 This title has been on my "to-see" list for a very long time now. Despite everyone and their mother telling me how much I'd appreciate it, I just wasn't all that interested. In fact, if you really look at my viewing history of film, Kubrick has been a name I've almost actively avoided, despite him being one of the biggest names in film making.
It all boils down to this. I wasn't always into the strangely executed, and for a long, long time, I considered Kubrick's films to be a bit too much for me. Too much what, exactly, I dunno. But I've now seen a grand total of four of his films, and I'm not sure they're altogether for me. I like them, but I don't love them. Maybe it's because I like my weird to be either fun or horrific. Please don't get me wrong, the guy's a great director. I admire his approach on his weirdness, as he largely dwells on making his audience uncomfortable, and doesn't really need to approach real shock value to do it. In some ways, he's like an early Tarantino in my mind - who again, I like, and admire, but don't necessarily love. For both names, I'm sort of an odd man out. But I'm pleased to say that of the Kubrick films I have seen, this might be my favourite one yet. A new platoon of Marine Corps recruits is the focus on the first segment of the film. The most famous scenes and dialogue from this movie come from their Gunnery Sergeant, Hartman (R. Lee Ermey). He puts his main focuses on Privates Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Joker (Matthew Modine). Hartman requires his recruits to become instruments of death, and has Joker help Pyle out with all of that, as Pyle is a bit of a bumbler. The first half ends with the three main characters at a stand-off, which decides each of their fates. The scene is easily one of the most intense I've seen for the time, and it's a great and disturbing way to see how brutally overtaken some minds may get if pushed too hard. The second part of this focuses on Joker. He's a combat correspondent who talks a lot of talk about being trained to be a killer, but being put behind the scenes. However when a Tet offensive throws him into action, we also dive into Joker's psyche to see whether or not he is what he claims to be. Altogether, I see this as a film focusing on how a person's mind works when thrown into war-related situations. We see it happen with Pyle in training, and Joker in Vietnam. In different ways, either one shows you how war has an effect on the mind. This is one of those war movies that I'd classify as a "half-war movie". This is when the war is mostly a background situation, and the story focuses more on character, 'Jarhead' being perhaps the most prime example (at least in my mind). Going back to saying this is probably my favourite Kubrick film I've seen thus far, this puts it above 'The Shining', 'Dr. Strangelove', and 'A Clockwork Orange'. I still have a few to get through, not the least of which is '2001', but I doubt this will end up getting dethroned by any of it. I really enjoyed how this film could be seen as practically a comedy in the beginning, but then it takes a really dark and sudden turn, illustrating that you never quite know how much you're messing up someone's mind by treating them like crap. It's actually pretty heartbreaking. Then as it goes on, it's interesting to see Joker talk a big game, but never really knowing if he can back it up. It's a good way to see how war changes a person, because upon introduction, Joker's just a nice guy. All in all, a great characters study, but totally one of those movies you can watch once and then be done with it for a while. As ith most of Kubrick's stuff, there's a certain admirable discomfort that comes with this one. It's not a "one and done" because it's a bit too brutal (like 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas), but you definitely have to be in the mood to sit through it. 5/5
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 This review begins a series of reviews I've been meaning to tackle for years now, only due to them being major titles in the film industry that I've personally just never bothered with - the big Vietnam titles. What I mean by this, is just about anything that 'Tropic Thunder' took inspiration from. An odd thing to think about, considering how much I love that movie. Anyway, it hasn't been so much a total lack of interest, but other things have just held my interest more, over the years.
Starting things off with 'Apocalypse Now', we get the deep, dark, and even pretty scary side of things when we see what war can do to one's sanity. A Green Baret Colonel named Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando) is seen as gone insane after leading his army over the border into Cambodia, and conducting hit and run missions against the Viet Cong and the NVA. He acts like a sort of demi-god over a group of tribal natives, and Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent by a Colonel Lucas (Harrison Ford) to eliminate Kurtz. Willard's crew meets with a surfer-type Lt- Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who provide them with an entry point into the Nung river after napalming the hell out of a Viet Cong outpost. Willard, and his crew consisting of Lance (Sam Bottoms), "Chef" (Frederic Forrest), "Mr. Clean" (Laurence Fishburne - absolutely unrecognizable here) and Chief Phillips (Albert Hall) head upriver to complete the mission, running into some nasty obstacles along the way, and learning very quickly to never get out of the boat. As the movie unfolds, it's almost as though it's a slow dive into insanity, itself. What made this movie so creepy, at least for me, was just the sheer strangeness of it all - especially when we get into around the last half of the film. Once we meet the likes of Kurtz and a random Photojournalist (Dennis Hopper) things kinda take you for a psychological ride, and Brando makes things really weird, really quick. I have to admit that, considering the different cuts of this film, I went with the original. So yeah, there's likely a whole whack of interesting stuff I missed out on, but I wanted to keep it simple. I mean, two and a half hours is still a long movie. Plus I'd be more interested to see what was added later, with a movie like this. With eight Oscar noms, winning two (Cinematography and Sound), and going down in history as just one of those titles everyone knows, and can reference without seeing. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" has since become one of the most famous lines in film history, along with "The horror, the horror!" So it ends up being one of those titles one should probably see if one wants to write film reviews. But, I mean, that's also the core concept of this "catching up" page. It's a pretty remarkable film, and Francis Ford Coppola does a brilliant directing job here, making his audience feel more and more uneasy about things the more the film goes. It really is like Willard and his crew are sailing down this river of madness, sort of reaching a peak once they reach their destination. It's not often that a film can just do that sort of thing to my mind, but I have to commend any film that can - that is, genuinely make me feel something, but not on a psychological level, not an emotional one. There's a reason this movie is pretty legendary. 5/5  Back in December of 1914, while World War I raged on in a mass of violence and casualties, something some may consider a miracle happened. On Christmas Eve, an unauthorized, informal ceasefire occurred between the warring nations. This particular film highlights the events surrounding three particular groups during this occasion; France, Scotland and Germany.
This happens to end up being one of those admirable war films, in that it generously shows us varying sides of the conflict. It's NOT your ever-so typical American pride film so much as an unveiling of such a special event from other sides of the battle. The film is essentially centered on six main characters. From the Scotland side, Leutenant Gordon (Alex Ferns) and Father Palmer (Gary Lewis). The French side mainly focuses on Audebert (Guillaume Canet). Finally, from the German side, Horstmayer, Sprink (Benno Fürmann), and his Danish fiancee, Anna (Diane Kruger). There's plenty of detail on each character, but we could also be here all day. Each has their own development, and each story is well done. The real magic of this film happens when the Scots begin to sing from their trenches on Christmas Eve, songs from their homeland as well as festive songs for the holiday. Soon, each nation joins in the "festivities" as they manage to find a common ground between them. Their wills are strong enough that they agree on a ceasefire, come out of the trenches and meet and greet each other in person. It's really something to behold, if only for the reminder that, as different nations, we can manage to find peace somewhere if we try. Much like with 'White Christmas', this is another Christmas film that doesn't exactly find itself in my all-time favorites list, but I have to recommend seeing it at least once for yourself. It's quite a beautiful and haunting movie to behold, especially in knowing that this unofficial Christmas Eve ceasefire was a real and miraculous event. It gets even more crazy when we're shown how these soldiers deal with things after the ceasefire, when they're meant to kill other people they've just befriended. No spoilers, but things get pretty emotional, and the big takeaway from it all (at least for me) is the showing of just how powerful the Christmas spirit can actually be - even amongst those we consider "the enemy". 4/5  It's when a "Catching Up" opportunity like this comes along that I realize how much I regret not spending more time in front of these black and white classics, growing up. I was kind of a stubborn brat about it, and "black and white" pretty much meant "boring". I had video games to play and cartoons to watch instead. It sadly wasn't until rather recently when I started to expand my horizons a little and realize that "black and white" can more often than not mean "good story telling, strong characters, great performances and classic moments". 'The Longest Day', a 3-hour war movie I once avoided like the plague, is one of these films.
The premise is really quite simple. This is a dramatic and beautifully shot portrayal of the events of June 6th, 1944 - D-Day. The characters portrayed throughout the film are often played by big, Hollywood named actors. These include the likes of John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Paul Anka, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, and that's just to name a few. To add to that point, and perhaps more importantly, the characters are spread out nationalities and soldiers representing pretty much every country involved with the Invasion of Normandy. The Americans, the British, the French, the Germans, you name it. This film depicts all sides, and in a surprisingly deep way. Even the Nazis are more humanized here than in most American war films. While the actors' performances were all great, what wowed me the most about this film was just how it was shot. With it's wide shots depicting various battles, often lasting for quite some time, it's a movie that holds up very nicely today. If you're like me and a sucker for the single-take action shot, this one does it beautifully! It won two Oscars, for "black and white cinematography" and "special effects", and it totally shows why. It was further nominated for "art direction", "film editing" and "best picture" that year, losing them to 'To Kill a Mockingbird', and 'Lawrence of Arabia' twice, respectively (two more movies to put on my list). At the end of the day, this probably is the best depiction I've seen so far of D-Day (to be fair, I haven't seen many). I know, being a 'Saving Private Ryan' fan, that's gotta be sacrilege, but there are a few things to keep in mind here. First and foremost, this is an American film that depicts everyone almost equally, and not just the Americans. On top of that, this manages to be a G-rated movie with no blood or gore, very unlike 'Private Ryan', but it STILL manages to get across the horrors that took place that fateful day. Not just from the beaches, but from the skies and ground as well. It just covers so much. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. It's a bold statement, but this movie wowed me so much that it may very well be my new favorite war movie. Unlike a lot of modern war films, you can rewatch this somewhat comfortably. A movie like 'Schindler's List' for example is a great film, but there's so much discomfort behind it, a lot of people will tell you they only ever needed to see it once. Being rated G and depicting all sides of one day, this could very well be an annual Remembrance Day revisit for yours truly. If you have little ones taking a history class, or you ARE a history class, showing a movie about D-Day, look no further than here... You just might have to show it over the course of a few classes is all. 5/5 |
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