Rating: 
Summary: War is Hell!
Review: One of the all time great war movies. The Longest Day made many years ago was one of the finest films of its time. This version surpasses that since it shows the real horrors of D-Day as it was 6th June 1944. Not for the squeamish! So many wonderful actors in this film, particularly Tom Hanks who probably portrays one of his finest roles. This is war at its worst. No glory here, just blood and guts!
Rating:
Summary: Intense reality mixed with nostalgia
Review: SPR may be the best war movie ever made, in terms of realism(if reports of WW II vets having flashbacks are to be believed). Itis also, intentionally, a testament to the now-passing GI generation. As such, it is of a piece with Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation," and the shelf of Stephen Ambrose-authored books. SPR is a big-screen movie; it dosen't come across as impressively on a TV screen. That said, it is still better than any other war movie that I've ever seen. The beginning, when an old and ailing vet seeks out a cross marking the grave of his benefactor in a Norman cemetary for American war dead, limmed in clear sunlight, is moving. The rest of the movie, ending excepted, is a flashback, as the camera focuses on his eye, entering it to reveal his memories. This is not a complete flashback, as the portion of the movie leading up to the meeting of Cpt. Miller (Hanks) and Pvt. Ryan (Damon) would not have been a memory, although perhaps related to him by the surviving member of Miller's patrol afterward. While there has been some criticism that this writer has read, from a German veteran, alleging flaws in the appearance and equippage of the German soldiers, virtually no average moviegoer will see anything that dosen't seem authentic, down to the tiniest detail. ("Patton" and "Midway," by way of contrast, used modern tanks and ships in scenes that were not actual war footage - these were easily identifiable as anacronisms.) Aside from technical excellence and utterly realistic combat footage (not for the squeamish, but not unnecessarily gory), the movie's most memorable trait is the aura of goodness that it cloaks America in. The idealism behind an American 5 star General personally intervening to save a mother's last living son, when they were common folk, is plausible in an American, but unthinkable in any other country. Can you imagine a British, German or Japanese general acting in the same way? Yet, it is believable to the audience that an American would. (In their defense, foreginers could point out that the mission was described by Miller's patrol as "FUBAR." They had their own lives to lose, and mothers, too.) The nostalgia for a 'good war,' as Studs Terkel called it, with America on the moral high ground, permeates the story. Gen. Marshall's reading from Lincoln's actual letter to a Civil War mother who lost all her sons in battle, itself highly idealistic in tone, embodies the theme of the movie, which has to do with the goodness of the American ideal. That said, the movie does not stoop to flag-waving; the grimmness of Omaha Beach is unmixed with syrupieness and jingoism. This is a sobering film; like any realisytic war movie must be, it is also anti-war. I wish that every high schooler, and every Member of Congress would watch it. -Lloyd A. Conway
Rating: 
Summary: Emotion is not thought. Spielberg is not an artist.
Review: Why is it that we give this man Academy Awards? When I was young I loved Spielberg but now I can't stand him. He is insincere. He is a tear-jerking manipulator only, without subtlety or understanding. I left this movie thinking, finally, people will realize that this man is all gee whiz and no substance. All Spielberg knows, besides technical wizardry (which is ultimately boring because not character driven) is melodrama and bathos. He knows nothing of honest drama and pathos. He actually WAVES THE FLAG at the ending of this movie! It's like a cartoon or professional wrestling, I swear. Have I been taken to another planet or something, or are we in a new Dark Ages? Has Spielberg ever actually read a book? Grow up, for the love of Man! This man-child studio mogul is not an artist and should go back to making adventure movies like "Jaws" or "Duel" and leave history to people without box office and Oscar-collecting agendas. Shame, Mr. Spielberg. Shame. Come on people, if it's an easy, agreeable answer then someone is trying to sell you something. Buy something else, if you want my opinion. Stephen Spielberg is primarily a salesman, only insterested in a buck or power or status, and not in communication. This is a very bad movie.
Rating:
Summary: It does show you something
Review: Many people who watch this movie come out saying one thing, "That's not how it went," and you know what? You're right. BUT! you have to understand why so many people loved this movie. It showed a new generation what the war LOOKED like. Not hoe people thought or felt or fought, or where they were or what they did. Most of the movie is the typical movie version of World War II but the scenes of battle on the beaches were so riviting, that instead of horrifying people it reawakened the sense of loss and power to the war. That is one thing most critics must agree on, this movie stresses loss, and pain and death, and that is what the Soldiers felt on the front lines.
Rating: 
Summary: Saving Steven Spielberg
Review: Spielberg's overarching message in Saving Private Ryan is that after 54 years, the Allied myths about World War Two continue to hold true--Studs Terkel's pivotal reference point--"The Good War"--is confirmed. There are good wars, by golly, and WWII was it. Hip, hip, hooray!Spielberg chose to advance his agenda by transparent means. One of these is the suggestion that the Wehrmacht--mostly conscripts, if we recall our history--are practically war criminals just for fighting the Americans. Moreover, Spielberg the "humanitarian" telegraphs an unambiguous message about the necessity of shooting unarmed German POWs and how foolish it is not to shoot them. One of the most compelling principals in the film is the Sgt. York character-- a Protestant fundamentalist from the South who's a diehard German-hater. When a POW speaks to him in German, he erupts in a rage, saying, "Shut that filthy pig Latin!" "Pig Latin"? German being the language of philosophy and rocketry, among other stellar Teutonic achievements, Spielberg would seem to be both applauding and mocking the anti-German bigotry of this "hick," who mutters a psalm every time he blasts any German who gets in his sniper rifle's sights. How the Germans ever conquered Europe and North Africa and fought the Red Army to the gates of Moscow is certainly a mystery if one credits their portrayal in "Saving Private Ryan." They fight with basic soldierly resolve only as long as they have the advantage--a fortified pill box, a machine gun nest or a Tiger tank. But as soon as the tide turns, the German soldiers toss their arms into the air and jabber in hysterical fear and pleading. They fight with the same wooden stupidity as did the extras on the set of the old 60s TV series "Combat"--as soon as they are in American sights they get hit and drop, whereas American troops can run in front of a legion of Wehrmacht rifles and machine guns while dodging bullets with miraculous invulnerability. The Germans are mere ciphers. Never does Spielberg take us to their campfire to hear their songs and stories. We almost never glimpse their humanity. No German words are ever translated into sub-titles. German becomes an unintelligible clamor--a "pig Latin." We are glad whenever the German boys die and Roosevelt's troops prevail. To sum it up, pure propaganda and a complete falsification of History would better describe this germanophobic movie. John
Rating:
Summary: Simply one of the greatest films of all time...
Review: Anyone who thinks Shakespeare in Love deserved best picture over this masterpiece is crazy!
Rating:
Summary: Frightening!
Review: Firstly i'd like to say that anyone who is going to buy this should get the DTS version if your serious about your sound. I have watched both versions and DTS is so much better. I consider this movie to be one of the all time greatest movies made. It shows the realities of this horrifying war and the spirit amongst the soldiers who fought for our freedom. The fact that 8 men went in to save just 1 makes you realise just how great these human beings really were and that people lost weren't just another dead body. The opening scene on the beach is enough to make anyone feel quite weird. It's a strange feeling but one that definately bought a tear to my eye. The sound has a lot to do with this and you're often caught out looking behind yourself cos it really is that real and scary. The sounds of the guns firing and bombs going off is exactly how i imagined it would really sound. This film is a fantastic tribute to all those who fought in the war and is a movie that will definately not be forgotten by those who see it.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Greatest Motion Pictures of All Time
Review: Few films have moved me the way this film has. The scene on the Normandy beach is one of the most gripping and realistic war scenes ever filmed. The cinematography is nothing less than brilliant and Hank's performance awesome. I actually bonded with the characters and felt the lost whenever one of them died. This is more than a motion picture, it is an unforgetable experience.
Rating:
Summary: Zing
Review: If there had been any doubts about Steven Speilberg's status as one of the finest motion picture creators ever ('The Lost World' had given his reputation as a popular entertainer a knock, and many people were forgetting 'Schindler's List'), 'Saving Private Ryan' squashed them. 'Ryan' took a simple story and turned it into something extraordinary, both an unflinching look at the random slaughter of warfare, and a portrait of ordinary people voluntarily stuck in an unimaginably inhuman situation, with solid acting from an odd cast. Tiny segments remain in the memory long after the film is over, and the final half-hour strikes an extremely precise balance between being exciting and utterly terrifying. At the cinema in which I saw it, the audience were silent as the credits rolled, and filed out as if stunned. Trying to separate its status as a historical document from its status as entertainment is tricky. A film about a significant subject is not, in itself, unassailable, but as with 'Schindler's List' this it not just a film about momentous events, it's a great film about momentous events. In retrospect, the middle segment seems to drag on too long, but without it the film would be unbearably intense, and that's all I can think to say against it. It seems obscene that 'Saving Private Ryan' lost out to the trifling 'Shakespeare in Love' for the Best Picture Academy Award. On DVD it's excellent - the picture and sound quality are superb, and the short 'Making of' featurette should, uniquely, have gone on for much longer.
Rating: 
Summary: Point of view of a German citizen
Review: No question, it's a great movie, showing history of WW2. I just feel sorry that German soldiers are shown as totally bad guys. They were also just soldiers, doing what they had to do. There were also familys who lost all their sons in the field... Please always remember that!
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