War Movies

What can you say about an animated movie that brings tears to your eyes throughout, fills you with feelings of greif and despair long after you've turned off the dvd player. Grave of the Fireflies is a masterpiece.
It evokes the experiences of childhood grief, small moments of ordinary life and happiness amid tragedy and fear, and the overwhelming confusion of adult responsibilities falling on teenaged shoulders as powerfully as in any film I've seen. Its a quiet movie about the collision between how a child looks at the world and an environment which makes no allowances for a child's innocence. An emotional experience so powerful, devastating, haunting and so incredibly moving its quite simply the gentlest and most touching war-related film I've ever seen.

Some movies just stick in your mind for years after your first viewing, having left an impression that doesn't fade, even after detailed memories of the storyline and even the characters or visual images start slipping away.
The most unforgettable and unshakeable movie, for me, was 'The Killing Fields'; perhaps the most harrowing and visceral films of the 1980s.
This is a memorable film because the story is powerful, compelling and horrific, the script intelligent, the cinematography beautiful and the performances nearly flawless. It's doubly memorable because the story is true and co-star Haing S. Ngor (Pran) - a medical doctor by training, not an actor - was a survivor of the real Killing Fields.
The horror of genocide is probably truly comprehensible only to the people who have survived it, but the images of Pran, literally up to his eyes in corpses, in his desperate bid to escape the killing fields is desperately affecting - and provides a palpable sense of real terror.
Your not meant to enjoy this movie, its a story meant to be experienced and felt.

Steven Spielberg's adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel "Empire of the Sun" is a disturbing coming-of-age story about a privileged English boy, Jim Graham (the young Christian Bale), who's caught in the Japanese invasion of Shanghai and detained for the duration of WW II in a civilian internment camp. A gripping film that vividly conveys the brutality, betrayal, and senseless violence of all wars.

Its about the survival of a remarkable little boy during terribly difficult times. Jim represents the resilient human spirit, and Spielberg and Bale's efforts combine to create a memorable portrait.

Bale's debut is a doozy, delivering one of the most impressive child performances you are ever likely to see, balancing the overwhelming collection of emotions that would be coursing through Jim to allow us to see him survive, grow, and change from innocent child to wizened adolescent survivor.

A searing, often staggering portrait of survival, a film less about refracting all of World War II through the specific conditions of one man, and more about that man lost in its midst.

This movie will break your heart, your soul, your spirit, and then come back to do it again and again. Although it's similar to Schindler's List in it's brutal approach in depicting the realities of the Holocaust, it's unique in that it tells the story from the viewpoint of an actual victim. You have to wonder which was worse: the profound physical suffering and starvation the survivors endured themselves, or the emotional trauma suffered from over and over again witnessing strangers, friends, neighbors, and family brutalized, murdered, and tortured.
And yet, even with all the suffering depicted in the film, the details of what occurred aren't important. What Polanski wants us to realize is the enormity of the loss the world suffered in the Holocaust. Szpilman(Brody) was a singularly talented artist; a treasure of great value to the community around him; a master of his craft, who lifted those around him with his art. He was a Beethoven, a Mozart, a Van Gogh, thrown to the Nazi wolves. His beautiful music was silenced for six years, as he retreated into emotional and physical torture, servitude, and hiding. The silent hole he left as he waded through the Holocaust is unbearable. And figuratively, he stands as a symbol of just how much beautiful music was muted when 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust; leaving the world in a deadly, sickening silence.

This film is so achingly, beautifully acted and created, you'll hardly be able to bear it. Every frame throbs with, begs, and reminds you, in the most horrifying way possible, of the gravity of human existence and the responsibilities we all have to each other.

The 13th Warrior is a long, loud, dirt-caked, sweat-soaked, gets-medieval-on-your-ass, muddy, bloody, violent, and then more-violent sword 'n' shield-er about an Arab poet-turned-ambassador (Antonio Banderas) who is volunteered to join a band of no-nonsense Norsemen to fight a "mysterious enemy" to the north.

It's true that there isn't a whole lot to The 13th Warrior other than the carnage of the battle scenes. And it's true that we're given little insight into the characters and their motivations. But the film still succeeds.
In addition to Banderas and the quality of the action sequences, the excellent costumes, sets and locations also contribute to the experience.

This isn't a great film by any stretch, but it's exciting to watch and it works as long as you aren't expecting something other than what it is.
So enjoy it for what it is - an action/adventure picture filled with violent, bloody battles and larger-than-life heroic deeds. Think Conan the Barbarian crossed with Braveheart. There's more than a little of both to be found here - great deeds by great men in a forgotten era.

Visually speaking, 300 is a remarkable piece of art. Kind of like Sin City and Gladiator mixed with steroids.

Snyder's striking use of color helps to emphasize and enhance the mood of each scene, and the CGI work is fluid and flawless. With surprisingly fleshed out characters and a plot that's both simple and deep, 300 blends bloody violence, sensuality, brutality, and moments of true beauty into a breathtaking and mesmerizing film experience.

There's plenty of blood and body parts being chopped off and some of the best fight scenes on film. Snyder's use of stop-motion to capture specific moments during battle helps the film achieve a painting come to life kind of tone.

And for all the dismemberments and killings, there are a few passionate moments between the Spartan king and queen tossed in to balance it out. In other words, there's a little something for action film freaks as well as those more into drama and romance.

And let's be totally honest here. Just the sight of Butler and the talented cast of actors who make up the Spartan army running around in "codpieces" that barely conceal the family jewels and little else is reason enough for most women to want to check out the film.

This movie is interspersed with enormous battle scenes, including a well-executed Trojan Horse sequence, and a few gripping one-on-one showdowns. The way it reinvents the Greek legends and characters for the modern, wrestling-fan, action-movie audience is an achievement. But it never quite settles upon one storyline as a linchpin, and so it flounders a bit between those big action set-pieces, which still work often enough that the movie looks like an epic, even if it doesn't exactly feel like one.
It's difficult not to compare Troy with Gladiator, The Roman Empire epic of yesteryear. Gladiator delved so much more deeply and more tenderly into matters of family, loyalty, life, and love. And those are things truly worth fighting for. Troy focuses on those fleeting but entertaining elements that don't matter--it's a flashy, flighty, violent heckuva good time. But it doesn't leave a lasting impression on one's heart.
Sure, it's the Cliff's Notes take on a classic, with movie stars and big battles. But didn't most of us read the Cliff's Notes anyway?