Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Frazzled wrote:
What cowboy stereotypes? There's not even a bad guy.

Hitler is the bad guy. Hitler equates to a Native American (in westerns). Duh. Heil Hitler Little Mustache!

youngblood wrote:

Frazzled wrote:
What cowboy stereotypes? There's not even a bad guy.

Hitler is the bad guy. Hitler equates to a Native American (in westerns). Duh. Heil Hitler Little Mustache!

That doesn't work. The bad guy is a key player and is a major (and smelly/unshaven) badass, only equalled by the quiet lethality of the primary GG. In SPR, he's not about.

Josey Wales, you have redlegs
Unforgiven, the Sheriff
True Grit, Culpepper
etc. etc.

Frazzled wrote:That doesn't work. The bad guy is a key player and is a major (and smelly/unshaven) badass, only equalled by the quiet lethality of the primary GG. In SPR, he's not about.

I hate players.

I do love me some westerns though... Once Upon A Time In The West

In no particular order:

- Star Trek
that movie was buckets of fun and it made Star Trek cool again.

- Transformers 2
yes, I liked it.

- G.I.Joe
Ninjas!!!

- Inglorious Basterds.
I was wondering, was the version shown in american mainstream theaters also multilingual with subtitles? I saw a version where they switched between 3 languages (4 if you count the "italian" ). From what I've read on Roger Ebert's blog most moviegoers in America are not big on subtitles.

- Watchmen
since I can't think of anyting else at the moment.

There are a lot of movies I haven't seen so far. I'm going to see district 9 tonight, UP is supposed to come out here next week or so.

Top 5 in no particular order:
Star Trek
I Love You, Man
The Hangover
Up
Monsters vs. Aliens

Frazzled wrote:Respectfully, what are you talking about?
*Literal onto the beach DDay invasion.
*Mosaic of smaller actions reminiscent of some of the everyday action that actually occurred.
*Awesome platoon level fight replete with better than Baysplosion explosions.

Why have you brought these up? This isn't the plot. I'm not denying that it's a good film, not top five material, but good.

Frazzled wrote:What civil war concept?

wikipedia wrote:Rodat first came up with the film's story in 1994 when he saw a monument dedicated to eight brothers who died during the American Civil War. Inspired by the story, Rodat decided to write a similar story set during World War II.

I know it's a Wiki but you're free to find another source of inspiration for his story if you like.

Frazzled wrote:What cowboy stereotypes? There's not even a bad guy. The good guys aren't invulnerable. the good guys don't particularly care.

There's 'Steamboat Willie' the recurring 'evil' German. The good guys don't need to be invulnerable, only the hero(s), they (the heroes not the full 'posse') don't die, what more do you need.

Frazzled wrote:Spielberg himself stated he was trying to get some of themoral ambiguity of Vietnam into the middle of the picture replete with the horrors of war, while at the same time not coming off as some hippy treehugger.

What a pile of clichéd crap, c'mon Frazz you know this is crap, why repeat it? Must every director yack on about Vietnam, even when they're not making a Vietnam flick (Oliver Stone is a bugger for this). Lets see if I can google some proof that Spielberg doesn't know his arse from his elbow.

George Spiggott wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Respectfully, what are you talking about?
*Literal onto the beach DDay invasion.
*Mosaic of smaller actions reminiscent of some of the everyday action that actually occurred.
*Awesome platoon level fight replete with better than Baysplosion explosions.

Why have you brought these up? This isn't the plot. I'm not denying that it's a good film, not top five material, but good.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I'd proffer that is the plot. Searching for the last broer is just the reason de etre' (did I spell that right?)
By agreeing to disagree I mean I'm right and eventually, likely in the dark of night, you'll realize Frazzled was right...about everything (then the zombie hands will come through the window panes). If only you had listened to Frazzled you'd be safe eating chocolate!

Frazzled wrote:What civil war concept?

wikipedia wrote:Rodat first came up with the film's story in 1994 when he saw a monument dedicated to eight brothers who died during the American Civil War. Inspired by the story, Rodat decided to write a similar story set during World War II.

I know it's a Wiki but you're free to find another source of inspiration for his story if you like.

I'd bet the story came from the Sullivan brothers who bought the farm in WWII.

SPR drew a lot of inspiration from the Civil War (moral ambiguity? check!), but stretching into cowboy archetypes? That's a bit of a stretch. I guess you could draw the line of comparison around the Captain, but even then you still need to develop a villain. I suppose Ryan could fit that bill, but the story arch takes the characters in such odd directions that any rough comparability seems rather insubstantial on the whole.

Mayhaps we should return to the topic as your mileage may vary on the SPR front no? Any further ramblings may cause the zombies to come upon us, and I have a game set up...

So far:

Star Trek
The Time Traveller's Wife

Nothing else came out this year good enough reach my five, however, with a slew of awesome films to come, I'd expect:

500 Days of Summer
Whip It (Ellen Page is hawt, and I like boyz).
And many more to come, this year seems to have all the good stuff sandwhiched into the latter half.

If Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist came out this year then that's my No.1

Frazzled wrote:A serious man? more detail?

I don't know that much, it's set in the 60s, where a husband is having the kind of existential crisis that main characters sometimes have in Coen bros movies. I'm figuring we'll get some great one liners, a few fun supporting characters and a whole lot of references that'll please the philosophy crowd.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

whatwhat wrote:Oh no doubt. Most of the character names for example are nods to notable people in the film industry. But me personally, I came out thinking I had just seen a spaghetti western. The long drawn out scenes. His trademark close ups. Tension building pauses. Some of that stuff is pure Leone, and it's not surprising considering Tarantino himself said he wanted it to be a spaghetti western set in WW2. Apparently he even tried to hire Ennio Morricone.

True. I didn't mean to imply the spaghetti western element wasn't dominant, just that there was a lot else going on as well.





And no, SPR isn't a western. While it addresses a concept that is also in Westerns, the morality of the gunman, it doesn't look at it in anything like the way it is addressed in Westerns. In SPR the issue was earning the right to go home, how much is enough that you can leave your brothers in the carnage of WWII. In Westerns the issue is of civilisation vs barbarism, and that the gunman is a barbarian but a barbarian needed to protect civilisation.

It doesn't go anywhere near the other themes of the genre, like the effects of social and technological change.

SPR is, shockingly enough, a war movie.

Sebbie I've looked it up. Will be telling the Wife. Thanks!

(in no particular order)
watchmen
the hangover
star trek
inglorious basterds
frost/nixon

In order:

1 - Star Trek
2 - Transformers 2 (which was an uber let down, but fun none the less).
3 - Outlander - very underrated film. Freekin Awesome.

Still want to see District 9 and Avatar.

Of the stuff I saw in the theatre:

Watchmen
Up
District 9
Star Trek
Hurt Locker

Ahtman wrote:Of the stuff I saw in the theatre:

Watchmen
Up
District 9
Star Trek
Hurt Locker

QFT