Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

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ORIGINAL: terje439

Britannia on HBO. Series on its own is good, why they went the fantasy way I do not understand however.

warspite1

Not sure about this so I've recorded it to watch over the weekend. Hoping its a good one.....

warspite1

Well I watched it. Not massively impressed but then it was okay - and only episode 1 = and it deserves more of a chance than that. I'll defo tune into episode 2.

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ORIGINAL: terje439

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

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ORIGINAL: terje439

Britannia on HBO. Series on its own is good, why they went the fantasy way I do not understand however.

warspite1

Not sure about this so I've recorded it to watch over the weekend. Hoping its a good one.....

warspite1

Well I watched it. Not massively impressed but then it was okay - and only episode 1 = and it deserves more of a chance than that. I'll defo tune into episode 2.

The show is not bad, but to me it would have been better if they had not gone so far with the druids. No need to make them like they did, also not a huge fan of how the Roman soldiers appears like supermen compared to those they are up against.
Sure, the Roman Kohorts were good fighting formations, but in this show I feel the individual Roman soldier comes off as too superior compared to the British tribesmen.

The acting performances are varied, some really good ones, some meh. Budget wise it seems to have been given a proper one.

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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Baywatch. It was okay - but could have been better.

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ORIGINAL: nicwb

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Baywatch. It was okay - but could have been better.

Don't tell me you were watching it for the storyline?

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

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ORIGINAL: nicwb

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Baywatch. It was okay - but could have been better.

Don't tell me you were watching it for the storyline?

warspite1

Yes, the trailer suggested it was going to be a very funny, tongue firmly in cheek version of a pretty tongue in cheek program. The idea was good and it certainly had its moments, but some of the situations were just puerile. Gross out movies can be funny - but some writers don't seem to understand the difference between funny and silly.

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ORIGINAL: nicwb
In similar vein I finally got around to watching "Fury" - well I guess that's something I won't have to do again. I can accept artistic licence for the sake of the movies' theme but I had a really difficult time discerning any particular theme.

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Off to see Disney Pixar's Coco at the weekend - has positive reviews - so after the disappointment of The Good Dinosaur, hopefully this is a welcome return to form for the stable.

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ORIGINAL: Orm

Just begun re-watching The West Wing.

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ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Off to see Disney Pixar's Coco at the weekend - has positive reviews - so after the disappointment of The Good Dinosaur, hopefully this is a welcome return to form for the stable.

FWIW, this movie has been getting very good reviews from the Latino community here. Disney has been doing a good job lately treading a fine line between film making sensitive cultural subject (such as Moana and this) and 'whitewashing' or dumbing down cultural history.

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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[I liked "Fury" a lot - and I accepted the "cut down" engagement distances because they helped the viewer to better understand the commanders' choices and the tactics employed.

Re: the theme, my take is that it is the same you can find in "Das Boot" (even if "Das Boot" is a far superior movie): camaraderie and the need to become an organic fightning unit, in the face of a death that can very well materialise just like that.

A lot of people didn't like "Fury" (many of them because they do know better, thanks to the fact that they do fanatically play Advanced Squad Leader and nothing else ). To each his own, I guess.
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RFalvo, I certainly agree that "Das Boot" was a better movie. And as I say I can accept a bit of artistic licence on reality to make a point.

I just found that "Fury" tended to bury whatever it had behind a ridiculously over the top ending. "Lone damaged US tank with psychologically damaged crew singlehandedly hold off battalion of die hard SS" - they did exactly the same ending in "Saving Private Ryan" (just without the tank). And in effect they ruined what could have been better movies by insisting on "superheroics".

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I just finished Altered Carbon, on Netflix. The visuals are breathtaking (they basically robbed Blade Runner and its sequel, with a budget worth of a movie). The story, however, is a bit 'meh'. I felt that they could do much more with the starting material; instead, after around the fourth episode they started meandering. The show's plot has a resolution, but of the "Let's decide who did what" kind - not as the logical result of the events as presented.

The San Francisco "a la Blade Runner", however, is worth every frame - from the gutters to the impossibly tall skyscrapers.

Disappointed to hear the story is a bit "meh" - I really enjoyed the series of books the series is based on.

(in reply to Lord Baldy)

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RFalvo, I certainly agree that "Das Boot" was a better movie. And as I say I can accept a bit of artistic licence on reality to make a point.

I just found that "Fury" tended to bury whatever it had behind a ridiculously over the top ending. "Lone damaged US tank with psychologically damaged crew singlehandedly hold off battalion of die hard SS" - they did exactly the same ending in "Saving Private Ryan" (just without the tank). And in effect they ruined what could have been better movies by insisting on "superheroics".

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Disappointed to hear the story is a bit "meh" - I really enjoyed the series of books the series is based on.

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RFalvo, I certainly agree that "Das Boot" was a better movie. And as I say I can accept a bit of artistic licence on reality to make a point.

I just found that "Fury" tended to bury whatever it had behind a ridiculously over the top ending. "Lone damaged US tank with psychologically damaged crew singlehandedly hold off battalion of die hard SS" - they did exactly the same ending in "Saving Private Ryan" (just without the tank). And in effect they ruined what could have been better movies by insisting on "superheroics".


According to Stephen Ambrose (as told in his book "Death Traps") in real life a lone soldier was able to pull the same stunt, repelling scores of Germans for a whole night. The name of the soldier, however, is not given in that book.

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But when Germans carrying lots of Panzerfausts (as they should this late in the war) forget them and start a banzai charge in the open against Brad Pitt (who will never be Lee Marvin ) and his tank, my wife (who cannot tell a Tiger from a Panzer II) whispered "Why the Germans don't use their rocket launchers? They could easily run around the house and destroy the tank! Are they utter idiots?".

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ORIGINAL: UP844

I have just bought "Fury" in DVD just to see a "live" Tiger, but in my opinion it is one of the worst war movies I ever saw.

Perhaps tracers looking like lightsabers or a tank spotting a camouflaged AT gun first and killing it with its first shot or the top view of the Tiger and the Sherman turning circles like they were in World of Tanks can only be noticed by die-hard ASL players (yes, I'm one). Perhaps.

But when Germans carrying lots of Panzerfausts (as they should this late in the war) forget them and start a banzai charge in the open against Brad Pitt (who will never be Lee Marvin ) and his tank, my wife (who cannot tell a Tiger from a Panzer II) whispered "Why the Germans don't use their rocket launchers? They could easily run around the house and destroy the tank! Are they utter idiots?".

Not even in the old Hollywood movies from the '50s the German were so stupid.

What really made me angry (or better "furious") was the historical accuracy of vehicles and equipment was really good, wasted for such a bad movie!

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Just watched Darkest Hour. A very good film - albeit with some liberty taking with the facts as always.

The set was perfect, the script was very good and the cast was of the highest quality imaginable. If Gary Oldman doesn't win an Oscar then the whole thing is cobblers. The support cast were very much in his shadow but did their jobs admirably - Kristin Scott Thomas as his wife, Cinderella was his assistant and Stannis Baratheon played Halifax very well (best supporting actor nominee at least surely).

Excellent and recommended.

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ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

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ORIGINAL: UP844

I have just bought "Fury" in DVD just to see a "live" Tiger, but in my opinion it is one of the worst war movies I ever saw.

Perhaps tracers looking like lightsabers or a tank spotting a camouflaged AT gun first and killing it with its first shot or the top view of the Tiger and the Sherman turning circles like they were in World of Tanks can only be noticed by die-hard ASL players (yes, I'm one). Perhaps.

But when Germans carrying lots of Panzerfausts (as they should this late in the war) forget them and start a banzai charge in the open against Brad Pitt (who will never be Lee Marvin ) and his tank, my wife (who cannot tell a Tiger from a Panzer II) whispered "Why the Germans don't use their rocket launchers? They could easily run around the house and destroy the tank! Are they utter idiots?".

Not even in the old Hollywood movies from the '50s the German were so stupid.

What really made me angry (or better "furious") was the historical accuracy of vehicles and equipment was really good, wasted for such a bad movie!

No no nope. If you think Fury was bad, clearly-CLEARLY you have not seen: USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. I couldn't even watch all of that one.

Re: Fury: I was 'meh' on it. Yeah, some of the special effects and tactical oversights bugged me, but they weren't movie-killing experiences. Kind of like Dunkirk I guess. Am I going to really get hung up about the seemingly infinite ammunition that Hardy's Spitfire had and how its flight trim out of fuel was totally unrealistic?

So with all the Experten () that roll their eyes about this or that outcome of Fury, think about the big picture of the last scene:

Veteran tank crew of M4A3E8 Sherman lays ambush on a 'battalion' (probably just a reinforced company in reality) of troops in parade march on a sunken road. The Sherman lays astride the route of march and can fire all three MGs and the main gun into the troops as they march. The only possible egress for the troops in the road is a small farmhouse, which is easily fired.

German casualties are horrific. Eventually several waves of German troops overwhelm the tank's defenders and finish it off. Several German panzerfausts impact the tank, killing or injuring several crew. In the interim-before the Germans can meaningfully regroup-American reinforcements arrive to drive them back off of the crossroads.

That's about what I would have expected from a "10,000 foot" perspective.

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ORIGINAL: redcoat

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Just watched Darkest Hour. A very good film - albeit with some liberty taking with the facts as always.

The set was perfect, the script was very good and the cast was of the highest quality imaginable. If Gary Oldman doesn't win an Oscar then the whole thing is cobblers. The support cast were very much in his shadow but did their jobs admirably - Kristin Scott Thomas as his wife, Cinderella was his assistant and Stannis Baratheon played Halifax very well (best supporting actor nominee at least surely).

Excellent and recommended.

I see Gary Oldman got best actor at the Oscars for his Churchill in Darkest Hour. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I’ve seen a few trailers. I wonder if Oldman’s makeup artist got an Oscar too?

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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ORIGINAL: Agathosdaimon

did the germans have such a low sense of self-preservation that they would all just run at the front of the tank?