Monthly Archives: October 2012

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War Movies Based on Novels – A Thursday Thirteen

A common feature on blogs is the so-called Thursday Thirteen in which you can share a list of thirteen things, books, movies and what not. I’ve never done this so far but since I’ve hit a dry movie-watching patch and don’t want to stop blogging entirely I thought, why not?

While a great many war movies are based on original screenplays, many, and even some of the best and most famous, are based on novels. Here are thirteen war movies based on novels:

  1. The Thin Red Line (1998) – based on the novel by James Jones
  2. Catch 22 (1970) – based on the novel by Joseph Heller
  3. 300 (2006) – based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller
  4. Ben Hur (1959) – based on the novel by Lewis Wallace
  5. Enigma (20019 – based on the novel by Robert Harris
  6. Behind the Lines aka Regeneration (1997) – based on the novel by Pat Barker
  7. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) – based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque
  8. Schindler’s List (1993) – based on the novel by Thomas Keneally
  9. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) – based on the novel by Pierre Boulle
  10. Dances with Wolves (1990) – based on the novel by Michael Blake
  11. Cold Mountain (2003) based on the novel by Charles Frazier
  12. War Horse (2011) – based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo
  13. Slaughterhouse Five (1972) based on the novel by Kurt Vonnegut

I have only read three of the books (Regeneration aka Behind the Lines, All Quiet on the Western Front and Cold Mountain) but seen almost all of the movies. Is there a book among my thirteen I shouldn’t miss or another novel/movie pair which is worth mentioning?

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Another Movie I Couldn’t Finish – Iron Sky (2012)

For various reasons I am not watching a lot of movies these days but finally I had a bit of time this weekend and what do I pick? Iron Sky. I hardly got through the first half hour.

A brief look at the IMDb user reviews tell me that people “laughed all the way through this movie”, “enjoyed it incredibly”, thought it was “the best sci-fi” movie ever. What the heck?

I found the humour heavy-handed, from the Nazi to the Sarah Palin parody. And I couldn’t shake off the feeling that the producers liked the paraphernalia, symbolism and imagery of the Nazis  a bit too much for my taste. Plus Laibach made the music? Hmmmm.

Maybe this is the new Starship Troopers,  another one I found insufferable and couldn’t finish. If so, then this is simply not a movie for me. Or maybe it is really crap. I can’t finish it just to find that out.

Tell me, what did you think of Iron Sky?