thread: 2005-09-21 : The Red Sky A.M. Fishbowl
On 2005-09-26, Vincent wrote:
About movies: I've seen so many I can't possibly list 'em. Full Metal Jacket is my favorite. I've seen all the ones you list, KSB, except Stalingrad. I watched Band of Brothers a couple times through; I watched one early episode three times in a row. They advance up a hill into a town - it's the third or fourth episode.
Blackhawk Down is important to the game, but not for being a good movie - I need to make sure that the game does "this one bad happening makes the whole operation go terribly, terribly wrong" and does it well.
Most recently I watched about half of Gunner Palace - something interrupted me and I couldn't finish it, I'll have to go back to the video store and pick it up again.
I'm looking forward to Jarhead.
This makes SJF go "Watch "Aliens" carefully"
The second one, with Newt and the Space Marines. I'm serious. It's the best depiction I've ever seen of how command-and-control breaks down in the chaos of battle and new leaders arise & improvize.
This makes VB go "Aliens again, check."
This makes NinJ go "Well, I was gonna say that, but I'm glad you did, S."
My favorite parts of that movie are two:
1: the Marines talk tough, then shit goes down, and then the shit talkin' stops and they get down to business. Then they all die because they don't know what's going on.
2: The theme of mother vs. mother is superpowerful.
This makes JCL go "BSG?"
I'm not up on the whole space marine genre, so I can't suggest much that would help you ... but I assume you've been watching the new Battlestar Galactica? if not, you should. practically every scene is a tough moral decision.
This makes VB go "alas."
The new Battlestar Galactica is at the top of my must-get-as-soon-as-either-I-have-the-cash-or-Video To Go-picks-it-up list.
This makes KSB go "Blackhawk down"
You really want to read the book aswell. The movie is okay, the FUBAR factor in the book is outstanding.
This makes VB go "I've read the original articles..."
But not the book. Is the book lots more than the articles?
This makes KSB go "Book or articles"
Can't really tell. Haven't read the articles.
With regards to the "balls up factor" IMO a more powerful conflict is the one between squad loyalty and crossing the line between right and wrong.
This makes JM go "Idi i smotri, man"
Harshest of the harsh. Best take on partisans I have ever seen. Beautiful and awful.
This makes MVG go "Netflix, Vincent."
Have 99% of anything you could want, super affordable (especially compared to renting same quantity of stuff from B&M store), keep it as long as you need it. Excellent for this kinda research, where you maybe want to see 10 movies and have the time to go over them
This makes VB go "Video To Go, baby."
My local video store has God's own selection and a similar subscription membership too. And for those marathon sessions they rent 7 catalog titles for 7 nights for $6! They're maybe my favorite retail establishment in the world, after the Forge booth at GenCon.
This makes JonasK go "Dirty Dozen (1967)"
In The Dirty Dozen you have the character flaw of one member of the team turn the mission at the end of the movie into something ugly. Watch it if you want a variant of "one thing goes wrong, terrible things happen".
This makes JBR go "Starship Troopers the Movie"
No, really. Watch it as social commentary masquerading as an empty-headed action flick. It's incredibly scary when watched through that lens.
This makes JBR go "BSG seconded."
Battlestar Galactica is the only reason I own a television. It is awesome stuff, and I swear the writers are just using PTA to come up with scripts.
This makes SLB go "Another vote for BSG"
