Skip to main content

First War Movie on the List

As you can probably imagine, many of the movies on the AFI's top 100 movie list are war movies. Tonight was the first war movie Brian and watched from the list. We watched All Quiet on the Western Front and boy was it a hard movie to watch. The film takes place during World War I and follows a group of young German men who enlist in the army. With the first battle scene you feel how scary a battle must have been with bombs dropping on all sides and never knowing if the next one would land in your foxhole or someone else's. There was also the psychological factor of watching the soldiers either become injured, lose comrades, or die themselves.

Even though war movies aren't my favorite I did like this one because it didn't glorify war as so many of them do. This one was filled with the raw emotion of loss of innocence and death. I can't say that I would watch it again just because it was such a hard movie to watch. However, I'm glad I did watch it this one time. All Quiet on the Western Front came in at number 54 on the AFI list.

The director was trying to make a statement about the harsh realities of war from what it was like to be in a foxhole to the fact that people back home didn't understand what it was truly like for these soldiers. The statement was clear and pointed. From a film making standpoint, the special effects (sounds of bombs falling and then exploding upon landing) were very realistic. Also, the acting was incredible, extremely well done. The haunting final scene will stay with you for a long long time. For all these reasons I give the movie a thumbs up.

Brian agrees it was very well put together and also gives the movie a thumbs up.

Stay tuned for our next movie review discussing the film City Lights starring Charlie Chaplin.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Dandy of a Movie

I'm referring, of course, to that wonderful movie Yankee Doodle Dandy directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney. The AFI placed it at number 100 on their list. In case you're not familiar with the plot, it's the life story of actor/producer/playwright George M. Cohan. The film pioneered the flashback method of telling a story and begins with Cohan's childhood stage acting. It tells the story of he and his family as they performed plays and shows across the country as "The Four Cohans. Like all entertainers, they have their ups and downs. At one point George's arrogance causes his family to be looked down on as performers. In a somewhat sneaky move, however, Cohan gets funding from a producer and makes his stage come-back. Finally the family is once again reunited as a family act. There is much more to the film, but I'll stop here because I don't want to spoil it for you. The message about family loyalty is something you don't see much in...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Wish you a Merry Christmas

So, are you on the lookout for a good holiday movie? Well, me too. I ended up working an extra Saturday this month, which really cut into my movie watching time. I had all these plans to see the following movies: Polar Express National Treasure Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera I'm sure there were others I wanted to see, but I don't remember what those are now. Out of all the above movies Brian and I have seen National Treasure . I have to say, despite some doubts I had at the beginning it turned out to be a pretty good movie. If you are in to U.S, History, you'd probably find this a good movie. I mentioned some doubts I had at the beginning of the movie. For example, In one of the opening scenes of the movie a grandfather is explaining the history of the Masons organization to his grandson and, having just researched the masons for a library customer, I'm not sure the grandfather's ex...
Post a Comment
Read more

Finally, at Long Last!

Well, here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for. I'm finally reviewing Citizen Kane . I have to say, I loved, loved, loved this movie. I think it's one of my favorites so far and I can completely see why it made number 1 on AFI's top 100 list. Okay, here's what I loved about it: The dark and mysterious opening. I can see why it is one of the most famous cinematic moments in film history. Great camera work and transitions between the present and the past. I think one of my favorites scenes as far as camera work goes is the one toward the end of the film when Susan is leaving Kane. The camera angles and all the other cinema magic that goes into a scene like that were very effective in making Kane look like his imposing, over bearing self when entering the room and small and weak after Susan walks out of the room. The sets - awesomely designed and again very effective for setting the mood of the movie, particularly in the later years of his time with Susan wh...
Post a Comment
Read more