‘Saving Private Ryan’: The Best War Film of All Time?

I had heard about Saving Private Ryan but never felt compelled to watch it. All I knew was that it was a war movie starring Tom Hanks. On July 3 I watched it for the first time on TBS and was shaken to my very core by the power, grittiness, and at times disturbingly realistic portrayal of the ugliness of war.

Steven Spielberg, who would win Best Director for this film, provided what I feel is his greatest work in this movie. He made us feel like a soldier on the bloody battlefield. He made us feel the horror of seeing fellow countrymen killed mercilessly in battle. He made us begin to care for the characters and their internal struggles. He made us watch wide-eyed as the story continued, delivering gut punch after gut punch until the end.

Saving Private Ryan is a masterpiece. An utter masterpiece of filmmaking, specifically for the war movie category. I’ve seen Glory, I’ve seen Dunkirk and 1917 (by the way, 1917 is a total modern ripoff of Saving Private Ryan but isn’t nearly as good) but I have never quite seen anything like this movie I was fortunate enough to watch a couple of days ago.

Let me tell you, this movie is not for the weak. Its violence is on another tier of horror, showing war in a non-glorified light that reminds us why soldiers come home with so much trauma. But beyond the extreme violence lies a tale of bravery that is a testament to the character and virtue of the United States and what we are willing to do to protect our countrymen.

I’m giving this movie 100 out of 100 and 5 out of 5 stars.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a beautiful day.

‘Ad Astra’ Is the Worst Sci-Fi Movie I’ve Ever Seen

When this movie was coming out last September I judged correctly: the movie looked, excuse my bluntness, dumb. It felt like a vague attempt to capture the same magic that Interstellar manages to bottle up by casting another big-time white male actor, in this case, it was Brad Pitt, and launch him into space for a visually and emotionally filling dramatic adventure.

The other day while watching HBO it came on and so I decided to sit back, relax, and see if my gut intuition was correct. Honestly, for two-thirds of the two hour and three-minute film, I was totally into the story: a story which sees Brad Pitt’s character, Roy McBride, on a classified mission to find his father (Tommy Lee Jones) on the other side of the galaxy before Earth is destroyed.

The visuals sucked me in, the storytelling left me dazzled, and I was blind to see just how unsensible the movie was until the final thirty minutes or so when the film devolved into a boring display of nothingness. I nearly fell asleep as the story refused to deliver any surprises whatsoever. Suddenly, the stunning visuals didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was how disappointing the film’s conclusion.

Looking back over the story; a story that featured a skirmish on the Moon with moon bandits that didn’t make sense, a frightening encounter with rabid space monkeys that got loose in a ship (don’t ask me why), and plenty of other nonsensical material, it’s clear that despite seeing simply awful science-fiction movies in the past, this was the worst.

It was so ill-conceived, so horribly put together and thought through, so unrealistic in its treatment of space travel and trajectories and whatnot, that it is undoubtedly the worst sci-fi film I have ever seen.

I suggest not to waste your time with this one. It had all of the makings of an Oscar-worthy film but veered left far too many times to even be considered for such a prestigious honor.

I’m not going to even give this movie a score, that’s how bad it was.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a remarkable day.

DC Comics or Marvel: What’s Your Favorite

Superhero movies have become all the craze in the last decade when Hollywood realized these films make a crapload of money. And superhero films make a whole lot of money because a larger demographic can watch it. Grandparents, parents, teenagers, children, every generation can find a reason to get into these movies at their own pace and enjoy the riveting spectacle.

Marvel Studios has had the most success at acquiring an audience willing to drag themselves off of the couch, step outside the house, get into their car or whatever form of transportation, and head to the theaters to see what’s going to happen in the next chapter of the franchise’s world-building.

But you can’t deny that DC Comics has tried to put their own stamp into the superhero conversation with films that have started a conversation of their own. Unfortunately, the conversations haven’t been overly positive.

But these franchises don’t just pertain to the last decade of superhero galore. We must think back to the Batman movies in the 80s and 90s’, the X-Men films in the 2000s, and The Dark Knight trilogy which spanned from 2005 to 2012.

Of these franchises that have given us so many superhero movies over the decades, which is your favorite?

Honestly, I am torn to pick a favorite. On one side, Marvel has managed to deliver powerful stories over the last decade with superheroes that I legitimately care about. And then on the other side with DC Comics its collection of heroes and villains are far more spectacular. Wonder Woman, Superman, Shazam, Aquaman, the only hero that seems like a regular human is Batman who, like Iron Man, uses his brain to create the ultimate superhero alias.

But definitely, at the end of the day, I’d have to pick Marvel. If DC Comics could find a way to give its lovable stories in the same way that Marvel Studios has taken care of its characters I’d probably pick DC Comics. Until then, Endgame is enough to convert me to the Marvel side of the spectrum.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a tremendous day.