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kal
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WanMan
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| Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:15 am Post subject: |
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Tom Hanks was on the Colbert Report the other night to promote this miniseries. I wonder how long after it airs it will be available on Blu-ray. I'm not able to take shows like this in weekly installments. My brain is use to new visual drugs in large quantities in rapid succession.
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kal
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WanMan
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| Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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I would be surprised if HBO outs it by this year's Father's Day.
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kal
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AnalogRocks
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| Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:16 am Post subject: |
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Awesum! Those guys do onehullovajob on the WWII stuff 
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kal
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Spanky Ham
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 2:16 am Post subject: |
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Thought it was ok. Seemed a little soapy. Leckie's story seemed a little whitewashed.
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kal
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ecrabb
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 4:31 am Post subject: |
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The wife and I watched every episode of The Pacific. We both thought it was EXCELLENT. A little "soapy"? Maybe... If you're more into the battle part of a war movie, then yeah - I could see how you could feel that way. But for me, I loved it.
To me, it was a really great mix of the war stories and the human stories. There was plenty of time spent in the jungle and on the battlefield to see what these men went through (and how many times has that been done, anyway?). But, the filmmakers also spent a a good chunk of time (half?) on what happened in their lives off the battlefield... How the war impacted their lives and their families' lives. For many of them, it changed who they were forever.
I never saw Band of Brothers, but I don't have anything at all bad to say about The Pacific. Really, really well written, directed, and the acting was really stellar.
Oh, and from a technical standpoint, the cinematography was really well done, too... Unbelievably good, actually. A couple of the battle sequences on Peleliu for instance were particularly amazing... The Japanese were advancing on the First Marines front line in the rain under cover of darkness, and the Japanese were literally climbing over their piles of their dead fellow soldiers to try to advance. The sound was excellent, too.
I've never been much of a book reader, but after seeing The Pacific, I'd like to try reading a couple of the books the series was based on, like Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow. The hell those Marines went through in the South Pacific was unbelievable.
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kal
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TheVerge
Joined: 19 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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I thought it was complete crap. The story is all over the place, the Japanese are made out to be just a slight NUDGE above mentally retarded. No character development, and when they try, it's at the wrong times. Tom hanks has to given an intro every episode just so you can figure out what the hell is going on.
I was looking forward to this for a long time, and it's rubbish. I equate it to the prequels in every way.
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kal
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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| TheVerge wrote: | I thought it was complete crap. The story is all over the place, the Japanese are made out to be just a slight NUDGE above mentally retarded. No character development, and when they try, it's at the wrong times. Tom hanks has to given an intro every episode just so you can figure out what the hell is going on.
I was looking forward to this for a long time, and it's rubbish. I equate it to the prequels in every way. |
How's it compare to Band of Brothers for you? Did you see it as well? Just curious.
Kal
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Last edited by kal on Thu May 27, 2010 3:19 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ecrabb
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 3:09 pm Post subject: |
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| TheVerge wrote: | | I thought it was complete crap. The story is all over the place, |
The story is all over the place? How so? The events in the Pacific Theater depicted in the film played out over a time span well beyond a year's time, with things important to the story happening both in-theater and at home... How do you weave those events together without them being "all over the place". The reality is that each episode was complete and cohesive with a good storyline.
| TheVerge wrote: | | the Japanese are made out to be just a slight NUDGE above mentally retarded. |
WTF? I didn't get that impression at all! What I saw was a fearless warrior - willing to die at any moment to further the cause. A warrior to the very end. If you think they looked "retarded" because they were willing to run directly into a line of fire, then you don't understand the mentality of the Japanese Imperial soldier. From everything I've ever read, it's a reasonably accurate depiction. What, specifically did you see that made them look "mentally retarded"?
| TheVerge wrote: | | No character development, and when they try, it's at the wrong times. |
No character development? Are you kidding me? Some people are criticizing it for spending way TOO much time on the characters, and you're saying there was no character development? Judas Priest, I felt like I KNEW those guys when the series was over... Their personalities, fears, their likes, dislikes... Christ, I had a lump in my throat at the end of nearly every damn episode thinking about the characters (or the real people they were based on)!
| TheVerge wrote: | | Tom hanks has to given an intro every episode just so you can figure out what the hell is going on. |
What??!?! The vignettes were awesome context, man; they had nothing to do with helping you figure anything out! This series was based on real stories, not just some screenwriters imagination of what war is like. They were putting a real face on these stories based on real events! Personally, I thought it was really special to see some of the men depicted in these stories, and hear their experiences in their own words so many years later. These are REAL PEOPLE! How could you not be moved by that? The massive sacrifice this generation made, and soon they'll all be gone.
You can say you didn't like it or that you didn't connect with it or whatever, but complete crap? Rubbish?
Please.
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ecrabb
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a few excerpts from some of the critical acclaim in case you're not interested in searching it on your own:
| Time wrote: | If you watched the ten brutal episodes of HBO's Band of Brothers--in which war was not glorious but miserable, and death sudden and ignominious--you were probably not thinking that there was an even uglier side to World War II that this miniseries was not showing you. But there was, and showing that side is the project of The Pacific, the ten-episode bookend that in nearly every way improves on its 2001 European-theater predecessor.
<snip>
But there's little History Channel-like attention to the sweep and strategy of the war; really, The Pacfic is not about "war" as practiced by generals, but fighting as done by grunts. And unlike Band of Brothers, which spread its attention among a wide ensemble fighting together, The Pacific focuses mainly on three Marines, in different units, whose stories and battles are mostly separate.
<snip>
But it's also showing us how the war felt. One weakness of Band of Brothers, for all its gut-punch power, was that it was so committed to verisimilitude, to its ensemble approach and to the model of Stephen Ambrose's book that the soldiers were often indistinguishable, despite fine performances from the likes of Damian Lewis. It was as if the war was the star, not the men. The Pacific—based on wartime memoirs and follow-up research—is no less committed to realism, but its tighter focus on three men makes it easier both to follow and to commit to. Its narrative is more movie-like, while being no less honest.
Read more: http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/03/12/hbos-the-pacific-what-fresh-hell
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| LA Times wrote: | | I'll say now, before I get down to picking its nits -- it has a few, and most might be predicted from the Spielberg oeuvre -- that it's a splendid production, absolutely worth watching in its 10-hour entirety. It is full of remarkable things, from the measured, modulated performances of its large cast of stars and supporting players -- universally excellent and life-sized, even when a speech or moment invites overplaying -- to the clamorous staging and brilliant editing of the battle scenes, so awash in chaos, so seemingly random in their progress, that it's difficult to work out how any of it was accomplished. |
| wrote: | What's all the more impressive about "The Pacific" is that because it's staying true to the stories of its central characters, it can't focus on the same group of soldiers all the time, the way "Band of Brothers" did with Easy Company. Leckie and Sledge did in fact serve together in the 1st Marine Division, along with Sledge's childhood friend Sid Phillips (played by Ashton Holmes), but they were in different regiments and didn't fight side-by-side. Basilone was in a different regiment as well and spent a good portion of the war stateside before returning to battle in early 1945.
Despite that, though, the miniseries doesn't meander. Though there are more than a few breaks from the fighting -- episode three deals primarily with a post-Guadalcanal respite in Australia -- "The Pacific" never feels like anything less than a cohesive whole. It's really a remarkable piece of television. |
| wrote: | "Band" followed an entire company, and even its biggest fans (and creators like Hanks) will admit it took nearly half the series before viewers could figure out who everybody was. Here, the focus is more varied but also simpler, with three central characters, all Marines: steely veteran John Basilone (Jon Seda), writer-turned-machine-gunner Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale) and son of privilege Eugene Sledge (Joseph Mazzello), who enlists in spite of a heart murmur because he’s desperate to prove himself a man.
The trio rarely interact with each other (though Leckie serves in a company with Sledge’s best friend), but the pattern of their service — with the men coming in and out of action at different times — allows the miniseries to cover a large chunk of the Pacific campaign while also not splitting your attention too much. At most, only two of the three are in combat at the same time, and several of the episodes focus on only one Marine. There are a few supporting characters of note — most memorably Rami Malek stealing a few late episodes as an amoral buddy of Sledge’s — but so long as you know who and where Basilone, Leckie and Sledge are, you’re fine.
This not only makes the action (somewhat) simpler to follow, but the portraits to grow deeper. There’s no performance quite on par with Damian Lewis’s star turn as the quiet, decent company leader in "Band," but the three leads all take advantage of their showcase roles to craft characters that transcend both war movie cliches and the actors’ own mixed backgrounds. Seda (Falsone from the later years of "Homicide"), like Lewis in "Band," finds a way to make his characters’ innate heroism and super-competence into something absorbing. Dale (Jack Bauer’s partner Chase in the third season of "24") completely owns the flashiest role of the three, as the angry, arrogant Leckie comes close to losing his mind a few times in the wet, oppressive jungles.
<snip>
This isn’t the ripping adventure yarn "Band of Brothers" became at times. (And I say that as someone who reveres "Band" and rewatches it in its entirety every couple of years.) The experience of watching it is more visceral and relentless, but as rewarding in its own way. You’ll feel stirred at some of the heroism on display, but mainly you’ll be in awe that good men were able to endure the horrors on display and return home — some more intact than others. |
| wrote: | Like a good novel, "The Pacific" tightens its grip on you with each chapter. Some of the most emotionally powerful moments come in Part 9, directed by Tim Van Patten ("The Sopranos"). It finds an exhausted Sledge and his comrades on Okinawa, where they cope with thorny moral dilemmas heightened by the presence of civilians. It's one of the most beautifully crafted — and heart-wrenching — hours of television you'll ever see.
As its lofty production price tag suggests, "The Pacific" is bursting with epic sprawl and extravagance. But like any effective film of its kind, it also contains a brand of intimacy that will have you bonding with its characters and caring deeply about their fates.
Spielberg, Hanks and company have once again managed to delve beyond the mythic layers of WWII to find a beating heart. Ultimately, that's their greatest gift to the Greatest Generation. |
| wrote: | Because of the nature of war in the Pacific, the miniseries has a much stronger feel of Vietnam War movies such as Platoon, or even The Deer Hunter, than it does of most World War II films.
The Pacific war "doesn't bend to the more . . . graceful narrative of Europe," Hanks told the critics. "They landed at Normandy, and eventually you crossed the Rhine into the fatherland, and Berlin fell. . . . A hundred miles from where Saving Private Ryan took place, more or less, is the Eiffel Tower. A hundred miles from Peleliu is an empty spot of ocean in the middle of the Pacific."
The Japanese fought differently than the Germans as well, hurling waves and waves of their bodies at the Marines. At one point, Basilone scurries from his foxhole into the battlefield and clears away the top half of a heap of corpses so his comrades will have a better shot at the Japanese soldiers coming afterward.
Weather and mud and disease and jungle critters were much more dangerous, too. Most of an entire episode is set on godforsaken Pavuvu. With little fighting to distract them from the jungle hell, some Marines go mad.
The Pacific groans with technically preposterous battle scenes, but it is the minute behavior of ordinary men both in and after those extraordinary circumstances that takes your breath away and helps put The Pacific in a class of its own among war movies. |
Lastly, see some of the excerpts of reviews on Metacritic - it gets an 87/100...
http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/pacific
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TheVerge
Joined: 19 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="ecrabb"] | TheVerge wrote: | | From everything I've ever read, it's a reasonably accurate depiction. |
If the japs were blindly charging into machine gun fire, the pacific war would have been over in weeks.
| Quote: | | No character development? Are you kidding me? Some people are criticizing it for spending way TOO much time on the characters |
I could barely remember there names from week to week
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These are REAL PEOPLE! How could you not be moved by that? The massive sacrifice this generation made, and soon they'll all be gone. |
I'm talking about the lame cgi map before the interviews. The interviews were in BoB but i found them much more relevant and inspiring. Maybe it's because they had all the characters for interviews... I don't know. Were they the same people in the show getting interviewed?
Maybe i should watch all 10 again in one giant marathon, maybe they will make more sense? But to be honest, i'm not sure i could stay awake.
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TheVerge
Joined: 19 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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| kal wrote: | | TheVerge wrote: | I thought it was complete crap. The story is all over the place, the Japanese are made out to be just a slight NUDGE above mentally retarded. No character development, and when they try, it's at the wrong times. Tom hanks has to given an intro every episode just so you can figure out what the hell is going on.
I was looking forward to this for a long time, and it's rubbish. I equate it to the prequels in every way. |
How's it compare to Band of Brothers for you? Did you see it as well? Just curious.
Kal |
BoB = 9.0
Pacific = 6.0, maybe a 5.5.
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greg_mitch
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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Just ordered it...loved BoB!
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Spanky Ham
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 2:04 am Post subject: |
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Kal,
I never saw BoB, but after talking with my best friend he thought it was better. He said he could relate more to the characters based on the seeing the actual veterans in the episodes. The Pacific didn't have that luxury.
Crabb,
I understand what you are saying and I am glad you enjoyed it. For me, I was lost on who is who at the end. There were characters that were introduced in some of the earlier episodes that were gone by the third or fourth episode. I realize that they were trying to go from beginning to end of the war, but moving from Leckie to Eugene was not that well done. I am not sure if it could have been done well. Honestly, I think I would have preferred if they would have done the series from Chesty's perspective. It may have only been two or three episodes, but I think I would have enjoyed it more.
Just because I didn't like it that much doesn't mean that I didn't like parts of it. I like the last scene of the final episode. I also like to see what the characters did after the war. What I thought was really cool is that a lot of guys kept in touch. For me, that was especially poignant, since I haven't spoken to anyone since I got out.
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TheVerge
Joined: 19 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Spanky Ham wrote: | Kal,
Crabb,
I understand what you are saying and I am glad you enjoyed it. For me, I was lost on who is who at the end. There were characters that were introduced in some of the earlier episodes that were gone by the third or fourth episode. I realize that they were trying to go from beginning to end of the war, but moving from Leckie to Eugene was not that well done. I am not sure if it could have been done well.
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I have heard that the pacific war didn't lend itself to an easy storyline like band of brothers did. I don't know?? Either way, i didn't like the pacific so much.
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