Band of Brothers

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Summary: Band of Brothers
Review: This is the best historical mini series I have ever seen. Much better than Saving Private Ryan since this was a true story. I have personally seen Richard Winters (Leader of Easy Company and main character of the series)do a presentation at a local school and review parts of Band of Brothers and he has said it is very accurate historically with only a little bit hollywood. It is a movie that every American should be required to watch so that we all know what sacrafices were made by these brave men for the freedoms we have. This is a MUST see.

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Summary: A perfect ode to the "greatest generation"
Review: I just finished watching Band of Brothers for the second time and it's still just as powerful as before. While watching Band of Brothers I found myself deeply moved by the plite of the 101st Air Borne and the men of Easy Company. It's moving to see these young men(many of them no older than I am) be willing to give their lives for one another, console each other through times of fear and loss, and bravely face a seemingly unstoppable enemy. Most importantly they all gave their lives to protect the freedoms many of us abuse and take for granted everyday. This show is a beautiful testament to their sacrifice. You will laugh and you will cry along with the boys of Easy Company from the moment they land in France all the way to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. The acting is wonderful and as far as cinematography, all I need to say is..."Spielberg"

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Summary: TV at its best shows the "brotherhood of war" and its bonds
Review: I wasn't able to watch Band of Brothers when it aired on HBO in 2001, so I bought the late Stephen E. Ambrose's book of the same name. It was the tie-in edition with the cover art taken from the miniseries promotional materials and a new foreword by the author describing the genesis of the miniseries and his praise for executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Ambrose stated that their personal interest and attention to detail were impressive, for they wanted to make sure they got everything right.

I was finally able to borrow this 6-DVD set from a friend of mine who works on cruise ships, and I have found this to be not only a faithful adaptation of a very good non-fiction book about small unit warfare in the European Theater of Operations (...), but it's one of the most moving works made for television that I have ever watched.

Band of Brothers follows the men and officers of Easy (E) Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, from the unit's formation at Camp Toccoa, GA in 1942 to its deactivation in the summer of 1945. During that time, Easy endured many challenges and hardships, including training under a first commanding officer who was a martinet (Capt. Herbert Sobel, played by David Schwimmer), a baptism of fire in a night drop on Normandy, participation in the failed Operation Market Garden, and the harrowing stand of the 101st Airborne at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

In addition to Schwimmer, who makes you forget his more famous role as Ross in NBC's "Friends" as the tyrannical Capt. Sobel, the cast includes Damian Lewis as Maj. Richard Winters, Donnie Wahlberg as 2nd Lt. C. Carwood Lipton, and Colin Hanks (Tom's son) as 2nd Lt. Henry Jones....there are many, many more fine actors featured in the 10-hour running time of this marvelous miniseries. The directors, which included Phil Alden Robinson and Tom Hanks, got outstanding performances from them all.

The writing of each episode is also top-notch, capturing the spirit and the essential facts from Ambrose's book perfectly. Also worth mentioning are the amazing special effects and cinematography, and the late Michael Kamen (Die Hard) composed a hauntingly beautiful score that added emotional power to the stunning visuals of this monumental television miniseries.

Disc 6 features a making-of featurette, a video diary from a cast member, and the documentary "We Stand Alone Together."

I recommend Band of Brothers to anyone who wants to understand what the individual soldiers who fought in Europe during history's darkest period (...)

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Summary: Awesome (Here are some things you should know)
Review: This is a phenomenal DVD set. Right mix of drama and realistic combat. Anybody that was fascinated or moved by "Saving Private Ryan" will likely find appeal here as well. Points to ponder:

- The war violence is, of course, to be expected
- The language is quite strong -- the complete vocabulary builder. I have read elsewhere that the language was so strong that a 101st WWII veteran cancelled his HBO subscription after two episodes, citing that the use of expletives was not as prevalent as depicted.
- Episode 9 has the only sexual nudity and sex in the whole 10 episode set (episodes had different directors) -- one brief but active vignette. It arrives without warning and is not that demure. Watch out if you are using this as a patriotic history tool with mid-teens.
- The first episode has no combat -- it builds your connection to the characters and the unit's background in training. You will want to watch the first two episodes back-to-back.
- If you are a sucker for movie soundtracks/scores, this is a particularly good one.
- It is touch-and-go getting my wife to watch a war movie sometimes, but in this case, she was transfixed by the drama and demanded "put in another episode!"
- Might or might not be a good idea to watch the documentary about the actual Easy Company guys, with interviews, before watching the episodes -- you can get a sense of what they went through, but you also may find out which of the real guys did not make it home.

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Summary: Top Notch Miniseries
Review: I watched the miniseries "Band of Brothers" then had to purchase the book! One reviewer said it was not as "real" as "Saving Private Ryan". Well, excuse me, but this was REAL! Private Ryan was fiction. It was written and honed by Hollywood. I am sorry that real life is not as exciting as fiction but this series was accounts of real men who actually lived this war! I recommend this series to anyone interested in how war affects real soldiers. I have purchased the VHS of this (although I did tape it off HBO, loaned it to friends and never seen it again!) and will buy the DVD.

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Summary: best mini series ive ever seen
Review: i absolotly loved this mini series it really shows you how these men felt from training to normandy to holland to the battle of the bludge and on to hitlers eagles nest, you see how the replacements felt and how all these men bonded, they really get the point across of how you did everything with these men so they really did become your brothers, and i loved the story and i loved the cinematography, i just love this mini series and it just envokes so much heartache and so much happiness,i just love this story of easy company (that actually had one of the highest casulity rates of any company in WWII). i would recommed this to anyone who love world war 2 but the one thing is how violent it is but you have to remeber that thats how it was and they are trying to be as true to the story as they can be.

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Summary: Get Saving Private Ryan instead of this
Review: Band of Brothers was very disappointing. The attention to detail was excellent but I found the episodes did not gel well together. I do think that this series really missed a great opportunity to continue the "real" experience that Saving Private Ryan left us with. I felt completely unmoved by the characters and felt no connection to them, and as a result I really did not care what happened to them.

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Summary: Amazing
Review: The camera angles are amazing in the battle scenes. Very few "war" movies are as realistic as this. You really feel like you're there. The acting is top notch and the cheesey lines are at a bare minimum. Full Metal Jacket certainly has serious competition! Buy it and you won't be disappointed! For those with weak stomachs, the movie may be a little to graphic to get through at times.

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Summary: Amazing must see
Review: Amazing i have never seen anything so moving or enjoyable a must see for everyone that ever wondered what to be in war really meant.

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Summary: Note the title!
Review: So many reviewers here miss the major point, even though their reviews are appropriate. Even with a goal as important as defeating the Axis powers in WWII, the army knew (knows) full well that, when the shells and bullets start flying, geopolitical goals are not likely to keep a "bunch of men" in battle for long. The only hope of getting people to do what the men of Easy Company (and countless others) did is to get them to care about and rely upon each other as much as (or more than) a "Band of Brothers" do.

I think the major point of the movie is, "look, here is what it takes (boot camp, world situation, some particularly awful battles/campaigns, etc.) to get a very disparate group of men to care about each other more than they will care about anybody else the rest of their lives" (which the veterans repeat over and over). And thankfully for us, they did! It's why they still cry when recalling their lost buddies even after 50+ years--many people will not get that emotional when recalling the death of a family member after just a few years. And yes, there were certainly just as dramatic and heroic stories on the German (Italian, confederate, N. Vietnamese, etc., etc.) side, but this is not necessarily a movie about WWII. It's a movie about a "Band of Brothers", and what it took for them to "adopt" each other--it just so happens that there were a number of well-documented, especially compelling events in WWII that demonstrate the concept particularly well. Perhaps it's also a lesson to dictators, men will ultimately fight more courageously for each other (and by extension, democracy) then they ever will for each other PLUS a fuhrer, or emperor. It's cliche, but the series does show, extremely well, both the absolute best and absolute worst of human nature. Thankfully it concentrates on the best!