Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

The movie uses real letters written by US soldiers for it’s narration.  The film is archive footage, together they convey the personal experiences of the men and women that served in Vietnam.

This movie grabbed me and didn’t let me go, at the end there were tears filling my eyes.

“I would rather to have had you for twenty-one years and all the pain that goes with losing you, than never to have had you at all. -Mom “

This is one of those movies that I think everybody should see–08/10

Goya’s Ghosts is a film starring Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Stellan Skarsgard.  It tells the story of a young Goya model and how her life is shattered by the Inquisition.

I definitely did not mind this movie as much as most people.  I wouldn’t necessarily say it was something special, but I enjoyed it at times.  The acting and settings were very well done.  I really liked how tragic the entire movie was.  There was not a glimmer of hope under the Inquisition.  I expected a happier ending where Ines survives and finds her child who has given her the strength she needed throughout her trials.  The ending was truer to the movie than a happier ending would have been.  I thought the emotional side was well done.  You feel terrible for the young girl and then satisfied at the torture of her captor only to go back into pessimism by the end.  The plot weakness was overcome by all of the other elements.

“Tell me what the truth is!”

6/10

The 25th Hour (1967)

Johann Moritz(Anthony Quinn) lives in a small village in Romania with his loving wife. Local police sergeant has Moritz sent to a work camp as a Jew, so he can try and sleep with his wife. After a couple of years he escapes with a group of Jews to Hungry. They go on to America, but he has to stay because he’s not Jewish. Then he arrested and sent to a German work camp, in the camp he is deemed part of the Aryan race and enlisted as an Waffen SS soldier. After helping the prisoners escape, he is placed in an America prison camp and prosecuted as a war criminal.

Moritz has nothing but trouble in his life, yet he always seems to find the bright side. He’s simple yet, he always finds a way to cope with all his misfortune. The movie started a little slow, but soon had me fully invested. No warn fuzzy here, just man mistreating man.

Based on true events, worth a watch———-07/10

Apocalypto was directed by Mel Gibson.  It was nominated for three Academy Awards.  It tells the story of one native’s capture during the fall of the Mayans.

I had a good time with this one.  It was a good male adventure story.  I am not sure if the movie appeals to women very much.  There is a bit of machismo.  It is the story of one man against the world and his violent redemption.  The setting, costumes, and cast were great.  It was a great representation of the ancient Maya.  What brutality and the movie did not shy from it.    The story was gripping and entertaining.  Mel Gibson is a rather shady, possibly insane, individual, but I like what he did here.

“I saw a hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill.  It is what makes him sad and what makes him want.  He will go on taking and taking until one day the World will say, ‘I am no more and I have nothing left to give.’”

8/10

The Long Ships (1964)

Huge gold bell of legend is hunted by Moorish King, Aly Mansuh (Sidney Poitier) and shipwrecked Norseman, Rolfe (Richard Widmark). Both men with stop at nothing to find the bell. All star cast in campy action adventure, it’s a swashbuckler and not really historic. While Poitier does a good job as the Moorish king, Widmark is far from anything near a Viking.

You will ride the Mare of Steel

It is what it is–old style action—-06—10

Robin Hood (2010)

The movie is the story of Robin Hood(Russell Crowe) as told to start a new series of movies.  It’s  12th century England and Robin Longstride (Soon to be Robin Hood) is a common archer fighting for King Richard in his Crusade. Through a series of events Robin takes on the identity of Robert Loxley and returns to England. There he meets Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett) and takes over the role of her husband.

The action is fun and the movie might have a chance if it wasn’t just a giant setup for another movie.

If you thought it was hard getting wages from him when he was alive, try getting wages from a dead king.

Like action movies with lots of sword play, then proceed——06-10

Invictus is a film based on actual events about a South African rugby team.  It is directed by Clint Eastwood and was up for two Academy Awards.

Invictus was a film I was looking forward to seeing very much.  It had everything going for it.  Clint Eastwood directing, underdog sports story, and the drama from the end of a long apartheid.  Unfortunately, I don’t think the movie could tie the last two together.  It fell flat where the sport was concerned.  As a sport movie this is one of the lamest I have seen.  Movies about sport can be stirring when we take a journey with the athlete.  But Invictus can’t do that because of all the Mandela scenes.  We know one of the athletes and just briefly.  He is more of an acquaintance than a beloved comrade.  We just aren’t given the background information to care about the athlete characters.  Therefore, we are just left with scenes of sport cliche.  Now we look at the movie from dramatic aspirations.  This was undoubtedly a gripping time in South Africa where age old terms of apartheid are crumbling and new justice is rising.  So much hate had to be shed and all we are given is a father’s smart ass comments to his television, and a coach’s one-liner to his kids, the first words of the film.  That’s it?!  There were more feelings of racial tension in Malibu’s Most Wanted.  Where is our conflict and resolution?  Despite my criticisms, I did not deplore the film completely.  Mandela’s portrayal as the constant struggler along with his Dalai Lama values were somewhat uplifting.  It was just so disappointing to me.

“It is the taste of defeat. Drink it, remember this and promise yourself never to taste it again. You’re right, it tastes like shit.”

4/10

Attack on Leningrad (2009)

It’s 1941 and the German have surrounded Leningrad. They plan to destroy the city by cutting off the food and starving it’s millions of residents. Enter Kate Davis (Mira Sorvino) a British war corespondent that gets trapped in Leningrad. Forced into hiding, she is befriended by Nina (Olga Sutulova). Kate attempts to avoid capture and survive starvation with the help of  a Russian family.

The movie started off well and it held my attention, but it just wasn’t a good movie. The plot and the movement of the story line doesn’t hold up. You want to feel the pain the characters are experiencing, but it’s so clumsy you can’t.

It’s a pass from me–save your time—–04-10

The Centurion

The “Centurion” (Michael Fassbender) is sent in with the ill-fated Ninth Legion to Caledonia to destroy the Picts.  Instead it’s the Legion that gets destroyed and the Centurion leads a small group trying to save themselves.

Lot’s of blood and fighting–from beginning to end. Everybody but the Centurion seems to be a bad guy, it was hard to decide just who I wanted to survive.

Loved the action, but the story didn’t grab me—06-10

The Alamo (1960)

While the Alamo seems like a historical film about the famous battle, it has nothing to do with history.  The historians hired to help keep the film accurate, demanded that their names be removed from the credits as historical advisers.

General Sam Houston (Richard Boone) needs time to get his main force into shape. To gain the time needed, he orders Colonel William Travis (Laurence Harvey) to defend the Alamo (a small mission) at all costs. Travis shares command with Jim Bowie (Richard Widmark) and these two just can’t get along.  Enter Davy Crockett (John Wayne) with a group of fellow Tennesseans—Smitty (Frankie Avalon), Beekeeper (Chill Wills), Thimblerig (Denver Pyle) and Parson (Hank Worden). Then enter thousands of Mexicans to finish the fight.

The Alamo is a big movie, it’s sometimes preachy and corny. However it can also be inspiring and makes you want to believe in the heroes created by the movie.

“The time to live and the place to die. That’s all any man gets. No more, no less.”

07/10——-Considered a classic by many(it does have a remake)–If your watching John Wayne movies, then this is a must see.