fresh start. I believe I chimed in on this thread multiple times.

[capt. scotty]

I love most of the movies listed. I don't think anyone's mentioned Tigerland, I really like that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170691/

I actually DVR'd this a couple days ago...I'll probably watch it sometime in the next few days

[Jaimoe]

I really liked Generation Kill, probably more than the Hurt Locker.

[capt. scotty]

I really liked Generation Kill, probably more than the Hurt Locker.

I know I DVR'd G-Kill, but looking now, its not there. Must have been my last receiver. I cant wait for Simon's new HBO show Treme.

...and why do you want to start a new thread? I just read thru this one again, lots of good discussion. Plus, you dont have to demonstrate your vast knowledge of cinema again to everyone, its already here  ;D ;)

[johnnYYac]

Way to recycle!  Let me get out of work and think on this for a few.  

[Jaimoe]

I really liked Generation Kill, probably more than the Hurt Locker.

I know I DVR'd G-Kill, but looking now, its not there. Must have been my last receiver. I cant wait for Simon's new HBO show Treme.

...and why do you want to start a new thread? I just read thru this one again, lots of good discussion. Plus, you dont have to demonstrate your vast knowledge of cinema again to everyone, its already here  ;D ;)

I wish I had a vast knowledge of cinema. I know what I know, but keep in mind that I'm old and my late father and I would watch movies on PBS every weekend throughout the '70s. Also, TV Ontario (public and government funded non-profit channel) has a long-running show called, Saturday at The Movies, and it shows classic movies, uncut (TVO doesn't have commericals). BTW, the former host and founder of Saturday Night was Elwy Yost, a film historian and father of Graham Yost, screenwriter and co-producer of the Pacific and writer of the film Speed and several episodes of Band of Brothers.

[Taterbug]

That stokes some memories of me and my Dad,  we  would watch Family Classics on Sunday afternoons on WGN with Farzier Thomas.

[johnnYYac]

Okay, my off-the-cuff top ten 15 list of war movies (and miniseries), in no particular order...

Band of Brothers
Saving Private Ryan
Apocalypse Now
Platoon
MASH
Galipoli
Bridge Over the River Kwai
Tora Tora Tora
Pearl Harbor (just kidding!)
Tropic Thunder (not kidding)
That one with Lee Marvin and the Japanese soldier stranded on an island together, I forget the name
Black Hawk Down
Three Kings
Deer Hunter - probably my favorite
Inglorious Basterds
Born of the Fourth of July