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jimmyjazz

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45881

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I have a weakness for modern war movies, roughly from 1980 on.  ("Apocalypse Now" worked, "Platoon" not as much, "Full Metal Jacket" definitely.)

So, I figured I'd find some kind of a marathon this weekend and my teenage son and I could check out a couple he might not have seen.  Surely "Band Of Brothers" or "Saving Private Ryan" would be showing on premium channels, right?  Wrong.  Couldn't find hardly anything.  "Glory" is coming on TCM later today, so we'll probably watch that, but the rest of their lineup is mostly older flicks replete with over-the-top mid-Atlantic stage accents and overwrought romance, etc.

Since when did Memorial Day weekend STOP showing tons of war movies?  Am I thinking of Veteran's Day?

Also, any recs on great ones I might have missed would be appreciated.  Years ago I saw some Civil War series that I believe was called "Gods & Generals" but I haven't come across it since.

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RomaVicta

RomaVicta 29902

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Generation Kill is right up there with Full Metal Jacket. Paths of Glory for WWI. 

A largely unmentioned movie from the Cold War is The Bedford Incident. 

The Siege of Jadotville is a true story about a UN Irish force in Africa. Very good.

I recall getting hooked watching Band of Brothers on Memorial Day particularly when I was living alone. I miss that tradition, too.

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Hate

Hate 20106

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If you haven’t seen The Pacific series then I would watch that. Also, We Were Soldiers is probably the best Vietnam War movie. All of the Veterans I know say that it gets the closest to what it was really like. They pretty much universally hate Platoon.

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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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16 minutes ago, Hate said:

If you haven’t seen The Pacific series then I would watch that. Also, We Were Soldiers is probably the best Vietnam War movie. All of the Veterans I know say that it gets the closest to what it was really like. They pretty much universally hate Platoon.

Yeah, We Were Soldiers seems to have gotten it right. Platoon was a Hollywood cliche' from beginning to end, but I still enjoyed it.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45881

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I didn't find "The Pacific" as compelling as "Band of Brothers".  It certainly wasn't bad, but I didn't quite get into the characters.

I've seen "We Were Soldiers" a couple of times and thought it was OK, but I had never heard the legitimacy angle -- I'll try to check it out again.  Sometimes I feel like I'm watching Mel Gibson and not the character, and that was one of those flicks for me.

I hadn't even heard of "Generation Kill" -- I'll definitely seek it out, along with other recs on here.  Thanks.

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Siege of Firebase Gloria

U-571( some folks hate it.   I like it)

Kelly’s Heroes

Memphis Belle

 

There’s something for all 4 branches if you count the old Army Air Corps as USAF. 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31438

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I wish someone would make a movie about Dien Bien Phu.

I read We Were Soldiers Once   . . .   And Young several years before the movie.  The movie is an excellent dramatization of the book, which was written by two men who were there, so it doesn't surprise me that it gets good marks for realism.

The book is good reading.  Oddly enough on the Mel Gibson angle, Moore was, as depicted in the book, a very devout Catholic that later became a rather evangelical one and that was a big factor in attracting Gibson.  Despite his idiosyncrasies, ol' drunken catlick Mel can make a hell of a flick.  Or could until fairly recently.

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15343

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4 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I have a weakness for modern war movies, roughly from 1980 on.  ("Apocalypse Now" worked, "Platoon" not as much, "Full Metal Jacket" definitely.)

So, I figured I'd find some kind of a marathon this weekend and my teenage son and I could check out a couple he might not have seen.  Surely "Band Of Brothers" or "Saving Private Ryan" would be showing on premium channels, right?  Wrong.  Couldn't find hardly anything.  "Glory" is coming on TCM later today, so we'll probably watch that, but the rest of their lineup is mostly older flicks replete with over-the-top mid-Atlantic stage accents and overwrought romance, etc.

Since when did Memorial Day weekend STOP showing tons of war movies?  Am I thinking of Veteran's Day?

Also, any recs on great ones I might have missed would be appreciated.  Years ago I saw some Civil War series that I believe was called "Gods & Generals" but I haven't come across it since.

Saving Private Ryan is on AMC at 5:00.   Some theaters are also showing it on June 6, since it’s the 75th anniversary of the invasion. Saw one that has SPR, The Longest Day, and a few others running one after the other.  I’ll be taking off work that day 

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15343

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3 hours ago, Parliament said:

Tears of the Sun? Not sure if serious.

If you can separate yourself from the politics of the event, and forget that it's made by Michael Bay, 13 Hours is very good. Better than American Sniper.
 

13 Hours was surprisingly well done.  I didn’t even realize it was Michael Bay (outside of a few explosion sequences) when I first saw it.  Was surprisingly pretty tough and even handed politically as well 

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F250

F250 28764

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2 hours ago, Parliament said:


If you can separate yourself from the politics of the event, and forget that it's made by Michael Bay, 13 Hours is very good. Better than American Sniper.

I recently watched 13 Hours not knowing anything about the movie other than it had Jim from the Office in it and was surprised at how good it was.

3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I didn't find "The Pacific" as compelling as "Band of Brothers".  It certainly wasn't bad, but I didn't quite get into the characters.

I've been trying to finish The Pacific series for the past 9 years. I've been watching a couple episodes every 3 years but just can't really commit to finishing it.

 

4 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

The Siege of Jadotville is a true story about a UN Irish force in Africa. Very good.

The description doesn't sound compelling but it's a great movie. After watching the movie I spent a couple of hours researching the battle. Never heard of it until I saw the movie.

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Hate 20106

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Personally, I absolutely loved THe Pacific. Was it as good as BOB...no, but it was absolutely brilliant in illuminating just how horrific the fighting was in this theatre. I knew it was war which is brutal of course, but I didn’t realize the depths of the Japanese fanaticism (other than the kamikazes obviously) until a few years before I saw The Pacific, and I think the show did a great job of portraying it.

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Deej

Deej 76752

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17 minutes ago, Hate said:

Personally, I absolutely loved THe Pacific. Was it as good as BOB...no, but it was absolutely brilliant in illuminating just how horrific the fighting was in this theatre. I knew it was war which is brutal of course, but I didn’t realize the depths of the Japanese fanaticism (other than the kamikazes obviously) until a few years before I saw The Pacific, and I think the show did a great job of portraying it.

Forward through the various love scenes and it's much better.

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RPM

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The Seige of Jadotville

The Siege of Firebase Gloria

Generation Kill

The first two are woefully underrated foreign films. Gloria is Australian view of Americans in Vietnam. Jadotville is the true story of Irish UN soldiers in The Congo that fought to the last round.

GK is a woefully underrated HBO miniseries. Really surprised it doesn't get more love here. Who hasn't had their girlfriend's pic passed around the platoon?

Comparing The Pacific to BoB is apples to oranges. BoB followed 1 company through their tour. It was a focused story. The Pacific was 3 stories melded together to tell an overview. The battles were much more horrific than what ET troops faced because the Japs were dedicated. There were no tales of mining Nazi gold like we did Jap troops. It got ugly and gives you some of the reasoning behind unleashing the nukes.

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15343

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5 minutes ago, RPM said:

The Seige of Jadotville

The Siege of Firebase Gloria

Generation Kill

The first two are woefully underrated foreign films. Gloria is Australian view of Americans in Vietnam. Jadotville is the true story of Irish UN soldiers in The Congo that fought to the last round.

GK is a woefully underrated HBO miniseries. Really surprised it doesn't get more love here. Who hasn't had their girlfriend's pic passed around the platoon?

Comparing The Pacific to BoB is apples to oranges. BoB followed 1 company through their tour. It was a focused story. The Pacific was 3 stories melded together to tell an overview. The battles were much more horrific than what ET troops faced because the Japs were dedicated. There were no tales of mining Nazi gold like we did Jap troops. It got ugly and gives you some of the reasoning behind unleashing the nukes.

True.  There tens of millions of lives saved due to utilizing the nuclear option.  We didn’t want to do it, but realized the Japanese were not going to surrender until they saw what could be.   The two greatest fighting forces ever amassed were the American island hopping soldier/marine and the Japanese defending said islands.   Absolutely brutal warfare 

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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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23 minutes ago, RPM said:

The Seige of Jadotville

The Siege of Firebase Gloria

Generation Kill

The first two are woefully underrated foreign films. Gloria is Australian view of Americans in Vietnam. Jadotville is the true story of Irish UN soldiers in The Congo that fought to the last round.

GK is a woefully underrated HBO miniseries. Really surprised it doesn't get more love here. Who hasn't had their girlfriend's pic passed around the platoon?

Comparing The Pacific to BoB is apples to oranges. BoB followed 1 company through their tour. It was a focused story. The Pacific was 3 stories melded together to tell an overview. The battles were much more horrific than what ET troops faced because the Japs were dedicated. There were no tales of mining Nazi gold like we did Jap troops. It got ugly and gives you some of the reasoning behind unleashing the nukes.

Attrition rates were so bad in the Pacific theater following a single company from Tarawa to Tokyo (the name of the official Navy "yearbook" for the aircraft carrier Lexington 1941-1945) would be difficult because so few made it all the way thru .

Very difficult to Develop characters who might last in the field maybe  45 days let alone a whole company.

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ztejas

ztejas 43411

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6 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I have a weakness for modern war movies, roughly from 1980 on.  ("Apocalypse Now" worked, "Platoon" not as much, "Full Metal Jacket" definitely.)

So, I figured I'd find some kind of a marathon this weekend and my teenage son and I could check out a couple he might not have seen.  Surely "Band Of Brothers" or "Saving Private Ryan" would be showing on premium channels, right?  Wrong.  Couldn't find hardly anything.  "Glory" is coming on TCM later today, so we'll probably watch that, but the rest of their lineup is mostly older flicks replete with over-the-top mid-Atlantic stage accents and overwrought romance, etc.

Since when did Memorial Day weekend STOP showing tons of war movies?  Am I thinking of Veteran's Day?

Also, any recs on great ones I might have missed would be appreciated.  Years ago I saw some Civil War series that I believe was called "Gods & Generals" but I haven't come across it since.

BoB and the Pacific are both on Amazon prime if you have it - no need to be subbed to HBO.

To add to the running list, I enjoyed American Sniper if only because the depiction of PTSD, family, what goes on when the fighting is done etc. was a bit of a change of pace compared to other war movies. 

Also liked Hacksaw Ridge. Also Enemy at the Gates. 

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RPM

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1 minute ago, Deej said:

Germany really wasn't much better. Exterminating millions wasn't that great, but hey, they were white.

True, but with the exception of the Jew thingy they treated captured civilians and POWs relatively well. Japanese had a different POV.

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34 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Try sitcomming a Japanese POW camp.

The closest we ever got was Fuji, a lovable Japanese POW on McHale's Navy (who somehow made it to Italy when they switched to the ET for S4).

Three Came Home is a very good WW2 POW film. It's a propaganda film, but still gives a view of what civilian POWs faced from the Japanese.

 

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11447

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WWII is a great genre. So many good films, but I have my reservations about the modern movement towards realistic/grotesque violence and gore.

I wish they'd make another Dirty Dozen/The Great Escape type film. Something fathers and young sons can watch together. My dad, myself and my younger brother would watch a WWII movie every Saturday night during the football offseason. Memphis Belle was probably the last WWII movie like this and it came out in 1990. 

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My Dad ran landing craft at Iwo Jima in WWII. (Think Cotton Hill) The only war movies he liked were John Wayne movies. (The man made a shrine to him in his den) He really didn't care for any other war movies except The Great Escape. The only other one I remember him getting excited about was Platoon. He watched it in theater with my stepbrother who was wounded in Vietnam and they both hated it for being unrealistic.

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PRONG HORN

PRONG HORN 3133

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1 hour ago, RPM said:

They were literally 2 different wars. As bad as Hitler was, I don't see us ever unleashing a nuke on Berlin. We were willing to grind it out. The Japanese were subhuman.

 

The Japs were warriors worthy of a battle to the end.  Truman showed them who the subhuman were. 

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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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3 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

The Japs were warriors worthy of a battle to the end.  Truman showed them who the subhuman were. 

Yeah warriors who tortured civilians, raped Nan King, killed, tortured, and worked POW's to death. Worthy  of a battle to the end ?  

Trumans act while regrettable, saved hundreds of thousands American servicemen's lives, along with who knows how many of our allies.

Edited by Onboard 2.0
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Just now, PRONG HORN said:

The Japs were warriors worthy of a battle to the end.  Truman showed them who the subhuman were. 

The Japs viewed surrendered people as subhuman and despicable like the Nazi's viewed the Jews. They were fanatics, not worthy of a fucking thing. It took 2 nukes to make them wake up.

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25907

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I didn't find "The Pacific" as compelling as "Band of Brothers".  It certainly wasn't bad, but I didn't quite get into the characters.
I've seen "We Were Soldiers" a couple of times and thought it was OK, but I had never heard the legitimacy angle -- I'll try to check it out again.  Sometimes I feel like I'm watching Mel Gibson and not the character, and that was one of those flicks for me.
I hadn't even heard of "Generation Kill" -- I'll definitely seek it out, along with other recs on here.  Thanks.


Read “One Bullet Away” by Nate Fick first
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6 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

hadn't even heard of "Generation Kill" -- I'll definitely seek it out, along with other recs on here.  Thanks.

GK is the story of a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with a front line unit in Iraq. It's also the greatest depiction of a Marine Sergeant Major ever (who turned out to be a pederast). Sixta truly ranks up right up there with Hartman. The man has flair.

 

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