First of all I want to start this article off by wishing everyone including the men and women of the Armed Forces a Happy Memorial Day. After all, this day is about remembering all soldiers past and present that have fought for this country. So for today’s film, I decided to watch a war film and I picked Flags Of Our Fathers which was directed by Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby). It’s 1945 and the war is almost coming to a close, but America is still at war with the Japanese. While on the island of Iwo Jima, the goal is to hang an American flag at the top of a certain point. The film follows the six men who raised the very flag that we see in that iconic image and all of the issues they had to deal with while at war and after it. The film stars Ryan Phillippe (Cruel Intentions) as John “Doc” Bradley, Jesse Bradford (Hackers) as Rene Gagnon, Adam Beach (Windtalkers) as Ira Hayes, John Benjamin Hickey (The Bone Collector) as Keyes Beech, Barry Pepper (True Grit) as Mike Strank, Jamie Bell (King Kong) as Iggy, Paul Walker (Furious 7) as Hank Hansen, John Slattery (Captain America: Civil War) as Bud Gerber, Robert Patrick (Striptease) as Colonel Chandler Johnson, Neal McDonough (Red 2) as Captain Severance, and Melanie Lynskey (Up In The Air) as Pauline.
As far as the film is concerned, it’s a very different type of war movie because not only do you see the horrors of war, but you see a very different side of it. You see a side of war that the politicians do not want you to see. For instance, throughout the film, the image of the men putting up the flag is more important to the cause then the actual truth behind the picture. The country practically has no money so they use the image and the remaining three men who are alive to try and raise money by selling bonds. They know very well that these guys are not comfortable with the whole hero thing, but they need to use that to try and draw money to win the war. Those are some of the things we do not get to see, but is the film controversial? Maybe or maybe not because it depends on who you ask like Spike Lee. Clint Eastwood as a director is money because I have yet to be disappointed at any of the films the man has made and that is truly amazing. There are some iconic images in this film like all of the warships out in the ocean to the gritty aspects of war. All of the acting was great, the cinematography was amazing, and the story was well written. This film may not be my favorite war movie in the world, but it certainly ranks up there. Like I said above, this day is about remembering all the men and women that served this country. Check out the film, learn some history about the nation, and I am giving the film an A- for a final grade.
It has been quite some time since the last Ass Whoopin Wednesday post that I did and like I promised it would return. Now the question was what film was I going to choose for the return and Falcon Rising caught my eye on Netflix. Michael Jai White (Tyson) stars as John ‘Falcon’ Chapman, a former Marine who is having a hard time adjusting to life after the military. One day after a visit from his sister Cindy (Laila Ali), he finds out that she was brutally beaten almost to death in Brazil. So, John travels down to Brazil to get to the bottom of it, but he’ll have to deal with the corruption that runs wild in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The film also stars Neal McDonough (Captain America: The First Avenger) as Manny Ridley, Lateef Crowder (Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice) as Carlo Bororo, Masashi Odate (Letters From Iwo Jima) as Hirimoto, Hazuki Kato (Muppets Most Wanted) as Tomoe, Millie Ruperto (Presumed Dead In Paradise) as Katarina Da’ Silva, Jimmy Navarro (Heroes From Another Land) as Thiago Santo, Daniel Cardona (The Preppie Connection) as Kuka, and the film was directed by Ernie Barbarash (Cube Zero).To see the rest of the review of the film and the stats, please visit my other blog 
365moviesin365dayschallenge 