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Saving
Private Ryan |
| Rated
R |
| Runtime:
2hr 49min |
| Starring:
Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore |
|
MFG
Rating: 5/5
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DVD
Features
Widescreen
Enhanced, Trailers, Production Notes, Making Of Feature
The
soundtrack will certainly give your subwoofer a workout. Directional
effects are done extremely well during battle scenes and make
a great demonstration disk for your Home Theater system. Video
quality is fine but remember that the movie was filmed to
have a "documentary" look to it and as such there
is apparent film grain during quite a few scenes. The making
of feature is interesting as well. - John
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The
Army, in its infinite wisdom, does some really stupid things. The
premise of the movie (and it's based on a true story) is that the
Ryan family sent four brothers into the war, three of which were
killed at or around D-Day. When a certain General learns of the
fate of the Ryan brothers he decides that it would be "the
decent thing" to send in troops to get the one remaining Ryan
brother out of the war.
OK,
I'll concede that it's the decent thing to do, but what about the
mothers of the men who were killed just to try and save Private
Ryan? What about their families?
As
I'm sure you are well aware Spielberg won many awards for this movie,
and they were all quite deserved. Simply put, Saving Private Ryan
is a masterpiece and really should be required viewing for any movie
buff and a required part of any war film buff's library.
The
opening sequence is about 30 minutes long and deals with the D-day
invasion. If you've never been truly convinced that "war is
hell", you will be after viewing this. I can't say enough about
the quality of the filming and special effects. I haven't seen a
battle first hand so I can't tell you for certain that this depiction
is accurate, but many veterans who have seen it report that it's
as close to the real thing as would be possible.
Acting
is top notch as well with everyone turning in amazing performances.
These characters are 100% believable and deal with quite trying
conditions in exactly the manner as would be expected. They don't
always get along, and they aren't all "brave little soldiers",
but that's just the way things are. People do the best they can
given their circumstances.
After
seeing this film in the theaters I rated it 4 stars instead of 5
as I felt it was too long and moved too slowly in parts. After seeing
it on DVD however I've raised my rating to 5 stars. Yes, it's still
slow in some parts and might have benefited from a little editing,
but I can't find any sequence in the film that could be cut without
hurting the movie. If the action is too tense for some, or if the
movie is too long you can just pause the movie, take a break then
come back to it later.
-
John
Add
this DVD to your collection
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Gun Play
This
is a war flick after all!
Blood & Gore
War
is hell.
Car Chases
None.
T&A
Nope.
Chuckles
There
are a few lines that will make you smile, but this ain't no
comedy. |
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