tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post7068115220040222578..comments2024-03-28T18:28:52.888-05:00Comments on Althouse: "But if you can stand the ear-splitting music that renders 90 percent of the heavily accented dialogue incomprehensible..."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-66534536633528662402017-07-22T22:28:47.819-05:002017-07-22T22:28:47.819-05:00I also meant to say I found Rex Reed's to be t...I also meant to say I found Rex Reed's to be the most wrong review since Harry Knowles gave Attack of the Clones a ridiculously positive review upon its release. Both are embarrassing.The Genius Savanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18296334560234699226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-90025280569071344502017-07-22T22:00:41.767-05:002017-07-22T22:00:41.767-05:00I have no idea what movie Rex Reed watched but the...I have no idea what movie Rex Reed watched but the Dunkirk I watched had no relationship to his mind-boggling review of a masterpiece. I'm also surprised Althouse would dismiss a movie based on a single reviewer. The score was integral to the film, don't understand complaints about. I suspect there's a lot of being-a-contrarian-for-its-own-sake going on in the face of nearly universal positive reviews and a better than expected opening weekend.The Genius Savanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18296334560234699226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-3113371921059716432017-07-22T17:03:53.840-05:002017-07-22T17:03:53.840-05:00I just saw it. Music was oppressive at times. As i...I just saw it. Music was oppressive at times. As it is in most everything nowadays. The traditional storyline is that the British army maintained great discipline during the evacuation as a whole. The movie seems to focus on soldiers who did not. Some remaining survivors may not like that. I'm sure that there were some soldiers doing whatever they could to survive, but I'm sure they wouldn't have pulled it off if everyone behaved that way ! RAF and Navy, and civilian sailors came across pretty well.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14765357939099721062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-71888316205745393272017-07-22T15:33:07.257-05:002017-07-22T15:33:07.257-05:00MERGE for a bit...ugh...MERGE for a bit...ugh...LCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03146393047895889252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-64612784362387077442017-07-22T15:32:15.121-05:002017-07-22T15:32:15.121-05:00Might be considered a spoiler listed below...
Saw...Might be considered a spoiler listed below...<br /><br />Saw Dunkirk today. Never thought I'd say this, but it was a beautifully done movie. This movie more of a "painting" than a "photograph", with things done in broad strokes. And I've never heard of 3 time lines in a movie done in the way they were here: 1 week with the characters from the Mole, 1 day with the characters with the boat and 1 hour with the RAF fighter pilots. Toward the end all 3 timelines mess for a bit...then come apart again. <br /><br />The 3 time lines did get somewhat confusing until I realized the the minesweepers that kept getting sunk were all various viewpoints of the same ship sinking. And no, that's not a plot spoiler. It's just a device to let all 3 timelines focus on one "thing".<br /><br />The audio was a bit loud, but I never had an issue with it drowning out the dialogue. The bass was way too loud, but I wonder if that's because we saw it in a theater that had recliners with bass woofers in the seats.LCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03146393047895889252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-30317657574050948312017-07-22T13:50:33.990-05:002017-07-22T13:50:33.990-05:00The best war film isn't a film, it's a tv ...The best war film isn't a film, it's a tv miniseries. Band of Brothers. Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11205373646358643360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-71553358094455091332017-07-22T13:32:04.162-05:002017-07-22T13:32:04.162-05:00Kenneth Branagh (senior officer) character repeate...Kenneth Branagh (senior officer) character repeatedly utter's Churchill's name and through dialogue with other senior officer character updates audience on big picture, but as some have noted the sound is hard to make out often. readeringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16699913625782012426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-41890409839524160052017-07-22T10:46:46.960-05:002017-07-22T10:46:46.960-05:00Bay Area guy,
Battleground. Definitely has aspects...Bay Area guy,<br />Battleground. Definitely has aspects done in Saving Private Ryan. Single small unit. Fighting more for each other than any particular cause. Gradually losing friends along the way. Paratroopers.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14765357939099721062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-79668769996285013482017-07-22T10:23:26.881-05:002017-07-22T10:23:26.881-05:00Churchill is not mentioned by name, but his "...Churchill is not mentioned by name, but his "We shall fight on the beaches" speech is read aloud (from a newspaper) by a main character at the very end of the film. So, it's not a history lesson, but it has resonance for viewers with even a little knowledge of history. Other context is there, also, but piecemeal, explained to and overheard by various characters, if you're paying attention. That Rex Reed review is ridiculously fussy. Anniellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01258888227123658188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-1351909118170429972017-07-22T07:25:03.053-05:002017-07-22T07:25:03.053-05:00wouldn't know these were Naziswouldn't know these were NazisCraig Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17778080830068892260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-64617909921660772922017-07-22T07:24:12.217-05:002017-07-22T07:24:12.217-05:00I wanted to see it, too -- still may.
But I read ...I wanted to see it, too -- still may.<br /><br />But I read another review yesterday that changed my mind (Reed's I took with a grain of salt). <br /><br />Apparently, the context of the evacuation was left out of the film -- intentionally. The Germans are referred to throughout as "the enemy." A young person with the now-typical ignorance of history would know these were the dreaded Nazis.<br /><br />Winston Churchill is never mentioned, either, nor are any politicians.<br /><br />This is all by design, of course, but it seems sterile.Craig Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17778080830068892260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-56749109397719764502017-07-22T02:12:00.951-05:002017-07-22T02:12:00.951-05:00Just saw Dunkirk. Dorothy Rabinowitz must have lef...Just saw Dunkirk. Dorothy Rabinowitz must have left before the end.readeringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16699913625782012426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91185591707035060252017-07-21T23:42:55.329-05:002017-07-21T23:42:55.329-05:00Some corrections. Even if no one escapes from Fran...Some corrections. Even if no one escapes from France, it is not going to be easy to invade. As long as the British Navy exists a naval invasion will fail. For a real life example in 1941, the Germans had to turn aside and take care of Greece before attacking the Soviet Union. After easily taking the Greek mainland, the Germans attacked Crete. The forces invading by sea were wiped out. The only reason the Germans won was they used their only airborne division to land and capture air bases to land troops by plane.<br /><br />That attack destroyed the only German airborne force. One airborne division is not enough to capture air bases in England. Any forces trying to sail that "narrow" channel will die by the thousands. The German plan was for a narrow frontage landing, the few soldiers who didn't become fish food would face a meat grinder. <br /><br />The one way a landing might have had a significant impact is all the ship damage the British would take defending. This would have later reduced the number of escorts to protect the vital shipping Britain needed to survive. If the Germans had built more subs earlier, the wolf packs would have starved Britain. So a failed invasion might have forced peace. All Hitler needed was for the British to stop fighting. He didn't want to fight them. He was always looking east. <br /><br />We found it isn't easy to invade by sea. In Italy, Anzio was nearly a complete failure. The Germans almost drove us back into the sea, even with our air and sea superiority. It took months before we made it to Rome. August 1942 the US Navy abandoned (for a time)the Marines who had landed on Guadalcanal. <br /><br />We had our own meatgrinders on many Pacific islands. There we had total air and naval superiority (Layte excluded),once we ground down the Japanese at Guadalcanal. Iron Bottom Sound is well named. We were lucky at Savo Island the Japanese didn't stay to wipe out the landing ships. World War II is full of what ifs on all sides.PresbyPoethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15455313892845393736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-58490367680052615622017-07-21T23:15:29.269-05:002017-07-21T23:15:29.269-05:00I'm now two thirds of the way through a Britis...I'm now two thirds of the way through a British docudrama currently on Britbox. It's outstanding. I plan to see the feature film version in theaters this week.<br /><br />My grandfather flew on the Regensburg mission. He also worked on the staff of BG Fred Castle, one of two possible role models for the protagonist in 12 O'Clock High. Castle received a Medal of Honor for his final fatal mission, and my grandfather spoke admiringly of the man for the rest of his life. <br /><br />12 O'Clock High was by far his favorite war movie, and the only one he thought captured what things were like in the 8th Army Air Force at the time. Somehow I never saw the movie all the way through until quite recently. It's now among my very favorite movies, ever. As a study in combat command and leadership, it's without peer. <br /><br />It was released in the 40s, so its audience would have been largely WWII veterans. So they couldn't get away with much. <br /><br />Back to the British docudrama on Dunkirk... it's also a terrific look at the leadership and decision-making processes of some of the key leaders involved, including Churchill (arguing down Chamberlain, Atlee and Halifax who supported trying to get a peace deal through the Italians), the naval staff officer who was sent ashore to coordinate the evacuation, the British BEF Commanding General and some small unit leaders... a platoon leader and a couple of sergeants. Very highly recommended.Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16517956537865658903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22352109535454816642017-07-21T22:59:49.913-05:002017-07-21T22:59:49.913-05:00This is not a scientific survey, but the Polish pe...This is not a scientific survey, but the Polish people I've met were far more hostile to the Russians than to the Germans. This may be due to the fact that Russia occupied their country for two generations and just recently. Historically the Russians have been screwing over the Poles for centuries......Hitler happened, and that says something about the German people. Still, I would argue that he's a one off and not some inevitable expression of the German soul. The Russians are forever producing leaders like Stalin. Stalin probably isn't even the worst ruler in Russian history. The Germans will never top Hitler.Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07837540030934495651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-16960521424985441742017-07-21T22:22:45.367-05:002017-07-21T22:22:45.367-05:00The point is Hitler's strategic objective was ...<i>The point is Hitler's strategic objective was not to conquer France and Britain West, but to create a greater Germany in the East. The little rump of Czechosolvakia (Sudetenland) he hornswoggled from Chamberlain had tons of ethnic Germans. And Poles were practically German too.</i><br /><br />Actaully, not quite true. Hitler reannexed Alsace-Lorraine from the French 1940-1945 (this was the chunk of France ont he border that had a lot of german speakers like the Sudetenland and the Danzig corridor. Observe the light blue and light green areas next to France on this map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gau_Westmark#/media/File:NS_administrative_Gliederung_1944.png<br /><br />That's Alsace-Lorraine as part of the German state. So even if France had stayed out of the attack on Poland, Hitler still had a perfectly good <i>causus belli</i> against them identical to that he had used in 1938 and 1939. As for Britain, it has long been their strategic policy to have no one power control Europe (dating back to at least the 1700s).<br /><br />As for Nazi treatment of the Poles, it was incredibly brutal. starting with them kidnapping 'Aryan looking' Polish children to be raised as proper Germans and ethnic cleansing of 'Slavic elements' from West Poland which was to be repopulated with Germans. Note all the chunks of Poland which had become part of Germany?<br /><br />The Holocaust was especially bad in Poland for...well a variety of historical reasons. That said, roughly the same number of non-Jewish ethnic Poles were killed by the Germans as Polish Jews. Not to mention the USSR committed their own list of atrocities. The best estimate is approximately 20% of the Polish pre-war population perished 1939-45, so I really would advise against saying that Poles and Germans are close. Unless you want some Polish folks to take offense to that, probably physically.<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties_of_PolandScotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00856252859381740374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-24497118218159661992017-07-21T21:22:55.899-05:002017-07-21T21:22:55.899-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Etiennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02463542962653770911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-57400865599505062302017-07-21T21:15:18.001-05:002017-07-21T21:15:18.001-05:00Family squabble - similar to North fighting South ...<b>Family squabble - similar to North fighting South in US civil war. </b><br /><br />Surely you're not serious. Hitler believed the Slavs, just like the Jews, to be inferior peoples and had no qualms about killing them all and taking their land, mockturtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10507310332014103437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-25889749201378686002017-07-21T20:56:10.795-05:002017-07-21T20:56:10.795-05:00What stunned me about this post is that I had no i...What stunned me about this post is that I had no idea that Rex Reed was still living.Mark Danielshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18205344762960756655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22088066788408871792017-07-21T20:55:36.765-05:002017-07-21T20:55:36.765-05:00Family squabble - similar to North fighting South ...Family squabble - similar to North fighting South in US civil war. Bay Area Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08342949066248487677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-5168612763474663282017-07-21T20:47:10.370-05:002017-07-21T20:47:10.370-05:00"And Poles were practically German too."...<b>"And Poles were practically German too."</b><br /><br />Yeah, that's why the Germans killed so many of them. ???<br />mockturtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10507310332014103437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-542089427350454092017-07-21T20:42:52.056-05:002017-07-21T20:42:52.056-05:00Say what?
Lech Walesa recently said the Poland an...Say what?<br /><br />Lech Walesa recently said the Poland and Germany should form one country:<br /><br />http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/10330826/Poland-and-Germany-should-unite-says-Lech-Walesa.htmlBay Area Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08342949066248487677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-45444306737820795382017-07-21T20:31:35.398-05:002017-07-21T20:31:35.398-05:00"And Poles were practically German too."..."And Poles were practically German too."<br /><br />Say what?CWJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03598487232861475833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-14075794851277497672017-07-21T20:13:10.535-05:002017-07-21T20:13:10.535-05:00"It appears that Winston Churchill goes unmen..."It appears that Winston Churchill goes unmentioned in the film."<br /><br />I heard the "fight on the beaches" speech in an ad. I would incline to give it a chance. Rex Reed - Chuck, OK, I won't piss on you today, that was a good one - but who knows whether even the humble movie review is corrupted by The Narrative?Bad Lieutenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18091901464339059169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-70390223778573749942017-07-21T20:04:40.625-05:002017-07-21T20:04:40.625-05:00FTR the Dunkirk Miracle happened ONLY because Wins...FTR the Dunkirk Miracle happened ONLY because Winston Churchill ordered it to be done. That was another one of his do the right thing moments that made him so totally different from the other 99% of the politicians always looking for a way to face save or blame another.traditionalguyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05706120413005530014noreply@blogger.com