Rating: 
Summary: Overlord? More like Overrated.
Review: One reason to give this movie 5 stars: 1. The famous half-hour beach landing sequence. In what appears to be a composite of the experiences of the 116th and the 2nd Rangers at or near Dog Green, the sheer horror of the landing at Omaha is brilliantly presented (or so I assume, since I wasn't there). Three reasons to deduct stars: 1. After the aforementioned half-hour, this turns into a typical, sappy Hollywood melodrama. The mission to save Private Ryan never happened -- and rightly so. Such a mission would have been ludicrous. 2. The cast should have been composed of unknowns. Instead we get Mr. Popularity, Tom Angst, whose presence is a constant reminder to the audience that this is just a typical, sappy Hollywood melodrama (did I say that already?). The use of older actors in general took away from the reality; I saw few 18-19 year old faces among those playing the GI's, and plenty of 35+ actors and extras. 3. Too many Spielbergian touches, such as excessive use of heavy-handed irony (maybe it was cute and clever to have the soldier get his helmet clipped by a bullet -- then, as he takes it off and smiles at his near miss, take a bullet in the forehead. But it just goes too far to have the German soldier who kills Hanks' character be THE SAME ONE HE RELEASED RATHER THAN KILL EARLIER IN THE MOVIE! Other examples abound. They combine to make this a... well, a typical, sappy, Hollywood melodrama!Come to think of it, I should have deducted another star for one of the most inane lines of dialogue in movie history: the one where a soldier tells Hanks' character "Maybe saving Private Ryan will be the one good thing that comes out of this mess" or words to that effect. THE ONE GOOD THING???? Isn't ridding the world of the Third Reich a GOOD THING??? Sheesh. Advice: Read Stephen Ambrose's outstanding book on D-Day; then watch the first half hour of this movie; then rewind it and return it to Blockbuster.
Rating: 
Summary: Typically Spielbergian
Review: The US government orders a group of soldiers to venture into enemy territory to find a lost comrade. No, APOCALYPSE NOW it isn't. The movie is less an anti-war statement than a rather banal testimonial of US war efforts, complete with sentimental speeches and a hackneyed, feel-good ending. The movie does show the usual Spielberg technical prowess that is evident in the superb battle scenes, especially a stunning re-creation of the landing at Omaha beach. The movie is sold in 2 DVD editions: Dolby Digital, and DTS. The Dolby Digital edition contains a making-of featurette that mentions a real-life WWII story in which 4 brothers fought and died in the war; the story obviously inspired the movie. The featurette also shows wonderful, rarely-seen clips of films Spielberg made as a child. The DTS edition does not include this featurette.
Rating: 
Summary: It's War, It's Hell....and it's Incredible!
Review: Spielberg just cannot be outdone in making incredible blockbuster movies and he definitely succeeded with Saving Private Ryan. The emotional horror that is produced by this film is awesome. He shows the violent reality of war through a captivating story, awesome cinematography and special effects, and great acting from Tom Hanks and Tom Sizemore. It is violent and has drawn criticism for such, but as a teacher I know that the younger generation (or my generation for that matter) sometimes glamorize war. We don't realize the brutality that it was and Speilberg gave us a mind-blowing reminder! How in the world such a movie lost to the extremely overrated and cheesy "Shakespeare in Love" is absolutely beyond reason. Apparently, the academy award people were sleeping at the voting tables like they did when they voted "Unforgiven" and "English Patient" and later "American Beauty" as best pictures. A definite must see!
Rating:
Summary: Spielberg's best, Tom Hanks' best, and the best war movie.
Review: "Saving Private Ryan", along with "Schindler's List", is my personal favorite movie from director Steven Spielberg. The opening 25-minute D-Day sequence is one of moviedom's most memorable and realistic scenes ever. You feel very unsettled once it begins, and there's no letup to it. Tom Hanks gave, in my opinion, the best performance of his career as Captain John H. Miller. The screenplay is what I like best about this movie. There are only two war movies, so far, that have scared me and affected me the most: this film and "All Quiet On The Western Front". The images in both films linger on in my memory. When Steven Spielberg makes this kind of film, he does it with respect for the men who died in WW2, just like he did for the survivors of the Holocaust in "Schindler's List".
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Anyone who says that is not a great movie does not know what they are talking about.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic War Movie
Review: This is easily one of the BEST war movies ever. The opening D-Day landing sequence was absolutely amazing. Speilberg really takes the kid gloves off and with a frightening realistic look at the Omaha beach landing. To give you an idea how realistic it is, I read that many veterans who saw this movie began having flashbacks. This movie gives some good insight into the ordinary soldier and what they faced. I'm not a real Hanks fan, but he was excellent in this movie. The casting was great and believable. One thing I did appreciate about this movie is that it kept in line with history. It portrayed the battles and soldiers pretty accurately. At least from what I have read. Now, if you want the opposite of all this, see The Thin Red Line. That movie will give you no historical value whatsoever. For example: The Japanese soldiers in WWII were fanatical, fearless, and brutal fighters. Yet in this movie they are shown as cowering sheep that surrender immediately to the charging Americans. One has to wonder how many shots of Tequilla Mr. Malik had drank before making his movie.
Rating:
Summary: Dazzling sound
Review: The DTS DVD of this movie is just amazing where you can enjoy the best sound quality on a DVD in your life. The surround features of the sound on this DVD is very refined and clear and you can even believe that you are in the middle of the battle and not watching a movie. It is a DVD to have in the collection of any DVD fan, so go ahead and buy it now. The other amazing DVD that can be compared to this I think is Gladiator with its special effects and DTS sound. This movie is a real war movie like you have never seen before!
Rating:
Summary: One of the all time greats!
Review: For my money, this is the best movie to come around in the past decade period! This movie has all the elements to be one of the greats! I don't want to describe the story to you since you probably know it already. What I will tell you is that you will walk away from this movie a changed person. That's the sign of a special movie, not just entertaining but touches you on a spiritual level. I know that sounds off the wall for a war flick but it will open your eyes to the cruelty of man! War is devastating and if you know someone who was in WW2 or Vietnam, you can see that they are different from you and me. This picture let's you be part of such a realistic experience, you start to suite up, grab your ammo and wait in a foxhole until the enemy rolls forward. There is nothing more I can say about the movie; it's just a phenomenal motion picture. For you home theater buffs, the picture is superb and the sound track will perform an audio assault on your system. Bullets will be whipping around you as they ricochet off metal barriers, buildings, tanks and helmets. Tanks and explosions will make your sub rumble, it will feel like you're in the middle of the war. The picture has an "Army Green" look to it, and there are some beautiful landscapes to look at in between all the carnage. Do yourself a favor and once you finish reading this review, order this movie!!
Rating:
Summary: Another failed attempt.
Review: Yes, everyone knows about the famous 30 minute Omaha beach sequence at the beginning of this movie, we've had it shoved down our throats about how brutal and masterful it was. Okay, it was good. I liked the first 25 minutes, 48 seconds of the film. But like most american made ww2 films, it spiraled down into being just another self righteous piece of hollywood fantasy. NOT counting all of the military errors, which were many, the movie was another good chance at a convincing ww2 movie gone down the toilet. The script was garbage, Tom Hanks couldn't even save the haze of terrible acting, and the fighting sequences were something i could have played out in a sandbox with a couple of toy tanks and some army men. How could anyone take this movie seriously? There is no way in hell that a german armored column would have disobeyed every know military tactic and gone into a village without first sending a reconnaisance patrol. Even if they were that dumb (these are eastern front veterans) the soldiers in the film suicidally run in front of waves of american bullets never taking defensive positions. Can anyone tell me what the devil that was about? That scene where four g.i.'s take out a tiger tank was ludicrous nonsense etc., etc.. Regular german soldiers were also made to look evil, all of them having shaved heads and being better off dead for no reason at the hands of the moral g.i.. I have an answer why the film was so unrealistic. IT MAKES US LOOK BETTER!!!! Frankly, I am tired of this. Too many american made ww2 films sacrifice reality to bring about the effect of the righteous, invincible, freedom loving g.i.. I wanted a real ww2 movie, not a synthetically patriotic big budget chuck norris flick. If you guys want to see some real ww2 movies, check out "The Thin red Line", "Das Boot", or "The Bridge".
Rating:
Summary: Should have won best film over SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Review: SPR has got to be one of the best and most realistic WWII movie I have ever seen in regards to what the bloodshed was really like and the confusion some people felt over it. For the record, I've seen over 50 WWII movies. Don't expect a jingoistic or patriotic story. There's a lot of grayness in the characters and some of the Germans aren't necessarily evil people or noble. Interesting, gritty and bloody war scenes. Lots of the characters die so it isn't the typical movie where the heroes all come out alive and smiling. Themes of duty, the needs of one person over many and even patriotism apply to this story. TOP FIVE SCENES: (1) Omaha Beach assault; a good 15 minutes and not at all like anything you have seen in the old WWII shows; (2) the ending when a small group tries to distract a larger German unit in a French town; (3) whether to spare the life of a begging German soldier; (4) Tom Hanks telling them about his true occupation which was a big mystery; and (5) Private Ryan's story about his brothers and the barn with the girl.
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