Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts

Journey's End 2017

Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, it is the story of a group of British officers, led by the mentally disintegrating young officer Stanhope, as they await their fate.

I've seen the West End play, read the play transcript, and read the novel too. This (in my humble opinion) is a magnificent adaption of this very powerful play based upon R C Sherriff's real-life experiences in the trenches of World War One. It captures the tragedy of war, courage in the face of hopelessness, friendship, and regret among a host of human emotions. The acting is superb, the sets and attention to detail like nothing I remember seeing in a film set in World War One. I cannot recommend it enough. How sad that it has had such a limited cinema release on the Centenary of the year in which the film is set. Almost as if these men are all forgotten now? Not by me.

Operation Dunkirk 2017

A band of soldiers tasked with staying behind during the Battle of Dunkirk to rescue a scientist with information that could turn the tide of the war must battle their way through dangerous Nazi territory to complete their mission.

Having served in the British army for six years, I couldn't watch more than four minutes of this movie. I was so bad from the get go I didn't bother watching the rest of it. I'm not one for writing negative review, but this one I couldn't let go by. First of you have one man wearing an American helmet, then several people carrying Thomson submachine guns that didn't go into service with the British Commando until 1941. They were driving a jeep, which again we didn't get until late 1940-41. I could go on and on about the mistakes I saw in just the first few minutes of the movie but why bother, you get the picture. If I could give it less than one star I would. Knowing something about movie making I don't fault the actors, as they did their best with what they had to work with, which wasn't much to start with. Skip this one, it's not worth your time.