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Dunkirk [ Hits:12498 ]
Review: Christopher Nolan's trademark style is brooding, clinical, dark, heavy, elegant and powerful. The acclaimed filmmaker has become a household name, adding a crest of brilliant films to his credit over the last two decades. A visionary director, he's become respected not only for his output but his method, getting the most from his cast and crew by adopting a businesslike mentality. Film is entertainment, but Nolan realises that in order to turn a profit and get the best results, creating a clinic...

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot [ Hits:2131 ]
Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is based on the memoirs of Kim Baker from her biographical novel, Taliban Shuffle, about a cable news producer who decided to take on a daring new job as a war correspondent in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2002. We journey with the forty-something American woman through the hedonistic haze and turbulent years as she becomes accustomed to a new way of life in an out-of-control war zone. As a war comedy drama, it's not surprising to find Tina Fey at the helm as the fish-out-of-wate...

Modder en Bloed [ Hits:3146 ]
Review: Modder en Bloed or Blood and Glory is a war drama, directed by Sean Else, who coaxed some fantastic performances from a stellar cast in his previous feature, 'n Man soos my Pa. This film stars Stian Bam, Grant Swanby and Charlotte Salt, who lead an equally adept ensemble with the likes of Deon Lotz, Edwin van der Walt, Bok van Blerk, Albert Maritz, Greg Kriek and Patrick Connolly. The "Blood" part has a gritty edge, not shying away from its ruthless Full Metal Jacket boot camp aspirations as we...

American Sniper [ Hits:2511 ]
Review: American Sniper is a biographical war action drama based on Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle's four tours of duty, the pinpoint accuracy that made him a legend and the unfettered patriotism that almost derailed his family. Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of our Fathers director, Clint Eastwood, has created a striking film with a garbled message starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller and Kyle Gallner. The movie poster for American Sniper features a star-spangled banner waving in the foreground of ou...

Fury [ Hits:2585 ]
Review: Fury is a simple film masquerading as a complex animal. Writer-director David Ayer presents a cocky yet typical platoon war movie as a bunch of characters band together to form, storm and norm again as a new recruit gets initiated. The difference being that instead of being sent to Hell on amphibious landing craft, we're living, breathing and dying through a Sherman tank. We're treated to a World War II drama trying to match Saving Private Ryan for aural and visual majesty. While the soundtrack...

The Flowers of War [ Hits:5033 ]
Review: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II describes events leading up the 1937-1938 Nanking Massacre with an account of the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army. The controversial book was one of the first to introduce the massacre to the world in the English-language and inspired Geling Yan to write 13 Flowers of Nanking, the novella that inspired The Flowers of War, a film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Christian Bale. The Flowers of War is an epic histo...

Green Zone [ 2010 ] [ Hits:6796 ]
Review: Green Zone is just another better-than-average Iraq war film in the company of Body of Lies, Traitor and The Kingdom. We've seen the covert missions, the terrorist agendas and the corrupt officials before and it's getting a little old now. The film's main selling point is that it comes straight from the tag team that brought us The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass. They bring a similar flair to Green Zone with quick camera action shots and our hero's rogue status as he delves dee...

The Messenger [ 2009 ] [ Hits:6251 ]
Review: The Messenger is a humanistic, character-driven war drama starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson. The U.S. is still fighting with troops posted in Iraq. Casualties, body bags and wounded heroes are returning home after their tour of duty. One such man is Will Montgomery (Foster). He's drafted into the notification service while nursing an eye and leg injury, sustained while in the field. He's deemed to be a war hero and is put under the command of Tony Stone (Harrelson) as an intern, learning h...

The Hurt Locker [ 2009 ] [ Hits:6399 ]
Review: Well there you go… The Hurt Locker is the Best Picture for 2009, it now ranks amongst such classics as Schindler’s List, Braveheart, Dances with Wolves, Forrest Gump, Platoon and more recently, The Departed, No Country for Old Men and Slumdog Millionaire. It’ll be remembered as the film that beat the box office’s “#1 movie of all time” and denied James Cameron’s heart from going on…After slaying the Goliath that is Avatar, sticking it to James ‘Titanic’ Came...

Waltz with Bashir [ 2008 ] [ Hits:5408 ]
Review: Waltz with Bashir is extraordinary in terms of its originality and representation of war... An animated biographical war documentary drama takes an Israeli director on a journey to reconstruct and clarify the events of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon from the accounts of fellow veterans. The magnitude of such an investigation, the repercussions of such a repressive recovery and the flood of memories that accompany such an introspective film must be nothing short of horrifying, but Waltz with Bashir...

Inglourious Basterds [ 2009 ] [ Hits:7564 ]
Review: Quentin Tarantino's latest film, Inglourious Basterds (10 years in the making) is about to hit South African shores like D-Day this Friday. Brad Pitt appears to be the star and headlines a cast including: Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, Julie Dreyfuss, Melanie Laurent, Eli Roth, Til Schweiger and Mike Myers in what will no doubt be a return to Tarantino's heydays after the Grindhouse accident involving Deathproof, which was not quite up to scratch when contrasted with the likes of Reservoir Dogs,...

Tropic Thunder [ 2008 ] [ Hits:6967 ]
Review: So Ben Stiller is still in the business of acting and directing. He showed us he could do it with Zoolander’s infectious, albeit flawed execution and now in the wake of John Rambo we have his latest offering, Tropic Thunder. The film is a scathing satire, which preys on itself like a Mantis with those green sticky legs, except this isn’t the one that you nestle gently in the garden - it’s the head-eating kind. Stiller’s Tropic Thunder is a strange composite of action and comedy. This is ...

Valkyrie [ 2008 ] [ Hits:5338 ]
Review: Valkyrie is a historical drama based on the last assassination attempt made on Hitler, which triggered an uprising in the guise of a military action known as Operation Valkyrie. The title refers to Richard Wagner’s piece, Ride of the Valkyries, a famous piece of music strongly associated with Apocalypse Now. The Valkyries were depicted in Norse mythology as winged women that would swoop down over battlefields gathering fallen heroes. The name is derived from the old Norse word ‘valkyrja’, ...

Defiance [ 2008 ] [ Hits:7226 ]
Review: Defiance is a film by Edward Zwick, the director of Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai. Zwick’s films show a connection with humanity and nature. The director is able to unify the two, making the environment a part of the characters. In Defiance, the forest forms the backdrop for the majority of the film moving from dry to snowy conditions. The Bielski brothers band a group of Jewish fighters together to establish a safe community in the Belarussian forests for Jewish families in Nazi-occupied...

Letters from Iwo Jima [ 2006 ] [ Hits:5534 ]
Review: Letters from Iwo Jima is an account of Imperial Japan’s last stand against the US on the island of Iwo Jima. The film was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, but lost to Scorsese’s The Departed. The film is from Clint Eastwood, and comes off the back of Flags of our Fathers, a disappointment in comparison. Letters from Iwo Jima is a classic. The film, originally titled Red Sun, Black Sand starts with some recent shots from Iwo Jima. Remnants include bunkers, old artillery and tunnels. In one...

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