History movies?

I assume people here watch history movies, considering this is a site dedicated to historical video games. What have been your favorites?

Der Untergang, Stalin and Talvisota are my top 3

Gettysburg and Gods and Generals...Still waiting on "The Last Full Measure" to be made into a movie.

Waterloo is an excellent film which I'm sure many of you know and appreciate. Great attention was paid to detail with events followed meticulously up to and during the battle. Absolutely wonderful depictions of massive armies and epic assaults (such as the famous portrayal of Ney's ill-fated cavalry charge). Objectivity is also something impressive, and character focus is 'top down' with little to no focus on individual soldiers. My favourite scene is probably Blucher's charge, mostly because of the awesome presentation of the man in the film.

Gettysburg, as Gen. Chris pointed out, is a masterful depiction of the battle, which has to it an emotional aspect which I think make it very engaging and less detached than other good historical films. If you ask me it's a rather fair presentation of the grievances of two important officers on each side, and much like Waterloo conveys the urgency of battle very nicely, although it is less of a 'duel' between two masterminds and this goes back to my point about 'emotion' within the film. I haven't seen Gods and Generals, although I heard it wasn't as good. I don't trust film critics though, so I'll give it a go.

Tora! Tora! Tora! Is again, another good 'top down' historical film. It doesn't seem to have aged as well as Waterloo, and I would say 'fair enough' if someone complained that the first portion of the film is just endless militaryspeak, and the second is just shooting and crashing. And yet, I very much enjoyed that film because of its portrayal of the tight political divisions within the two camps, the confusion, mistakes and anxiety, the desperation of the attack, amongst other factors. It's clinical analysis of diplomatic manoeuvering make it rather delicious to a student of history.

A Bridge Too Far: I saw this one a while back so I don't remember all the details, but in a fashion similar to the above films, it captured the desperation, confusion and frustration of those in command and under it. The battle scenes were also nicely filmed. It's both chilling and enjoyable to watch partially because you know the enterprise is a failure before you watch it.

Red Cliff: An epic pair of films with great 'eastern style' action, good characters and acting, it's very well shot and has awesome music. It makes the story a bit like a 'fairy tale' so to speak, I guess its based on 'Romance of the three kingdoms' after all, but I still found it highly enjoyable, despite the lack of realism.

Warlords: A gritty film which stands out from the others here because of its focus on three characters and their changing relations in the midst of war. It has epic battle scenes and good characterization (with some rather dramatic scenes) although it doesn't focus too much on the historical context it takes place in.

Kingdom of Heaven: Yes, it's not as much of a 'history' film as the others, and its from a bottom up perspective with love plots and villains and so on, but I found it a fantastic adventure with goosebump worthy battle scenes and great music. Just forget Legolas running around and its all good.

Letters from Iwo Jima was a very emotional, chilling narrative of the struggle of the Japanese soldiers as they fought a vastly superior foe. It's got good character study and great acting from Watanabe, as well as epic action and a few rather dramatic/harrowing scenes.

Thin Red Line is an interesting film, with an intense focus both on individuals and on bodies of men as they try to stay alive in war. It had quite a few notable scenes with dramatic, but realistic dialogue and action as well as an atmospheric score.

Empire of the Sun was very enjoyable, because the angle it views the war from on is rather unique (an English child caught up in the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong). Hmm, I feel as if I'm stretching the boundaries of 'history film' here ebcause of its focus on characters more than anything else, but it was a very worthy film.

Band of Brothers and The Pacific are great series which I would recommend to anyone who enjoys war films.

Originally Posted by Archon Musa

War films:
Waterloo is an excellent film which I'm sure many of you know and appreciate. Great attention was paid to detail with events followed meticulously up to and during the battle. Absolutely wonderful depictions of massive armies and epic assaults (such as the famous portrayal of Ney's ill-fated cavalry charge). Objectivity is also something impressive, and character focus is 'top down' with little to no focus on individual soldiers. My favourite scene is probably Blucher's charge, mostly because of the awesome presentation of the man in the film.

Gettysburg, as Gen. Chris pointed out, is a masterful depiction of the battle, which has to it an emotional aspect which I think make it very engaging and less detached than other good historical films. If you ask me it's a rather fair presentation of the grievances of two important officers on each side, and much like Waterloo conveys the urgency of battle very nicely, although it is less of a 'duel' between two masterminds and this goes back to my point about 'emotion' within the film. I haven't seen Gods and Generals, although I heard it wasn't as good. I don't trust film critics though, so I'll give it a go.

Tora! Tora! Tora! Is again, another good 'top down' historical film. It doesn't seem to have aged as well as Waterloo, and I would say 'fair enough' if someone complained that the first portion of the film is just endless militaryspeak, and the second is just shooting and crashing. And yet, I very much enjoyed that film because of its portrayal of the tight political divisions within the two camps, the confusion, mistakes and anxiety, the desperation of the attack, amongst other factors.

A Bridge Too Far: I saw this one a while back so I don't remember all the details, but in a fashion similar to the above films, it captured the desperation, confusion and frustration of those in command and under it. The battle scenes were also nicely filmed.

Kingdom of Heaven: Yes, it's not as much of a 'history' film as the others, and its from a bottom up perspective with love plots and villains and so on, but I found it a fantastic adventure with goosebump worthy battle scenes and great music. Just forget Legolas running around and its all good.

Letters from Iwo Jima was a very emotional, chilling narrative of the struggle of the Japanese soldiers as they fought a vastly superior foe. It's got good character study and great acting from Watanabe, as well as epic action and a few rather dramatic/harrowing scenes.

Thin Red Line is an interesting film, with an intense focus both on individuals and on bodies of men as they try to stay alive in war. It had quite a few notable scenes with dramatic, but realistic dialogue and action.

Band of Brothers and The Pacific are great series which I would recommend to anyone who enjoys war films.

Definitely watch Gods and Generals. It's a bit slower but it was still great. I feel like watching them now.

Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers were a great pair of war films about the same battle from two perspectives. It gave the very real impression that not all of the Japanese were bad, and were real people.

Band of Brothers and The Pacific were amazing.

Tora Tora Tora was amazing...I watched it after watching Pearl Harbor and it made me hate Pearl Harbor even more...

Originally Posted by Gen. Chris

Definitely watch Gods and Generals. It's a bit slower but it was still great. I feel like watching them now.

Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers were a great pair of war films about the same battle from two perspectives. It gave the very real impression that not all of the Japanese were bad, and were real people.

Band of Brothers and The Pacific were amazing.

Tora Tora Tora was amazing...I watched it after watching Pearl Harbor and it made me hate Pearl Harbor even more...

If you watch Gods and Generals, I'd skip the parts between the Battle of Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville. The rest of the movie is pretty good though, but not quite as good as Gettysburg.

Originally Posted by Rebelyell

If you watch Gods and Generals, I'd skip the parts between the Battle of Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville. The rest of the movie is pretty good though, but not quite as good as Gettysburg.

Yeah, but it pays to watch it all

The Director's Cut of both movies was recently released as a set. Gettysburg had 17 minutes added, while Gods and Generals received an extra hour...Which will hopefully make a big difference...Haven't watched it yet.

Here is a clip from talvisota because I bet most of you dont know what it is

Originally Posted by Kreiglord

Here is a clip from talvisota because I bet most of you dont know what it is

Dude wtf

Originally Posted by Fingon NL

Dude wtf

lol I forgot to mention somebody added in some new music

13 assasins. dont care that its not based on real events and its unrealistic. its still have the best sword fighting scenes

The last of the Mohicans, great movie.
Historically quite accurate, great emotions and music.. its the perfect movie pretty much. Especially the closing scene is very powerfull.

Originally Posted by Inhuman One

The last of the Mohicans, great movie.
Historically quite accurate, great emotions and music.. its the perfect movie pretty much. Especially the closing scene is very powerfull.

Plus it has the rarely-seen Daniel Day Lewis...

Four Feathers is a pretty good movie.

Andrei Rublyov
Kagemusha
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Wallenstein Mini-Series
The Last of the Mohicans
Barry Lyndon
La révolution française
Master and Commander
The Elephant Man
Lawrence of Arabia
Paths of Glory
Gewaltfrieden
Das Boot
Full Metal Jacket

Originally Posted by Pinarius

Andrei Rublyov
Kagemusha
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Wallenstein Mini-Series
The Last of the Mohicans
Barry Lyndon
La révolution française
Master and Commander
The Elephant Man
Lawrence of Arabia
Paths of Glory
Gewaltfrieden
Das Boot
Full Metal Jacket

A fine selection, sir.

Windtalkers would have been a good movie if it had actually focused more on the code talkers...But as a WWII film it was pretty good.

How about an unconventional one:

Last Samurai

Originally Posted by Deutschland

How about an unconventional one:

Last Samurai

Enjoyed that movie

300

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lio...ter_(1968_film)
Not 100% accurate, but extremely entertaining, and generally accurate (is based on historical English politics)
Also, there's apparently a 2003 remake that won some awards, and a broadway play. Those both sound worth watching, as the 1968 version surely was.