just saw the Hurt Locker...

[Vladimir]

Used to take a course called "Film and TV" in high school.
And now I can't watch movies without thinking "Oo effective camera angle" and "hmm.. lightings a bit off"

Good thing I'm slowly starting to forget all that and actually enjoying the films.

A similar thing happened to me after I started watching DVD director's commentaries. It allows you to pay more attention to detail but can ruin simple movies. The final fight scene from Avatar was so chiche that I had a bemused look on my face the entire time.

It also makes me look down on the proletariat.

[Prussian to the Iron]

If your dad has been to Iraq multiple times I am assuming he is at least an NCO at this point. I wish him luck at OCS, as he will be getting smoked by punk-ass NCOs ranks below him and he will need a lot of self-restraint to keep from ripping their heads off. Had a few guys from my OCS who were former First Sgts break and bail because they got so frustrated. I'm sure he can handle it, but I hope he knows it is going to be irritating as hell. OCS was worse than basic training for me.

Yeah, he's picking up Major when we get there, so that's pretty nice. I hope he can handle it too, though he has 4 young children and me to take care of every day, so that probably helps with the tolerance.


I've also noticed a decided lack of war movies based on Marines in modern warfare. Most of them are Army

No offense

[Subotan]

I've also noticed a decided lack of war movies based on Marines in modern warfare. Most of them are Army

No offense

I've noticed a decided lack of Hollywood movies involving British anyone but American soldiers. Of course, there are exceptions, like Letters from Iwo Jima, but these are rare. If Saving Private Ryan was your primary source of information regarding WWII, you might think that Germany had invaded New Jersey or something.

[Lemur]

My dad was a Marine who served in Indochina back in the day. I was forced to sit through every ********** Vietnam film ever made. Put me off the genre pretty much forever. Kinda like the Beatles that way; I can't stand them to this day, simply because they were the ever-present soundtrack of my childhood. Enough!

I'm amused that you ding Hurt Locker for inaccuracy, and then go on to praise Braveheart. If Hurt Locker is a work of not-quite-accurate war reportage, Braveheart is magical realism and Science Fiction with a dash of straight-up fantasy. If you sat down one of William Wallace's men and showed him Gibson's film, there would be blood spilled.

A partial list of anachronisms, falsehoods, fabrications and outrageous wrongness in Braveheart.

-edit-

Ugh, my bad, you praised Troy and Gladiator, not Braveheart. That's okay, they're wildly inaccurate, too.

[Prussian to the Iron]

you might think that Germany had invaded New Jersey or something.

Wait....you mean they didn't???




anyway, yeah, you're right. not much about anyone besides American Army.

[CountArach]

yes. it was a great movie, one of the best I'd seen in 2009. not much of a movie year admittedly though. nothing like '08 or '05-'06.

And yet, it was completely thought-provoking.

[TinCow]

IMHO, The Hurt Locker was one of the best films I've seen this year. It fully deserves Oscar nods for both Best Picture and Best Director.

[Major Robert Dump]

Yeah, he's picking up Major when we get there, so that's pretty nice. I hope he can handle it too, though he has 4 young children and me to take care of every day, so that probably helps with the tolerance.


I've also noticed a decided lack of war movies based on Marines in modern warfare. Most of them are Army

No offense

Wait, he is going to OCS from enlisted and he is going to start as a Major? Or he is already an officer?

[Hooahguy]

any relation to Major Major Major Major?

sorry i had to ask.

[Lemur]

any relation to Major Major Major Major?

That is one of my official, certified, scientifically proven Three Funniest Books™. Glad to see someone else has read it!

[Vladimir]

Wait, he is going to OCS from enlisted and he is going to start as a Major? Or he is already an officer?

What's that smell? It certainly isn't the smell of victory.

I went on a study abroad with an Army Brat who said his dad was a CW7. For the initiated, CW (Chief Warrant officers) only go up to 5.

[Hooahguy]

That is one of my official, certified, scientifically proven Three Funniest Books™. Glad to see someone else has read it!

Catch-22 should be required reading.

definitely one of the funniest book in all time.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Wait, he is going to OCS from enlisted and he is going to start as a Major? Or he is already an officer?

no he's a Captain right now. he'll pick up rank just before we go to Virginia so he can go to OCS. he was enlisted, than got selected to....i'm a little foggy there but in a nutshell he picked up officer and then got free military 4 year college, and is now almost done with his masters degree.

[Major Robert Dump]

I'm confuse. Maybe the Marines do it different.

In the Army, If he is a Captain then he should have already been to OCS, ROTC or Direct Commission. In all cases, you start out as a 2LT. Then you go to Officer Branch Training where they give you your job and you become an LT. Then you go to the Captains Career Course where you pick another field of specialization and when you finish that you are a CPT. After that, not completely sure, but the jump from Captain to Major is the jump from junior officer to field grade officer, so I am certain there is a school to attend, I just plan on never making it to that rank because there are politics involved.

[Prussian to the Iron]

uhhh.....what?

when he picks up major (or very shortly before, not sure exactly when but it will be before august), he'll be one of the....instructors I guess is the right word for OCS.

prior to this, he was the head of one of his battallions Motor T, and then he moved to a different one in the same base and was the chief logistician (logistics), and now he's working for MARSOC. and shortly we'll be going to virginia where he'll be at OCS.

[Major Robert Dump]

That explains it then. You made it sound like he was attending OCS as a student in the earlier post.

[Prussian to the Iron]

ah. i thought i had made it clear; apparently not.




anyway, on-topic for the first time in the last page ( :P ) :


i saw Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness today. great movie, excellent plot, very cool action. the only thing that really bugged me was that until 20 minutes before the end, nobody thought about killing the main character and ending it there. obviously he would have beaten them to the moon and back in a really cool fight scene, but it would have been nice to have some practicality and common sense in the movie.

the end was great, Mel, being Mel, seriously ****** up some dudes, killed one of the main antagonists, and the guy who was supposed to kill him helped him out by killing all the guys responsible for ruining the main characters life. of coruse, being a Mel Gibson movie, every main character who did good had to get killed, but it felt like they were fulfilled.


I would see it again with someone else I think. maybe if i can get that one chick to go with me....

[Lemur]

I'm afraid of Edge of Darkness, I have a great fondness for the original.