Movies recently seen

[Rickshaw]

As there doesn't appear to be a general thread on movies, here goes:

Just seen "Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan" Which is about the Battle of Long Tan during the early stages of the Vietnam War. It involved Delta Company of 6 Battalion of the Royal Australia Regiment. Overall, as a military history it was very close to the accounts of the battle. Some elements were over-dramatised, as per usual for any movie made for the masses. It was though very accurate, except for a few minor technical details. All the uniforms, ranks, weapons, vehicles were accurate. I bet Australian Army enjoyed making this movie. "Nui Dat" - the main Australian base in South Vietnam was a bit smaller than it was in real life.

The NLF forces which was encountered during the battle was quite accurately portrayed but they didn't really have enough bugle or whistle calls occurring to direct the troops or enough weapons of the correct types (they had too many AK-47s when they should have had SKS carbines and only two machine guns were shown when at least half a dozen were involved in real life).

I'd recommend this to any readers if they want a good, accurate, battle movie to watch. Now, all we need is one about Firebase Coral and Balmoral.

 

[Archibald]

"First man", obviously. Kind of liked it, although not outstanding nor absolutely memorable. An honest-to-god biography.

The real thrill was to see Gemini 8 going astray, and telling my wife (I'm a space nerd and she is absolutely NOT - BUT we are BOTH die-hard fans of Christopher Nolan Interstellar)

"Look darling, this is exactly where Nolan got his Cooper docking moment".

I even mixed the two movies lines

Dave Scott "Armstrong, what are you doing"
Neil Armstrong "Un-docking"
Dave Scott "rotation rates, aaargh, they are 60+ per minute. It's not possible."
Neil Armstrong "No. It's necessary." (Hans Zimmer music starts).
Dave Scott "Armstrong, this is no time for caution"

My wife actually was a little annoyed because, as a space buff, I completely spoiled the movie

"ah, the X-15. Look, Armstrong will bounce off the atmosphere" (...Armstrong's X-15 bounces)

"ah, Gemini 8. This won't end well." (...Gemini 8 goes astray)

"Geez, the lunar trainer. He is gonna crash" (...LLTV crashes)

"The lunar landing. They landed 5 miles too long and with little fuel left"

"Yes, Armstrong finally divorced his wife. 25 years after the end of the movie."