The best and/or worst war movies ever made?

I agree. I am no film creator, but it has to depend on the type of scene, length and application of the components such as an aircraft or ship. I remember CGI as a mainstay of Normandy backdrops of personnel, supplies and armor rolling onto the beach in several films. Looks real enough in brief stints.

I can say one of the worst CGI scenes in film was, and I hope people don't crucify me for saying it, is the 101st Airborne drops into Normandy in Band of Brothers. I know they had no choice in CGI, but when re-watching the series, which I do often , it's very artificial; an intense, amazing scene, but still artificial.

 

Excuse me...But, exactly how is the CGI of Bruckheimer's "Pearl Harbor" considered "positive"?

How many Spruance class destroyers did the Americans have 1941?
Which battleship had it's tripod mast collapse?
How many A6M2 Zeroes made strafing passes between the battleships?
Japanese 250kg bombs make really huge explosions and cause tremendous damage?

OK, about the only positive of the CGI in "Pearl Harbor" is it "looks cool!" Though, it has absolutely no basis in historical fact.

I can only presume then, that the Normandy drop in "Band of Brothers" did not "look cool!" enough - although I thought it did - but was relatively historically accurate.

 

I thought the Spreance class DDs were real. Don't tell me they used CGI to construct them???!!@?

 

They were real...That is the whole point...Given the many, sometimes unnecessary - battleship tripod mast collapse - uses of CGI in the film, why was that shot even included? When the CGI was obviously quite capable of providing accurate depictions of the correct ships that were in Pearl.

Because then there would be no massive "cool" explosions aboard the Spruances, or another "cool" CGI shot might have to be dropped.

 

Ah, I see. Another way of coming at the point of why have them there. Everytime I see a discussion like this I'm happy I never saw it.

 

Midway:

The Japanese spoke English
Charleston Heston's aircraft before his character died morphed into several different aircraft, the final being an F9F Panther!
One big aerial combat scene over the Pacific Ocean, was Spitfires and Bf-109's from the Battle of Britain movie.
Lifting footage from 30 Seconds Over Tokyo
The love story with the Japanese girlfriend.

Need more?

 

This is what happens when most of the budget is spent on a big-name cast, nothing is left over for effects, thus all the "dumpster-diving" for stock footage.

Still, I have seen Midway entirely through twice, but I have yet to watch more than 8 minutes of Pearl Harbor.

 

I place The Battle of the Bulge alongside Tobruk, Guns of Navarone, and such crapeth.

 

LOL, when the first IJN officer in Midway uttered English, I was about to ask for my money back.

 

For starters the word cool never entered my vocabulary. Pearl Harbor was a dreadfully awful WW2 flick. Having said that, the CGI graphics were beyond its time and were the basis for an action movie, which, as a historian, was an abomination.It is clear that the movie had no intent on grabbing the attention of WW2 buffs. In addition, the word accurate also never appeared in my vocabulary. I am fully aware that the accuracy of PH was ridiculous. The movie was supposed to look "cool", it succeeded in quenching the appetite of Hollywood's box office.

Furthermore, the word artificial was used to describe the BOB 10 1st drop scene. It was very historically accurate, it just had sub par CGI graphics. I personally believe that scene was perhaps the most intense scene in the series.

 

Since virtually no one in the audience understands Japanese and subtitles quickly become tedious, what do you expect?

On the other hand, why do actors portraying Roman empire characters always seem to speak with a British accent?

 

How many speak German fluently, yet in Patton, Battle of Britain, the Germans spoke Germans. It adds credibility.

 

Because if they spoke with an Italian accent they'd have to wave their hands around and all the actors would be stabbing each other with the swords they're holding.

 

I agree, because to me it is just so annoying - a wasted opportunity.

 

I agree with those who think The Battle of the Bulge was lame, but there's this movie set in the PTO that ranks up there with the stinkers mentioned here so far. I can't remember the name of it, but Lee Marvin plays a Marine who's shipwrecked on an island that is occupied by a solitary Japanese soldier who's stuck there with him. Not sure how the Japanese guy got there, but that whole movie blew chunks.

Speaking of being stuck on an island movie, there's another one that just came to mind that is also set in the PTO. Clint Walker plays a C-47 pilot that is transporting a Marine platoon someplace and either gets shot down or has engine trouble and crash lands on a Japanese held island with about a platoon sized garrison there. I think that Frank Sinatra plays a surgeon in it too. I have no idea what people are thinking when they crank out lame productions like this, so it's safe to say that movie makers nowadays aren't the only ones with dipsh1t ideas. Their predecessors were just as fonked in the head it seems.

 

I didn't find it that bad, until the ending. I actually have it on DVD (picked it up in a pawn shop for a buck). The DVD includes the original ending which is significantly better than the crap ending the studio ripped from "The Party" with Peter Sellers and put in the theatrical releases.

 

Speaking of trapped on a Pacific island with the Japanese, there's always "Heaven Knows Mr. Allison" with Robert Mitchum, which is great little film