The new wave of Coronavirus Cinema begins with Resistance, which would have benefited from a quick trip to the editing room to get turned into a home-schooling family film about the horrors of WWII. Instead, we get this miserable Nazisploitation as put together by writer/director Jonathan Jakubowicz – who’s somehow found acclaim as a cinematic… Continue reading Resistance
Tag: War Movie
The Last Full Measure
There are two quagmires captured in The Last Full Measure: covering both the Vietnam War and the desperate battle to make a movie about politics that will please everybody. Writer and director Todd Robinson works really hard (and rewrites some history) in trying to make an official Quality Film out of the struggle to award real-life war… Continue reading The Last Full Measure
1917
Saving Private Ryan started like a splatter movie, but 1917 is pure elevated horror while opening on a pastoral field towards the end of World War I. The high concept of one continuous tracking shot allows director Sam Mendes to perfectly pace this suspenseful tale of brave soldiers sent on a mission to save 1,600 men from a… Continue reading 1917
They Shall Not Grow Old
World War II always seems to steal the spotlight away from World War I. WWII is simpler, sexier, and more interesting to more people for some reason. Maybe it’s easier to dumb down? Well, there is Hitler, Nazis, The Axis Powers, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. WWII takes up more space in text books… Continue reading They Shall Not Grow Old
Overlord
Overlord begins just before D-Day, as a group of paratroopers is dropped into France. We meet the team, including your standard issue badass, smartass, candyass, etc. It could be any war movie you have ever seen. Once they make it to the rally point, or at least some of them, they begin their mission to take… Continue reading Overlord
12 Strong
Based on the 2009 book Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton, Chris Hemsworth stars as Captain Mitch Nelson who previously put in for a desk job but in light of the World Trade Center attack wants to be reactivated for combat. After his Warrant Officer (Michael Shannon) intervenes, their special forces team become the first deployed… Continue reading 12 Strong
The King’s Choice
Expecting Norwegian neutrality to accede to German occupation, Berlin orders ships through Norwegian defense and demands surrender after British and French ships mine the water to prevent iron shipments. The constitutionally elected monarch, King Haakson VII (Jesper Christensen, who plays Mr. White in the Bond films) leaves Oslo accompanied by his wife, Queen Maud, and the… Continue reading The King’s Choice
Dunkirk
With home in sight, four hundred thousand soldiers have been pushed to the sea and left stranded. Known for speculative fantasy films such as Inception and Interstellar, Christopher Nolan has an historical epic spelled out for him yet delivers a film with spectacular effects and exceptional editing but cannot move before it feeling as if you… Continue reading Dunkirk
Hacksaw Ridge
Director Mel Gibson recounts the life of Virginian Desmond Doss (played by Andrew Garfield), the conscientious objector who volunteered for military service after Pearl Harbor but refused to fire weapons due to his religious convictions. Raised as a devout Christian, Doss is more than willing to do his part as a medic but once boot camp… Continue reading Hacksaw Ridge
Eye in the Sky
Here’s where we find ourselves in the “war on terror” cinematic universe: finally we are able to pose moral weight on conscious decisions instead of the equivalency arena. Helen Mirren is Colonel Katherine Powell, whose mission is to coordinate and capture a terrorist cell in Kenya, but once on-the-ground intel spots a known tech mastermind, its… Continue reading Eye in the Sky
Lone Survivor
Peaceniks who say they want to put an end to war seem more than willing to direct their appeals to the wrong side. If there is no place for war in the 21st century, where does that leave the warlike ideology of Islamists? Based on the first-person memoir of Marcus Luttrell, one of four Navy… Continue reading Lone Survivor