Search This Blog

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

November Film Club

Hey everyone!

I can't believe that October is already over...winter is getting closer every day.  A big thank you to everyone who came out to Horror Fest this year, we had a lot of fun.

For the month of November, I thought I'd try something a little different.  Since Veteran's Day is in November, I figured I would show a war film.  I may continue to do this for as many war films that are covered by our license.

For the month of November, I have decided to show Steven Spielberg's masterpiece of a film, Saving Private Ryan.

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war drama film set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II.  Directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat, the film is notable for its graphic portrayal of war, and for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which includes a depiction of the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944.  It follows United States Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) and a squad (Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg, and Jeremy Davies) as they search for a paratrooper, Private First Class James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), who is the last surviving brother of four servicemen.  The film received universal acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast, and crew, as well as earning significant returns at the box office.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated the film for 11 Academy Awards; Spielberg's direction won him a second Academy Award for Best Director, with four more awards going to the film.

In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  The film holds a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes out of 130 critical reviews.  Roger Ebert awarded the film 4/4 stars saying this in his review, "Spielberg and his screenwriter, Robert Rodat, have done a subtle and rather beautiful thing: They have made a philosophical film about war almost entirely in terms of action.  Saving Private Ryan says things about war that are as complex and difficult as any essayist could possibly express, and does it with broad, strong images, with violence, with profanity, with action, with camaraderie.  It is possible to express even the most thoughtful ideas in the simplest words and actions, and that's what Spielberg does.  Saving Private Ryan is a powerful experience.  I'm sure a lot of people will weep during it.  Spielberg knows how to make audiences weep better than any director since Chaplin in City Lights.  But weeping is an incomplete response, letting the audience off the hood.  This film embodies ideas.  After the immediate experience begins to fade, the implications remain and grow."