Captain America: The First Avenger

The things I did not like about Captain America:

1. The historical inaccuracies
There were no black people in World War II.

Well, technically, there were. But they had their own batallion. You see, there was this thing called segregation, people. Black people did not fight side-by-side with the whites. If you don't believe me, see Band of Brothers. Everything I learned about World War II, I learned from Steven Spielberg. Just kidding.

P.S. I don't think there were Asians in World War II, either. Even those from Fresno.

See? No black people. Nor Asians.

The Pacific

When people ask me what The Pacific is all about, I just tell them, "It's like Band of Brothers, only in the Pacific. Duh." I'm not really sure if Dale Dye was the same military adviser for this series. Anyway, who gives a damn about military advisers in war films? World War II geeks, that's who.

Part One

"Stick 'em up, Jap."

Oh wow. Hanks and Spielberg teamed up again. Those World War II junkies really need their fix. You really can't help but compare it to Band of Brothers. Because they really are similar. Although the Pacific war came first. Just can't help thinking that the Pacific vets approached Spielberg and Hanks and told them, "Hey, do a series about us!"

The Pacific. Part Ten

No one wants to watch that kind of drama. 

Like I said earlier, I don’t really like war films that devote a huge part of the movie to civilian life. I expect to see war. Well, the only good thing in this episode was when Bob Leckie decided to court Vera Keller.

The Pacific. Part Nine

"If my face is all dirty, why are my teeth white?"

Emotions run high as the series draws to a close. And I was not mistaken that the bug-eyed Private Shelton seems to be a great character after all. Sure, he may be a dick to his comrades. But he sure is nice to the Japs. Well, not really nice, but ethical.

Band of Brothers: Real American Heroes

Band of Brothers is about this really tight group of soldiers during World War II. Kind of like G.I. Joe, without the black people, as segregation in the army was still in back then.

But unlike G.I. Joe, the men of Easy Company are NOT real American heroes. Don't believe me? See for yourself.

Maj. Richard D. Winters

Damian Lewis (English)

Apocalypse: The Second World War. 5/6 The Great Landings

Great sequence on the Warsaw ghetto, and chronicling its degeneration. Sad, really. Okay, so the title says "The Great Landings". I thought they were referring to the Allied Normandy landings. Yet they didn't show any of that here. They were probably referring to the Allied landings in the Mediterranean. Well, if D-Day isn't here, then it's bound to be in the last episode.


*pic from Rapid Share Index

The Pacific. Part Eight

Okay, three-fourths of this episode was boring, because it was set, again, outside the war zone. But it does make up for it because it showed how John Basilone met, fell in love with, wooed, and married his wife. It didn't suck too much because Mrs. Basilone was pretty. They also showed some basic training scenes, which I find kind of strange that the filmmakers placed it toward the end of the series. The other one-fourth of the episode was set in Iwo Jima, another Pacific island that looks like Mordor.


*pic from channelguidemag.com

The Pacific. Part Seven

Great action sequences. But this has got to be the crappiest, ugliest war zone I've seen. It's all rocks, and dead trees. It looks like the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie. And John Basilone is still in the States, selling war bonds.


*pic from HBO

The Pacific. Part Six

Good thing the boys are still on Peleliu Island. This means action. Too bad about their thirst problem though. And I'm already starting to like the annoying guy with buggy eyes. I used to hate him because of his drawl. But I felt sorry for him here.


*pic from daemonstv.com

The Pacific. Part Five

You'ld've thought this episode would suck. It started out with John "Manila" Basilone back in the States, selling war bonds, and having sex. Again, any scene outside the war scene is boring. But it did make up for it, by showing the Peleliu landing in the second half of the episode. Possibly the best battle scene in the series. So far.


*pic from avclub.com

The Pacific. Part Four

Okay, so there was some action in the first part. But the second part went kind of slow. You know why? Because they changed location. They followed Bob Leckie to the hospital, where he spent the rest of the episode. Hospitals = boring. Anywhere outside the war zone is boring.


*pic from HBO

The Pacific. Part Three

One word: BORING. That's all caps. Sure, there was sex. But seriously, I didn't watch this series to see soldiers on R & R. Check out the pic. Does that look like World War II to you? I watched this for my daily dose of World War II action. And this episode has none. The only action I saw were the pumping scenes in bed. Boo.


*pic from HBO

Apocalypse: The Second World War. 4/6 The World Ablaze

And finally, this documentary touches on the war in the Pacific. And hooray for showing footage shot in the Philippines, particularly, the Bataan Death March. And for the longest time, I thought that "Tora tora" was the name of the Japanese planes. Turns out it was a battle cry. It's amazing how playground history mostly turns out wrong.

*pic from stagevu.com (for lack of a better pic, I had to settle for one with "PG" plastered all over the top left side)

Band of Brothers. Part 9: Why We Fight

And as the paratroopers' song goes: ♪ Glory, glory, what a helluva way to die / He ain't gonna jump no more ♫ And basically, Easy Company gets to jump no more. Except for Captain Nixon, who gets to make one last jump with the 17th Airborne. While getting divorced from his wife. While running out of whiskey. All this from a man who never fired his weapon in combat. Ever. And what is the reason why they fight? One word: Jews.

Apocalypse: The Second World War. 3/6 Shock

Shock is, of course, what you would feel when you learn of all the Nazi atrocities during World War II. This episode chronicles Hitler's breaking of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. Which of course resulted in the eventual German assault on Russia, the fall of Poland, and the beginnings of the Holocaust. This was before they discovered the most cost-efficient way to carry out the Final Solution.

*pic from natgeotv.com

Apocalypse: The Second World War. 2/6 Crushing Defeat

All right, you can tell quite a lot from the title alone. Someone was crushingly defeated. Or defeated in a crushing manner. Not "crushing" like "I'm crushing on Kate Beckinsale Zooey Deschanel", but "crushing" like "crushing an empty soda can". (Why did I even include Kate and Zooey here?) And the highlights of this episode are the fall of Belgium, the fall of Paris, and the realization that General Charles de Gaulle was actually a huge man. As in you can literally see him towering over everyone, like Aragorn over hobbits.


*pic from natgeotv.com

Band of Brothers. Part 7: The Breaking Point

This one now is about 1st Sgt. Carwood Lipton. It's amazing how Donnie Wahlberg can play a really nice guy. I don't know if he's a really nice guy in real life, though. Maybe. Who knows. I also realized that maybe sharing foxholes is the bonding activity that kept the men of Easy so unusually close.

*pic from photobucket.com

Band of Brothers. Part 6: Bastogne

Since this show tries to do a different point of view for every episode, this one focuses on Easy Company's medic, the half-Cajun Eugene "Doc" Roe. They even tried putting a romantic angle on it. Good thing they didn't pursue it. But the last shot was my absolute favorite.

*pic from photobucket.com

The Pacific. Part Two

HBO's starting to use the intro of "Previously...on The Pacific." It makes it seem too... pop. Action-packed again, as always. And great cinematography. This was warfare before night-vision goggles. Which makes me wonder how they were able to wage jungle warfare back then. Maybe, even if they couldn't see the Japanese, maybe they could feel them. Or smell them. I don't know.


*pic from aceshowbiz.com

Band of Brothers. Part 5: Crossroads

This episode was directed by Tom Hanks. Okay, so Tom Hanks can direct. A little. I mean, how hard is it, if Mel Gibson can win a Best Director Oscar for Braveheart? But somehow, this episode tries too hard to be fancy, when straight-up storytelling will do just fine.

*pic from hbo.com