Tag Archives: Vietnam War

Primitive War – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Few films can sell me on a premise alone, but what if Dinosaurs were in the Vietnam War is 100% the way to go about it.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Warning – Contains scenes with flashing lights.

A boat glides up a Vietnamese river.

Primitive War Introduction –

Every now and again, you find a film that has been laser-focused on your interests. For me, you must work to make me not interested once you have mentioned the word dinosaurs. Start with the premise ‘what if dinosaurs suddenly showed up in the middle of the Vietnam War’, now you don’t just have my interest, you have my full attention

So, to set the scene, it is 1968, and the Vietnam War is in full swing. In the middle of the war, a Green Beret platoon was sent into a jungle valley to find out what the Russians were doing there, only for none of them to return, and a final radio call was cut off halfway through. General Amadeus Jericho (Jeremy Piven) needs the information the recon team collected. Still, he can’t have it known, so he sends in the Vulture Squad led by Ryan Baker (Ryan Kwanten), as they are a bunch of misfits. They find the remains of the Green Berets, but also an unusually large feather. It is clear that the Green Berets were not able to finish their recon before they were taken out, so the Vulture Squad trek into the jungle to find the Russian base, not realising what might be waiting, hiding, stalking in the bushes.  

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The Holdovers – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It was a wonderful, moving, sad, delightful, and wild ride, unlike anything I have seen before, and it has been sitting in the back of my mind since I watched it. 

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A failed exam paper.

The Holdovers Review –

When you are watching a film, there are times when you have an experience where you become completely absorbed into the narrative. Taken back 50 years to a place you have never been before, to a place that you have no connection with, but you are taken there wholly. These cases are where the narrative, the direction, and the acting all come together for a perfect work. Today, we look at just such a film that focuses on three actors who give their all to the proceedings.

So to set the scene, it is coming to the end of the year in 1970 as we come to Barton Academy in New England. The term is coming to an end, and everyone is getting ready to go home to their families for Christmas, well, almost everyone. Every year, there is a handful of students who can’t make it back home for the break and stay over at the school, the titular holdovers. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) teaches ancient civilizations and is hated by most of the students, does not want to be the one stuck with the holdovers but gets out manoeuvred by another staff member. Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) wants to go home for the holidays, but his mother is spending it with her new husband, and Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) lives on campus but is facing her first Christmas alone. They make an odd bunch as the snow comes in.     

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Movie Review – Da 5 Bloods

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TL;DR – A powerful film that hurt to watch at times, but I am glad that I did.    

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit moment

Awards:

Nominated: Explosive Action & The Emotion

Da 5 Bloods. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

There have been a lot of films set during the Vietnam War or explores its aftermath. It is not a noble war like WW2 in people’s minds, it was bloody, unnecessary, and it left shockwaves throughout American society, that we are still living through today. How do you capture a war like that, well some have done it through sceptical, some have done it through horror, and there was that one time was a flying elephant. Today I look at a film that has all of that, okay not the elephant part, while hitting the realities and legacy of the Vietnam War.  

So to set the scene, we open in on a montage of Black America and their experiences in war, specifically Vietnam War or the American War as it is known in Vietnam. This is where we get a crash course on the War from start to finish through a lens we don’t always see. We jump to today in Ho Chi Minh City today where four old friends come together again in a country they once fought in, a place full of memories but also somewhere that has gone through a lot of changes. Paul (Delroy Lindo), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), Otis (Clarke Peters) & Eddie (Norm Lewis) have come back to Vietnam for one reason, to find the body of one of their fallen comrades Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman). However, there may also be a whole lot of gold from the war on the line as well.

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Movie Review – Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan

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TL;DR – A powerful and deeply compelling film that explores a key moment in Australia’s military history and the cost it took.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a credit sequence and a mid-credit scene

Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan. Image Credit: Transmission Films.

Review –

Australia has a long history of making truly excellent war films. From works such as the pivotal Gallipoli to Beneath Hill 60 to The Rats of Tobruk and many more. So walking in I knew that there was a level of quality that was going to be there no matter what. However, for me, I can either be drawn in fully to war film or I can bounce off it like Andy Dwyer off an ambulance, so there was still a little hesitation. But I should not have been concerned because this is some of the best of Australian cinema at the moment.  

So to set the scene, it is 1966 and it is the height of the Vietnam War, a Cold War proxy conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union played out in the context of a civil war between North and South Vietnam. The 1st Australian Task Force headed by Brigadier David Jackson (Richard Roxburgh) is set up in Nui Dat where they send patrols out into the local countryside. One night the camp is attacked by mortars and while the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery were able to target them, the 1st Field Regiment, need to follow up the next day to find the source. Alpha Company didn’t find much, so part in punishment Harry Smith’s (Travis Fimmel) Delta Company was sent out to chase them down while a musical performance was happening back at camp. All was going well until at the rubber plantation at Long Tan the 11th Platoon of D Company came under heavy fire and it is soon discovered that this is not just a raiding party but a full battalion of the North Vietnamese Army heading their way, 100 men against and advance of 2000 and a monsoon is just about to hit.

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Movie Review – The Post

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TL;DR – A wonderfully filmed, brilliantly acted look at what was one of the most controversial periods in United States’ history. While it is interesting it does take a bit to get going.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

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Review –

I don’t think a film in recent history has had an easier sell as The Post, a film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Meryl Streep & Tom Hanks, scored by John Williams, and based on one of the most controversial periods in United States’ history. Indeed, this is a kind of line up that you don’t see happen very often, and it is truly amazing to see it all come together. That being said there are some structural issues that do hold it back, and it does have a very clear message, and it is subtle about it which might work for you or not.

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