Movie Review: A Bridge Too Far

"A Bridge Too Far is a 1977 epic war film based on the 1974 book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan, adapted by William Goldman. It was produced by Joseph E. Levine and Richard P. Levine and directed by Richard Attenborough.^[1]

The film tells the story of the failure of Operation Market Garden during World War II, the Allied attempt to break through German lines and seize several bridges, including the bridge over the Lower Rhine, in the occupied Netherlands, with the main objective of Allied armor outflanking the Siegfried Line at its northern extremity.

The name for the film comes from an unconfirmed comment made by British Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning, deputy commander of the First Allied Airborne Army, who told Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the operation's architect, before the operation, "I think we may be going a bridge too far."^[2]

The ensemble cast includes Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Hardy Krüger, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, and Maximilian Schell. The music was scored by John Addison, who served with XXX Corps during Market Garden."

*(Disclaimer: the above description was taken off of Wikipedia. I didn't write it, and I haven't checked out the links yet, so I don't know exactly what they lead to)*

A reenactor at a war event suggested this movie to us when he heard we were studying the world wars. According to him, it was "a great family movie! A classic!" As you read further, you'll see he has an unusual definition of 'family movie'...

Pros: I'm not sure how historically accurate it really is, but the reenactor told us it was pretty close to real (yeah, the same one who told us it was a family movie). It was very interesting, and I'm glad I watched it. No romance. It was a glimpse into World War II. The Germans actually spoke German instead of English in German accents, which I thought was cool.

Cons: Unnecessarily excessive cussing, violence and gore. There was also a very disturbing scene involving...well, without getting graphic, I'll just tell you that it was about an elderly lady.

Overall, it was definitely at least equal to a PG-13 rated movie. I'm not quite sure what it was really rated, but it certainly wasn't a 'family movie'. I actually really enjoyed it (aside from the cussing).

My rating: 2 3/4 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed the overall story, and it was very entertaining, but the language bumped the rating down considerably. I didn't mind the blood and violence as much, although some of you guys might.

And the moral of our story: don't believe everything that reenactors tell you! =)

Stayed up 'till midnight...but it was worth every second!!!! (aka Movie Review)

We FINALLY watched The Fellowship of the Ring last night!! We had to wait until nine or so for Luthien and Galdor to go to bed. And then...we watched it. I suppose I'll do an official review.

'The Fellowship of the Ring'

When Bilbo Baggins vanishes on his 111 birthday, he leaves a mysterious ring of power behind to his nephew, Frodo. Gandalf the Wizard, an old friend of Bilbo's, doesn't know much about the ring except for that it is dangerous and must be kept hidden from all eyes. More research about the ring reveals that it will be the end of Middle Earth, unless Frodo can destroy it in the place where it came from--Mordor.

Frodo and three friends, Sam, Pippin, and Merry, set out to deliver the ring to whoever can destroy it, and find that this ring has even bigger importance than they had realized. When they reach Rivendell, it is decided that Frodo himself will bear the ring, and that two men, Aragorn and Boromir, an elf named Legolas, a dwarf named Gimli, and Gandalf the Wizard will all accompany them. Thus starts the Fellowship of the Ring...

You must watch it.

With that said, I'll be more official. It was wonderful!! Now I understand what everyone else was raving about.

Good stuff: There's a lot of close friendship and awesome fight scenes. I really liked the Ringwraiths (not that it's my style or anything, they just did a good job of looking really creepy and evil). I greatly enjoyed finally seeing the movie that I had been dying to see for years, and I must say, it certainly was an awesome movie in a whole lot of ways.

There is some cautionary stuff, though (yes, I know this seems longer than the good stuff...but it really isn't): First of all, Aragorn and Arwen kiss. I see what people mean when they say that Arwen is definitely not as pure in the movie as in the books. And I could understand why Dad and Mom didn't want me and Erestor to watch it until we had reached the ages we are (also I think it was a good idea to send Galdor and Luthien to bed. Luthien wouldn't even watch parts of 'The Princess Bride') There's some brief torture scenes, and the bad guys are very real looking. I actually enjoyed the part where Aragorn lopped off the Uruk-Hai's (I think I spelled that right) head, but that could also be sort of disturbing.

I must say, I didn't close my eyes during the movie at all!! I also managed to not cry until the ending part (s). I'm usually the last to cry during movies, and if you ask any of my friends, they would most likely say that I'm not a crying type of person.

At the place where we do archery, there was one girl (she's not likely to appear on this blog very much, so I won't bother to give her a name) that said Erestor reminded her of Pippin. I definitely see the resemblence (haha). They even look somewhat alike!!

And now I'm going back to bed.

Movie Review: The Princess Bride

Credits are still rolling in the family room (also known as the TV room) and we just finished watching...'The Princess Bride'.

'The Princess Bride'
Rated PG

Buttercup, a young lassie, falls in love with a farm boy named Wesley. But they're too poor to get married, so Wesley has to go out and seek a fortune. Fairly usual, except Wesley here does the above average--he gets captured by an infamous pirate who takes no prisoners. That is a death sentence.

Hardly any time has passed before Prince Humperdink requests Buttercup's hand in marriage--and it's impossible for Buttercup to refuse. But before the wedding, she's captured by a giant, a Spaniard, and their somewhat-obsessed-with-the-word-inconceivable' leader.

A mysterious ship on the horizon forces the small kidnapping group to do some quite daring things--climb up mountains, split their ways, have contests for their own lives--but the man in black, still following them, is unstoppable.

But kidnapping and mysterious, masked men might not be Buttercup's only troubles. Even though she learns what she thought impossible, she is still forced to marry Prince Humperdink. Her true love has disappeared yet again. And he won't show up in time to save her. Until it could just very well be too late.
--- --- ---

I know, bad summing up of the movie. But it's late.

First of all...IT WAS AWESOME!!

Before I watched it, I wondered at everyone who raved about it, thinking 'Who would want to watch a movie titled 'The Princess Bride'? All that sounds of is mushy-ness.

It's awesome!!! The sword fights are awesome, the humor is awesome....it's awesome.

To be more official: Buttercup and Wesley are devoted to each other, and not even death will stop true love. The swordfights are (I won't use the word awesome)...spectacular, and the movie had us all laughing. There were some parts, too, when I...ah...cried. If you know me, I am not the crying type. So maybe I didn't cry...my eyes just got a little watery. The blanket must have been dusty...or something.

However, there are some bad parts. First of all, the torture scene is a little disturbing (and I thought the torture scene in my book was pretty gross). Buttercup's parents are never mentioned (not that that's bad, it's just not good), and there are some other intense parts that may disturb younger kids (I myself didn't watch the torture scene. And I consider myself pretty hardened). Buttercup, although she never does it, does mention suicide. And then there's the kissing.

On a less moral and more quality-based critizism level--the first part, I thought, seemed a little rushed. The acting of the dude who's obsessed with 'inconceivable' I didn't think was first-rate. It may just have been me. And the rodents in the Fire-Swamp didn't look real, either. Just like an overgrown mole.

The Spanierd dude--I can't remember his name--was really good though.

Overall, it was an AWESOME movie! Watch it.

Izori

Movie Review: The Prince of Egypt

A movie review on a book blog? Well, it was a good movie...

The Prince of Egypt (rated PG)
A DreamWorks Pictures production

Moses, growing up with his brother Rameses, never dreamed he was anything but the son of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Until he runs into his real sister, a slave named Miriam, who tries to tell him the real story. He flees, but later he does some serious thinking, and finds out that Miriam was right, Moses' mother set him afloat in a basket on the Nile long ago to save his life, and he drifted to the palace. And was adopted into the royal family. Now facing the truth, Moses realizes that his path will take him another direction then Rameses'. One will become the ruler of the most powerful empire on earth, and the other the chosen leader of his enslaved people. Their confrontation will change the world.

It was really good. It did have some parts not in the Bible, like Tzipporah and Moses meet before he runs away, but nothing really bad (like Ra was the real person in the burning bush, or something like that). I thought the voice-actors (actresses) did a pretty good job. Though I would probably read the Biblical version before you watch the movie. My favorite part was when Tzipporah dropped Moses down the well, or maybe a little bit of the chariot race.

Izori