"Pearl Harbor": The Movie and the Moment Review

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(More customer reviews)I just bought this book and it totally blew me away. Contrary to another review here, I find almost every page of this book to be extremely informative and jam-packed with information on the real attack and the making of the movie, with LOTS of movie photos and a lot of historical photos too. Also included are short bios of movie characters, quotes about the movie and the event from cast and crew, and storyboards and a timeline of the events of that day. I HIGHLY recommend this!

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"Pearl Harbor", produced by Jerry Bruckheimer ("Top Gun", "Gone in 60 Seconds") and funded by Disney/Buena Vista to the tune of $145m (making it the highest-budgeted film in history) is set to be a summer 2001 blockbuster. Starring Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Alec Baldwin, it tells the story of a classic love triangle set against the backdrop of a devastating day in US history. "Pearl Harbor: The Movie and the Moment" captures the movie and the history it celebrates with 160 images, movie stills, storyboards, sketches and maps. The text reveals the stories of the Pearl Harbour naval base and the daily lives of its officers. Interviews with survivors, accounts of bombing raids and outlines of military strategies bring to life the drama and heroism of that fateful day.

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Pearl Harbor Review

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(More customer reviews)Why do I say I enjoyed the book guiltily? Well, cos' I went to watch the movie and I loved it, I guess i must be a hopeless romantic. But I stiil had to agree about the superficial aspects of the storyline. The war scenes were good but somehow reviews had taught me to beware of the love scenes. Ya right, I honestly liked that crap and that's why I feel guilty. But nevertheless read it only if you are a hopeless romantic like me. Really. don't bother wasting your time to read it and slam the book so disgustingly and give it 1 star and drag the whole rating down because there are still some people who swear by the book.

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Mother Night : Widescreen Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Throughout his acting career, Nick Nolte has never particularly inspired my admiration. Until MOTHER NIGHT, that is.
In a film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel of the same title, Howard Campbell is an American playwright who grows to manhood in Germany before World War II. He marries Helga, a German actress. During the war, he elects to broadcast anti-Semitic speeches for the Reich Propaganda Ministry. Unknown to his Nazi bosses, he was recruited as an agent by the U.S. Defense Department shortly before the outbreak of the conflict, and Howard's radio sermons pass along coded messages to the Allies. Only three other Americans know of his role: his mysterious recruiter Frank (John Goodman), FDR, and the head of the OSS. Frank tells Campbell that the American government will eternally disavow his heroic actions as the Soviets would twist the story into some sort of anticommunist German-American plot.
By the war's end, Helga is dead. (Or is she?) Campbell is captured by the U.S. Third Army, but then released, apparently on the intercession of Frank, who also manages to spirit him to New York to restart his life. After 15 years living there unnoticed, Howard's role as Hitler's tame American is revealed to the public by an admiring neo-Nazi organization. Both the Israelis and Soviets clamor for his repatriation to stand trial.
MOTHER NIGHT plays more like a live stage production. It begins with Campbell being escorted to an Israeli prison to the song of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas". The film is a series of long flashbacks. At one point, Howard observes in a voice-over to the viewer that one must be careful what one pretends to be for that is what one truly becomes. Although MOTHER NIGHT has been criticized for its lack of a message, I rather believe that it's that an individual must in the end take responsibility for his/her actions in life regardless of the role, real or pretend, that's been played. For Campbell, realization of the consequences to humanity of his wartime persona comes at three widely separated points. The first, as the Red Army drives on Berlin's outskirts, Howard's father-in-law, the Chief of Police, tells Campbell that even though he (the Chief) suspected his son-in-law of being a spy, he now realizes that Howard served the Reich more than he might have ever served the enemy. Why? Because Campbell, with his broadcasts, made the Chief (and presumably other Germans) better Nazis. The second point comes in New York as Campbell views archival footage of one of his more rabid diatribes. And the last, in the Israeli prison, when Howard has a stunning insight during a conversation with Adolf Eichmann regarding the amount of self-credit the latter takes (or not) for the annihilation of 6 million Jews.
I can't give MOTHER NIGHT five stars for the simple reason that the neo-Nazis that Campbell eventually meets in New York are rendered as almost comic characters whose racist views don't come across as menacing as they truly are. Had they been portrayed with more seriousness, the overall impact of the film would have been, I think, greatly enhanced. Nevertheless, MOTHER NIGHT is well worth viewing.

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December 7th - The Pearl Harbor Story (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)This DVD contains two documentaries. The first is John Ford's film about the attack on Pearl Harbor. I had mixed views about this film. I thought the original scenes from the attack were very interesting, and there were some scenes which I've never seen before. However, the scenes which included the plastic models were very poorly done. I realize this film was made over fifty years ago, but I was still disappointed with the poor use of the replicas of the American battleships. It was very easy to tell that they were not real.
The second documentary on this DVD was much better. It deals with the kamikaze attacks against the American fleet off Okinawa. The footage in this documentary is all actual. The viewer gets a true sense of what it was like to fight against an enemy fully intent on diving their plane into an American ship. The skies were literally full of anti-aircraft shells, yet the kamikazes kept on coming. Most never made it to their targets, but some did manage to break through, but thanks to the heroic efforts of the ships' crews, most of the ships were operational after the attack. However, some ships, such as the USS Franklin, suffered a much worse fate.
Overall,I gave this DVD 4 stars; the Pearl Harbor documentary gets 3, while the Okinawa documentary gets 5. Some parts of the Pearl Harbor documentary were very interesting, but I thought the poor use of the models greatly detracted from the overall quality of the film. On the other hand, the Okinawa film was excellent. The footage is all authentic, and the viewer gets a real sense of what it was like to be in a kamikaze attack.
I recommend this video highly. Both documentaries describe two important parts of World War II; one at the beginning of the war, and one at the end. Watch this video and see what it was like to fight the Japanese attackers at Pearl Harbor and survive a kamikaze attack in the waters off Okinawa.

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Pearl Harbor: The Real Story (3pc) Review

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(More customer reviews)This DVD was the best I could have bought. "Pearl Harbor the REAL STORY" tells it like it is. A very accurate account of what happened in Pearl Harbor. The interviews with the veterans are real with real tears. Scott Freund and Tim Csabanyi? These amatures made a top notch documentary Spielberg would have had trouble making. EXCELLENT!

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The History Channel Presents Pearl Harbor Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a DVD set which is quite well done, but I find the packaging a bit misleading. There are three DVDs included, only one of which is specifically about Pearl Harbor, the other two are biographies of Douglas MacArthur and Chester Nimitz. Obviously these two figures are crucial to an understanding of the Pacific war, but are really tangential to Pearl Harbor. This was the sole reason that I deducted a star from the package.
The Pearl Harbor DVD is quite well done and combines historical and contemporary footage and interviews with some rather early generation computer graphics to produce a slick and powerful telling of the story of the Pearl Harbor attack and its context in history.
The biography of MacArthur is fascinating. I have always found MacArthur to be a brilliant but arrogant General, and this DVD reinforced that appraisal. This production helped me appreciate some of MacArthur's strengths more than I had before, but also helped me understand the psychological side of him which led to his aloofness and arrogance.
The Nimitz biography is wonderful. I have always regarded Nimitz as the greatest of the Pacific commanders. I think Halsey was the better battlefield commander, but Nimitz was an amazing motivator and organizer, and a great, compassionate man. This DVD made me appreciate Nimitz even more that I previously did, and I think anyone interested in naval history would love it.
In total, this is a very good production, with excellent use of archive and current footage and with insightful interviews. I think anyone interested in World War Two would be thrilled with this set, even if it isn't exclusively about Pearl Harbor.


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Armageddon (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Criterion Collection release of Armageddon is a treat. It offers 2 commentary tracks, one featuring the director Michael Bay, actors Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has comments on several interesting things. Affleck's commentary is sometimes very funny. The other commentary track features the Director of Photography and special effects people.
The commentary includes interesting details, including background information on the characters and filming locations. Note: The commentary is raw and sometimes laced with profanity, although the movie itself is rated PG-13, for reasons explained in the commentary.
Although it's not much, this collection is also a Director's Cut and has a couple scenes added, notable of which is Harry Stamper's character visiting his father before launch. Some other scenes are cut slightly differently, adding some depth to the story.
The Gag reel on the second disk is extremely funny, raw, and not your typical "behind-the-scenes" documentary.
The second disk also features a tremendous amount of information on the special effects and includes many different trailers and promo material. The Aerosmith song video is also included.
While the story can be nit-picked, it's still very exciting and enjoyable.
Overall, if you liked the movie, the Criterion Collection release is the DVD to have.

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From the blockbuster-making team who produced and directed PEARL HARBOR and THE ROCK (Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay) comes the biggest movie of 1998 -- ARMAGEDDON! Starring the explosive talents of Bruce Willis (DIE HARD), Academy Award(R)-winners Ben Affleck (GOOD WILL HUNTING) and Billy Bob Thornton (SLING BLADE), Liv Tyler (INVENTING THE ABBOTTS), Steve Buscemi (CON AIR), and Will Patton (INVENTING THE ABBOTTS), ARMAGEDDON is a meteor storm of action-adventure moviemaking that has you on the edge of your seat forgetting to breathe! When NASA's executive director, Dan Truman (Thornton), realizes the Earth has 18 days before it's obliterated by a meteor the size of Texas, he has only one option -- land a ragtag team of roughneck oil drillers on the asteroid and drop a nuclear warhead into its core. Spectacular special effects, laugh-out-loud humor, great characters, riveting storytelling, and heartfelt emotion make ARMAGEDDON an exhilarating thrill ride you'll want to experience like there's no tomorrow.

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National Geographic - Beyond the Movie - Pearl Harbor (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)This National Geographic DVD tells more than just commenting on the recent movie.It sets the record straight.For example,the American volunteers called "The Eagles" that flew against the Luftwaffe in The Battle Of Britain were all civilian volunteers and not military men as portrayed in the Pearl Harbor film.Of these 214 men,109 died going into battle against the Germans.The bombing of Tokyo is also told and film of the planes taking off from the carriers is shown.Interesting to note that the actual two real pilots(not the film's made-up ones)that flew against the Japanese attackers and shot down six of their planes were also not awarded the America's highest military award.Some complain about African American steward Dorry Miller not receiving it but he wasn't the only one.In fact,most of the Medal Of Honor awards at Pearl Harbor were posthumous.The documentary does make use of the film's eccellent special effects and also uses real film and old war movie film as well.It points out at the end that some generic film was used to re-create the battle stories.There are interviews with survivors,navy men and women that were nurses there at the time.One nurse tells of bodies "stacked up like cordwood" at the back of the hospital.The Japanese pilots flew over the mainland at 7.40am and the first bomb was dropped at 7.50am.So the "Pearl Harbor" film's portrayal of kids playing baseball and one woman hanging up the washing as they flew over at that early time looks a little shaky at that fact.But make no mistake,this National Geographic documentary isn't just about that film.It is an eccellent documentary on the attack on Pearl Harbor.This documentary tells a good story and gives the true facts about what happened.The DVD also has some extras such as war documentary films from 1945 and 1963 as well as a National Geographic timeline detailing their history from the early 1900s onwards.

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Pearl Harbor (Two-Videotape Set) (60th Anniversay Commemorative Edition) (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Why does Hollywood have to make a three hour movie about a terrible day in US history and turn it into 'As The World Turns'? I could not believe that I sat through this piece of junk. It was 2 1/2 hours of 'General Hospital' and 1/2 hour of reality. It's a shame that Hollywood feels that 99% of the films that come out today must contain some kind of soap opera setting to satisfy what they think the lady folks wish to see. I find that to be rather insulting to women and I am not a female. There is nothing romantic about December 7,1941. It gets 1 star for the actual attack sequence. I must mention that I highly doubt that while they flew over head, the Japanese pilots were signaling to the American children to take cover. Silliness. If you wish to see a great film on Pearl Harbor, seek out 'Tora! Tora! Tora!' and let this one rot.

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History comes alive in the unforgettable epic motion picture PEARL HARBOR, the spectacular blockbuster brought to the screen by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. Astounding visual and audio effects put you at the center of the event that changed the world -- that early Sunday morning in paradise when warplanes screamed across the peaceful skies of Pearl Harbor and jolted America into World War II. This real-life tale of catastrophic defeat, heroic victory, and personal courage focuses on the war's devastating impact on two daring young pilots, Ben Affleck (ARMAGEDDON) and Josh Hartnet (BLACK HAWK DOWN), and a beautiful, dedicated nurse, Kate Beckinsale (SERENDIPITY). PEARL HARBOR is extraordinary moviemaking -- a breathtaking reenactment of the "date which will live in infamy" and a heartfelt tribute to the men and women who lived it.

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Pearl Harbor Review

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(More customer reviews)This movie was definitely one to show off the Blu-Ray format, but some corporate genius decided not to pay MS royalties for the use of VC-1, and they went with MPEG2 again on PH. Unless you have the sharpness dialed down on your set, or a 720p display blocking can be seen on this title pretty easily. If you're not sensitive to it then you're lucky. It comes through looking almost like a second layer of grain, but not the very fine grain of good film we're used to. I know some films are intentionally grainy, but rather than error diffusion (like real grain) this movie exhibits patterned grain. It is an artifact of MPEG2 block in motion.
Titles released on Blu-Ray in VC1 encoding have proven how much better they can look. Why won't they maximize the potential of the format already?

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History comes alive in the unforgettable motion picture PEARL HARBOR, the spectacular blockbuster brought to the screen by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. Experience the groundbreaking special effects that place you at the center of one of the watershed events of the twentieth century, presented for the first time through the magic of Blu-ray Disc® technology! Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale star in this real-life tale of catastrophic defeat, heroic victory, personal courage and sacrifice. See the battle as never before in 1080p high definition, while the astonishing 5.1 48 kHz, 24-bit uncompressed audio will make you feel as though you're in the cockpit of your own fighter plane. The unparalleled realism of Blu-ray Disc® technology delivers a breathtaking reenactment of the "date which will live in infamy."

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Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition) (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Why does Hollywood have to make a three hour movie about a terrible day in US history and turn it into 'As The World Turns'? I could not believe that I sat through this piece of junk. It was 2 1/2 hours of 'General Hospital' and 1/2 hour of reality. It's a shame that Hollywood feels that 99% of the films that come out today must contain some kind of soap opera setting to satisfy what they think the lady folks wish to see. I find that to be rather insulting to women and I am not a female. There is nothing romantic about December 7,1941. It gets 1 star for the actual attack sequence. I must mention that I highly doubt that while they flew over head, the Japanese pilots were signaling to the American children to take cover. Silliness. If you wish to see a great film on Pearl Harbor, seek out 'Tora! Tora! Tora!' and let this one rot.

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History comes alive in the unforgettable epic motion picture PEARL HARBOR, the spectacular blockbuster brought to the screen by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. Astounding visual and audio effects put you at the center of the event that changed the world -- that early Sunday morning in paradise when warplanes screamed across the peaceful skies of Pearl Harbor and jolted America into World War II. This real-life tale of catastrophic defeat, heroic victory, and personal courage focuses on the war's devastating impact on two daring young pilots, Ben Affleck (ARMAGEDDON) and Josh Hartnet (BLACK HAWK DOWN), and a beautiful, dedicated nurse, Kate Beckinsale (SERENDIPITY). PEARL HARBOR is extraordinary moviemaking -- a breathtaking reenactment of the "date which will live in infamy" and a heartfelt tribute to the men and women who lived it.

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