Shalaigne's Top Fav. War Movies
Sep 28 '01 (Updated Mar 27 '02)
The Bottom Line Updated... 27 March 2002
The best 20th century war movies that I’ve ever really enjoyed, in no particular order.
FULL METAL JACKET (based on Gustav Hasford's novel “The Short Timers”) is such a vivid war movie that it's scary. A little quoting here. “What is your major malfunction, Pvt. Pyle?” from the scene where Gny. Sgt. Hartman asks Pvt. Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is holding a loaded rifle. That scene still gives me the creeps. And it shows how easily a person can snap. So the first part is that right there. The drill Gny. Sgt. Hartman being compulsively rude to the recruited men that he's supposed to train for the army (Matthew Modine is amongst those recruits). And then the rest of the movie is about the men's training for Vietnam. And then it's d-day. The day that they were trained to fight for a war that everyone hated.
And it has its irony moments, like at the end when the men is marching off, continuing their fight in Vietnam, and singing the 'Mickey Mouse' song. And also this: "You write 'Born to Kill' on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be some kind of sick joke?!" -- Colonel (Bruce Boa) to Pvt. Joker (Matthew Modine)
"I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir." -- Pvt. Joker's eventual response
Now as you can probably tell, this movie has a lot of quotes that would end up sticking to your head for a long while.
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM well my thoughts are this, I love Robin Williams' performance in this movie. He really knew how to bring comedy to something so tragic. You could laugh freely at his jokes that he made but yet when he was serious you could feel the anguish that he felt. It was such a good movie. And I’ll always remember he's quote whenever I think of 6am: "Gooooood morning Vietnam. It’s 'O six hundred. What’s the O stand for? Oh my god it's early."
PLATOON when I viewed what www.rottentomatoes.com (my favorite movie site by the way, but that's off the topic) to see what they had to say about the genre of the movie the list was long. This is what it said... Genre - Dramas, Action, Drama, Vietnam, Good vs. Evil, Jungle, Recommended, Military, and Disturbing. And here I simply thought that it was Oliver Stone at his best. Funny huh, this one movie having so much meaning for just it's genre? Charlie Sheen did an impeccable job in this movie. And the way Oliver Stone created this movie is also so vivid that it's scary - just like full metal jacket. The movie is a creepy one and it's not a wonder when the fact remands that Oliver Stone did his 'patriotic duty' during the Vietnam War.
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was well casted and directed. It was a real touching story of World War II. Tom Hanks and Matt Damon did a great job, as well as every other actor - Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina, Harve Presnell, Bryan Cranston. Now you would know that Private Ryan would be a character that was made up. But it makes you feel for all the people that did lose family members and friends from W.W.II. the movie’s points is that Private Ryan has to go home because his four other brothers were killed at war, and the president didn't want to give the soldier’s parent's more grief by the possible loss of their last surviving son. This movie was a cereal war movie, right down to the equipment (military tanks) that they used.
ENEMY AT THE GATES is a true story. No matter what people say. I have the book and in it shows the real boy Nikita Khrushchev. And the fact that Vassili Zaitsev killed hundreds of Germans thanks to his sniper abilities is true as well. Along with the fact that he's rifle is being displayed at a Russian museum. If Edward Harris' character - sharpshooter Major König is real, I’m not too sure on that one. I doubt it. The movie is a truly griping one that keeps you at the edge of your set. The movie really showed the hardships of war that the Russians had to face. And all that time I had thought that such a big country like Russia wouldn't be crumpled to pieces like the German’s nearly did.
BAND OF BROTHERS really took off in such a lovely series. Steven Speilberg and Tom Hanks at there best directing. The acting in it is great because every actor in there seemed to already have this friendship bond. I also think that that's what the directors and producers intended when they had these actors try-out. When I was watching the 'making of' the actors were saying that it wasn't a try-out at all. That instead they were just there to mingle and talk to one another. And by the end of the mingling hour the casting director said something like, 'you and you, etc. leave, everyone else welcome.' That was just a summary by the way so don't quote me there. And I know that this is a series movie. But it's got me hooked. I know that there's more history to the 'band of brothers' soldiers, besides just a bunch of guys risking their lives by parachuting from a plane and landing in the middle of Germany. It is such a touching subject due to the fact that it's all a true story, and at the beginning of each part there would be an interview documentary of one of the real (non-actors) 'band of brothers' soldiers.
WE WERE SOLDIERS is your patriotic version of Vietnam War, while movies like 'Platoon' and 'Full Metal Jacket' showed the cut-throat war. The movie focused on some events that took place November 1965. And during some of the movie’s scenes, I almost shed a few tears. However, there were a few unanswered questions. Mel Gibson said this movie was better becuase it didn't show the sinicle side of the war like the other movies, and becuase it shows the soldiers as heroes. But as far as the soldiers that they showed, it was only the men who were high-ranked officers, and their families that stayed at the military's housing at the bases in America.
BLACK HAWK DOWN is a 20th century movie that had a great focus on the blood and guts of war. However, and I strongly feel that the movie did not show the full truth to what had happened on October 1993. It was a good war movie though.
THE THIN RED LINE (20th century version)(adaptation of the James Jones novel) is a freaky movie. And I felt that the movie was too long for just ONE battle in World War II. And don't argue with me. It was 2 hours and 50 minutes long. They have a lot of good actors, like: Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Ben Chaplin, Sean Penn, Elias Koteas, John Cusack, Tim Blake Nelson, John Savage, Woody Harrelson, Jared Leto, and John Travolta. And then at the very end for about 10 minutes or so it also stars George Clooney. I listed off the names because the movie focuses more on the battle at hand rather than the actors, which is something that is hardly ever done. Nick Nolte did a great job playing a demanding-heartless head general - or whatever rank he was. I can't remember which he was and I’ll wait a while before I sit through the 2 hrs. & 50 min. That is I’ll wait until I have a copy of it on a videotape. The length of the movie was the only down side. Other than the length of the movie I thought it was very good. It was well edited and it was very well directed; it was beautifully well done in those categories. And the story line was another disturbing piece like full metal jacket and platoon.
TIGERLAND is another cereal movie. New actor, Colin Farral does a great acting job. The decision to use only a 16mm camera and handheld cameras to make a realistic view of boot camp training for Vietnam, was a smart one.
APOCALYPS NOW is another satire twisted movie by Oliver Stone. And you have to have a strong stomach for this movie. Some of the scenes were really gross. Martin Sheen’s acting was perfect. And it was also such a cereal war movie (again).
MEMPHIS BELLE is one of my favorite fighter pilot war movies. It really shows the struggles that those boys went through, specifically during World War II. Matthew Modine, D.B. Sweeney, Sean Austin, and Harry Connick Jr. (etc) did a great job with their character developments.
SCHIENDLER'S LIST is a movie that will make me cry every time. To imagine the horror that the Jews went through is impossible. Maybe this movie comes close to the imagination. The movie is based on Oscar Shiendler's efforts in saving Jewish people from death during World War II.
That’s all for now.
Cheers
-sha
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Epinions.com ID:
shalaigne
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Member: michelle masl
Location: upland, ca, usa
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
majoring in fine arts/ joined the navy - bootcamps in january 2003
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