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Has anyone out there seen Tigerland besides me? I think it is one of the coolest war themed movies I have ever seen. Another war movie that really impressed me was We Were Soldiers, a Mel Gibson movie. That one actually talks about what the women went through while their men were off to war.

Yeah, I liked Tigerland, matter of fact it's probably my third-favorite Schumacher film (after Falling Down and A Time to Kill). We Were Soldiers Once... And Young was a favorite book of mine, I just didn't feel the film did it justice. And I was really, really, really looking forward to it, too...

I remain, as always...

Nico.

ETA: Another fave war film I forgot to mention earlier was Jean-Jacques Annaud's Enemy at the Gates, which brought the Nazi invasion of Russia -- one of the most important, brazen, wholly destructive engagements of history's greatest war -- down to a very interesting, personal level. Worth a look!

Nico, I didn't realize Schumaker directed Falling Down. I loove the stark humored tone of that movie. It's kind of a precursor to Fight Club (one of my darkest and devious favorites).

I never had the opportunity to read the book that We Were Soldiers was based off of, but according to the DVD special, the author said he was very satisfied with the adaptation (view accordingly). I guess it is similar to Seabiscuit- I listen to the book on tape and the thought the book was better than the movie, but it was more because of limitations of film (mostly length, cost issues to do everything in the book) that made the book superior. But that doesn't decrease my love for the movie. Just two solid variations on a story I could fall in love with.

Have you ever seen the Bosnian(?) film No Man's Land? That movie broke my heart. The end wasn't twist shocking, but I was surprised on the films willingness to end the movie the way it did.

The book is always better than the movie.

I agree on your views of Enemy At the Gates, it is a great, oft overlooked film that really gets into the mind behind war.
Unfortunately, ephasis on recent war movies from that time always goes to Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down - both of which were primarily a systemic shock to show viewers the brutality and courage in times of war. Additionally, Pearl Harbor shows the heart of war, but was so focused on the disruption of relatively happy lives, and not on the actual war that to me it missed its mark.

becs, I have to slightly disagree with you. I would have to say the primary material (be it a book, play, another movie) is usually better than the adapted material. Two examples I can think of are the movie High Fidelity and the movie Blade. High Fidelty tamed a lonely, desparate character who is bordering on buthead stalker into a heartbroken man trying to figure out what happened and how he could get her back. It made the lead likeable. Blade took a Z-level Marvel hero cleaned up his story line with out losing the core of its origin. In fact, the movie adaptation was so successful that it changed the comic representation.

I'm sure there are others, but that's what I can think of now.

Gotta agree with High Fidelity.

I remain, as always...

Nico.

Okay, I will specfy then - as I haven't read High Fidelity, no movie adaptation of a book/comic/play, that I have experienced has surpassed the original material.

Ok for my fall threesome forcast.
1-"The Kingdom"
2-"Resident Evil: Extinction"
3-"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
The last coming close to being the longest title that I can recall.Bested only by (1967)"Oh Dad Poor Dad Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling so Sad",and the all-time long title champ(1962)"Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb".
Can anyone think of longer titled film?Also Jamey (2000)"Tigerland" was one of those little gem of a movie to me.Knockout performance from then young actor named Colin Farrell really shined.It's now part of my DVD collection.
Late

I'm thinking that The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom comes pretty close, but, then, it was made for television. We also have The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, however, as well as Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (look, Chien, I'm talking up a WOODY ALLEN film! Now, please open your hymnals to the Book of Revelations...) LOL...

I remain, as always...

Nico.

becs wrote:

The book is always better than the movie.

I agree on your views of Enemy At the Gates, it is a great, oft overlooked film that really gets into the mind behind war.
Unfortunately, ephasis on recent war movies from that time always goes to Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down - both of which were primarily a systemic shock to show viewers the brutality and courage in times of war. Additionally, Pearl Harbor shows the heart of war, but was so focused on the disruption of relatively happy lives, and not on the actual war that to me it missed its mark.

What is with this Enemy at the Gates appreciation? It's a disaster of a movie. Leaving aside the atrocious accents (which I'm finding very difficult to do. Really, guys, Amadeus didn't bother with accents and it was for the best), the story was flimsy. There's potential for something good, the battle of Stalingrad, the heroic snipers (although in reality they were a fake means of raising morale), etc. But it just got so silly. I laughed at the Sniper Sex Scene, and of Harris's and Law's superhuman sniping senses. Give me a break. This is one of the many films that slips between actio and drama, too silly to be one, but not exciting enough to be the other. Shame on you all.

As for the book being better, Bec, just read any of the forgettable books Hitchcock adapted. Or The Godfather. Or The Shining. Or Barry Lyndon. Hell, even Lord of the Rings was more entertaining than those 1000 pages of Elvish songs, endless descriptions of walking, and distracting histories.

A quick search on Google reveal these titles:

#1 Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D (1991)

#2 The Fable of the Kid Who Shifted His Ideals to Golf and Finally Became a Baseball Fan and Took the Only Known Cure (1916)

#3 Homework, or How Pornography Saved the Split Family from Boredom and Improved their Financial Situation (1990)

#4 The Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Green Grasshopper and the Vampire Lady from Outer Space (1965)

[Laughing] One thing I friggin' love about Six, he (I'm pretty sure, but, okay, fine... [sigh]) / she speaks his / her mind; doesn't flinch away from taking tough, uncompromising positions (even, when it's against the grain, at least for the time being); and he (she) can back up everything he (she!) says. (Okay, that's, like, three things.) There's a professional critic in there somewhere, or, at least, Triple-A. Good stuff.

Re: Enemy at the Gates... It's clear that the same things don't always ring everyone's bells equally. My own appreciation for Enemy at the Gates has several levels -- including Base, Wasteland and Citadel (yes, my dear colleagues, that's a Penny Arcade-esque reference to Halo 3, calm down, I am one with nerddom, and if you can't appreciate that, well, pwn off) -- and as I mentioned earlier, its attempt to "personalize" a great and almost unmanageable conflict, its presentation of history's greatest conflagration as epic individual struggle, is tops among them. You must also consider, I'm a big, big fan of both Jude Law and Ed Harris (Harris in a Nazi officer's rig, truly, geeked me out even more than Doogie Howser, SS) -- I've been convinced that Law is his generation's Alec Guiness ever since Gattaca and The Talented Mr. Ripley; unfortunately, apart from Road to Perdition, he has yet to deliver on his exceptional promise. However, I digress. (Enemy at the Gates was also the first film Rachel Weisz appeared in, where I actually took notice of and appreciated her. Though her turn in the other Sunshine, another WWII film, was outstanding also, I didn't see that film for the first time until much later.)

Surely, tho (and don't call me, "Shirley!"), you can't fault Gates for its cinematography, set design or sound (effects OR mixing, a point I'll take up in a separate post later this weekend); while it's not Saving Private Ryan, exactly, it didn't try to be, and, actually, that was sort of the point. And, lastly, I love its presentation of the cat-and-mouse standoff between Private Zaitsev and Major König -- one of my particular, shall we say, film fetishes, is combat as ballet, and there have been few cinematic protrayals of war more carefully choreographed, more artfully articulated, than the climactic scenes of Enemy at the Gates. (Full Metal Jacket, The Thin Red Line, Band of Brothers, and, of course, Saving Private Ryan also did this especially well... as well as Gears of War. It's a mad world.)

I agree, however, Gates has its share of flaws. (As far as accents go, well, I stopped being so particular about that after, quite insanely, defending Sean Connery's culture-annihilating turn at Russkiy in The Hunt for Red October, when I was pointed out, quite correctly, to be a total friggin' hypocrite. And I haven't seen a Costner role, yet, where he hasn't managed to completely f@&# up the dialogue -- the man, against all odds, even manages to make English sound as if it's his second language, or sixth. Maybe he should just stick to made-up dialects, like PortuGreek, or that silly sh!t he spewed out in Thirteen Days, which made Ray Winstone sound like he was born on West Broad, between B and C Streets in Southie. However, I digress.) The editing (common for good-to-near-great films) is only mediocre, and Joseph Fiennes is mainly there for window dressing. You had it spot-on, about the untapped potential of the story... You clearly know your history. (In addition to Craig's excellent book, btw, another terrific overview of the Battle can be found in Edwin Hoyt's 199 Days.) And, yeah, the Supersniper stuff was bad, but, I must say, it was still better than the STA eye candy we got in the profoundly disappointing Jarhead. (But, then, snipers haven't really gotten their due in film, have they? Assassins, Higher Learning, The Jackal... The very best sniper film, ever, might just be Saving Private Ryan, though for my money The Usual Suspects comes pretty close, too It's just so much easier to stage stuff blowing up, than the intimate choreography of the pristine killshot... If only John Frankenheimer had lived... perhaps Sydney Pollack will one day embrace his inner Oswald.)

"Shame on you all." [Hanging head] Am I being sent to the Naughty Chair?

Funny you should mention Amadeus -- my wife and I just watched that, again, the other week. (She'd forgotten how immature and profane Hulce's portrayal really was.) What the Hell happened to Tom Hulce, anyway?

"Hell, even Lord of the Rings was more entertaining than those 1000 pages of Elvish songs, endless descriptions of walking, and distracting histories." Well, that's just insane.

What's not to love?

"There hammer on the anvil smote, /
There chisel clove, and graver wrote; /
There forged was bladed and bound was hilt; /
The delver mined the mason built. /
There beryl, pearl, and opal pale /
And metel wrought like fishes' mail, /
Buckler and corslet, axe and sword, /
And shining spears were laid in horde."

"The Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Green Grasshopper and the Vampire Lady from Outer Space (1965)"... And Spielberg wants to remake When Worlds Collide? Piker.

Enjoyed it!

I remain, as always...

Cook's Assistant Nico Loganov.

Doogie Howser in SS. It took me a while to get, but man that cracks me up!!!!!

I see your point about Enemy, Nico, but I don't feel it. It's the wasted potential in Enemy at the Gates that realy gets to me. Cinematography and sound mixing/effects are way down in my list of appreciating thing. You could film something on a camera phone, but if its scripted well, performed well, and means something to me, then that's all that matters.

You yourself pointed something very true about the likes of recent Scorsese, about films being too perfect to appreciate. For me, Taxi Driver will always be my favourite because it's edgy, not just because of its subject matter, but also they way it was filmed, and the feel of it. It feels almost spontaneous, like a documentary. Which is why I value Mean Streets and Taxi Driver over Goodfellas and The Departed.

And please, please tell me you had to look up the book in order to quote that Elvish sing-song.

PS you're sexist default mode is right, for I am a gent. Well, either that or a lad with three legs, and one of them sure is deformed...

I remain, as always....

A MAN

numbersix_99 wrote:

As for the book being better, Bec, just read any of the forgettable books Hitchcock adapted. Or The Godfather. Or The Shining. Or Barry Lyndon. Hell, even Lord of the Rings was more entertaining than those 1000 pages of Elvish songs, endless descriptions of walking, and distracting histories.

The SHINING.. seriously???? The book was immensely superior to either adaptation on film. Lord of The Rings is a classic, I've read all 3 books, and The Hobbit (which is far slower moving), several times and they never get old because of their brilliantly crafted story, that is a rarity in modern writing.

Six of 99:

"Doogie Howser...SS...man that cracks me up!!!!!"

[Grin] Me, too.

"It's the wasted potential in Enemy at the Gates that realy gets to me."

To quote Mr. The King from Cars: "Well, son, I sure can respect that." There are some near-great and near-miss titles that frustrate the heck out of me, too. (Like, The Good Shepherd.) I feel ya, I really do. (Figuratively speaking, only, Mr. Humble Tripod.)

(Hmmmm... Humble Tripod. Anyone need a name for their garage band? You can have it for ten bucks. Make all checks and money orders payable to The Nico Foundation for a Better Tomorrow, and a Thoroughly Forgotten Yesterday.

However, I digress.

"Cinematography and sound mixing/effects are way down in my list of appreciating thing. You could film something on a camera phone, but if its scripted well, performed well, and means something to me, then that's all that matters."

Spike Lee's your man.

"For me, Taxi Driver will always be my favourite...not just because of its subject matter, but also they way it was filmed, and the feel of it. It feels almost spontaneous, like a documentary. Which is why I value Mean Streets and Taxi Driver over Goodfellas and The Departed."

[Nodding] Amen, brother, and amen, and amen. Though (in spite of its myriad niggling editing and continuity goofs and missteps) The Departed is a pretty damn good film.

"[P]lease, please tell me you had to look up the book in order to quote that Elvish sing-song."

Errrrrrrmmmmmmmmm... Sorry, can't do that. (It was on the Internet.) "Sing-song"?!?!?! WTF?!?!?

"I am a gent. Well, either that or a lad with three legs, and one of them sure is deformed..."

Gee, I sure am sorry to hear that, Stumpy. [Wicked grin] Oh, and dude? T. M. I. [Still grinning] (Then again... you have your mutant appendage... but I have my "enchanted quill." [Insert Beavis and Butt-head-esque snarkling here.]

"I remain, as always... A MAN."

Glad to hear it. (Is that in Jordan?)

I remain, as always...

Nico, the Peg-Legged Pirate. Arr-rrrrr!

P.S. ...

"Ye-heah... Um, he said, 'Pirate'. Uh-huh-huh-huh, huh."

"Heh! Heh! He means, uhhhh, BUTT-pirate, right? Heh, heh-HEH, heh! Boi-ooooiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggg! Heh-heh, heh, heh, hemmm... Nachos RULE!!"

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