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CATCH 22 Series

February 13, 2021 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

Based on Joseph Heller’s classic antiwar novel CATCH 22, the 2019 Hulu series of the same title lovingly adds depth and dimension to Heller’s absurd world but tonally sacrifices the dark humor. I enjoyed it but found myself unfavorably comparing it both to the novel and the brilliant, tightly written 1970 movie starring Alan Arkin and many other great actors.

Produced by several people including George Clooney, who also directed and stars in several episodes, the six-part series describes the tribulations of John Yossarian (Christopher Abbott), an Air Force bombardier serving in Italy during World War II. He hates being there and wants to go home, but his brutal commander keeps raising the combat missions quota, making him wonder who the real enemy is.

The book is packed with absurdity to a Monty Python level. The tone shifts from dark comedy to just dark by its last act, with the horror closing in on Yossarian until he makes the ultimate choice to save himself. The series takes a different tack, playing it serious for the most part and sacrificing most of the books’ humor, but punctuating the otherwise serious story with absurd comedic moments that feel disjointed and not very funny. There’s a ton of filler plot stuff that doesn’t seem to go anywhere, and a lot of shots of Yossarian moping. The ending doesn’t really end.

That being said, the cinematography is lavish, as is the attention given to historical detail. The story starts off really well and is basically enjoyable, the acting is good, the potential of the story eventually hitting its stride is inviting. So in the end, I liked it, though I wanted to love it. I just ended up feeling like the show couldn’t decide what it wanted to be.

Filed Under: Movies & TV, Submarines & WW2, The Blog

THE CURRENT WAR (2017)

December 29, 2020 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

As a writer, my time is split between nonfiction and fiction. My nonfiction deals with the lighting industry, which I’ve been writing about for magazines, associations, websites, and manufacturers for 30 years. So I was very interested in watching THE CURRENT WAR (2017), a film about the war between George Westinghouse and Thomas Alva Edison about whether AC or DC power would dominate American power distribution, as I was familiar with some of the history. The film does a good job dramatizing their war and I was happy to see this bit of history covered by a major film, though overall the result feels kinda tame, like a traditional TV movie.

The film starts with Edison’s commercialization of a viable incandescent light bulb and a DC power system used to feed electricity to these bulbs from generators. Edison is excellently played by Benedict Cumberbatch, basically reprising his eccentric genius Sherlock role complete with a Watson-like sidekick. While the bulbs are amazing for the period (they last 13 hours as opposed to two, the best anybody else could do), DC power isn’t very efficient, resulting in a huge number of generators and the air crisscrossed with thick wires. Enter George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), a railroad engineer who grew rich on investing an air brake for trains. He sees AC power as the future as it’s dramatically more efficient, but he doesn’t have Edison’s light bulbs. Westinghouse wants to work together, but Edison snubs him, starting a war to see which power system will electrify America.

Edison goes so far as to try to smear AC power as dangerous, electrifying animals in front of the press and supporting the invention of the electric chair. But AC power is clearly superior. All it’s missing is a viable motor that can accept an AC power input. Enter a genius named Nikola Tesla, a Serbian immigrant who has the answer. The rest, as they say, is history.

The film has a great cast and a lot of love went into bringing the period to life. I especially appreciated the topic, as the Current War is as dramatic as they come in terms of history, and it was fought by business and intellectual giants who were rapidly transforming America with radical inventions such as electricity, the phonograph, arc lamps, and motion pictures. The film does a fantastic job of creating a sense of wonder and how at the time a few great minds could change the world with science.

The film sags, however, in its storytelling. The writers tried to balance the human and business sides of the war without giving either the right height. The directing is also fairly staid, propping up the result with Scorcese-like visual elements (he was a producer) that feel utterly out of place and actually detract from all the effort made to create historical immersion. I also think they might have done better to give Tesla far more screen time, as he is such a fascinating figure who made science truly feel like magic. This is a guy who stood on a stage at the Chicago World Fair and electrified himself (safely because the frequency was so high), powering a forerunner to the fluorescent tube that he held in his hand. The film also doesn’t mention he got ripped off.

So in the end, this is another one I liked instead of loved. Overall, it’s very enjoyable and the history is great, though the telling somewhat sags with lackluster directing.

Filed Under: Movies & TV, Other History, The Blog

THE OUTPOST (2020)

December 22, 2020 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

I spotted THE OUTPOST (2020) on Netflix and thought, well, here goes another predictable war movie about lovable, earnest soldiers fighting the evil Taliban with plenty of action and American grit, and I ended up pretty surprised to discover instead one of the best films about war ever made, at least in my opinion as a civilian.

Based on the book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper, the film depicts the events surrounding the incredible Taliban assault against Combat Outpost Keating, one of a series of bases strung across the mountains near Pakistan to prevent arms and Taliban fighters from crossing into Afghanistan. It was that war’s bloodiest battle, which involved hundreds of Taliban assaulting the base with the advantage of the high ground. It’s the inspiration for a similar fight in my novel THE INFECTION.

Few war movies have the courage to tell it like it is and let soldiers be real people. GENERATION KILL did it, and so does OUTPOST. There’s very little hooah sap and “band of brothers” here. They’re just regular guys, and we see them interact with wit and the usual friendships and frictions you’d expect. They are also somewhat fatalistic, as they’re under constant harassment, the base is poorly situated surrounded by high ground, and they know a big attack is coming that they will likely not survive. But they’re professional soldiers and have a job to do, so they do it stoically.

The film gives us time to get to know the grunts as the CAV unit goes through several commanders, each with a different command style. The acting is strong and perfectly understated, led by a cast that includes Orlando Bloom, Caleb Landry Jones, and Scott Eastwood (the spitting image of his dad). Meanwhile, the unit’s relationship with the locals slowly sours, and the tension builds. When the attack finally comes, it’s absolutely savage–as exciting and powerful as the likes of BLACKHAWK DOWN–and this is where we see the hooah and band of brothers come out–naturally in the soldiers’ actions–as some fight back with incredible courage and others risk their lives for guys they serve with and sometimes don’t even like that much.

The film has been praised by veterans, including men who fought in the actual battle, for its depictions of everyday soldier life, war in general, and the battle in particular. The film made me care, had me on the edge of my seat, and respected my intelligence. I absolutely loved this one. While 2020 sucked in general, it absolutely shined for war films with the release of the likes of THE OUTPOST and GREYHOUND. I hope we get more like it.

Filed Under: Movies & TV, Other History, The Blog

THE LIBERATOR (2020)

November 23, 2020 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

Based on the nonfiction book by Alex Kershaw, THE LIBERATOR (2020, Netflix) is a four-part WW2 miniseries chronicling infantry commander Felix Sparks and members of the 157th Infantry Battalion of the 45th Infantry Division, which fought for 500 days during the Italian campaign. The series is compelling, realistic enough that old tropes feel lived in and comfortable instead of saccharine, and emotionally powerful.

The series was originally conceived as a live-action, 11-part series for the History Channel. The daunting cost, however, consigned the project to the file drawer. The showrunner, Jeb Stuart, however, loved it enough that he and his team found a way to produce it as a four-part series and animate it. The result is an extraordinarily powerful drama about war that lacks the excitement and action of say BAND OF BROTHERS but has equal if not more emotional impact.

Interestingly, the story of the 157th is also a diversity story. To get bodies at the front, the services began to integrate. The 157th–the “Thunderbirds”–was an integrated unit made up of white cowboys, Mexican-Americans, and Native soldiers from across the American West. They fought long and hard in some of the most horrific battles of the war and as a result became one of the most decorated American combat units. In the series, the diversity element is handled very well, letting it speak for itself, and rather than present Sparks (played by Bradley James, nailing the role) as a “White savior,” he is merely an officer who believes if the men he’s given command of are simply treated fairly, they would become excellent soldiers, and he was right.

The animation works well and doesn’t detract at all from the show, though I’m not sure it enhances it other than enabling costuming, equipment, and special effects that wouldn’t been allowed by the budget. You can see the lack of budget in the number of people onscreen–at one point, several units are fighting and then surrender en masse, but we never see more than a handful of people on screen. I didn’t mind, mostly because the acting was terrific and the script was fantastic. One phrase that jumped into my mind while watching it was “the banality of war.” The series has a very lived-in feel, making it seem real even with the animation, and most of what we see is the men simply trying to survive. The real drama isn’t from the combat but instead the men we come to care about, particularly Sparks himself, and the way familiar war tropes surface while others are challenged. As for the Germans, they’re presented as real people as well instead of comic-book villains, though sometimes the SS–who were absolute fanatics–are humanized a bit too much for credulity.

In short, I loved it and highly recommend it.

Filed Under: Movies & TV, Submarines & WW2, The Blog

THE WINTER KING by Bernard Cornwell

November 5, 2020 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

After reading all 12 books of the Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell, I picked up his Warlord Chronicles with a little trepidation. On the one hand, I was hopeful as the books appeared to offer as much fun as Utred’s story. On the other hand, the Warlord trilogy is a retelling of Arthurian legend, which I find overfamiliar and boring. I was pleasantly surprised to find the first novel, THE WINTER KING, is his best yet, offering everything I loved about the Saxon Chronicles while offering a story of Arthur that is totally fresh and engaging.

In THE WINTER KING, the High King Uther dies after designating Mordred, his infant son, as his heir. His bastard son Arthur returns from Brittany in France to protect the kingdom until Mordred comes of age. He forges what appears to be a lasting peace between all Britons in the hopes of uniting them against the Saxon invaders, but the peace doesn’t last, resulting in endless war culminating in a final climactic battle. The story is told in the reminisce of Derfel, an orphan raised by Merlin, who becomes a great warrior serving Arthur.

This is classic Cornwell, a lived-in world that is the product of thoughtful research, fantastic characters, incredible action, and in this case an entirely new telling of Arthurian legend.

Filed Under: Books, Other History, The Blog

GREYHOUND (2020)

November 4, 2020 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

Wow, now THIS is how you make a war movie. If you’re a war movie buff, especially WW2 movies, you owe it yourself to check out GREYHOUND (2020) ASAP.

Based on the book THE GOOD SHEPHERD by C.S. Forester, who produced the classic Hornblower series, GREYHOUND focuses on U.S. Navy Commander Ernest Krause, captain of the destroyer GREYHOUND and assigned to escort a convoy of supply ships streaming across the North Atlantic to aid besieged Britain. It’s his first operation, and he’s about to be baptized the hard way into the horrors of the Battle of the Atlantic. The most dangerous part of the voyage is a stretch of sea in which the convoy will be unprotected by air cover and under constant threat by German U-Boats. Almost immediately, a wolf pack collects around the ships, intent on ripping the convoy to shreds.

Starring as Krause, Tom Hanks also wrote the script, and he didn’t mess with the accuracy. The movie rolls out like a military procedural. We see the destroyer’s bridge crew work together under his direction, as he is forced to respond to constant threats and make tough choices with barely a break. The film gets everything right–the procedures, the gun battles, the way the crew look at their captain not only for direction and inspiration but to check if he’s cracking under the strain. The tension is terrific, the roiling cold seas a powerful setting, the German U-Boats with their distinctive insignia terrifying as they boldly attack like sharks. Characterization isn’t staged or forced to try to make us care. Good acting by Hanks and his captain’s mannerisms and working style tell us everything we need to know about him and make us root for him.

If you can’t tell yet, I loved this one and highly recommend it. It defies typical Hollywood movie conventions to offer something simple, entertaining, and pure.

Filed Under: Movies & TV, Submarines & WW2, The Blog

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