The Movies

[Jenni]

Maybe it’s a Canadian thing, but for me my favourite war movie was Hyena Road. Anyone seen this one? Thoughts?

Oh, I liked Hyena Road. I can't classify it as my favorite but it was damn good. War movies are hard to rank for me. Like, I'm really attatched to Full Metal Jacket and Platoon because they were the first real war movies I saw. But Letters From Iwo Jima is arguably a better made movie. Black Hawk Down is one I watch, often, as is Fury. Fury is probably not the masterpiece Flags of our Fathers is, yet I find myself returning to it over and over. To me, Hyena Road is in that vast middle with 12 Strong and Hurt Locker- excellent movies but neither nostalgic for me nor intense enough for repeated viewing. I don't know, I think my taste in war movies is one of the more mature of my media preferences but I'm still not "cultured." I'll still sit through Three Kings five times before I'll sit through Patton once.

[Steven Kalin]

Oh, I liked Hyena Road. I can't classify it as my favorite but it was damn good. War movies are hard to rank for me. Like, I'm really attatched to Full Metal Jacket and Platoon because they were the first real war movies I saw. But Letters From Iwo Jima is arguably a better made movie. Black Hawk Down is one I watch, often, as is Fury. Fury is probably not the masterpiece Flags of our Fathers is, yet I find myself returning to it over and over. To me, Hyena Road is in that vast middle with 12 Strong and Hurt Locker- excellent movies but neither nostalgic for me nor intense enough for repeated viewing. I don't know, I think my taste in war movies is one of the more mature of my media preferences but I'm still not "cultured." I'll still sit through Three Kings five times before I'll sit through Patton once.

For me it is nostalgic, just because they got the dialogue right, from my understanding from several close friends who served. When she said “ there’s nothing I’d rather do than climb over this table and fraternize the shit out of you…”, that seems like such a Canadian soldier turn of phrase.

[Jason Donaldson]

For me it is nostalgic, just because they got the dialogue right, from my understanding from several close friends who served. When she said “ there’s nothing I’d rather do than climb over this table and fraternize the shit out of you…”, that seems like such a Canadian soldier turn of phrase.

In terms of verisimilitude, I thought that Rules of Engagement with Samuel Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones was pretty good. It was written by James Webb, a former Secretary of the Navy and Marine combat veteran in Vietnam. (His book, Fields of Fire was very good, too.)

That said, the absolute most accurate I've seen for dialog, look, and feel was Generation Kill. It was done with guidance and involvement from some of the Marines and others involved, and it was dead on with a whole lot of small and large details. I never deployed and never saw combat, so I can't speak to details about that, but if you want something that reflects how Marines talk and act and think, you definitely can't go wrong with it. The opening scene alone hit me with deep nostalgia on that point.

Another impressive detail, that took me a while to notice, is that Generation Kill has no score. No mood music to tell you how to feel, no auditory foreshadowing... It makes for a very different sort of immersive experience.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Movies, please.

[Jason Donaldson]

Movies, please.

I'm sorry about that, Rip - I forgot it was a mini-series. My fault.

[Alex Ptacek]

Watched Bram Stoker's Dracula with the score performed by the Chicago Philharmonic last night. The movie is great, but with the live orchestra it was incredible. The score alone is absolutely killer, but even better heard live. If you get the chance to see anything with an orchestra, go immediately.