Weekend Movie Marathon

Memorial Day
This coming Monday is Memorial Day.... so I already decided this coming weekend I will watch some of my war/military movies. I have many in this particular genre that I never seen before... as well as several that I have. This is not really a favorite genre of mine... but I don't watch them often so I think I can get through a weekend.

Below is a list of movies I feel qualify for this marathon... the titles in Italic are in my unwatched DVD Collection. That doesn't mean I have never seen the movie... but that I haven't seen it since getting the DVD. I am bringing this topic up early so if anyone can suggest something good from my list... or is curios about a title you can request a review. I can't guarantee I will get to it this weekend... but I will try.

My War/Military Movies:

The Adventures of Tartu

Alexander

Apocalypse Now

Ariel Gunner

Battle for Blood Island

Battleship Potemkin

Behind Enemy Lines

The Big Lift

Black Brigade

Black Hawk Down

Blood on the Sun

A Bridge Too Far

British Intellegence

Casualties of War

Cold Mountain

Commandos

Convoy

The Dawn Express

The Edge of Love

Empire of the Sun

Enemy at the Gates

A Farewell to Arms

The Fighting Seabees

Flags of Our Fathers

Flying Blind

Flying Leathernecks

Flying Tigers

Forrest Gump (Adding this one as there is a nice section of the movie)

Four in a Jeep

Full Metal Jacket

G.I. Jane

The General

Glory

Good Morning, Vietnam

The Green Berets

Gung Ho!

Hamburger Hill

Hart's War

Hong Kong 1941

Identity Unknown

In Harm's Way

Jarhead

The Last Chance

The Long Voyage Home

The Longest Day

M*A*S*H

Massacre at Fort Holman

The Messenger

Minesweeper

The Navy Way

One Man's Hero

One of Our Aircraft is Missing!

Operation Pacific

Pearl Harbor

Private Buckaroo

Red Dawn

Sands of Iwo Jima

Saving Private Ryan

Secret Agent

Spitfire

They Were Expendable

Tigerland

Troy

We Were Soldiers

Windtalkers

I think that is pretty much all of them. If I spot any more I will still be able to choose them if I feel like it.

I am also thinking I want to do a TV episode review in between each movie... to kinda brake up the movies a little. I am thinking I have 2 series that would go pretty good with this type of marathon...

- M*A*S*H
Break it up with some laughs may be a good idea for me since war movies are not a favorite genre of mine. If I decide on this... I will probably just pull out season 1 and start from the beginning.

- JAG
This one is a bit more serious... and much more military oriented. I love this show as well... so I think would still break it up well for me. If I decide on this show I will probably use season 2 since I would definitely want the episodes with Catherine Bell.

I will be starting this marathon in a couple of days... on Friday... so I will have time to decide. Any thoughts and suggestions is appreciated. But remember... no guarantees I will get to a requested movie. Though I will try.

hmmmm... interesting idea.. not sure if I will decide to do it yet or not... but got me thinking.

Maybe I will have to start using bold instead of italic to denote unwatched dvds... would probably be easier to read.

Yes... Forrest Gump is in italic... but only because I said... "That doesn't mean I have never seen the movie... but that I haven't seen it since getting the DVD. " Forrest Gump was only just recently given to me... so haven't watched the DVD yet. Though I did see the movie when it was first released (not since though).

For Civil War movies, Glory is very good, and so is Cold Mountain, but that is more of a home front picture, where Glory is more of a battlefront kind of pic.

I enjoyed Alexander and Troy a lot as well, if you're feeling in the mood for the ancient world. 

I've heard a lot of good things about Black Hawk Down as well.  Need to get around to watching that myself.

Title: Battleship Potemkin
Year: 1925
Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov
Rating: NR
Length: 66 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio:
Subtitles:

Stars:
Aleksandr Antonov
Vladimir Barsky
Grigori Aleksandrov
Mikhail Gomorov
Ivan Bobrov
Beatrice Vitoldi

Plot:
Based on the historical events the movie tells the story of a riot at the battleship Potemkin. What started as a protest strike when the crew was given rotten meat for dinner ended in a riot. The sailors raised the red flag and tried to ignite the revolution in their home port Odessa.

Extras:
Scene Access

My Thoughts:
This is one of those cheap freebie movies I got in a 40 movie boxset for subscribing to the Total Movie Magazine years ago. But is one I never got around to watching. So going into it I wasn't expecting much quality wise. And there was definitely problems with the quality... there was plenty of dust and scratches on the film... there was also plenty of shaky images... but to be honest I expected worse. I mean after all... this movie is over 80 years old. This is some sort of redone film as it is a silent film... but there is a guy speaking Russian over the opening. Unfortunately I had a hard time with the subtitles on this release... as some of it was cut off at the bottom of the screen so no idea what was being said in some parts... especially towards the beginning. Plus what subtitles were shown was show pretty quickly making it hard for a slow reader like me to watch it I had to keep pausing and rewinding to see what was being said at times. I did like that this film is based in fact. Or at least that is how it seems. I never been a good history student.... though the name of the ship did always seem familiar to me. But it is definitely not depicting a good time in history. The story itself is powerful enough to keep your interest. I just wish the quality was a little better... and some of the subtitles a little slower. I would have probably been able to enjoy this story a little more then I did.

My Rating: 3/5

Title: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier
Year: 1979
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Rating: R
Length: 202 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.00:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Marlon Brando
Robert Duvall
Martin Sheen
Frederic Forrest
Albert Hall
Sam Bottoms

Plot:
Two-disc Special Collector's Edition includes over two hours of bonus materials from filmmaker Francis Coppola and his American Zoetrope vault.

APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) 153 MIN.
Francis Ford Coppola's stunning vision of man's heart of darkness revealed through the madness of the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Willard receives orders to seek out a renegade military outpost led by the mysterious Colonel Kurtz. Willard's mission: "Terminate with extreme prejudice." One of the most powerful films of all time, Apocalypse Now was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two for Best Sound and Best Cinematography.

APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX (2001) 202 MIN.
The definitive version of Francis Ford Coppola's stunning vision of the heart of darkness in all of us, re-edited and remastered with 49 minutes of additional footage. Nominated for 8 Academy Awards®, this classic and compelling Vietnam War epic stars Martin Sheen as Army Lieutenant Willard, who is sent on a dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade American Colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes/Bloopers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
What with my first time ever seeing this movie... and with War not being one of my genres of choice I decided to go with the original theatrical cut for my first viewing. I just couldn't see sitting through almost three and a half hours at this point. right around two and a half hours is enough for the first sitting. I figured that I will go for the director's cut on the next viewing.

I have to say... this movie had me glued to the set from the very beginning. What has always been a sign of a great movie to me is if you get into a movie so intensely that it seems to be over within mere minutes of starting it. It seemed like I had just started the movie and it was time to switch over to disc two. And then before I knew it the movie was going off. It really is an excellent film. While I preferred the first half of the movie over the second half... the entire movie is just outstanding. Of course coming form me it isn't saying much... but this is definitely one of the best war movies I ever seen. The next time I am going to have to be sure to watch Apocalypse Now Redux.

My Rating: 5/5

Quoting Addicted2DVD:

Quote:

My Thoughts:
What with my first time ever seeing this movie... and with War not being one of my genres of choice I decided to go with the original theatrical cut for my first viewing. I just couldn't see sitting through almost three and a half hours at this point. right around two and a half hours is enough for the first sitting. I figured that I will go for the director's cut on the next viewing.

Am I to understand you have never seen Apocalypse Now until now??

Pete  you gotta get away from All those Cheezy B flicks and those televison BoxSets  ... 
   

Title: G.I. Jane: Widescreen
Year: 1997
Director: Ridley Scott
Rating: R
Length: 125 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Demi Moore
Viggo Mortensen
Anne Bancroft
Jason Beghe
Daniel Von Bargen
John Michael Higgins

Plot:
Screen megastar Demi Moore (Disclosure, Indecent Proposal) is in top form in this action-packed hit! Moore stars as gutsy Lieutenant O'Neil, the first woman ever given the opportunity to earn a place in the armed forces' most highly skilled combat unit – the elite Navy SEALs! But the already brutal rigors of training camp turn into an unimaginable test of courage and determination once it becomes clear that no one – powerful politicians, top military brass or her male Navy SEAL teammates – wants her to succeed! A critically acclaimed triumph directed by action hitmaker Ridley Scott (Alien, Thelma & Louise) - you'll cheer for G.I. Jane as this brave soldier proves she belongs among the best of the best!

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
I remember buying this DVD within the first couple years of collecting DVDs. I started collecting DVDs in May of 1997 when the format first appeared in my area. I watched this movie once when I first got it... and haven't thought about it since. I didn't forget about it because I hated it... because I remember enjoying it at that time. It has been so long since I seen it I decided to re-watch it today. I always loved a strong woman character... so a woman trying to become the first Navy SEAL fits that preference perfectly. I remembered correctly as I still enjoyed this one very much. There was a few minor things I didn't care for.. but that wasn't enough to take away from the enjoyment. I even enjoyed Demi Moore in this one... who is normally pretty hit or miss for me. I found this to be one of her better ones.

My Rating: 4/5

Well... I think I stuck with the War movies pretty good... especially considering they are not my favorite genre of movies. Not that you could tell by the ratings I gave these. But it is starting to become a heck of a chore to watch them now... so I think this movie marathon is now done.

I did enjoy it more then I expected to though!