Screw the bomb exploding dude story. I can go medieval on Hurt Locker's ass in five easy steps. Oh yes. I'm not letting go on this theme. It might be a while until I recover. Deal with it. War movies are my thing. I feel... touched badly down there. It was just wrong. So! To make myself happy and remember when good war movies were made, here we go. Five War Movies that can kick Hurt Locker's ass any day of the week. This will be in order of my preference, thank you very much. And you can add yours if you want, or move titles around. Join in the Anti-Locker-Oscar movement. We are many.
Enjoy.
1) Saving Private Ryan.
First of all, let me get this out of my system. Yes, I am a girl, and from time to time I act as girly as possible. But when I watch this movie, I totally want to be Private Jackson so hard it kills me. I want to be a sniper. I want to kiss that cross before I perfectly hit my bullet in some nazi's head. I want to be the hero. But apart from me daydreaming about having balls and carrying a rifle... Script? Epicly perfect. Photography? Do you remember the scene where the guys are walking in the rain and the drops fall perfectly? I can still remember frame by frame that movie. There are some effects - see James Cameron, you don't need to do 3D to astonish people - that are gems. Acting? Oh lord. And the different stories woven together, the different messages you take out from this movie... Impeccable.
2) Black Hawk Down.
A simple movie, yes. Based on a true story, yes. A deeply moving flick about how far a soldier will go for both country and fellow soldiers? Chickity Check! This movie was just as tough to watch as any 12 round fight. It just wears you down. You cannot understand how one dead soldier, a mission, a promise... can make so many young dudes die. The rule is simple. No man is left behind. You gotta finish the mission, take care of the guys and move on. And in the end... it may count for nothing. Sad. Real. True. Amazing.
3) Apocalypse Now.
Talk about fucked way up. The beauty of this film is... I bet it felt this way. Drugged, confused, angry, tired. While Apocalypse is definitively a LSD sort of trip movie, for me it reflects the bizarre world that these poor guys had to endure while fighting a war that honestly had no good end in sight. Oh and by the way, this movie has to be accompanied by watching the Documentary "Hearts of Darkness". If there is one movie that could have possibly ended Coppola's career, life, marriage and actually killed Martin Sheen was Apocalypse, and the greatest thing was that Coppola's wife saw it coming and decided to film it, just in case the shit really hit the fan. Brilliant.
4) Jarhead.
This is one of the most scariest war movies ever made. Think about it. It covers: guys going crazy from boredom in a war that simply won't ever start or finish, the bureaucracy, the loneliness, the bizarre, being way to young or idiotic, having no purpose in life... It is like someone took Full Metal Jacket and finished it. (Everybody knows the first part of FMJacket is awesome and suddenly it turns to crap).
5) Three Kings.
Ok this is my sentimental pic. But I think I have a reason and at least let me give you my take. Corruption. See, not all war movies are made like this one. Soldiers are supposed to be heroes. Not corrupt assholes who want gold. What I loved about this movie was it's funny take on three soldiers who just didn't buy the "be all that you can be" fiasco and decide to go take Hussein's gold. While this is a total bullshit movie... you gotta give it to me, it's very possible that this type of shit happens on a daily basis. This is what I love about it. Yes, we get the happy sappy end, Hollywood style, but I've started just ignoring when it happened. For me, it's a different take on war and that's why I like it. People are not saints. Reality Check.
My One Honorable Mention is for my man Clint Eastwood in what will definitively be my next BluRay purchase: Letters from Iwo Jima. In-fucking-credible movie. Eastwood is the man. Period.
(Oh and let me not forget this other not so known fact about Me: I think that Tom Sizemore does THE BEST soldiers ever. Period. If I was a little kid, I would want to be the amazing Sizemore in either Ryan or Black Hawk. See those two films again and you will see what I am talking about. Fearless and dedicated. Talk about irony and how really fucked up he is in real life, right? How sad. Tom is one of my favorite actors to this day. Hope he leaves the drugs someday... Crack is wack!)
So there you go, here's my five cents on war movies. And yes, again, I'm a girl. I do wear pink, love teddy bears and flowers. But... my ovaries get hot when it comes to war movies. I guess I want to be all that I can be.
Make love, not war. Much love, Me.
3 comments:
I would have to add Platoon to the list. My oldest Son is named Elias, after willem dafoe's character.
And it helped me come up with my kid naming formula; First name- character from a movie. middle name- actor who played the character, first name.
And I was able to convince two different women to go along with that formula.
In addition to Platoon, I'd like to add:
- Full Metal Jacket
- A Bridge too far
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- The Longest Day
- Das Boot
- The Guns of Navarone
All of these are highly Netflixable...
OOof Jeff I'm with you with that theory. We're naming our future baby with either Santino or Mia, both our favorite characters of all times. Via Godfather or Pulp Fiction.
Great list guys. Now we have to find every single email of the academy voters so we can send them this post. LOL.
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