We’ve been discussing this with my friend, The War Movie Buff, for a while now and the idea of doing what is done very often on book blogs, struck us as something that was worth trying on a movie blog as well.
The idea is to choose a movie and to post on the same day. December is upcoming and so are the holidays, I thought chances might be higher that we manage to find a few like-minded people who will join.
First step is to choose a movie. The second step will be posting questions. You can then either choose to answer the questions or go freestyle, meaning either just comment on our blogs or post an independent review.
I would propose to choose from the below list. I will post the choice on Saturday 3 December. The questions will be posted on Saturday 17 December Friday 16 and Saturday 17 and the Watchalong reviews/posts will be due on Watchalong Wednesday 28 December Tuesday 27 and Thursday 29. Please check newer post for details. Change is due to the fact that 2 movies have been chosen.
Here are the IMDB links – Jarhead, Master & Commander, Waterloo, The Winter War, A Very Long Engagement.
Do I have a preference? Yes, I do. No 1 – 3 or 4. But it’s up to you as well.
I hope there will be some interest. If not, it was at least worth a try.
All About War Movies 
I’d go with The Winter War.
I’ve been told by a few people that it was one of the very best, maybe better than Stalingrad. What held me back from watching it is the length. It’s by far the longest war movie I have with 200 minutes.
Let’s see how the voting goes. I’d be glad to get a nudge and finally watch it.
Would you watch along?
Yes count me in. I haven’t seen it but just ordered the long version. I’d prefer not to watch war as adventure or war as romance. Loved Fort Brest and 9th Battalion, so if it’s a war film we watch, it should be a WAR film–if you get my drift.
This is a WAR movie, no doubt about it. I wonder which long version you ordered, hope the one I got. Mine is 195min, there seems to be a US 125 min version and A Finnish mini series with 265min. I could only get the 195min.
Curious to see who will want to watch along, I have a feeling it has a strong chance to be chosen.
I voted for M&C because I think it is more balanced than the others. It has action as well as exposition. It appeals to a larger audience than the others. More importantly, it lends itself to discussion much better than the others. It has dilemmas and debates on tactics and strategies. It was popular, but still has not been seen by everyone. It is readily available (unlike The Winter War).
Ah… Tactics and strategies isn’t something I could talk about…. I really want to watch The Winter War. At present it looks good, it has more votes. I think for the type of question I have in mind the shorter version would. If people watch different versions, we could also compare them.
I got the 195 min version.
We could always do more than one…
That’s a good idea. I was wondering anyway what we would do if two movies are very close.
That’s the problem with The Winter War, there are different versions. I found the shorter version with subtitles on You Tube which also has the longer version but without subtitles.
I’ve just been reading about the director–how he spent 2 years in Hollywood looking over scripts he didn’t want to direct.
Regardless of the choice, I’ll be watching this one anyway. I’m curious to see how it’s treated and it probably won’t extend into the Continuation War.
Maybe we could do two. I’ll watch this one as well. I’ve been waiting for more than a year now to watch it. I bought it last winter and didn’t get a chnace and in summer it felt somehwat odd. Like Stalingrad. I can’t watch Stalingrad in summer.
master and commander is the easiest to find here…plus, it has Paul Bettany 😉
Novia, I was thinking that it could be difficult for you to find any of the others, especially Talvisota. ..
Maybe we will do a double watching. Let’s see how the voting goes.
I will try searching for it this coming Tuesday 🙂
I have seen it before but already forgotten the detail
It’s a movie you can easily watch more than once. It’s quite complex as well.
I voted for Master and Commander since I think it might be easier for me to track down and I read the book a few years back. But I will try to track down the winning movie. It will depend on the stock here in London. I hope lots of people join in.
Thanks for the interest, TBM. I have a feeling we will watch both. I have seen Master & Commander and it’s excellent but really want to watch the other one as well. 🙂 I also hope there will be a lot of people participating. It was worh a try. I’m looking forwad to it.
It is worth a try and I’m glad you thought of it! Thanks. And your German literature month is going well.
Yes, it is going very well, we are very glad.
About the questions (will be posted on Saturday 17 December), can I do that earlier,like 16…because 17 is for Indonesia Banget.
I’m puzzled… I would post the questions together with Kevin and you could then reply to them on your post on December 28 or just write a review. Did you want to ask questions as well?
Then we can collect and mix offline (e-mail). OK? And yes, of course another day, if you post on it is fine too.
Ah…sorry, I thought we should post the answers of the questions on 17.
No worries, if you’d like me to include an question or so- send me a mail and I’ll say it’s from you. it can be a joint effort.
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