Dunkirk (forthcoming in 2017)

Looks interesting. I've heard the new Churchill movie is a bust, so at least I have one good WWII movie to look forward to.

 

I enjoyed it, though it was nothing special. My wife and I really want to see a film about Operation Fortitude, and specifically Agent Garbo's part in it.

 

I've seen a few trailers now and not been impressed.

 

I read William Manchester's Churchill (The third volume which was co-written and the story of Dunkirk is fascinating.

 

I can';t believe they show full length films at that theater. That was the original imax theater. The first generation. That was meant for 15 imax ahorts, not films.

 

My impression is traditional, stodgy, probably dull as those many 60s war films like "A Bridge Too Far:".

 

At least good actors in ABTF.

 

Good actors, but they over-stuffed it to death with good actors! Ah, well. I just went through the list of currently playing movies in local theaters and here is my list of films I probably WON'T bother to see:

Wonder Woman -- who cares?
The Mummy -- why bother?
Pirates of the Caribbean -- Zzzzzzzzz
Guardians of the Galaxy - Meh.
Cars 3 -- Uh, uh.
Baywatch -- No.

I may see:
It Comes at Night.
Alien Covenant - I feel like I almost have to.

 

You can skip A-Covenant as well.

 

A Bridge " yeah..stunk, also the actors( just saying I like them in other movies.

 

First - Private Ryan is a work of fiction. It was inspired by reality, but was completely fictitious. Dunkirk was completely real.

Second - Virtually every General during WWII was criticized at some point. Not all of their plans were good plans. General Montgomery will be forever be remembered for the failure of Operation Market Garden. However, General Eisenhower - the commander of all the allied forces - supported Montgomery completely. He was as much to blame as Montgomery.

Third - You are correct about Hitler withholding troops from Dunkirk.

Lastly - I hope the movie accurately depicts of the real heroes of Dunkirk. Those were the thousands of British civilians that crossed the English Channel to rescue the troops. Many, many of them made the crossing in boats that were never intended for those types of waters.

 

I've got tickets to see a 70mm preview of Dunkirk with Nolan introducing. I imagine it will be spectacular visually but am less certain that it will connect on an emotional level. We shall see.

 

If "connect on an emotional level" means the Spielberg approach of blatantly trying to manipulate the audience by showing Ryan as an adult go to Arlington cemetery with his family to start and end the movie, I certainly hope it doesn't connect on that level. I'm ok with the monumental challenge of using a huge cast, huge sets, etc. to show this story within the broader context of WWII, which is emotionally loaded enough. Nolan is uniquely qualified to do an amazing job with this.

 

Trailer doesn't look epic.
I'll wait for reviews.

 

(1958 )DUNKIRK is still pretty good.

 

Not listed, but it will also be shown in 70mm at East 86th in NYC.

 

I you've confirmed that, would you please drop a line to the in70mm team. [email protected]

It looks like I'll be seeing it in 15/70 IMAX in King Of Prussia.

 

Dunkirk (in 70mm) Preview Screening
Part of See It Big! 70mm
Wednesday, July 19, 7:30 p.m.
Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater
Add to my calendar
Dir. Christopher Nolan. 2017, 106 mins. 70mm print courtesy Warner Bros. Dunkirk was photographed on IMAX and 65mm film and will be presented in glorious 70mm.

Tickets: $25 ($18.75 for Museum members / Free for Silver Screen members and above). Available exclusively to Museum members through Thursday, July 6, (on sale to the public on Friday, July 7). (Members may contact [email protected] with questions regarding online reservations.)

 

Wait. Shouldn't all writers, directors, cinematographers, score writers, etc. try to manipulate the audience? If they don't then their not doing their job, right?

The whole point is to be taken away - drawn in - by art, whether it's a campy horror film, or a lofty Hollywood mega-budget extravaganza drama.

It's the same with literature. There are specific literary devices that are designed to elicit a desired response.

If I catch your meaning (and I apologize if I'm wrong), but it seems as if you're saying that an old man visiting the actual grave of a soldier whom he had last seen 54-years prior is a contrivance, then I'm baffled as this happens all of the time in real life.

Besides, there is no Arlington Cemetery in Normandy, France.

 

I think a good script in the hands of a good director takes the audience where it needs to go without being manipulative.

Good point, and I'm sure in the hands of a different director, it would have been handled better. The whole "tell me I'm a good man" thing seemed overly manipulative. The movie had done a great job of painstakingly showing the realities of war and the screwball nature of this mission from the perspective of the soldiers versus the perspective of the military commanders. I'm not even complaining about the last words of Captain Miller, but to then be taken from there to his grave for this final scene seemed unnecessarily manipulative. It did not seem true to the "greatest generation" who rarely let themselves have these outbursts, even to their own families.

 

Greetings from humid Philadelphia.

I just got off the phone with the AMC Neshaminy which is located about 30 minutes north of Philadelphia. Not only is the theater screening 70mm film, but they will also have a Dolby Cinema theater with Dolby Vision high contrast projection and Dolby Atmos overhead surround.

Choices, choices, choices.

Cheers, Michael

 

To follow up myself, my wife (who has seen 221 films in the theater so far this year) saw a 70mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Music Box and says that they put in a big new screen for the 70mm festival they are hosting and presumably Dunkirk as well. I'm still going to see Dunkirk at a digital theater, simply because every showing of any film print after the first one will be worse than the last.

 

tickets for the 70mm film print haven't been released by AMC. What would you suggest?
70mm
Dolby Cinema
15/70 IMAX

The kid who took my call at the Neshaminy 16 endorsed the 70mm.

To be honest, 70mm Hateful 8 looked good but Rogue 1 in a Dolby Cinema theater was jaw dropping.

 

But that's manipulation, Greg. If it takes you somewhere by means of visual and aural stimuli, you are being manipulated, because you are not really in the film; you are in the theater, or at home, or somewhere other than in the screen.

Well, for what it's worth (and it might not be much), though the "Greatest Generation" is deserving of the sobriquet, having spent 33-years of my life interviewing them, researching, and writing books - especially those who took part in WWII - if I've learned anything at all, it's that times change, but people do not.

Name any human foible that we possess today, and it's not that different from 70-years ago. They, too, had teen sex in the back seats of cars, suffered alcohoism, were committed to mental hospitals for "combat fatique" (PTSD), cross-dressed, and had foot fetishes.

Nothing detracts from their greatness, but to solely keep the notion that the middle-American GI came home to perfectly assimilate himself back into middle-American life is the fantasy - holding them to lofty heights - thus doing them more of a disservice than acknowledging their human frailties.

A case in point, my mother's father, who jumped at Sicily, Normandy, and Holland with the 82nd Airborne, returned home, and for 35-years drank himself to death, whereas before the war he had never touched a drop.

So, no, I don't think it was anyway out of sorts for a man to break down a little at the grave of a man who he had honored in his heart for the last 54-years.

It's exactly why my father wouldn't visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. He knew what would happen upon seeing those names.

 

Dolby Cinema, all the way. I haven't had the opportunity to see a film in the theater yet, but I have seen HDR displays and people I trust like Vidiot and the editor of the AVS Forum assure me that it is the way to go. As far as I know, the 70mm projectors are basically refurbs, and unless you're seeing the first showing of a newly struck print, there is wear and tear. Also, the ATMOS sound is going to be vastly better in the Dolby Cinema theater - as far as I know, 70mm is limited to 6 channels.