War Films

Langsta

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Thought there was a already a thread for this, but oh well. Anyways, I just re-watched Full Metal Jacket for the first time in a long time, and I decided to make this thread so we could discuss war films. I mainly just wanted to talk about favorite war movies .... My favorite is probably Full Metal Jacket. I also really enjoy Platoon. I haven't seen Apocalypse Now.
 
My favorite war movies are Saving Private Ryan, The Dirty Dozen, and of course The Great Escape. Something I've notice, for at least WWII films I've seen, is that the majority of the characters die, with only a surviving handful.
 
FULL METAL JACKET is great though the first half hour or so is excellent and the rest is just good. I think Bass (notice how I've borrowed his film title in caps thing? It makes them look so much better) feels the same way.

I still haven't seen SAVING PRIVATE RYAN or APOCALYPSE NOW even though they've been on my DVD list for months.
 
FULL METAL JACKET is great though the first half hour or so is excellent and the rest is just good. I think Bass (notice how I've borrowed his film title in caps thing? It makes them look so much better) feels the same way.

I still haven't seen SAVING PRIVATE RYAN or APOCALYPSE NOW even though they've been on my DVD list for months.

I forgot about Saving Private Ryan. I thought it was pretty good. The sniper dude (Barry Pepper) was badass.

I agree about Full Metal Jacket; I used to think that the second half was boring, but after watching it again I have a greater appreciation for it and I think it's a fitting/suitable/appropriate ending to the movie....The first half ends with
Pvt. Pyle killing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman and then himself; the second ends with the conflicted Joker having to decide the Vietnamese sniper girl's fate....
It just shows how war can **** someone up (the someone being Joker, having experienced all the mayhem up to this point; Pyle was already messed up in the head before he joined the Marines). I just thought that the last scene major scene of the movie, with Joker having to
kill the girl was....I dunno, it just sort of reminded me of Pyle.
Like how Sgt. Hartman was trying to turn them into "killers." Joker's whole experience in the military alters him psychologically. I also like the movie because it doesn't like, glorify or honor the Marines so much....I mean, I have respect for soldiers, but I like to see war movies where the protagonist isn't some "gun-ho, Tom Hanks G.I. Joe"-type soldier. Because not all soldiers are like that....And in FMJ, you've got flawed human beings like the mentally-ill Gomer Pyle, the nihilistic, badass mofo Animal Mother, and again, the conflicted Joker.

And my favorite part of the whole movie is the very, very last scene. It takes place during nighttime and features the Marines' rendition of the Mickey Mouse Club march as their reunited platoon marches past burning buildings and fades into the Stones' "Paint it Black."

Oh yeah, and Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards is coming out next year. Yay.
 
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The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest war trilogies ever.

And I don't even count myself as a fan.
 
True, also along the same lines, Braveheart
I liked Braveheart, but I don't think of it as a war movie, since the emphasis of its themes isn't about the implications of waging a war, or the effects of war on a culture's collective consciousness or any of that, but really a tale of rights and resistance and the human spirit and all that.

What I mean to say that a war movie can be about a war that isn't WW2 or WW1 --- which is what Braveheart is but LOTR isn't --- but it also has to thematically focus on the act of waging war itself and what that means --- which is what LOTR is about, and what Braveheart isn't.
 
I bought Apocalypse Now Redux on DVD about a week and a half ago and have been waiting for some alone time to watch it because it's 202 minutes and I don't want to be interrupted.

I managed to get about an hour into it before people annoyed me, even though I spent the majority of the first ten minutes pausing and starting constantly because the dog kept trying to vomit.

But what I saw was really good. Great music too.
 
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It was raining and dark when I watched the final scene which I found oddly fitting. It was a great and intriguing film and one I am sure I will watch over and over again.

I read about the differences between the original and the Redux. While I had no problem with the added scenes in the Redux version, it does seem like it would be better without them, especially in regards to the portryal of Willard. I did like the extra Kurtz scenes though, even though they ruin the whole "you only see Kurtz in the cave" thing.

Again, great film and probably the best war film I've seen.
 
Star wars.


Though seriously I'll admit i'm not a big war film however I will say one of two depending on your definition of War film.

1st = Schindler's List if you mean any film set during the war. I keep mentioning this film on here for one reason, It's pretty much a damn perfect film and just amazing to watch.

2nd = If you mean more about the soldiers then Apocalypse Now. Great film, kick *** theme tune and a good cast.
 
It was raining and dark when I watched the final scene which I found oddly fitting. It was a great and intriguing film and one I am sure I will watch over and over again.

I read about the differences between the original and the Redux. While I had no problem with the added scenes in the Redux version, it does seem like it would be better without them, especially in regards to the portryal of Willard. I did like the extra Kurtz scenes though, even though they ruin the whole "you only see Kurtz in the cave" thing.

Again, great film and probably the best war film I've seen.

You're right. The cut content is technically well done. I especially liked the encounter with the French out in the middle of the jungle. But it really isn't integral to the plot.


Full Metal Jacket though.... How can anyone think the second half was just okay? ANIMAL MOTHER!
 
You're right. The cut content is technically well done. I especially liked the encounter with the French out in the middle of the jungle. But it really isn't integral to the plot.


Full Metal Jacket though.... How can anyone think the second half was just okay? ANIMAL MOTHER!

Because the first half is amazing. The second half is good but I don't think it stands up to the first half. I do need to watch it again though, especially since I'm on a Kubrick kick at the moment.
 
Because the first half is amazing. The second half is good but I don't think it stands up to the first half. I do need to watch it again though, especially since I'm on a Kubrick kick at the moment.

Hm, yeah. Well there was a pretty distinct stylistic shift. But I love the second half, largely because that firefight in the bombed out city is so sickly orchestrated.
 

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