The Movie Thread

Now watching: Zombieland Double Tap

Also, forgot to mention that I watched Spider-Man: No Way Home in theaters last Friday. Which was likewise intense, as is probably to be expected from post-Endgame movies and TV.

A couple of days ago I watched Stalag 17, the PoW classic directed by Billy Wilder. It's nearly Christmas 1944, and some caged American airmen think it's still worth trying to make a break for freedom. When it all goes wrong, it's racketeer Sgt Sefton (William Holden) who falls under suspicion of being the barracks informant. Sefton does himself no favours by keeping up close relations with the Germans, and almost meets a nasty end at the hands of his fellow inmates. Life goes on however, with Robert Strauss and Harvey Lembeck providing doubtful light relief along the way, until matters come to a head with the arrival of a special new prisoner. Sefton's been lying low, but whichever side he's on, his next move will mark out his real loyalties.

The narrator mentions in his opening that nobody had made a prisoner of war film before - evidently he missed the excellent The Wooden Horse in 1950, but there certainly was an uptick over the next decade. Stalag 17 seems to have a good reputation across the Atlantic, but speaking as a Briton, I don't think it compares so well with British PoW films. Holden is perfect in the role of Sefton and deserved his Oscar, but the trouble is that he carries the film. The rest of the cast are mid-table at best, and Strauss' nomination for Best Supporting Actor is a complete mystery to me - his performance as 'Animal' was more embarrassing than funny. On the subject of comedy, the film's influence on Hogan's Heroes is even greater than I thought, right down to the name of Sgt Schultz, though the anonymous/uncredited guards are rather more trigger happy, to a slightly implausible degree. 

All told, I'd give this a 7/10, with Holden's efforts pulling it up from a 5.5.

Two weeks ago, I watched a Japanese film called Aegis (Japanese title: Bôkoku no îjisu). The plot is about foreign agents posing as JMSDF officers which they smuggle an experimental American chemical weapon aboard a Kongo-class guided-missile destroyer. The foreign agents plan to use the chemical weapon to hold the entirety of Tokyo hostage as the chemical weapon can kill 13 million people in the Bay Area. It's up to one chief petty officer and a covert Japanese agent to stop the terrorists from succeeding.

A fairly enjoyable movie. It had Under Siege feels in it especially when the chief petty officer has to battle the bad guys as a one-man army. The bad guys are your typical stateless mooks in jumpsuits, SWAT vests, and suspenders. No country was implied where their origin was, but I assumed it was either China or North Korea. The gore factor was there too. The Japanese don't hold back when it comes to graphic effects.

7.5/10

More information
- Bôkoku no îjisu on IMDB
- Aegis on Asian Wiki