Top 5

Top War Films

1.  The Thin Red Line--I've never been in the military but the movement of the film feels very realistic, a hurry-up-and-wait situation.  But since it's Malick, it's often slow-down-and-wait, too.

2.  The Deer Hunter--By now we probably all know that there is no evidence for the Viet Cong forcing their prisoners to play Russian roulette.  Fine.  It's still one of the most compelling scenes in cinema history.

3.  Apocalypse Now--not the Redux, in which the scenes had some interesting points or themes, but I don't think most of those scenes serve the movie.  Except maybe the scene where Kurtz comes to the guy's cell and reads to him from--Time magazine was it?  Still, you have a trade-off because that's the only time you see Kurtz in the daylight, and I like how in the original he's always in the dark of the temple.

4.  Saving Private Ryan--UPPUM WILL YOU GET UP THAT F***ING STAIRCASE!  It still does it to me every time.

5.  Platoon--I don't have much to say about this one, but I'm not just tacking it on for no good reason.  I feel like I could've been there with those guys, more than the soldiers in other movies.  The guys are more childlike than the soldiers of the other films, but they're still capable of shocking violence and depravity.  Elias is the kind of Sergeant I would follow.  

Re: Top War Films

Re: Top War Films

Catch 22 was so bad - maybe i need film apprec class but it was bad.  some books just dont translate well (ie dune).  also, is schindler's list a war movie? if so, speilberg has 2 spots locked up.

Re: Top War Films

1. The Thin Red Line (for reasons stated above)
2. The New World - although not a designated "war," I still thought there was a war between the colonists and indians. Even such a small war had reprecussions that changed the world.
3. Hotel Rwanda - showed me how a country can cave in on itself without the rest of the world having a clue. It also showed me how much war is about emotions with no regard for reason.
   
4. Legends of the Fall and Tae Guk Gi - It's amazing how war completely mangles and reinvents a bond between brothers.
5. Chihwaseon - Usually, in war movie you have to watch the war from one side--the hero's side--looking at the other. This movie's hero refuses to choose sides as war after war goes on around him. Something about that perspective really, for me, showed the futility of war.
   

Re: Top War Films

SkyPilot:

1.  The Thin Red Line--I've never been in the military but the movement of the film feels very realistic, a hurry-up-and-wait situation.  But since it's Malick, it's often slow-down-and-wait, too.

2.  The Deer Hunter--By now we probably all know that there is no evidence for the Viet Cong forcing their prisoners to play Russian roulette.  Fine.  It's still one of the most compelling scenes in cinema history.

3.  Apocalypse Now--not the Redux, in which the scenes had some interesting points or themes, but I don't think most of the scenes helped the movie.  Except maybe the scene where Kurtz comes to the guys' cell and reads to him from--Time magazine was it?  Still, you have a trade-off because that's the only time you see Kurtz in the daylight, and I like how in the original he's always in the dark of the temple.

4.  Saving Private Ryan--UPPUM WILL YOU GET UP THAT F***ING STAIRCASE!  It still does it to me every time.

5.  Platoon--I don't have much to say about this one, but I'm not just tacking it on for no good reason.  I guess I feel like I could've been there with guys more than any of the other ones.  The guys are more childlike than the soldiers of the other films, but they're still capable of shocking violence and depravity.  Elias is the kind of Sergeant I would follow.  

All highly conventional choices Adam.  I guess I can't argue with them too much though.  I always find Spielberg a bit too senimental though.

The Deer Hunter is intense and affecting, but sheesh just too long and depressing.  I think the industrial town they live in is more depressing than the war.

I just saw The Thin Red Line after seeing it not long after it first came out.  I've seen Days of Heaven once and Badlands about half a dozen times since then.  I was excited to see it again, but although it's shot beautifully, I found it to be not quite the perfect piece of poetry I had sculpted it to be in my memory or re-expectations if you will.  It seemed kind of thin.

paul:

War.

It's such a popular genre and, therefore, is usually done poorly, like romance. So, I'm asking myself which films I feel really showed me something about war besides the usual hero vs. villain stuff.

1. The Thin Red Line (for reasons stated above)
2. The New World - although not a designated "war," I still thought there was a war between the colonists and indians. Even such a small war had reprecussions that changed the world.
3. Hotel Rwanda - showed me how a country can cave in on itself without the rest of the world having a clue. It also showed me how much war is about emotions with no regard for reason.
   
4. Legends of the Fall and Tae Guk Gi - It's amazing how war completely mangles and reinvents a bond between brothers.
5. Chihwaseon - Usually, in war movie you have to watch the war from one side--the hero's side--looking at the other. This movie's hero refuses to choose sides as war after war goes on around him. Something about that perspective really, for me, showed the futility of war.
   

I guess I'm still pretty excited to see The New World. 

Hotel Rwanda was so moving and not like the war movies we are used to in America, which even when lamenting the tragedies of war seem pretty self centered.

Ooooh, I've been interested in seeing Chihwaseon for awhile, but haven't heard anyone I actually sort of knew recommend it.

Alright, here's my list.

1. KUBRICK!  Full Metal Jacket; Paths of Glory; Dr. Strangelove; Barry Lyndon; Ok, I have done this with most of my top 5 lists, but I’m surprised to see I seem to have a favorite filmmaker for many different genres and categories.  What can I say about Kubrick but he knew how to portray man’s folly, and where is that more abundant than in war?

2. The General. (1927).  Is this a war movie?  IMDB says it is.  Even in my war movies list, I have to cram in as many comedies as I can.

3. Buffalo Soldiers. (2001).  I'm not sure how many of you have seen this?  I saw it sort of accidentally.  It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival just days before 9/11.  After that it could not get a wide distribution at movie theaters due to the fear that people would be upset by a movie that seemed to criticize the US military.  It doesn't really do that however.  I'm not sure if it would have been more well known otherwise, but it's unfortunate more people didn't get a chance to see it.  It basically suggests that human beings always strive to be in some sort of state of war and will create their own smaller wars if there is no official one to participate in.  Really funny as well!

4. No Man's Land. (2001).  Examines many aspects of war, including the damaging impact the pervasive media organizations can play in recent times.

5. The Red and the White. (1967).  I can't count the number of thoughtless execusion style killings, and after a while you forget which side is which and it doesn't even matter.

and I would also like to mention Little Dieter Needs to Fly, a Herzog documentary which contains some pretty astounding and heroing anectodes from the title character about his experiences in the Vietnam war and a POW camp.

Re: Top War Films

Re: Top War Films

Re: Top War Films

paul:

Risselada,

I have seen Buffalo Soldiers. I saw it at Sundance, but not in 2001. It was 2003. The release of the film was killed by 9/11 and it showed up a couple years later at Sundance when it was ready for a release. There were reports that a woman threw water at the director during the Q&A and screamed he was unpatriotic. That's not really true. A woman did throw an empty water bottle from the balcony and yelled that his film was untrue. She also caused a stir at a panel discussion by yelling at the panel about something totally unrelated to politics. Everyone agreed she was a little loopy. She was a little Asian woman wearing really large glasses and an outfit that looked Klingon.

The film wasn't really well received. Not so much because of any lack of patriotism. I think a lot of people just thought it was kind of all over the place. I agreed. It was like MASH, but none of the characters ever pull it together to do anything constructive. They just bumble around hurting other people until everything explodes. Although I don't agree with throwing empty water bottles, I kind of agree with the crazy little Klingon lady. Buffalo Soldiers seemed untrue and one sided, like the director was patting himself on the back for making a movie that reflected his own politics back to him.

That's an interesting story, Paul.

I'd like to hear more specifically about why it seemed untrue and one sided to you.  It was actually based on a book apparently.  I found the movie to be humorous.  It felt true to me, but maybe in a more accentuated or exaggerated like a Coen brothers film.  I'd like to hear some specifics as to why you feel that it was untrue and one sided.  I guess I didn't even realized that it had a "side" or that there were any politics involved.

Re: Top War Films

Re: Top War Films

paul:

"I guess I didn't even realize that [Buffalo Soldiers] had a "side" or that there were any politics involved."

I guess the best way to describe the one sided thing is to bring up The Thin Red Line. Each character was a soldier, but also an individual with completely different thoughts and feelings. Buffalo Soldiers portrayed an army of either stodgy old militants or rebellious anti-heroes. In a war movie where the military--which is an arm of politics--is portrayed as a bunch of criminal, bumbling idiots, it reflects the politics of the film's creator rather than the humanity of its characters.

You really didn't think there was that much variety to the characters?  Ed Harris' character, Colonel Berman, was neither a rebellious anti hero nor a stodgy odl militant.  Michael Pena's character, Garcia, didn't seem to be so rebellious until pulled along by Elwood.  Elwood's roommate Knoll had some interesting ambiguity to him.

Sure the military is often portrayed as bumbling, but I don't see it as a stab to the military specifically.  I think it's a swipe at all human organizations.  People find ways to take advantage of the system and create wars for ourselves in any situation.  Do you think that's an altogether untrue perspective?  It might not be the whole truth, but it's an important examination of a particular phenomenon.