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phatrick88
Reviews
Das Boot (2018)
No, it's not the original, nor is it suppose to be.
Incredible mini-series depicting the second world war from several different viewpoints. Very well polished along the lines of Saving Private Ryan, Generation War, The Pacific, etc. The more the stories unfold, the more addicted you become. Can't wait for season three and beyond. Must watch.
Fury (2014)
An insult to our WWII Vets
I walked out of the theater speechless, that it is 2014 and we can still produce movies that are so historically inaccurate. Heck I dug up my old IMDb account just to neg this movie.
Like my title says, this movie is an absolute slap in the face to the millions of World War II vets who fought to secure our freedom. The conduct and parlance of these soldiers was extremely out of character with the 1940's. Please, don't curse like it's 2014 when you're portraying an event that happened 70 years ago. They couldn't even display proper military discipline.
I knew it was going to be bad just from a the first few minutes of dialogue and acting, then the combat scenes began!
So totally unrealistic you can't even suspend your disbelief and enjoy it. Were the Germans firing blanks? Hundreds of dead Germans with only a few GI casualties. The Waffen SS - the most revered fighting force of the time - running aimlessly into machine gun fire like a cheap video game. Missing their mark at point blank range. Germans typically portrayed as weak, inferior and dumb.
I think you could live in a test tube and probably be smart enough to realize the final battle was a JOKE. So silly nothing more needs to be said.
The reality is, all four tanks would have been likely knocked out in the first battle by the Germans in the tree-line with their AA and panzerschrecks. The Tiger tank in the second battle would have knocked out all four Sherman tanks, on the first shot, Fury never would have got behind it to make the kill (research some famous tank battles). The SS in the final battle would have made short work of their disabled tank in a few short minutes.
This movie best exemplifies the quote:
"History is written by the victors"
Red Tails (2012)
Crash and Burn
Being an avid History Buff of the Second World War, I really wanted to not only like this movie, but for it historically portray the horrors of war and the atrocities these men had to endure. Sadly, after about 60 seconds into the movie, I knew this wouldn't be the case. As an action film, it was quite entertaining, but from a history standpoint, a total slap in the face to the Vets and the viewers who might actually go home thinking that "this is the way it was".
As expected, the movie is watered down with just about every cliché ever used in a war movie; the cruel German to hate, the cheesiest of love stories, the predictable death of a popular character, etc. The dialogue was one of the most cringe worthy I've ever seen, with no shortage of eye rolling head shaking moments. Apparently the laws of physics don't apply in Red Tails either and P-51s shoot down superior ME-262's like fish in a barrel.
My Grandfather was a B-17 Navigator in the 8th Air Force and one thing he could never stress enough was just how scary flying over Germany was, yet here Ne-Yo and the gang parade around hooping and hollering like it's a video game?!
Everything about the movie was phony and dumbed down for the average uninformed movie-goer. I respect the Tuskegee Airman and their accomplishments immensely and believe George Lucas could and should have done better than Red Tails to honor them.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Sad....
The first 45 minutes of this film actually had me fooled into thinking it was going to be a great movie. The multilingual dialog, acting, and story all seemed superb. Then came to the brutal scene of the killing of the German Officer with a baseball bat and I realized I had been duped. It's not like I went to this film expecting an all out serious movie, but this one stayed true to Hollywood's long line of anti-German American's the greatest 'war' films. Like we've come to expect, the Germans were portrayed as dirty monsters, idiots and murderers. I believe World War 2 was a disaster of epic proportions and am in no way advocating the crimes and horrors that some Germans were involved with, but I find it extremely sad what our sense of history has come to. How people can sit there, eating their junk food, laughing, cheering, as someone gets scalped, have their head beat in with a bat, a swastika carved in their flesh, is beyond me and I find it extremely disturbing. It's really amazing what passes for a good movie these days, and the fact that this movie is so highly acclaimed is a testimony to that and may just be evidence of a specific decline in humanity.
When Trumpets Fade (1998)
Nice effort, but a bit overrated.
After reading all the positive reviews on IMDb about this movie, I couldn't wait to see it. Well, it was a nice effort but alas a bit overrated. It's hard to forget you're watching a made for television movie while sitting through this one, unfortunately the film can't shake that air of low budget. The fighting scenes, what little there were, had a certain cheese factor to them. Some of the explosions looked like they came from cheap fireworks, the gunfire was dubbed in later and is totally incorrect for the weapons being used, we didn't get to see enough of the Germans, just American G.I.'s charging into endless explosions. Wish there had been more character development, because there was really none. The movie tries hard to be dramatic, but it's hard to feel emotional or sympathetic about someone you know nothing about. Attention to detail was really pretty good, everything looked pretty much correct(weapons/uniforms/gear) except for the German Tanks.
With that being said, the movie did keep my attention for the 90 minute running time. When it comes to war movies, i've seen much worse, and I don't mind the $5 I paid for this one and am glad to have it in my collection. It's not a terrible movie at all, just simply middle of the road; nothing more, nothing less. Certainly no Saving Private Ryan, but worth a look if you're a fan of World War II or War films.
Fast & Furious (2009)
The best of the series by a mile
I just got back from the midnight screening of 'Fast & Furious' and I have to admit the movie very much exceeded my fairly low expectations for the film. While the original film was entertaining, it was never a good movie by any means. Let's not even get started on the two that followed. The fourth installment however, is another story. Most of the original cast has come back and seeing them back in action together really makes you realize the F&F franchise isn't the same without them. The chemistry between the three leads (Diesel, Walker and Brewster) is the strongest it's been yet, and I would dare to call several of the scenes 'moving' as a result. Who would have ever expected that from Fast & Furious.
The movie does an excellent job of keeping you on the edge of your seat, there's no shortage of action and a story that keeps your attention. The movie starts out in the DR with Vin Diesel pulling off a fairly implausible heist of hijacking a fuel tanker with his new crew. Minutes later, we learn of Letty's murder which in turn basically sets the tone for the rest of the movie as Diesel sets off on an all out rampage to even the score. Like the previous three, you certainly need to suspend your disbelief for the duration of the movie, however I was glad to see they didn't go overboard and kept the special effects and CIG to what seemed like a happy minimum.
Anyone who's ever been a fan of the Fast and the Furious series will absolutely need to go see this on the big screen. Even if you weren't so hot for the originals, the movie is still worth a look. In my opinion it's acting, story, plot, special effects are the best of the series so far and almost makes it stand out as a respectable movie. Better yet, they've left the door wide open for 'Fast & Furious 5'. To be continued...
The Fallen (2004)
Avoid this like the plague
I've never written a comment on IMDb before, but this movie was so bad it left me little choice but to warn you not to waste the two hours of your life. As an avid WWII historian, I don't even know where to begin on how historically inaccurate this movie was. Carbines with Korean War bayonet lugs, K98k's missing cleaning rodes and sight hoods, German uniforms that didn't exist, the list could go on forever. Added that it's loaded with flaws, has literally no plot or climax, and acting on par with your local high school theater. The epitome of cheesy.
PLEASE...there are too many good WWII movies out there to waste your time on this junk.