S01E03: All Quiet On the Western Front

On this week's episode we review the war epic All Quiet On the Western Front, winner of the third Best Picture Oscar.  We also share will you some of our film related unpopular opinions and we (mostly Glenn) ranks some of the best known war films.

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:37

Hello and welcome to another episode of Cinema Social Club. My name is Cameron, and joining me are my usual co-hosts, Glenn, Sarah, and Elisa. And this week we will continue our look at every best picture Oscar winner with All Quiet on the Western Front. But before we get to that, here are some of this week's entertainment news stories. Reality TV star turned former reality TV star with a book to pedal, Spencer Pratt has lost his bid to become the next mayor of Los Angeles. He ran in the Democratic primary despite being a Republican and receiving praise from Donald Trump. Apparently someone forgot to tell him that LA is kind of on the liberal side. The new live action Scooby-Doo is taking some heat from fans after the reveal of the Scooby-Doo Dog, which looks suspiciously like a chocolate lab rather than the canonical Great Dane. When asked for comment, Scooby-Doo replied simply, Rutrol, Raggie! And it's been announced that Ridley Scott is set to direct his latest film, an adaptation of Treasure Island, with Hugh Jackman playing Long John Silver. I'm not sure which of these two are experiencing the weirdest character arc lately, but it's quite the competition, either way. And finally, a look at this past weekend's top five at the box office. At number five, it's a new entry, The Amazing Digital Circus, The Last Act. Admittedly, I know what most of those words mean, just not necessarily in that particular order. At number four, it's Obsession, a film that bravely tells the creation story of the iconic Calvin Klein perfume. Oh wait, I'm being told that's not what it's about. At number three, and the horror fest continues, it's Backrooms, about the universal fear of the color yellow. At number two, it's another new entry, Masters of the Universe, in which He-Man battles Skelator in an effort to fan the flames of nostalgia of my childhood. And finally at number one, we have another new entry, it's Scary Movie, which is actually Scary Movie 6, I think, and also don't care. And now, before we get to our review for this episode, we're going to sidetrack ourselves briefly with a segment inspired by the bizarre revelation last week that co-host Elisa is positively sickened by the thought of Julie Andrews. So we've decided to open it up to the panel and discuss our unpopular opinions. And here are the panel.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Here we are. I I'll start.

SPEAKER_06 3:03

This panel is an unpopular opinion.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

You'd best start. So well, first, I would just like to ask, as a big fan of Julie Andrews, and I'm not mad. I'm not mad. You can't be mad. I'm not mad. But what is it that you dislike about her? Like what what is it that just doesn't quite do it for you with America's grandmother?

SPEAKER_04 3:23

Her beautiful voice, her beautiful eye.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

The fact that her very presence feels like walking into a hug. Like what exact thing is the problem? Her talent, perhaps? Is that the issue? Is she just too good?

SPEAKER_04 3:35

I love what you're doing to her here.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

I want to be really careful about how I say this, so I want to pick the right word.

SPEAKER_06 3:44

I like unpopular opinions is the segment where you've all decided to spike the audio.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah, that sounds right. I just people like her, shows like the Brady Bunch.

SPEAKER_06 3:57

Wait, what?

SPEAKER_02 3:58

What? I'm saying. All the all of those kinds of shows and people I find very um like too proper.

SPEAKER_04 4:15

Like too cram too perfect too.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Like my cousin would watch movies with like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and and and the Brady Bunch and all these, and I would just sit there and be like, ew, like how can you watch this stuff? And and we were only seven.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

It just wasn't realistic. It was too perfect.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

It was too perfect and too like schmalty. Cheesy. Like what was the thing?

SPEAKER_04 4:47

You couldn't relate to it.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

I could not relate to it. Which is fair.

SPEAKER_04 4:51

That's what I'm telling a lot of times it's it's things in your life you can't relate to, which is why you dislike something.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

I think so.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

Like if you grew up and somebody in your family had a like a was wearing like a wife beater and drinking Schlitz beer all the time, and you know I think By the way, wearing a wife beater is an old phrase for a t-shirt. I think people are familiar with it. Yeah, I wasn't actually talking about literally beating a wife.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

I think I think we were. The word that I would go for is corny. Corny, corny corny. That and as a kid, that was probably the word I was.

SPEAKER_06 5:29

She's way too corny.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

She was just corny.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

She was just too much. Yeah. Right. Interesting. So what I think you should see.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

She wasn't cool.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

She was like, I think you should see her in a movie called SOB.

SPEAKER_06 5:43

Yeah, she's definitely not corny.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

She's very good in SOB. I will I will take that into consideration.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

I think that would be something that might let you say, Oh, there's another side to her.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Okay. See, because it's and it's interesting because, and I guess it's just a difference in experience because I like for grew up on the Princess Diaries movies. That was literally my first exposure. No, Sound of Music was, and then those were my next exposure to her. And I don't know, corny is just not a word I would typically associate with her.

SPEAKER_06 6:11

I would, I would, I would associate it with the Brady Bunch, which is why my weird link between over the tiny corn.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

And I think it's just because, like, for me, she's actually like the antithesis of that in the Princess Diaries in terms of corniness. She's like this polished queen who actually learns to kind of like let loose a little bit when she meets her American granddaughter. So she's kind of intentionally playing it very straight.

SPEAKER_06 6:34

And I've seen that movie. I'm gonna say we're gonna move on now. These are unpopular opinions. Exactly. And that's a fair one.

SPEAKER_04 6:43

And they're opinions.

SPEAKER_06 6:44

We're allowed to have our own opinions. If one of the other co-hosts agree with you, it's a concern in the unpopular opinions segment.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

But that's fair and nice.

SPEAKER_06 6:53

But let's let's move on to Glenn. Glenn, do you have an unpopular opinion?

SPEAKER_04 6:57

Well, I mean, you so many. There's an obvious one that we've talked about a million times.

SPEAKER_06 7:02

If you're going 2001, that's not an unpopular opinion. Because most people think it's a particular game.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Right. Yeah, it's a thing we're the problem.

SPEAKER_04 7:13

I probably do have uh I mean, I I know I do have some unpopular opinions. I tend to like uh sort of bad B movies that I would have seen on the late, late show after you know the news was over. But see, I'm totally with you on this one. Yeah, yeah. But I mean like the screaming skull or breech woman, right?

SPEAKER_06 7:35

I think they're unironically like I a lot of people like them because they were like mystery science. I like the original version without the people, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Reptilicus, the Danish version of Godzilla. I love that movie. It's so bad.

SPEAKER_06 7:49

I even like Gorgo, which is like the British version of Godzilla.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

There's probably a lot of people like that. Oh, I'm sure there's a cult. There's probably a cult.

SPEAKER_06 7:57

Well, especially the monster movies.

SPEAKER_04 7:58

There's a huge I always thought there was an unpopular, yeah. I don't know. I mean, that's well, I will say along the lines niche, but maybe not unpopular. I was thinking about liking Brad Pitt. Am I like is that an unpopular opinion? No, not anything.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Again, I think we're kind of because I don't particularly like him, and I think that's a minority opinion. Yeah. No, I don't like him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:17

At this table. It's like that's an unpopular opinion to like Brad Pitt. No, I think most people liked it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Correct.

SPEAKER_06 8:25

Uh I will say along the lines of the 2001, I I came. There's there are a couple directors specifically in my wheelhouse that I as a film nerd cinemaphile I'm constantly told that I'm supposed to think are geniuses and I'm supposed to love that I really can't stand. Yeah. And I put Stanley Kubrick on that list. Yes, that's totally true. Also, Wes Anderson, who's basically the love child of Stanley Kubrick.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

True.

SPEAKER_06 8:50

Christopher Nolan is on that list. Quentin Tarantino is sort of now on that list as well. Whereas most of the stuff by all of them I don't really like. I mean, there might be a movie in there. I would nearly put Martin Scorsese on that list because he's a bit like that for me too. Sure. But there's like one or two films by Martin Scorsese that I actually think are great films.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

But again, do you think that those directors are unpopular with people?

SPEAKER_06 9:15

No. No, I think they're very popular. He's saying that he doesn't buy into the film. It's an unpopular opinion that I don't think they're I don't think they're I don't get their films.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Yeah, but they are broadly well loved. Pretty much across everyone you just listed is considered like an iconist.

SPEAKER_06 9:31

Especially for some reason now, Christopher Nolan, which I think is.

SPEAKER_04 9:42

I don't really care for Han Zimmer.

SPEAKER_06 9:46

I think that's both a popular opinion and an unpopular opinion. Yeah, I think it's sort of 50-50s on Hans. Because I don't really like his scores. But then a lot of people love it. Yeah. Obviously, he's won an Oscar or two as well. Sure. Uh and I don't like it. Well, and again, I don't know whether it's I don't like his scores or I don't like how his scores are used.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Yeah. And that is fair enough.

SPEAKER_06 10:08

Because it's it's the director's usage of them that tends to be what's my the problematic part for me. Because I don't like, I don't necessarily dislike a like modern score, which is what Hansimmer is. Yeah. Yeah. But it's the it's the overuse and oversaturation of it that I think is my problem with the Hansenimmer scores.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:28

Uh Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

I mean, for me, when I was going through them, most of them are that I tend to dislike films that are broadly popular. Like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I think is a horrible movie. Yeah. I cannot stand as well.

SPEAKER_06 10:40

I'm with you on that one.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless and Seattle cannot stand either of them.

SPEAKER_06 10:45

You've lost me now.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

See, that's the reason that's what I mean. Like most people. And I'm of the opinion that Harry and Sally should not have been together. I think they should have ended as friends, which is I very much hate when Harry met Sally. I can't stand it. I love that. I actually agree with you that they should not have ended as well.

SPEAKER_06 11:00

They'd have been an innie hall sort of situation. I would have liked that better.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

That probably would have salvaged a lot of the film for me. And then I really do not find Will Farrell funny. I've never found him funny. Like I think that occasionally when he makes himself a bit more serious, actually that is generally a better job for him. But the slapsticky, stupid stuff, I've just never responded to.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

But you think other people love him?

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Oh yeah, Will Farrell.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Because I think most of us don't care about that. No, I don't think any of them.

SPEAKER_06 11:30

Well, again, I think the problem with this podcast is that four people with the same unpopular opinions have all found each other.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

And my final one would be I hate Breakfast Club. And pretty much most, if not all, Molly Rebolf.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

It's over for us.

SPEAKER_06 11:45

I can't say I think Breakfast Club has is has fallen in people's estimate.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

I think that is true, and I think it's just not aged very well.

SPEAKER_06 11:55

I think it's quite as beloved a picture as it used to be.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Actual messages of it are opposite.

SPEAKER_06 12:03

But that's true of sort of John Hughes too.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

And that's the thing. I think on the whole, I am just really not a John Hughes fan, and he's beloved by people, especially a John Hughes fan.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

I just don't like his films. I don't like not aged well.

SPEAKER_06 12:19

His other comedies are sort of more acceptable.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

And I think Molly Ringwall just overacted in every single role. Well, they were all overacting, but they were all kids as well. So that isn't that as much to do with them being kids and the direction. But yeah, I just have yet to find a John Hughes movie that I enjoy.

SPEAKER_06 12:38

Uh I'm gonna put this out here. Now, this is a film that I personally like quite a lot. And I think it might actually be a great film. But what I don't understand is the weird sort of cult worship popularity of it and how everybody considers it like one of the greatest films of all time. And that's Shall Shank Redemption, which I think is a very good film. I enjoy watching it, I'll watch it if it's on TV. Yeah, but I don't understand the weird sort of thing that's developed around it where it's like all of a sudden everyone's favorite film of all time. Yeah. But it's it's it's good. It's been it has been elevated to because actually when it came out, it was not particularly well received. Yeah. Okay. But and it's now like this weird thing.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

The internet loves it. Yeah, it's the greatest thing. And if you you say anything bad about it, like you'll get banned from like a very strange thing.

SPEAKER_06 13:29

And again, I think it's a good slash great film. I just don't understand the hero worship behind it because it's not that great.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

Uh that is an unpopular opinion.

SPEAKER_06 13:39

It is an unpopular opinion now. Yeah. But and again, the unpopular opinion is I just don't think it's the greatest film of all time. I think it's a really good film.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Oh, yeah, it's entertaining. It's very I I like all the acting in it. It's a very emotional film. Yeah, it's a great film. But like there are so many great films. Yeah. Not the greatest film.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

I can't figure out how the uh poster ended up back on the wall after he crawled through.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

That's a great question, honestly. That's the biggest, that's the biggest ticking point.

SPEAKER_06 14:09

My only thought is that he's he had it tacked up at the top and he stood behind it. And he just let it drop down. Yeah. Okay. But then would it really have the tension to have his stone go through? You wouldn't think so.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

One wouldn't think so.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Well, right up there with that, I don't get Forrest Gump being elevated. No, say that.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

I mean, again, it's the right table for this.

SPEAKER_04 14:35

So I am apparently the unpopular opinion is that I love that movie.

SPEAKER_06 14:39

But I actually think Forrest Gump is starting to have a re-evaluation in terms of people not thinking it's as good as it's like. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Loves it. Yeah. Everyone still, everyone I talk to loves it. And people still claim it to be one of the greatest films of all times.

SPEAKER_04 14:54

I love it. I thought it was really I still think it's pretty groundbreaking, but I I have issues with parts of it, but I still think it's a great movie. And I'm I'm always surprised when people say, I hate that movie. I was like, oh, really?

SPEAKER_06 15:06

I mean it's basically Zelig, but not fun. I just think it's boring. I sort of jotted down film the two films that are beloved but actually make no sense if you watch them more than what than once, which is the sixth sense and the usual suspects, which everybody thinks are brilliant films, and I'm like, they're not brilliant though, because once you watch them once and you get the plot twist at the end, then they make no sense when you rewatch them. I mean, there's no point to rewatch them anyway because you know the plot twist, but like especially the usual suspects, yeah, all of a sudden things stop making sense if you realize that's the actual end story. Right. Which is the same as the Sixth Sense. Once you realize that he is supposed Well, spoiler words. I think everyone is once you realize he's unalived, yes, then it all no, it really I feel the same way about Fight Club.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

I really cannot stand that movie. I mean, well, and it's also turned into like such an incelly dog whistle online. It's like that one in the Joker movie, it's just you gotta steer clear. Joker? Did somebody say Joker? Uh oh, I nearly blinked. That's all of the movies. Alyssa has what about that movie?

SPEAKER_06 16:18

Well, no, her she has the popular opinion, which is that she likes the Joker.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

See, I I think that that is only popular in very, very certain circles, and they're not the best circle. What circle am I? Well, see, that's the thing. You're actually kind of an outlier for who I would expect to like.

SPEAKER_06 16:35

Yeah, it's not held up by like the sort of worst kind of people.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Yeah, it's like an enormously like red pilly incel movie for people. Like that is considered to be the movie for them. Really? Yeah, which is why it's so much and I didn't dislike it necessarily. I didn't think it was great, but I didn't hate it. But like what it has morphed into has made it so much worse in my mind. But people did quite like it when it first came out.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

And not and not Joker 2. No, I didn't even bother without weird musical.

unknown 17:05

No.

SPEAKER_06 17:06

Well, not to mention the fact that Joker has a really terrible take on mental health. Oh, big time.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah, that's kind of the problem. The problem is like, if you're gonna do it and you're gonna be ambiguous about it in the way that they were, then your messaging will get picked up by the wrong people and it will get turned into something else. And when you make a movie like that, you have to consider the likely audience that's going to engage with it, and you have to do it in such a way that the nuance and problems with the mental health are clear instead of applauding them. And basically by the end of the movie, he was turned into this like unsung hero for men, really. Like that is where it landed, and that I'm sure was not the intention, but that was the takeaway, and it was largely Brett Bros famous. Exactly. And it's because it was largely due to the way it was written.

SPEAKER_06 17:50

I mean, I will say Joaquin Phoenix may be the most successful bad actor of the world. And that is true, he's been busy. Him and Nicolas Cage.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Him and Nicolas Cage.

SPEAKER_06 17:58

He's done well.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Yeah, Nicolas Cage now.

unknown 18:03

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_06 18:04

I mean, I there are peaks in Nicolas Cage's foreign. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

I watched the first National Treasure like a week ago. That movie is awesome.

SPEAKER_06 18:13

There are a couple I even in the bizarre um bad lieutenant remake he made, directed by Werner Herzog, which is like some sort of cocaine fever dream.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

He and Werner Herzog deserve one another almost.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Like they're weird matches perfectly.

SPEAKER_04 18:31

But I do love Werner Herzog.

SPEAKER_06 18:33

I mean, it's so bizarre that film, but somehow it works.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

And honestly, and maybe this would be considered an unpopular opinion. I I kind of think Nicolas Cage might be a good actor. I am kind of of the opinion that he's actually a very good thing. He always chooses to be a good actor. I think his thing is he'll just say yes to everything. Correct. And inevitably, when you're gonna say yes to literally everything, you're gonna have some really and he makes very strong choices.

SPEAKER_04 18:56

He does. He makes very and so they either fail spectacularly or succeed spectacularly.

SPEAKER_06 19:03

Like he's really bad in something. Like The Worker Man is a really bad film. And he is a very good idea.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

You almost think he's on doing that on purpose. He's so bad. You almost think that he's he's purposely throwing.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah, 100%. And I I bet he would.

SPEAKER_06 19:20

But that also makes it weird enough that there's something about it where you're like, this is a truly terrible film, but it's fascinatingly bad.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

That's the thing about Nick Cage. That's like that's what he does. He's just fabulously weird. And even when he's bombing, it's entertaining. He somehow fits that niche, which is why I think he's actually a very good actor.

SPEAKER_06 19:41

So popular opinion. Nick Cage is weird.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Nick Cage is weird. Less popular opinion. He's actually genuinely intelligent actor.

SPEAKER_06 19:49

Uh well, does anyone else have any quick unpopular opinions before we push the boat off the dock?

SPEAKER_02 19:55

I think we've nailed it. Let's sail.

SPEAKER_06 19:57

All right, well, we now move on to this week's review, and this week we watched the best picture winner from the third Academy Awards, All Quiet on the Western Front. Younger listeners may be more familiar with the equally impressive remake of the same title done by Netflix a few years ago, but the first one was released way back in 1930, based on a novel by, and let's not butcher this name, Eric Maria Remark, in which he wrote of his experiences in the German army during the First World War. Both the book and the film would go on to be banned in Germany because, you know, reasons. It was not shown in Germany, in this case Western Germany, until 1952. The film was directed by Louis Milestone, who would go on to win Best Director for the Picture. This was remarkable considering the fact that Milestone had already won a Best Director Oscar two years earlier at the first Academy Award ceremony. He would then be nominated again the following year for the front page, a film with an entirely different vibe. All Quiet on the Western Front is arguably the first of the best picture winners whose influence reached well beyond its age, with directors still citing it as an inspiration, including Steven Spielberg, who said the film, and more specifically Milestone's directing, was a direct inspiration for Saving Private Ryan. But Spielberg is one thing. What did we think of it? Well, it's time to find out as I bring my co-host back on to discuss All Quiet on the Western Front. And I will say uh one of the four of us has military experience. And it should come as no surprise that it's me. No, it's not me. It's me, it's Sarah. Sarah's been in the wars.

SPEAKER_04 21:43

He's been in those trenches.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

No, it's Glenn.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

It is Glenn. It is Glenn. Should Glenn start?

SPEAKER_04 21:51

Should I start? Well, I was just during the American expedition area. I got just a month. I was in there for like a month. Yeah. No, I found this to be a pretty compelling war movie, actually. I have never I had not seen it before.

SPEAKER_06 22:09

Glenn is also sort of the war movie expert on the podcast. I think he's prized way more than any of the rest of us. Probably. Which is why the end uh segment is going to be especially fun for Glenn, spoiler alert.

SPEAKER_04 22:20

Yeah, I was I was really impressed with it for a lot of reasons. I know we're going to break it out into some segments, but uh overall I found this to be a very compelling movie. What they did extremely well was thankfully focused on the human beings that were fighting that war, just that small group of boys that came from the same school, but showed what they had to go through, how it changed them. I was impressed by its adherence to good like military protocol, things that looked real, or indeed lack of military protocol, military protocol. Yeah, when things would fall apart. Just from a real life reality standpoint, I was that's a pun, blown away by it. Did not mean that to come out like that, but I was really you know so surprised by how well they did it and the ungodly amount of money they must have spent on this film. Oh, yeah, yes to to make it very realistic.

SPEAKER_06 23:20

Over a million dollars in in those tur in those days terms.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

I know why Steven Spielberg was impressed with this and why it influenced saving private Ryan. It's very easy to see that.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

I I agree with you a hundred percent. I normally would not be happy to watch a war movie.

SPEAKER_06 23:40

And and she so far had to watch two to spend a page.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

But I kind of looked it up before I got here and and found that it did focus on the characters and and the the human side of war. And that's the part I really enjoyed them delving into um these young men going to war, not knowing what to expect, and then coming out changed or not coming out at all. And yeah, and it was very touching and and uh very emotional.

SPEAKER_04 24:08

Yeah, you you don't come out the same way you go in one way or another. Yeah, and it's um they did that so nice. It's a good dependent on the what was nice was all of us had difficulties even identifying some of the kids early on when they were in the war. I don't know if that was on purpose, but I think it served to illustrate again the faceless nature of large-scale war, but then you gotta drill back down to the individual people. But for a while we were like, wait, is that is that Paul or is that the kid that did this? And yeah, and then you well then as they slowly were eliminated, it became much easier.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Yeah, I I was also incredibly impressed. I thought the scale of the set alone, which always blows me away in these older films, is just what they were capable of doing. I'm shocked it was filmed in Hollywood. I know tech compared to what we have now. I thought the story was incredibly good, and obviously we'll get more into that when we get into our ratings. I think for me, I'm not it's not a struggle, but I have seen so many war films, and I've seen so many newer war films. I've like it pretty much any time there is a new war film.

SPEAKER_06 25:22

Have you seen the remake of all quiet on the server?

SPEAKER_01 25:24

No, but I want to watch it. Now we need to watch it. Now I really need to watch it because I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_06 25:28

Wait, am I the only one who's seen it? Yeah. Probably. It's very good. It's very good. Spoiler alert on that one.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

I found myself thinking about um 1917, which is another phenomenal war film because that's a similar kind of story told in terms of the impact of war and and running through the trench and going through the trenches and coming back, change and all that. So it's still it tells a really similar story. I have to keep sort of putting myself, I'm doing my best to avoid the flickering.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

Sorry, we have a light show going on that you ought to be able to do an epileptic seizure.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

I'm having a seizure. Um, I have to remind myself that like the way that stories are told is just different now compared to the way that they were told then. And for me, when I think about an intimate look at war through the eyes of the people who fought it, I think of films like Hacksaw Ridge or I think of films like 1917, where they really, really put you in it and they really put you with those characters. And they they did that here to an extent, but also you just have to consider the technological capabilities. They can't throw a camera on something and and follow someone through. Like you just have to understand that they won't immerse you as much. And so I kind of I could not help but play the comparison game, which is not a fair game to play. Um, so when I took myself out of that, it really was it was phenomenally shot, it was incredibly well done. I thought the acting was really impressive and the story in places was incredibly scattered, but I think that was intentional.

SPEAKER_06 26:52

I think an argument can also be made that current movies are actually unrealistically visualizing more because because of the patience of audiences in these days, everything has to be explosions and fast-paced, and everything has to be dramatic. Whereas the reality of war, certainly in World War One, it was a lot of boredom. It was a lot of just sitting around, nothing to do, just waiting for your number to go back to the trench, yeah, and then sit around in the trench with nothing and to do until some old guy with a mustache and diabetes decides it's time for you to go over the wall, and then there's like two minutes of action, and you're probably mowed down by machine guns.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

And brings me to that point. I do think it was longer than it needed to be. What was it, two and a half? I think there was a lot of downtime as well as in the trenches, it was a lot of downtime for us, and I think it uh it could have been edited and shortened a bit. And not lost.

SPEAKER_06 27:59

Well, that's what I was just saying.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

And not lost its itself.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

I think to Cameron's point though, I do think our attention spans as viewers has gone down. Like we love a tight 90 or a tight hour 45, maybe a tight 20.

SPEAKER_06 28:12

Even a two-hour, but things have to be happy. Exactly. It has to be happening the whole time. There has to be.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Exactly. And so for me, as to exactly agreeing with Lisa, as a person who's used to those types of stories being told in that type of way, I also thought there were places where it completely dragged. But to Cameron's point, that is a better representation of what the experience actually was. And if the point was to immerse us in that experience, that is arguably more accurate than what we are necessarily used to seeing now as an audience. And it's just a challenge of patience. And people have more patience back then because they'd never seen anything like this before. So their butts are going to be in those seats glued to the screen for two hours and 15 minutes because they're not checking to see what time it is. And they're not saying, oh my gosh, this is dragging. But I I felt the same way because I'm used to such a specific type of experience with these kinds of films that I had to keep reminding myself that this is almost a hundred years old.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

It's old. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that.

SPEAKER_06 29:07

And I will say, to Netflix credit, I think the remake has a similar sort of sort of paced vibe where you're.

SPEAKER_04 29:16

I I think it's necessary for things like this. For real, I really do. I mean, I although I do love war movies that have a lot of action and keep the pace going, this is just much more like what it really is.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:28

A lot of the stuff we had to do as officers was we had to just think of a million ways to keep our soldiers from getting bored because they were constantly bored, and when they get bored, they get into trouble. And and you were always trying to keep something, keep them doing something somehow because it was just these days and days of days of boredom and then hours of sheer terror that these people would have. You know, so that I think they they served that well, even though it's hard for us to watch a lot of times because we're bored by it.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm not actually living it. And it does, it did make the point really effectively. But and you even have the two characters, you have the one who we don't we don't see it happen, but we hear it happen. Um, that you know, he was a farmer and he just wanted to go home. So he just walked into the enemy territory and they immediately killed him because he just wanted to go home.

SPEAKER_06 30:21

Actually, I think he deserted it.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Well, but he talked about wanting to go like that was why he was.

SPEAKER_06 30:28

That's what I wasn't sure about.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Did he step over the side or did they deserted the right? Okay, gotcha. So he deserted, and then you had the other guy who but when they were waiting in the trenches day in and day out, lost his mind and ended up in a psych ward. So so they they did kind of show like there there is danger in boredom, like you're saying, Glenn, there is danger in boredom as well, and that can be just as deadly.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

What they what they didn't show except for a few times is when they were being shelled, the shelling was constant. There was no break in the sound or the the like the thunder that you would feel for days. Yeah, it was constant. I mean, millions of shells fell on these trenches, and these guys just couldn't get away from it. And and then it would stop, and then they would be bored for weeks.

SPEAKER_06 31:15

And then although as Glenn pointed out, stopping is also a problem. Yeah, because when it stops me, all the guys are going over. Or the other guys, or the yeah, yeah. Difficult to say sometimes, really and all to make up about a foot's worth of ground.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

I know. My gosh, the lack of progress.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

Yeah, there was there was a scene where they they got forward a little bit and then they were pushed back to their old trench, and it's like, oh yeah, whatever, all right, here we go.

SPEAKER_06 31:41

Well, it's it's uh if anyone has seen Black Adder, which is a one wonderful uh British uh sitcom, and each season is a different historical time period, and the fourth season is World War One. So it's all about being in the trench, and it's like really hilarious until the last episode where it gets real serious real quickly because everybody has to go over the top. But there's a scene in the in the general's office like 12 miles behind the front lines where they talk about they have this piece of dirt on the table, and they're like, This is the this is the uh area of land that we we took on our latest events, and the one guy's like, What's the scale? And he's like, No, this is this is the dirt.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Oh man, it's true though. God, it seems like they made such little progress.

SPEAKER_06 32:30

Uh let's get into nail down our our individual category ratings. Uh so the the the it's out of a it's out of 20. We have four categories that we rate out of five, and they are visuals, story, acting, and rewatchability. Uh and we will start with visuals out of five. I will say I think this film is looks to be about 20 years ahead of its time. Yeah, 10 to 20 years ahead of time. It does not look like a 1930 film.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

No, no, probably shot in 1929.

SPEAKER_06 33:02

Yeah, and how much of that is restoration over the years and how much of it is original, I don't know, but it looks it looks very good.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

Agreed, absolutely. Yeah, I thought it was beautiful. I mean, it was shot beautifully. Some of the camera movements were amazing for the time because they did a lot of stuff that you didn't realize that would have been really hard to do with a camera that weighs like 400 pounds on a crane.

SPEAKER_06 33:23

Well, two cameras. Yeah, two cameras. That's right. You say you should say it was shot. Filmed with two cameras simultaneously.

SPEAKER_04 33:29

Yeah, so impressively shot.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

And the scale of it, I think, was amazing. The fact that you know, at any given moment, if if they were in a high-action scene, everything was moving on screen. And when they were in a moment of absolute stillness, everything was completely still. Like there was just this intense unity of everything that was happening that I thought was really, really, really well, like just well done and very polished. And again, just the scale of it is so impressive when you consider how old it is and what they would have had to do to accomplish things that are so simple to us now. Um, no, I mean, honestly, for visual, just out of sheer feat, I would probably give it a five because it's I just I can't imagine how they did it.

SPEAKER_04 34:11

Well, yeah, I forgot to give it a number.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Yeah, I'll get us back up.

SPEAKER_04 34:15

I get for its time for everything. It's a five.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

I agree. I would give five as well.

SPEAKER_06 34:20

So that is a five for visuals. Next up, story based on a book, obviously. If you've read the I've read the book, it's it's follows pretty quickly. I would love to I have not read the book and I would love to read it. Yeah, I mean, I haven't read it read in the original German, but I've read the book. Although he actually moved, he ended up in the United States, the author of the book. Oh wow, you know, he I think fled Germany maybe and ended up in the United States. So story.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

This is like a little bit of a because of everything we talked about when we were talking about the film, this is like a little bit of a tough one for me because there are moments that it dragged. I was like, but again, that's more to do with me and less to do and my way of viewing and less to do with the film quality itself. But I don't know that I could give it a five. I think I'll probably land on a four because it's also been retold a bunch of times, which just says that it's a good story. That alone.

SPEAKER_06 35:13

Yeah, once uh well, and one time by Ernest Borknon, I think. I think he was in the I think he was in the made for television. He was.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

I think it had a great storyline, clearly based on facts. I think I don't I haven't read the book, but it seems like it it followed it pretty close.

SPEAKER_06 35:31

I like the boots storyline. Yeah, that was cool.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

That was a very that was a very good piece. Yeah, and and I I mean we're talking about a war, so yeah, there's not a huge plot going on here, but I liked the way they followed Paul home at times, and and I I would give it probably a four as well.

SPEAKER_04 35:52

Yeah, I I always go back to is it a good story well told? That's my baseline for everything. It is a great story well told. Um I would give it a five for a story.

SPEAKER_06 36:04

Okay. I I was leaning towards like a four point five.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Um I was too, but then I think point half points were like, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:13

We are allowed half points, or uh can we agree on a four point five? I think that's a fair average. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 36:20

Uh acting.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

I had a few problems with this.

SPEAKER_06 36:25

Well, it sort of depended on the person, too. Some of it was very 1920s, 1930s acting, and some of it was more progressive acting.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

I I thought some of the characters were amazing. Sadly, there were times when I thought Paul wasn't doing a really good acting job. Yeah, I agree. No, I don't totally disagree with you. There were a couple that that I felt were lacking, and a couple that were just you know made up for the.

SPEAKER_06 36:51

I actually think the other main guy who was the guy, the the food seeker to the city.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

He was great. He was my favorite part. He was easily my favorite part. And I will say, in in you know, slight fairness to Paul, you he had the heaviest load to carry in the because he had to deal with the inner tur turmoil of what was happening in a way that nobody else was dealing with it, at least not front and center. And there is so much nuance to that kind of acting, like that torture determination can be so tough to pull off effectively. And I think in those moments where he was supposed to be sort of really emoting and really struggling, that is where it sort of fell a little bit flat.

SPEAKER_06 37:31

Well, and in 1930, they didn't really have that school of acting.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

So the nuance was not there for me, and I think nuance is really important when telling this kind of internal struggle because so much of it is happening behind the eyes, and you just you didn't really get that with Paul.

SPEAKER_06 37:47

No, and I and I thought waiting for the Netflix remake.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Even Anna said that it really makes me want to watch the Netflix remake because I actually know some of the cast members in that, and I really go to this. Yeah, so it definitely makes me want to watch the remake.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

Some of the other characters too. I struggled with their acting style. The one the one guy who had shell was shell-shocked, which we would now call PTSD. Yeah. Um, I you know, I was struggling. He was it was a lot of stage acting in my opinion. So yeah, I'm not gonna give it as high marks overall for acting, but a couple of people did a good job. I agree. Um I would I'd probably give it like a three uh three to three and a half.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

That's exactly where I'm late. That's exactly where I was at. Okay, are we going three or are we going three and a half?

SPEAKER_06 38:33

I guess go for three and a half.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

I think three and a half. I think I think three and a half feels fair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:38

And finally, rewatchability.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Wait, what did you give it?

SPEAKER_06 38:42

I'll go with a three.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

I like it.

SPEAKER_04 38:46

Rewatchability. I depends on the audience. I would have no problem watching this film again, personally.

SPEAKER_06 38:52

Well, and I think that's sort of what rewatchability is, is whether we would watch it again.

SPEAKER_04 38:57

I I would. I wouldn't, I mean, I'm not gonna give it a five or a four, but I I I could find myself easily turning this back on to see it again, which puts it for me like a three.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

Yeah, I think it's tough because I I want to see the story again. I just kind of want to see someone do it differently, which is why I'm excited to watch the narrative version. Like that's why I'm excited to watch the Netflix version because I think a lot of the nuance in acting and a lot of what we're talking about I will probably find in that. Because to Cam's point, like that school of acting is now so honed in anymore. And it's just like I'm excited to see the emotional journey because I think it's just gonna make for a much more engaging film, but I really like the story. So I'm landing also on a three because I don't think it's the movie's fault.

SPEAKER_04 39:44

I'm surprised you gave it that high.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Because I genuinely don't think it's the movie's fault that I don't want to watch it again. I think it's more to do with me and my attention span than the quality of the film. So I'm like two and a half, three, and I'll bump it up to three because I think it deserves it.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

I would not watch this movie again. Sure. Um, I do also agree with Sarah that the storyline is is what I would like to see. And I definitely want to see the Netflix version. Yeah, I want to see it upgraded to a more modern time. I enjoyed watching it then, but I would not re-watch that movie again. So I would give it like a two.

SPEAKER_06 40:24

And Glenn, where were you? I was at a three. Okay. And you were at a three.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

How is it like two point five three?

SPEAKER_06 40:30

Uh I'll go through well, I have re-watched it because it's not semi-series. Uh we'll go with a three. I would probably be higher than a three, but uh on average we'll go three. Okay. So there you go. The final score toting up my math uh is a 15 out of 12. That is respectful.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

That feels very fair for this.

SPEAKER_06 40:53

Places it closer to the number one slot, which was Wings with 16. Uh, and pretty far away from the Broadway melody, which came in at a solid 1.5.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

I regret nothing. No. And I stand by it.

unknown 41:06

1.5.

SPEAKER_06 41:07

Uh so but uh that is a question. We've watched two war films now out of the three.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:14

Do we think Wings the better of the two? Because we we we rated it higher than all.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

I actually I do think it's better. You think Wings is better? I thought I enjoyed Wings more between these two. I did enjoy Wings More.

unknown 41:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

Well, and and here's the thing. I don't know that it's fair to say that it's better. I liked it more, I found it more engaging, and I found it more, it moved more than this did. And again, that just kind of goes back to my attention span as a viewer. It's only one point, right? Yeah, it's so so, so close. So I would say, in terms of viewing experience, I enjoyed more, probably wings. Quality of film, I kind of think they're pretty neck and neck.

SPEAKER_04 41:52

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

Agreed.

SPEAKER_06 41:54

I will say all quiet on the western front has maybe one of the most iconic ending shots of film.

SPEAKER_03 42:01

Okay. Um anyway, there you go.

SPEAKER_06 42:03

15 all quiet on the western front. Respected. Which is a good score. And now we turn to fun and games as I uh turn my co-hosts to a tier rank. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

This is gonna be Glenn's.

SPEAKER_06 42:15

Glenn's gonna be doing some heavy lifting here. Oh boy, uh, as we tier rank some of the most famous war pictures of all time.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

Oh man. Okay, once we get past like 1970, I'll be able to help you.

SPEAKER_06 42:27

So we have uh the typical tiers, which is S, A, B, C, and D, and then like a NA tier in case none of you have seen it. Yeah, perfect. Uh, but I I picked films that I suspect at least one, if not more of you will have seen, because they're pretty big name films. And we'll go in alphabetical order, I guess, because that's how I have the Mama Spirit. Uh, and we start with 300. The 300.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

Okay. Here's the thing about the option.

SPEAKER_06 43:00

Which unpopular opinion I quite like is.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

I was just gonna say, here's the thing about the 300.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

I shouldn't even say I openly enjoy this film. It's kind of awesome.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

And I don't know that that is unpopular. I think people really love that movie. It would be unpopular to like the sequel. Yeah, the sequel is awful, but the story is so awesome. Yeah. And it's so badass. And it was filmed in that time when we were making those like shiny like mythology movies.

SPEAKER_06 43:26

Because it's over-the-top CGI, which sort of makes you get away with it.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

And it works for have you seen 300? Nope. You might actually four films though. It is, yeah. You might actually enjoy 300.

SPEAKER_06 43:38

I mean, I say it's based on a comic novel. It's based on an actual historical film.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Yes, but then there is also uh yeah, there is also a graphic novel with it. But it's it's very good. And it's called 300 because that's was their numbers that they had. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 43:56

And then they still Against the entire Persian army.

unknown 43:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

So it's a fun underdog film, but it's also a good movie. The more we're talking about it, the more I'm like, wait, this movie is awesome.

SPEAKER_04 44:07

Yeah, I don't want to watch it again.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

I was between A and Z, and I'm happy to bump it to A because it's a good movie.

SPEAKER_06 44:12

And when Xerxes shows up. Oh, yeah. So cool. 12 feet tall.

SPEAKER_04 44:16

Oh, and it's just like big golden. Little little known thing. The guy that plays Xerxes in that movie. Yeah. We were talking about movies that we sometimes like and sometimes the um Love Actually. Yeah. He is the love interest of Laura Linney in The Office. True. The Italian guy with the nice long hair that she falls in love with and almost gets to go to bed with him. That's Xerxes.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Holy crazy. It's crazy. I just wow. I just saw it in my brain. But that's him. That's crazy. Yeah, I would give that movie a crazy.

SPEAKER_06 44:51

Or give a B300 more of a meaty role for him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

Plus, God, the scene where he kicks him into the pit or whatever they that's awesome. God, that movie has so many cool scenes.

SPEAKER_06 45:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:01

I will give it an NA.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

That's just fair.

SPEAKER_06 45:04

I'm assuming you're an A.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

I think we're both an A, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 45:08

1917.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

That for me might be an S. I think that that is almost a perfect film.

SPEAKER_04 45:16

It is so my my only issue it with it is that I found, believe it or not, I found it to be way too predictable.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_04 45:27

Well, I mean like in in all in predictable, almost in a and don't worry, there's more to this. Sure. Almost in a wow, I mean, why did they even bother doing it like this kind of way?

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Interesting. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

I love the movie.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

So that's I mean, that's the thing for me.

SPEAKER_04 45:42

It still worked regardless.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

And the acting in it is phenomenal. And for two to have two young actors who had not really been much on the scene to that point, basically carry the entire film on their shoulders for such a huge portion of it, especially the one actor, and to do it so effectively.

SPEAKER_04 46:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

I mean, I just I I don't know, for whatever reason, whenever I think about that movie, I am just blown away by it.

SPEAKER_06 46:10

Here's my only issue with 1917, and it's more a director's choice than it is the actual movie, is I've I've grown to dislike the single shot thing. I find it now I find it very distracting now. Interesting. Because I know there's cuts. Yeah. And now it's just me trying to spot where the cuts are rather than watching the movie itself.

SPEAKER_04 46:33

That kind of bothered me too.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Sure. So some of the editing.

SPEAKER_06 46:35

So but I just don't like that style anymore. Yeah. Like Martin Score says he did it once. It was interesting. I don't need to see it all the time.

SPEAKER_04 46:42

But 1917 has positively, in my opinion, one of the most hauntingly beautiful scenes in any film ever when he the one guy's at nighttime, he's I guess hiding in the church. Yeah. Yep. And the flares light up the the the I guess the town and the music that goes with that. I mean, you can weep just watching that scene. 100%.

SPEAKER_06 47:05

So it's an like Elliot at an ET writing a gross the boot.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

It's just a really bizarre. I'd be happy to back it down to an A.

SPEAKER_06 47:13

I can't go S, but I can go.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

I'm happy to back it down to an A.

SPEAKER_06 47:16

All quiet on the Western Front.

SPEAKER_00 47:18

The old one or the new one? The original. The original.

SPEAKER_06 47:21

Well, none of you have seen the new one.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

I mean, we technically on average gave it a C plus, and that doesn't feel fair.

SPEAKER_05 47:31

True.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

I'd like to bump it up to a B plus.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

I think I'll give it a B. I think a B feels very fair for this. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

Maybe we were harsh. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

I don't know. I stand by all the ratings. That's just how the math works out.

SPEAKER_06 47:44

Uh this one might be controversial. I don't know. Uh Apocalypse Now. I suspect it will be controversial. Have you all seen it?

SPEAKER_01 47:53

I do not like this film.

SPEAKER_04 47:54

I'm not a fan. I do. I don't like it.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

I would be hard pressed to give it like a C. I don't like it. That would be me being generous.

SPEAKER_04 48:03

I don't like any of this movie.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

So is this one of those unpopular? No, I think people, I think the shine has kind of worn off on this one. I don't know. Is it still pretty popular?

SPEAKER_04 48:14

I think Martin Sheen was spectacular in it. I don't think so. I think I have.

SPEAKER_06 48:18

Robert Duvall's alright, but he's only in it for about two minutes. Oh, it's Heart of Darkness.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

Yeah, I had to read that for school.

SPEAKER_06 48:26

Heart of Darkness is a very good book.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

It's a very good book. It's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 48:30

Honestly, I really dislike it. I'd give it a D. Heart of Darkness is also not about the war.

SPEAKER_06 48:36

It's very the leap is ridiculous. I agree. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Yeah, I don't care for that.

SPEAKER_06 48:42

And then Marlon Brando shows up at the end and you're like, all right.

SPEAKER_01 48:44

I honestly don't really care for Marlon Brando.

SPEAKER_06 48:47

Uh next up, Braveheart.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

Okay, so here's my thing.

SPEAKER_06 48:51

It is technically a war film, sort of.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Braveheart to me. Have you seen Braveheart? Nope. Braveheart, to me, has to be a D or a C because there is no reason that it should have been more popular than Rob Roy.

SPEAKER_06 49:07

I am a big thing. And Rob Roy is a shit. It is also the worst history picture since except maybe Napoleon. It's one of those two. It's like of the worst historical.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

Rob Roy and Braveheart next to each other, which are kind of essentially the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 49:23

They were made the same year.

SPEAKER_01 49:24

One blows the other out.

SPEAKER_06 49:26

It's a D. Well, they are different time historical. Rob Roy is the better film. He's not the same as a film.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Yeah, Easy D for me.

SPEAKER_06 49:36

Also, how they made William, I mean, really, Robert the Bruce is the hero of the actual.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

No, they'll like William Wallace better.

SPEAKER_06 49:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

Let's make a five-foot man name him William Wallace, paint his face blue, and give him a kilt. And give him a kilt.

SPEAKER_06 49:51

Which they did not paint their faces blue, nor did they wear kilts.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

Nor did they wear wristwatches, which show up in a couple of battles each.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Seriously. Oh yeah. It's not a good movie.

SPEAKER_06 50:00

Nor did Richard love that. Yeah, yeah. She's gonna take a deep dive. Doctor Strange Love.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

That's a fun movie. That's cute. I would probably war movie.

SPEAKER_06 50:12

Cold War. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:13

I'd probably give it a beat.

SPEAKER_06 50:14

Also, there yeah, it's a war movie.

SPEAKER_03 50:18

I didn't see it.

SPEAKER_06 50:19

Literally explosion.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

It had just such a warm place in my heart because of what Peter Sellers was able to do in that. And George C. Scott.

SPEAKER_02 50:27

Was it comedy?

SPEAKER_04 50:28

It is. Yeah, it's Stanley Kubrick. It's a dark it's a black comedy about the Cold War.

SPEAKER_06 50:32

Well, it's not even a it's a comedy. It's a comedy comedy about the Cold War. It's it's it's pretty slapsticky.

SPEAKER_04 50:38

It's pretty black that the fact that, you know, nuclear war happens.

SPEAKER_06 50:41

It's darkish, but it's a full-on comedy. It's not like a subtle.

SPEAKER_04 50:45

Um I can't give it an A because there's there are quite a few issues with it, but I would give it a solid B. And I love it.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

I think a B is fine. I haven't seen it in a very long time, but I think a B is fine.

SPEAKER_06 50:57

Yeah, I mean I don't like it quite as much as as well. I actually don't quite like it quite as much as I used to like it.

SPEAKER_04 51:03

Yeah, it's not universally loved.

SPEAKER_06 51:05

It really isn't, but it's I think it's basically the gimmick of Peter Sellers playing three roles, which Alec Guinness did before him and played many more roles. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:15

Um he was good at the although what the what the his scene uh not Alec Guinness, um Peter Sellers as the American president on the I mean his conversations with the Russians premiere are that hysterical that alone.

SPEAKER_06 51:28

But that's him talking to the microphone of the movie, and then there's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_04 51:31

And then he has a phone conversation. He's in the war room and he has a phone conversation with the Russian premiere who you never get to hear. But is clearly drunk. And it is hilarious. It's one of the funniest things Peter Sellers has ever done.

SPEAKER_06 51:45

Um next up, Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan.

SPEAKER_02 51:51

I'll go first this time. Heck yeah. I'm gonna give that an NA.

SPEAKER_06 51:58

Okay, new new new game, new side project game. Can we find a single one? If if if if Elisa has seen one of these films.

SPEAKER_01 52:07

Okay, so Dunkirk. We went and saw Dunkirk.

SPEAKER_06 52:10

Um well, she has seen one of them. We just watched one of them, but other than that one.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

There you go. To be honest, I find Dunkirk to be a little bit overrated. And I know that I'm in the minority with that, but I do find it to be a little bit overrated. Um, I would probably give it a B because it's well shot and it's interesting, but I do think that like people were really, really, really.

SPEAKER_05 52:31

Well, that's a that's Christopher Nolan. That's not the thing. They're just into Christopher Nolan.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Yes, and that's the thing.

SPEAKER_05 52:37

It almost doesn't matter what he makes anymore.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

Yeah, I thought it was good. I thought it was entertaining. I have weirdly never had a desire to watch it again.

SPEAKER_06 52:44

Because who cares about a biopic about Robert Oppenheimer, and yet Christopher Nolan makes it, so it's a thing.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

Yeah, so I would probably give it like a B.

SPEAKER_04 52:52

I see that's a pretty good rating for it. To me, it's three different movies, essentially. Because of the way he does, he divvies up time. I don't love the time jumping in. He does that time jumping thing.

SPEAKER_06 53:02

It makes you it makes you confuse needless things.

SPEAKER_04 53:06

My I mean, Mark Rylance to me is one of the best things in the movie. Yeah, yeah. So the segments he's in with his son and his son's friend are wonderful. I don't really like Tom Hardy in it. I don't even like Kenneth Brannag in the th in it so much.

SPEAKER_06 53:20

I do like Kenneth Brannaugh, but he's in a different film. Yeah, he is. That's right. It's like three different films. Michael Cain's quite good in it.

unknown 53:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

Because the voice of the I would also be fine with the C.

SPEAKER_04 53:32

I want to give parts of it like an A and parts of it a C. I guess I'll give it a B.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

B feels like a fair place to look at it.

SPEAKER_04 53:38

B is pretty high. I'm giving it more than it might deserve.

SPEAKER_06 53:41

Or curvy. I will say it's my favorite Christopher Nolan film. I don't think I'd give it higher than a B. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 53:47

A fun fact though, the character that uh Mark Rylance plays in it. Yeah. Uh was a uh Crewman on the Titanic.

unknown 53:56

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 53:57

Interesting.

SPEAKER_06 53:58

In real life, that guy was on the Titanic.

SPEAKER_04 54:00

Oh, that's such a nice backstory for his character.

SPEAKER_06 54:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:03

Oh, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_06 54:06

Uh next up we have Full Metal Jacket.

SPEAKER_01 54:11

I have not seen this in a very long time.

SPEAKER_04 54:13

This is two different movies for me.

SPEAKER_06 54:15

Well, it's the first 30 minutes and then it's the rest of the film. It's a bit like saving private, right?

SPEAKER_04 54:19

It is, and that's gonna be a tough one when we get to it too.

SPEAKER_06 54:22

Um, I love the boot camp bits are basically what anyone ever no one knows anything about this film outside of the bootcamp, right?

SPEAKER_02 54:33

Is that another thing I should YouTube?

SPEAKER_06 54:35

No, just the boot camp. No, you will not enjoy it. No, no. I I'm although it came up today because my mother was talking about, she's trying to remember with my father's sister. It's a long story. They were talking about some curly-haired actor who was in a police show who had a blonde woman sidekick and he was really quirky, and they couldn't figure out it. Turned out it was Vincent. Vincent D'Anofrio. And she's like, I don't know if he was a movie guy. He might be more of a television guy. And I'm like, well, no, he's more of a movie guy, he's less of a television guy.

SPEAKER_04 55:04

Yeah, I like Vincent D'Onafrio in it. Absolutely love Arlie Ermi in it. But again, he's just sort of playing his character, playing what he used to do for a living. Yeah. And um, so the first 30, 45 minutes of the movie to me are an A, and the rest of the movie's an F. Correct. So that lands on it. I don't like it. And it's a Stanley Kubrick movie. I don't like it. It's a what is that?

SPEAKER_01 55:24

I would be like a D is the lowest category.

SPEAKER_06 55:28

It's probably a D for me.

SPEAKER_04 55:30

It's apparently very popular, but I hate the rest of the movie.

SPEAKER_06 55:33

Fair enough. But again, I think it's popular because of the first 45 minutes. I don't think anyone knows anything about the rest of the uh So D.

SPEAKER_04 55:42

Wait, they actually go to Vietnam.

SPEAKER_06 55:46

Glory.

SPEAKER_01 55:49

This was this was the tank film? No.

SPEAKER_04 55:51

Civil War. Civil War Matthew. Morgan Freeman Freeman, Denzel Washington.

SPEAKER_06 55:57

Matthew Broadway Brodericks and this I saw.

SPEAKER_04 56:00

So we lived in Savannah, Georgia when this came out. It was filmed in and around Savannah, Georgia.

SPEAKER_06 56:05

Well, it's based on uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:06

So um, and it was really popular when it came out and was really well received. Denzel Washington's big debut, basically.

SPEAKER_06 56:14

Yeah, sort of his breakout. Um I uh who's the uh Andre Brower.

SPEAKER_04 56:20

Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh, that's right. Yeah, yeah. So I'm this will be my unpopular rating for this, but it's an S for me.

SPEAKER_06 56:28

And Kerry Yule's is a little bit. No, it is one of them. I think it's an S. I think it may be the best Civil War film I've ever made.

SPEAKER_01 56:35

I it it took me a second to remember which one this was, but I do remember it.

SPEAKER_06 56:38

And I like Gettysburg, but I think it's better than Gettysburg.

SPEAKER_01 56:40

I'm fine with an S. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 56:42

I think Gettysburg is a better retelling of a of a historical event. Yeah. I don't think it makes as good of a interest like a piece of film.

SPEAKER_04 56:51

Yeah. I agree.

SPEAKER_06 56:53

It's more of a documentary than it is. It really is. Yeah. Um with some with some dramatic movies.

SPEAKER_04 56:58

You haven't seen Glory? Nope. Ah, it's one.

SPEAKER_06 57:00

Glory I would recommend.

SPEAKER_02 57:03

We already did tonight. That's true.

SPEAKER_06 57:06

This one might be one. Okay. Lawrence of Arabia.

SPEAKER_04 57:09

Oh, come on, that's an S. There's just not even that this is an S.

SPEAKER_01 57:13

It's an S, but I'm assuming at least, yeah, you have not. I mean, at what point does this start to become your fault?

SPEAKER_06 57:22

No, I think the better question is my fault. At what point do we question the fact that we invited her to be a co-host on a film podcast? I think is the better question. Uh next up, Mash.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

Mash the movie? Yes. No, didn't see it. Did you see Mash you haven't seen? Did you see Mash the show once? Oh my god. I didn't like it. No, Mash the movie.

SPEAKER_04 57:44

Um used to love it. Kind of like it still a little. No. It's it has not aged well for me. Yes. That's fair enough. Um love Robert Altman.

SPEAKER_01 57:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 57:59

And the people in it. And the people in it. John Sutherland, great.

SPEAKER_01 58:02

100%.

unknown 58:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:04

Robert Deval.

SPEAKER_06 58:06

Robert DeVald, great. Yeah. Uh uh uh Gould. Elliot Gould.

SPEAKER_04 58:11

Elliot Gould, great. Yeah. I uh uh C?

SPEAKER_01 58:15

I think it's C as C. Well wow, that's generous. I haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_04 58:18

Right now I don't like it even as a C. When I first when it first came out, I would have given it like a B.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

Do you want to give it a D now?

SPEAKER_06 58:25

I think the television show improved on the movie.

SPEAKER_01 58:27

It did.

SPEAKER_04 58:28

It did.

SPEAKER_06 58:28

So that's but I think the movie was the sort of era of that it w to make a film like that you had to make it sort of anti-establishment. Yeah. And MASH is very anti-establishment. Yeah. In as much as it's also very anti-film establishment. Yeah, true. But that's also a very Robert Altman thing.

SPEAKER_04 58:46

I'm gonna stick with a C.

SPEAKER_06 58:48

Yeah. I would probably say C. Yeah. Because it's also an important film. It is. Next up we have Master and Commander.

SPEAKER_01 58:55

Oh my god, that's an S. That's an easy S. It will never not make me mad that that is not more popular than it. That should be that should be a household name.

SPEAKER_06 59:05

Yes. I agree. I agree. It is a it is a solid S.

SPEAKER_04 59:08

It is an S on top of way on top of the other S's. Wait a minute. You have not seen this movie?

SPEAKER_06 59:13

No, that's the movie.

SPEAKER_03 59:17

She's not seen it.

SPEAKER_06 59:20

Okay, first of all, I'm not that surprised that she hasn't seen it.

SPEAKER_03 59:23

Really?

SPEAKER_06 59:23

Because from the outside from the outside looking in, it's not a film that many people will think they would enjoy. Really? Yeah, I guess on paper. It does not seem like a film that you would find enjoyable. Oh my god. But it is really, really good.

SPEAKER_01 59:37

The cast is incredible. This film isn't like the cinema took it.

SPEAKER_06 59:41

It is as good as Russell Crowe has ever been in his entire career.

SPEAKER_02 59:47

He's better in this.

SPEAKER_04 59:48

And Lee doesn't know it's Paul Bettany. Paul Bettney. Oh my god. He's so good. Yeah, we I want you to like Russell Crowe. I want to watch it with you guys. Yeah, I think that's I think that's probably gonna be a podcast movie night to watch because I have it on Blu-ray and the big theaters.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:05

And we all love it. And it's and it's a lot of sound for it. No, no, it didn't work. That's what makes it bad.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:12

It won a couple of things.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:14

The problem is it came out around the same time as Pirates of the Caribbean. What? And they're both like big ship films. So everybody loved Pirates of the Caribbean and they could put it on the city.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:24

It was nominated for Best Picture, but it lost to The Return of the King. Of course it did.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:30

Okay. So we're gonna have to watch that instead of commander. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:35

Um Patton.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:38

Yeah, that's a very good film.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:40

So Patton saved MASH because in 1970, Fox was making three war films. Three big epic war films. One of them was MASH, one of them was Patton, and one of them was Tora Torah Tora. And Tora Tora Torah and Patton were so like large-scale productions. The distraction of these two war films that they were really trying to concentrate on allowed MASH to sort of slip under the radar. Otherwise, they probably would have scrapped the production of MASH because it was anarchic and sort of out of control.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:15

Yeah. Patton is an actual.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:17

And also Patton saved the movie The Godfather because The Godfather, they were about to fire Francis Ford Coppola off The Godfather, and I don't think he probably could have made The Godfather without Francis Ford Coppola.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:29

Why were they going to fire her?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:31

Because again, it was a bit of a mess of a production, and no one was really that interested in making it.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:37

But he then won the Oscar for writing patent. And so they now had an Oscar winner. Wow. So they couldn't pull the phone on the phone.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:46

Yeah. They couldn't pull a plug on him.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:49

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:49

Um it's it's an S for me.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:53

It's pretty close to an S. It's also a weird war because it's not really about it's it's a more of a bioparum than it is a war film, even though it is a war film.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:03

And I love a character. So compelling in it. George C. Scott is it's kind of like watching Peter O'Toole and Lawrence of Arabia. You just can't stop watching him.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:12

Yeah. And that's the S for me. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:16

He embodied Patton without either particularly looking or sounding like Patton.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:23

It definitely didn't sound like Patton. Yeah, I'm I'm happy with an S.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:26

And has some great looking shots. And the the I read your book. That's beautiful. Next up Okay. I hope this isn't the one Elisa has seen. Pearl Harbor.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:45

Oh thank God. Oh my god, that's a D.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:49

Oh, wait a minute. If that's the lowest, if that's the one that's lowest a week we can go. Jerry. I forget who else is.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:58

Ben Affleck, I think is.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:59

Yeah, but who dire it was directed by the guy who did the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:03

Not a good movie. That's a D. If D is the lowest we can go, that's a D. Wow, you really didn't like it. Oh, it's a terrible film. Have you seen it? No. Okay, it's awesome. Because I know it's awful skip. Like it's it is one of the worst war movies ever made.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:17

It's a bit like Titanic, but set during the attack on the world.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:23

Yeah, uh, I mean, if I could give it an F, I'd give it an F.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:26

100%. So we'll land on a day.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:28

Uh Michael Bay.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:29

Yeah, Michael.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:30

Oh my god, of course it was a Michael Bay film.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:34

Um next up, uh Sands of Iwo Jima.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:38

Have not seen.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:40

John Wayne.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:41

That must be old.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:42

It's a film in which John Wayne single-handedly wins World War II. As he did in most of the world.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:48

As only John Wayne can do.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:50

I have a problem with the historical accuracy.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:54

Really, the historical accuracy of a John Wayne film.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:56

You surprised me, sir. He's known for his accuracy.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:03

I liked it. You know what's funny? I liked it when I was a kid and I saw it because I didn't know better. I, you know, I just most Sean Wayne. Yeah, and it was sort of an Raw Rod, go get him, go get those bad guys, we win, all this good stuff.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:15

And yeah, you just there's a war because we were talking about it off cam off microphone, I think, about the fact that almost every war film is an anti-war film because you don't really make pro-war films. No, San Zi Iwo Jima is a pro-pro-war film.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:29

When when you okay, so you forget like John Wayne and all that. If you just look at it as was this film well made, did it tell a pretty like cool story? It did. So like I can't knock it for that. Yeah. You know, it's actually a pretty well done movie. I just don't like it very much. I wouldn't give it one.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:47

And it's not historically.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:49

No, I I mean, like as a just a standalone movie, I'd give it a C. If you try to involve historical accuracy, it's a D.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:57

But I'll give it a C. Okay. Um I don't know why I'm actually bothering to type these out. We're never gonna look at this again.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:04

But I like the commitment.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:05

Uh next up, uh we brought it up earlier, Saving Private Ryan.

unknown 1:05:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:11

It has a third act problem. It has the second act.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:14

It kind of has post first 30 minutes problem for me. I don't know that I could give it a problem.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:18

It has a incredibly strong first act, which might be its problem.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

I don't know that I could give it.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:25

You have not seen Saving Private. All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:29

This was the most god-awful game tonight I've ever played.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:35

Well no, the game's still on because you may have seen one of these.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

You never know. Um I probably wouldn't give it more of a C. I find it to be an incredibly overrated warp. See?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:44

That's why I didn't watch it because of uh w a lot of the things they did in it, despite I didn't like I didn't like the story, where the story took me and all that. And it was unrealistic. But As a depicting war, it was realistic. Acting was great. It was shot great. It was all that. So I am going to give it a B despite the fact that it has a second and third act problem.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:13

And what were you asked?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:14

I gave it a C.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:14

Yeah, we're going to go C because I'm a big one. I would never give it a B. I mean, I think it's okay. I think the first act is great. The first the opening bits of it.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:24

Which proceeds to undercover the most realistic depiction of war you might see. Yeah, and then the rest of the film is flat. Normally invasion. Yeah. The Dirty Dozen. You haven't seen this at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:39

I have not seen the Dirty Dozen.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:41

I love this. This is a guilty pleasure. It's not realistic in any potential way whatsoever.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:48

No, it's like it's it's it's cartoonish and it's Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:51

I mean, it's like the A team goes to World War II. They put together the worst of the worst criminals.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:56

Is this comedy?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:57

No, no. Although it's funny, it's funny parts, yeah. It's essentially Lee Marvin plays an American major who gets to pick 12 death row inmates, American soldiers, to go on a basically a suicide mission to kill a bunch of German officers.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:13

Basically, every character actor command is like Charles Bronson.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:17

Oh, that sounds good.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:18

George Kennedy and Telly Savalas.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:21

Yeah, uh uh James Brown is in. Jim Brown is in it. Yeah, uh John Cassavetis is in it.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:27

I forgot yeah, John Cassavetes.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:29

So it's not it's I love this movie. It's an S. I watched it over and over and over. Ernest Borgnine is great in it. It's it's so much fun. And it's a guy's movie. It really is. Nice.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:42

Uh The Last of the Mohicans.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:46

So I Sarah's got opinions on this one.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:49

I love this film. I consider this to be one of the best films I've ever. I like really this would easily make it into my top five.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:55

Pop quiz takes place during what conflict?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:58

I don't remember. Fren French Indian War? Yeah, okay. French Indian War. Um, and it is just a really fantastic film. It looks great. I think the acting is incredible. It's like a little campy in places, but it it like I I don't think there's a thing about that film I would change for me. So it would be an A or an S.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:16

I would give it an A.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:17

Yeah, I think an A is totally fair.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:20

Have you seen that one? Well, I don't that is a pretty that's a pretty popular film for people who don't like war film film.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:26

We're also not really like not a stereotypical war film.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:28

No, it's definitely war adjacent.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:30

It's war, it's more uh indigenous American film than it is a war film.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:34

Great film though.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:35

Uh The Longest Day.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:38

Have not seen.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:39

Which I I I could also call the longest film.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:42

I mean it's real that's that's the nickname for it in this house.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:45

But uh it is the first film my father was taken to to see in a movie theater. Oh neat. His mother took him to see The Longest Day. It's that long and has it's pretty long. Everyone in it. Yeah, literally anyone of any note they s they somehow jammed into the longest day. It's got maybe the most packed cast of any film of all time.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:06

Yeah, it really is amazing. We recently re-rewatched this for a thing that I do with uh our neighbors called the uh war movie club, and we absolutely thanks for the invite.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:17

Um there's a war movie club.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:21

And you picked this topic tonight.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:24

Well, I didn't know there was a war movie club. This is the first time I'm hearing it.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:28

But uh it's a great movie. John Wayne's scenes are he actually ruins every scene he has. Yeah, he's he's pretty terrible. If they cut every one of his scenes out of this movie, you would lose nothing at all from the film, you but you would gain a much better film.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:43

I'll I'll give you just some of the random cast. John Wayne, uh Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Red Buttons, Peter Lawford, uh Rod Steiger, George Segal, Robert Wagner. For some reason, Paul Anka. Paul Anka is in it.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:01

Paul Anka is in this?

SPEAKER_06 1:10:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:03

Yeah, it's incredible. It's it but it is an excellent movie. It's about the um the parachuting in before the D-Day landings.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:12

Um to help cause havoc and everything. I again re-watching this. Yeah, I give it a B. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:22

I would I almost give it an A. I almost a couple months ago. It may be an A for me. It's because it's better than I remember it being when I first watched it. I'll go A, because it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:37

It's better than I remember it.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:38

For some reason I had it in my head that it it fell under the sort of not the dirty dozen type, but the type of like um sort of like where Eagles Dare, where it's a sort of big named cast, sort of slightly Hollywoodized, yeah. But it's not a very serious film.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:56

Yeah, it's really well known.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:57

It is long. Um but I would say it's probably three hours. I would say okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:03

Yikes.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:04

Um, not the longest film on this list. Uh next up, oof, The Patriot.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:10

Oh, yeah. That's a D.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:12

That's another one I dislike.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:14

Easy D.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:14

Wow. Yeah, it's a it's a D.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:16

It doesn't even merit conversation. It's not a good movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:18

I yeah, somebody wanted to watch it after I had seen it, and I was like, yeah, knock yourself out. I'm not watching it again.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:24

Bad on history.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:25

Yeah, it's so bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:26

Bad on history, bad Mel Games.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:27

I mean, about the only reason worth watching it is you get to see Jason Isaacs kind of over ham it up as the evil villainous bad guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:34

And a young Heath Ledger, but then prepare to be super depressed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:39

And uh Zulu.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:41

I love Zulu.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:43

Oh, I've not seen Zulu. I've heard of it, but I've not seen it.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:46

So good. So this is one of the battles that I had to study as a as a It's still studied as like the tech. Yeah, the defense of Rourke's drift is a classic study in the. No, it's I know it's it's not part of the Boer Wars, but it's part of the skirmishes that happened around.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:07

It's the South African Wars.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:08

Yeah, South Africa defending against Zulu warriors because the British were colonizing down there. Okay. And they there a very small number of people had to defend something like the size of this house against like a thousand or two thousand Zulu warriors. And it's a classic defense um study. I thought it's an S to me.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:30

Michael Cain is Oh, it was during the Anglo-Zulu War.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:34

Yeah. Oh Michael Cain's spectacular in it.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:37

Michael Cain is great in it.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:38

Oh my gosh, there's so many great British actors in this film.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:42

I don't think I've seen those. And and so like so tense. Yeah. Because there's literally for whole sections of the film, it's just them standing around, and all you can hear is the noise of the impending troops coming.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:58

And they're like singing and banging their shields, but you can't see them. But it sounds like a freight train coming.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:06

And they've got this tiny little thing. And there's like six people in this film. It's a hospital, like they've got a little like hospital ward, and it's the size of this room.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:17

Oh, it's just amazing. In real life, if you know what the Victoria Cross is, which is the highest uh award given by the British for gallantry and heroism in war, more Victoria Crosses were won during the Battle of War's Drift quicker than any other engagement in British history.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:34

It's an excellent movie. Also in beautiful color. I mean, the the the colour in that and the photography spiritual.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:42

It was 139 to 141 British Army regulars versus 3,000 to 4,000 Zulus.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:48

That is crazy. I'm not gonna spoil it and ask who won.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:53

No, don't.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:54

And I don't know history well enough to know. Yeah, don't watch the film. There you go. Gotta watch the movie.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:59

And finally one for Glenn just because just because the Conqueror. The Conqueror.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:04

Nazi.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:04

Obviously. What a film. Maybe the greatest war film ever made.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:09

I assume it's going to be a D based on your reaction.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:12

John Wayne as Gangest Comic.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:14

Oh. Yeah, that's a D.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:18

My gosh. It is these it is the very thing that they make bottom of tier lists for. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:24

It's it'll it's solidly anchoring the bottom of this.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:28

Known mostly for the fact that everyone died making it because they filmed it on a nuclear list. For real? Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah. They all died of like it was really bad.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:36

Two-thirds to three-quarters of the crew in cast died of various cancers because they filmed it downwind of nuclear tests.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:44

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:45

So all the sand, everything, all the dirt that they were kicking up and everything was radia radioactive. Including probably John Wayne. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:52

That's but he didn't die from it. No. Yeah, he died.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:55

He eventually died of cancer.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:56

Yeah, oh he did. He had it twice. Quickly, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:00

He survived it at first and then it came back.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:03

Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:05

And it's a terrible movie.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:06

And it's real bad. It's a real bad film.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:09

I love it.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:10

And with that, we've reached the end of another episode of the Cinema Social Club. If you'd like to write in with praise or congratulations, or just tell us how great we are, you can email us at cinema socialpod at gmail.com. That's cinemasocialpod at gmail.com. And tune in next week when we will be reviewing the Western epic Cimarron. Uh-huh. But until then, thank you for listening. And on behalf of myself and my co-hosts, it's a goodbye from me. Goodbye.