Das Boot (1981)

As far as harrowing scenarios go, it's hard to picture worse than being trapped in a metal contraption hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean with every pipe around you creaking under the pressure, and enemy ships passing by above you determined to see you drown. Try to forget for a moment that his is a film about Germans in World War II; just focus on the human drama on display. The result in unbelievably tense and thoroughly nerve wracking. There is rarely a dull moment in the film, as each passing boat or each life-threatening trial perfectly ups the ante. Being that it is film about the unrelentingly tight quarters of a German U-Boat, the atmosphere of cramped quarters is sold to perfection. If you are claustrophobic, you may want to give this one a pass It may not be perfect, largely thanks to some transparent production whenever the boat surfaces, and an ending that feels either contrived, or bluntly honest, but even with those caveats this film is a masterpiece of total suspense, and a fascinating peek at a nightmare situation for many people.

9 out of 10.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Manga Series 1982 - 1994)

Also known as Kaze no Tani no Naushika.
When I wrote my review of the film I pointed out how I felt the narrative felt truncated and rushed. The truth is that no matter how large the fringes of the film's world may have seemed, they are nothing compared with the absolutely massive scope and story told in this manga series. It's still the same basic premise, showing a determined princess trying to end the wars between last tribes of humanity while a toxic jungle closes in around them, but here the scale of the conflict is escalated a hundred-fold. Massive battles sweep across the landscape, cultures and religions are touched on and detailed and irrevocably shifted, while the world itself, deadly and unmerciful, swallows up entire nations. Through it all, Miyazaki's impeccable sense of pace comes through on the page, and his iconic character art is filled with wonder and with horror. It's a darker piece than much of his other work, but so much is said and seen and done over the course of it all that there is little room for anything less than awe. Perhaps the only legitimate complaint is how the black and white drawings are sometimes difficult to follow, leading to minor confusion from time to time. Even so, the result is utterly biblical in scope and ambition, and though it falters at moments, it is nonetheless a staggering accomplishment.

9 out of 10.

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Michael Mann can be a very hit or miss director. For every Heat or Collateral, there's a Last of the Mohicans. It isn't that the film is bad necessarily, just that it's hard to like something that is missing so many parts. Great waves of plot simply wash over you with little to no emotional attachment to spur interest, leaving you with setpiece after impressive setpiece. It's like if someone made a movie of only the good parts, without anything in between to make it mean anything. Sure there's a story in this muddled, schizophrenic tale of trappers and British in Colonial America, but so little time is spent giving it context that it all collapses. This isn't a terrible film, and at times it's a fairly attractive one, but there simply isn't enough weight or heft to make this worth the time.

4 out of 10.

Note: This review is based on the 1999, 2-hour re-edit of the film. Unfortunately, it's the only version available on DVD in the US.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)

Also known as Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo.
What can be said about this movie that hasn't been said already? The score is legendary, the actor is a cinematic mainstay, the title itself is a constant reference in pop culture, and the film itself is largely considered the defining film in the genre. So it's important at least, but is it any good? Does it hold up to decades of age? In a word: yes. In a bigger word: YES. This savage treasure hunt has barely aged a day. Every moment of its gun slinging charm and backstabbing twists hold up to years of scrutiny. Eastwood's nameless hero still remains the archetype for the modern movie action hero, while the moments where the film crosses paths with the Civil War remain potent and some of cinema's most impressive scenes. There is genuinely nothing to knock here, nothing to criticize. If you have any love of cinema at all, watching (or re-watching) this is three hours incredibly well spent.

10 out of 10.

Downfall (2004)

Also known as Der Untergang.
Of all the World War II films to come along over the years, so very few of them deal directly with Adolf Hitler, and rarely do they make any attempt to show the opposing force as much more than faceless targets, deserving of every bullet and explosive hurled their way. That is the very thing that makes this film unique and interesting. Depicting the final days of Hitler himself, as well as his closest military advisors and National Socialist Party leaders, the movie treads carefully. Every attempt is made to seem even-handed about its subject matter. Hitler himself is portrayed not as a monster but as a man, frustrated and frequently unreasonable, slowly caving to the stresses around him. Meanwhile some of those nearby are unwaveringly devoted to his ideals, while others seem less certain. The result is a conflicting set of emotions. You feel sorry for a lot of these people not because of what they are and what they did, but because of who they affected and the lives that it cost. For me, at no point did I feel asked to pity the Nazis (it's safe to say that they are beyond redemption), but I did pity the German soldiers and the German people, and the senseless waste that so few people ultimately caused. This is a challenging film because in some ways it humanizes one of the most arch enemies the world has ever known, yet in doing so it highlights just how absurd World War II was.

9 out of 10.

The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009)

Military psychics and a stable full of farm animals, together at last! There's a weird kind of wonder going on in this film. Seeing Jeff Daniels as a hippie military commander akin to The Big Lebowski's The Dude boss around an amusingly addled George Clooney has a charm all its own. Toss Kevin Spacey into the mix and suddenly the movie has a certain kind of affable charisma that's hard to resist. Shame, then, that the final act is such a mess. Still, rolling around in the desert as Obi-Wan Kenobi himself, Ewan McGregor, tries to uncover the truth behind these military “Jedi Warriors” is just good fun and good laughs. It may fall apart at the end, but what is here is enough to be a worthwhile day trip into the psychedelic.

6 out of 10.

Defiance (2008)

At this point, it's probably safe to say that World War II has more cinematic coverage than all the masses of fantasy wars combined. And yet, there are still a few untold stories out there that stand apart from the myriad gung-ho, war is hell majority. In this case we have the tale of two brothers, both Jews on the run from the SS, slowly building a home and society for themselves and other refuges in the woods of Belorussia. Schindler's List by way of Walden. And for the most part it attempts to tug on the right strings, showing the heartbreak and bleak reality of the struggle. Where the film's failings lie, unfortunately, is in how familiar most of the stories here feel. At every turn is another character or situation that feels liberally borrowed from other, better films. The whole comes off very predictable, with little deviation from expectation. Ultimately, it lacks danger and desperation. There is certainly merit and interest in the remarkable true story being told, but as a movie there just isn't much you haven't seen before.

6 out of 10.

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Quentin Tarrantino has a knack for pushing the progress of cinema backwards a few decades. With every film, he embraces the roots of today’s movies, creating a gleefully anachronistic throwback. Inglorious Basterds is his (intentionally misspelled) salute to the World War II movies of yore, embracing both the gung-ho camp and intricate conspiracies of that era. Seeing Brad Pitt strut around as a sadistic Nazi-hunter leading a band of angry Jews is delightful, gruesome fun, but the film’s heart and much of its plot belong to a revenge tale waiting in the wings. It makes for an awkward, though terribly interesting trip through Nazi-occupied France, with cheesy enthusiasm intercut with a deadly serious story of justice. Tarrantino’s ever-present talent for dialogue is at full strength as well, with brilliantly meandering conversations framing every move the story makes; it's especially interesting considering the vast majority of the film is in either French or German. As a whole, it is exactly what it sets out to be—the kind of film they just don’t make anymore, delivered with love from one of the best talents in the business.

8 out of 10.

The Hurt Locker (2009)

About as taut a thriller as you could ask for, what The Hurt Locker may lack in depth of story it more than makes up for in pure filmcraft. Set in 2004 in Baghdad, the tale follows a trio of army bomb disposal specialists as they perform their incredibly high-risk daily duties. Every time they leave base, the tension becomes immediately palpable. The action and events are orchestrated with an excellent eye for the unexpected, keeping the viewer keenly aware of the ridiculous number of variables in play. It becomes relentless, as each mission wears the crew down along with the audience. The admittedly stereotypical trio is well fleshed out, while the screenplay avoids any attempt to portray the war in Iraq as anything but a tremendously difficult situation for all involved. Ultimately it's the ease with which the movie creates its incredible, visceral suspense that makes it a winner, with supporting details just deep enough to make it feel like it means something. It's shallow, but damn smart.

8 out of 10.

Maus (Graphic Novel - 1986 - 1991)

Mixing biography and autobiography, Art Spiegelman tells the story of his father Vladek's life as a Polish Jew as the Nazis ground a nation into dust, intermingled with Art's own difficulty relating to his overbearing father. Smartly, Speigelman chooses the graphic novel as his format, and draws with an effective style: all the Jews are mice, and all the Germans are cats. It's simple, it's effective, and it lets the author create his own take on the horrible reality, and not become weighed down by what has already been seen in pictures. It is incredibly potent, and crosses the line between merely being told about history, to truly relating to it. Maus doesn't just provide an incredible account of one of history's greatest crimes, but presents it in a way that is simple, personal, honest, and appropriately devastating. A masterpiece.

10 out of 10.

Band of Brothers (TV Series - 2001)

Yes, war is hell. But it takes a lot more than two hours to explain why war is hell. Conceived of in the aftermath of the production of the iconic war film Saving Private Ryan, and serving as an adaptation of the Steven Ambrose biography “Band of Brothers”, this series tells the true story of Easy Company, a group of paratroopers known as much for their unbelievable bravery as for their unimaginable losses. Each episode is written and presented as a tribute to these men, showing as best as cinema can provide the triumphs and the failures, the beauty and the warts, of Easy Company's incredible trip through the war. Absolutely no expense is spared in creating as authentic a presentation as possible. Hundreds of extras in authentic costumes march and fight and drink and deal with their own realities of the war. Forests detonate with mortar fire and buildings explode into the countryside with genuinely frightening realism during the frequent battle scenes. And the cherry-picked cast is perfect down to the last man, giving each soldier their story and their struggle. And as each of its ten episodes opens, you hear it in interviews from the real men who the series is based on, who traded gunfire behind enemy lines on D-Day, who fought in Operation: Market Garden, and dug in during the Battle of the Bulge. It's heartbreaking and painful just as it is uplifting and enlightening, dramatic and intense, and for such a tremendous production as the series is, there is knowledge that watching it is only a fraction of the full tale. War is hell, and this provides some idea why.

10 out of 10.

The Last Samurai (2003)

Now here's a conundrum: do I grade this movie based on how well it's made, or how it makes one feel for watching it. The thing is, the film has a pile of problems as thick as my thigh. It's a painfully predictable affair, flush so full of its big budget mindset that almost all creativity is lost. It's manipulative, dragging you into feeling an emotion without your say in the matter. It chews up history and spits out overly romanticized fiction. The climax, lavish and impressive though it may be, feels more like a plot distraction than a natural progression of the story. And the list goes on. Yet it manages to draw you in bit by bit, letting the slow introduction of ancient Japanese culture play as a driving force to keep you interested, helped along by an utterly superb performance by Ken Watanabe. Also, let's face it, it's hard to be bored watching expert swordsmen do their thing. Even Tom Cruise, as a 19th century American soldier held captive in an enemy samurai village, puts in some of his better work. Before you know it, in spite of everything, you're rooting for the good guys so hard you're ready to learn a new language just so you can turn off the occasional subtitles. Troubled though the movie may be, it simply works. By the end you feel like you've learned a bit about a culture, seen some impressive sights, and spent time with some fascinating characters. It's not a particularly good film, really. But it's a damn effective one.

7 out of 10. (but it's a very solid 7)

The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Also known as Kakushi-toride no San-akunin.
Akira Kurosawa's films influenced entire generations of filmmakers, and continue to be a driving force in cinema today more than 15 years after his last film (and 10 since his death). The Hidden Fortress is well known to be the inspiration for George Lucas' Star Wars, and on further examination it becomes more and more obvious, but still manages to stand well apart from the sci-fi classic as an fantastically fun adventure of its own. Depicting two greedy, dimwitted peasants as they get recruited by an old samurai general to safeguard a princess, the parallels are easy to see, but that's where the similarities end. From there it's a light, wonderfully entertaining trudge across feudal Japan filled with a good bit of class conflict comedy and a couple of exciting sword fights. The film has aged exceptionally well, being readily accessible and entertaining to a modern audience, even managing to bridge the cultural divide thanks to its broad sense of humor and extremely likable characters. Simply put: this is an popcorn muncher heirloom, and a treasure to anyone seeking to see some of the best of what classic cinema has to offer.

8 out of 10.

The Thin Red Line (1998)

Terrance Malick isn't known for making bad movies, which is just one of the reasons why The Thin Red Line is so surprising. This intensely introspective World War II drama isn't really about war at all, but about the internal dialogue and mid-traumatic stress disorders folks get while in the thick of a firefight. The problem is it's so laboriously paced and thoughtfully meandering that most of the film is taken up by copious amounts of the beautifully shot scenery. Still, it's got a ridiculously great cast, which includes at least a half-dozen household names (George Clooney, Nick Nolte and Sean Penn, for example), and a good ten other folks that any film geek could easily recognize (such as John C. Reilly, Thomas Jane, and Adrien Brody), almost all cast as mere extras or single-line, single-scene characters. That such a huge amount of talent and money was used on a film that is at least an hour too long by a director who many consider one of the eccentric greats is such a shame. While I give some credit to the gorgeous scenery, and even a fantastic performance by Nolte, the majority of the movie seems to just drag on and on and on. If you're wanting a thinking man's war film, go ahead and slop another point onto my score. Otherwise, there are far better ways to look inside a soldier's head than this, both figuratively and literally.

5 out of 10.

Rambo (2008)

Man, they don't make them like this anymore! The minute the film starts it's like being back in the mid-80s, with all the good and bad that goes with it. The bad guys are all mustache twirlingly evil, and the people in jeopardy are literally a bunch of white bread, Colorado based, Christian all-American, naively idealistic missionaries complete with a token hot blond. Stallone is there too, or at least what's left of him. It certainly sounds like him—every time he tells someone to “go home,” it sounds like “ghoom.” But you don't watch Rambo for introspective commentary or warrior-philosophy, at least not beyond the 1982 original; you're here for the action, and it's here that this film delivers. Soon as the safety's off it's an absolute bloodbath. Flying body parts, people shot in half, and even a few gruesome scenes of land mine death all add up to a massive 236 on screen deaths (according to film writer John Mueller). While it's ridiculously obvious where the film's priorities are, there's still something to be said for putting on a show consisting of one unforgiving massacre after another. Between the action sequences you'll be checking your watch, but when the bullets start flying I dare you to be bored.

6 out of 10.

Rescue Dawn (2007)

Mixing elements of The Great Escape and Platoon, this is a Viet Nam War flick that never really finds its footing but is interesting nonetheless. While it gets its setting and story from the experiences of real life war pilot Dieter Dengler, there are simple missteps in both plausibility and characterization. Christian Bale plays Dengler with such air-headed bravado that it's difficult to gain any sympathy for his exceptional plight beyond the general disgust Viet Cong torture merits. His plausibility is constantly chipped away due to his never-ending supply of brash optimism. Meanwhile the supporting pile of fellow castaways are all varying combinations of Stockholm Syndrome and dysentery, played either with broad character strokes or no personality at all. The second half is fairly dramatic however, though still a bit scatter shot. All told this is a take-it-or-leave-it film. If you're interested in the struggles of POWs it's worth a cursory inspection, but past that there isn't a lot worth going out of your way for.

6 out of 10.

Atonement (2007)

Watching Atonement is like reading Dickens or Joyce; it's so utterly stuffed with superfluous detail that it tends to forget that it needs to have a story. Don't get me wrong, there still is a tale told here, and the details themselves are lavishly produced and include what is easily the most impressive single camera shot I've seen since 2006's Children of Men, but there just isn't a lot to involve the viewer here. It's all exceptionally straight forward stuff, even if its premise is fairly original. In adapting the novel, it seems director Joe Wright got caught up in trying to reinvent the filmcraft of the period romance at the expense of emotional involvement. That doesn't make it a bad movie, but for as many beautiful bits of mise en scène and clever instances of musical scene-setting that populate this movie it just feels like by the end there should be some huge torrent of feeling. But where is it? Probably caught up in the competent but never-exceptional performances, and the rest laying between huge chunks of a timeline that jumps around the long years of its story like a frightened gazelle. If you like looking at beautiful things, there's a lot to enjoy here, but if you're going in for the narrative and catharsis these sorts of aristocratic yarns yield you might be left wanting.

7 out of 10.

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

Charming might be the best adjective to describe this movie, and honestly it's a wonderful and wonderfully dirty little political drama through and through. As usual, Tom Hanks does a great job playing a likable bastard while Julia Roberts does her duty as a feminine force to be reckoned with, but it's Phillip Seymor Hoffman who winds up stealing every scene he's in as an exceptionally gruff and foulmouthed CIA agent helping the leads. The slow end to the covert side of the Cold War is depicted with a fantastic sense of whimsy mixed with hard-forged alliances that, while lacking punch in any visceral sense both emotionally and physically (it's a war movie fought from behind a desk), still manages to be satisfying. With great characters, and a heaping dose of Texas pragmatism, this light-hearted look at the business of war remains both relevant and fun on its own terms.

8 out of 10.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006 Ireland, 2007 USA)

The ridiculously protracted occupation and war(s) between the British and it's neighboring states, in this case Ireland, is barely taught in American schools, so I hope I can be forgiven for going into this movie improperly armed to judge it on historical grounds. What's here is a sometimes-stirring, always interesting, but strangely distant look at the Irish Republican Army's struggle to win Ireland some level of independence in 1920. Cillian Murphy (the guy from 28 Days Later, and Scarecrow in Batman Begins) does a decent job creating an idealistic, sympathetic guerrilla fighter, and the rest of the cast each do well in their parts. But while the story itself is fascinating in its scope and gives equal time to internal politics as much as battle tactics, it lacks a certain something to really draw in the audience. It seems to assume intimate knowledge and emotional sympathy with the struggle, rather than bringing the unaware into the fold. That said, it's still a well-made movie worth watching. If you're up to date on your Irish history, feel free to add a point onto my judgment.

7 out of 10.

Note: I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but the Irish accents and interspersed Gaelic were so thick I had to watch this with subtitles on. Just putting that out there.

A Very Long Engagement (2004)

Also known as Un long dimanche de fiançailles.
My good friend and sometimes co-conspirator, alias Phineas Gopher, recently took it upon himself to give me an education in French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, as the only films of his that I had seen at the time were Alien Resurrection, which was awful, and Delicatessen, which was difficult to watch in a high-school classroom. It's a good thing, too, as his films have a color and life and style to them that is unlike anything else in cinema. His films are far from perfect, but they excel at simply being themselves. Rightly (satirically) described as “Amelie 2: Amelie Goes to War”, this film is a sweeping, massive, absolutely epic love story set amidst trench warfare and post-conflict investigation in and after World War One. Audrey Tautou once again headlines the cast, and once again she proves exceptionally watchable, putting in a performance both charming and tragically optimistic. Meanwhile the sets and visuals are beautifully rendered and shot in that uniquely French kind of artistry that makes it both immediately relatable and disarmingly abstract. The plot doesn't quite fare so well, however. Though the pace and thrust of the story are riveting, the sequence of events—of who died, who should have died, who was murdered, and who was simply killed in battle—becomes almost impossibly complicated. However, while the confusion draws away from the narrative satisfaction of this film, it dulls none of its considerable emotional impact. It's a difficult film to follow at times, but the sweep and scope of this romance is exceptional.

8 out of 10.