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rixon
Reviews
We Were Soldiers (2002)
Read the book? Don't bother watching the movie.
Gen. Moore did an astounding job of documenting the battle in the Ia Drang. He gathered a lot of testimony from others who were there, and collated it all in the book "We Were Soldiers Once... And Young." After reading this book, I should have known that the film would let me down. Gen. Moore is proud that the movie is more accurate than almost any other previously released. While that may be true, I feel that it has been butchered by the editing process. The movie runs long already, but it needs to be a lot longer to really get the feel for it. The deleted scenes that make it to the 'Special Features' section of the DVD add much to the film, and should be watched. Even with these scenes, only a few characters are developed, and there is very little impact made to the viewer. After experiencing both the book and the movie, I keep wondering if the benefits of awareness generated by Hollywood marketing outweigh the blood money made from creating an inadequate historical representation. I guess if the movie helps people to understand the soldiers' position in war, then the benefits do outweigh the negatives.
Bless all of our soldiers who have fought and died for us!
Qualcuno in ascolto (1988)
A radio geek adds another movie to his collection.
What can I say? While I was complaining about the factual errors in a movie, a wise man (Vance) once told me "Suspend your disillusion!" Even though this "Ham" in the Swiss Alps is trying to talk on 80M with a parabolic dish, I gotta admit, this _is_ a kinda neat movie. I felt good to watch this, but rather than the plot generating this fuzzy feeling, it's probably really just brought on by the memories of watching B-movies at 4AM after a good night out. My sweetheart did get to jump once, and I must admit the suspense rivals that of most of the muck in the so-called action films released in the theaters every weekend. This movie isn't DVD worthy, but neither does it belong next to TRON (in file 13, or the round file.) I'm going to put it on my shelf next to the WarGames and Sneakers VHS tapes, to be watched over and over as I dream of a hackers ideal...