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

Kevin Costner directs and stars in Dances with Wolves.  It won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  It is an epic about a lieutenant from the Civil War and his induction into a Sioux tribe.

This movie was a positive experience.  It reminded me of Braveheart.  Director is the star in a somewhat controversial but undoubtedly epic piece of film.  The emotion and feel were certainly present.  My only knock is several awkward and contrived scenes.  The ending did not seem totally realistic as he is going into the hands of the settlers to face his certain death and the tribe will probably be killed as well unless the army gets the psychic message that he has indeed left camp.  All that silliness aside, I very much enjoyed the movie.  It was a very good story done with purpose and effort.  The soundtrack was very good and moving.  I appreciated growing with the characters.  In my opinion, a very rewarding epic.

“I was just thinking that of all the trails in this life there is one that matters most. It is the trail of a true human being. I think you are on this trail and it is good to see.”

8/10

36 Hours (1965)

Major Jefferson Pike (James Garner)knows the plans for D-Day, he  is sent to Lisbon to check with a German double agent he has recruited. In Lisbon Pike is drugged and captured by the Germans.  They fly him to a special camp in Germany to question him. The German’s work to convince Pike that it’s years later and the war is over as a way to trick him out of his information. Eva Marie Saint plays his nurse and Rod Taylor the fake doctor working to get the secrets out of Pike.

Really enjoy this one, the story held my attention. Rod Taylor does a great job as the doctor working to get the secrets out of  Pike. The movie does a wonderful job of being believable right up till the last 30 minutes , then the story gets a little weak and predictable.

I’ve used up all my tears!

Interesting story and good acting make this worth seeing—–07/10

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

King Rat is the story of Corporal King.  He is a P.O.W. in a Japanese Camp.  His title comes from his ability to buy and sell on the black market.

This movie was decent.  Although, pretty early on I could tell it was based on a book.  The scenes were pretty jumbled and you could tell they could fit the whole story into the movie.  It was a better than average story but it could have been better.  It was more of a collection of scenes than a well-crafted story.  King can’t rule the camp forever and he knew it would come to an end.  Funny that one could live a more fulfilling life inside a Japanese prison camp than outside of it.  Inside he was the top dog, but outside he is just a lowly corporal.

“Only hate Grey, only hate.”

5/10

Mel Gibson’s epic about William Wallace and his fight for freedom from the English.

This is my favorite movie.  It is just remarkable.  Every time I watch it, it affects me.  I love the story and soundtrack.  I have yet to see a movie come even close.  It is simply unparalleled for me.  I would marry this movie if I were available.  Let me count the ways I love this movie.  There is only one thing I have against it.  In one of the battle scenes, there are two extras that look like they are playing footsy with their swords.  It is so hilarious when you catch it.  Oh well.  It still has the best speech I have heard from a movie.  Love at first sight with this one.

“And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!”

10/10

A Zach Snyder film telling the story from the battle of Thermopylae.  300 men of men take on a vast Persian army and they do it like real warriors…without their shirts.

Not a fan.  Was the entire film a Bod commercial?  The visual effects were great.  It had the feel of a graphic novel coming to life off the page.  And that is the only compliment I have for it.  The dialogue was dumber than Beavis and Butthead.  Honestly, this film makes those two sound like Socrates and Plato.  Between all the grunting and cavemen speak, it was really great to here the line “Freedom isn’t free.”  So stupid.  The one-liners really had my skin crawling.  Here is my great idea for the film: Do it as a silent film.  Just cut out all the dialogue and just have visuals and action.  It would have be interesting then.

“For tonight we dine in hell!”  I hear the service there really leaves something to be desired.

3/10

Green Zone stars Matt Damon and was directed by Paul Greengrass.  It tells the story of mishandled intel that leads to the 2003 Iraq invasion.

I liked how this movie tried to tell an honest account of the Iraq invasion.  History can be told very effectively in film.  The action and fictionalization of the rest of the film is where I lost interest.  There was too much old, stale, and boring action scenes.  Who doesn’t love wild goose chases?  It is an intelligent story edited to target Nascar fans.  I applaud the creators for trying to widen their base audience, but it sure made their movie a lot weaker.  Senseless action galore.

“The reasons we go to war always matter!  It’s all that matters!  It fucking matters!”

4/10

The Last Samurai stars Tom Cruise as an alcoholic American soldier sent to Japan to defeat the rebel samurai.  But when he is captured by the samurai, he begins to learn their way of life and it transforms his own.

This movie goes as expected.  It is pretty damn heavy handed and overdramatic.  There are quite a few unreasonable scenes just there to push the drama.  It was a lot of concepts I had seen before, but I did like how they made fighting war with guns seem so dishonorable and cowardly.  Real men stand toe to toe and slice the head off their enemy.  No argument from me there.  All in all, I thought it was a pretty decent movie.

“Perfect. They are all perfect.”

6/10

Downfall is a German film about Hitler and the last days of his faction in their Berlin bunker.

This film was well put together and very well acted.  The lead, Bruno Ganz, is tremendous as Hitler.  The movie didn’t really do much for me, but it was well crafted.  The movie portrays Hitler as completely delusional regarding his impending doom.  There is an interesting feature here as you pity his lunacy in a way.  Hitler himself, the most atrocious villain in recent history, and you pity the fool as Mr. T would say.  I guess I just need more of a story, but I admire the artistry.

“Our generals are the scum of the German people!  Not a shred of honor! They call themselves generals.  Years at military academy just to learn how to hold a knife and fork!”

5/10