TV/Movies Megathread

[viper37]

The trailer for Midway looks visually impressive, has anything done by Roland Emmerich.  However, there is this claim, might be explained in context, that the Americans are sending "two dozen planes against all of the Japanese naval force"... uh, I thought this was a major engagement of the war?  This makes it look like the battle of the Death Star trenches... 

Also, I'm unsure of some the of acrobatics depicted, like sending your aicraft in a vertical climb until it stops climbing and then letting it fall to pick up the stick and evade/surprise your ennemy... It sure looks stunning on screen, but wouldn't that carry the risk of of an uncontrolled spin in a WWII fighter aircraft?

Of course, I'm sitting here, debatting an Hollywood's blockbuster accurate depiction of battle...

[Berkut]

Yeah, I saw some trailers and was immediately annoyed.

I guess as long as it isn't as historically stupid as Pearl Harbor it will be something of an improvement, but the entire Midway myth of vastly outnumbered Americans bravely flying to defeat the invincible IJN Navy is annoying and lame.

Also, the trailer included the trope of "If we don't stop them here, they will soon be landing in Portland" stupidness, IIRC.

[Valmy]

Eh I will just watch this thanks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd8_vO5zrjo

Yeah the victory over Japan was no fluke against incredible odds, because the USN was not full of incompetent bumblers who were going to put their sailors and pilots in such a scenario.

[Syt]

Will this be better or worse than the 1976 movie?

[The Brain]

Are the Brits fighting Midway? Cause that would be considered OK I gather.

[Sheilbh]

Churchill personally leads a fighter group of Spitfires

[grumbler]

Churchill personally leads a fighter group of Spitfires

Fighting at Verdun.

[grumbler]

Roland Emmerich makes gorgeous but shallow and ultimately dumb movies.  I am sure his Midway will be as historically accurate (as in, not at all) as The Patriot.  Pity they couldn't just have him do the effects, and allow a competent director to do the story.

This will be far worse than the 1976 movie which, though it had the worst love story sub-plot since In Harm's Way, tried to be accurate and tried to show both sides of the story.

I don't mind the characters believing that an American loss at Midway would see the Japanese in Seattle.  Lots of people at the time probably believed that, because they knew nothing about how wars were actually fought.

Woody Harrelson as Chester Nimitz?  Just... no.  Love the actor, hate the casting.

And I notice that nobody is playing Jimmy Thatch. Boooo!

[Admiral Yi]

Rock the Kasbah.  Bill Murray is a music manager who takes Zooey Deschanel on a USO tour in Afghanistan.  There she takes his money and passport and leaves.  So he accepts a job to deliver ammunition to a village, where he spends the night and discovers an Afghan girl who sings Cat Stevens songs with a voice like any of the other current American pop droids, though with less auto-tune.  Bill convinces the host of Kabul Pop Star to give her a spot, against her father's wishes and Pashtun tradition.  Later gun for hire/private contractor Bruce Willis helps the village defend itself against a clearly very evil War Lord bent on taking over the village and forcing them to grow Opium.  The girl's father comes around in the end and the girl wins the final round of the singing competition.

This is a very sanitized version of Afghanistan.  The Taliban are never mentioned or seen and there are no on screen deaths.  Not your typical teen movie, but a teen movie nonetheless.

[celedhring]

Rock the Kasbah.  Bill Murray is a music manager who takes Zooey Deschanel on a USO tour in Afghanistan.  There she takes his money and passport and leaves.  So he accepts a job to deliver ammunition to a village, where he spends the night and discovers an Afghan girl who sings Cat Stevens songs with a voice like any of the other current American pop droids, though with less auto-tune.  Bill convinces the host of Kabul Pop Star to give her a spot, against her father's wishes and Pashtun tradition.  Later gun for hire/private contractor Bruce Willis helps the village defend itself against a clearly very evil War Lord bent on taking over the village and forcing them to grow Opium.  The girl's father comes around in the end and the girl wins the final round of the singing competition.

This is a very sanitized version of Afghanistan.  The Taliban are never mentioned or seen and there are no on screen deaths.  Not your typical teen movie, but a teen movie nonetheless.

The "afghan popstar" subgenre is really prolific for some weird reason. Have you seen War. Inc? (it's a bit terrible though)

[Admiral Yi]

The "afghan popstar" subgenre is really prolific for some weird reason. Have you seen War. Inc? (it's a bit terrible though)

I have not.

[Syt]

I thought the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was quite good. The movie was ok.

[Josephus]

Churchill personally leads a fighter group of Spitfires

Fighting at Verdun.

Right after he goes on the Tube and asks Londoners what he should do.

[Malthus]

Another interesting animated mini-series: Infinity Train.

Its as if Philip K. Dick wrote a kid's show.  I loved it.

Similar format to Over the Garden Wall - 10 short episodes. Can't say much about it without spoilering it to hell, but basically follows the adventures of a young girl who stumbles into a dangerous alternate world and has to figure out what the rules are there to survive and return. Hefty dose of psychology is involved.

[FunkMonk]

Joker. Solid movie. Well acted. Interesting take on the Batman universe.

Be warned. It's very dark and punctuated with extreme violence. Not for the kids.