Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving

5/05/2018

Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best War Movie of the Year + Best True-Story Movie of the Year + Best Big Flop Movie of the Year

This powerful, simple poster for Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers evokes the power of the iconic Iwo Jima photograph of the American flag-raising

Flags of Our Fathers presents the incredible story of the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, the taking of the Japanese Mount Suribachi, a sulfurous, volcanic island, but mostly about the sensational photograph of a flag-raising there, which effectively kept the US war effort afloat for the last months of WWII and immortalized the names of 3 ordinary, young men.

Flags of Our Fathers is written by William Broyles Jr. (China Beach (1988-91)) and Paul Haggis (EZ Streets (1996-97)), based on the same-titled 2000 book by James Bradley (Flyboys: A True Story of Courage (2003)) and Ron Powers (Face Value (1979)), and directed by Californian master filmmaker Clint Eastwood (The Rookie (1990)) as his 26th feature.
Eastwood handles the extraordinary story with an elevated integrity and arranges an epic circle around the narrative, which is about sacrifice and our need for heroes. It is structured in an advanced and highly affecting order with lots of flashbacks.
The cast, especially Ryan Phillippe (MacGruber (2010)) and Adam Beach (Crook (2013)), who plays the phenomenally tragic character of native American Ira Hayes, are outstanding, and several supporting characters also come to vivid life by the strong ensemble.
Some of the large-scale, CGI-heavy composite shots in the film sometimes have an artificial quality to them. It doesn't change the general effect of Flags of Our Fathers, which is a film primarily for and by men, a truly Great Manly Film.

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2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (actor)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (actor)
The Enforcer (1976) - Eastwood teaches revolutionaries a lesson in third, less punchy Dirty Harry (star)
The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (actor)
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (actor)

Listen here to the film's theme suite here from its score by Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens

Cost: Reportedly around 55 mil. $
Box office: 65.9 mil. $
= Big flop (1.19 times the cost)
[Flags of Our Fathers premiered 9 October (Los Angeles) and runs 131 minutes. It was Eastwood's idea to make two Iwo Jima films; one about the American side (Flags of Our Fathers) and one about the Japanese soldiers' experiences (Letters from Iwo Jima (2006). Shooting took place in Illinois, including Chicago, California, including Los Angeles, in Texas, Washington, DC, in Iceland and Iwo Jima, Japan for about 60 days from August 2005 - 'early 2006'. The budget was set high at 80 mil. $, but Eastwood wrapped shooting way ahead of time, thus seemingly saving a whopping 25 mil. $. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release The Prestige and holdover hit The Departed, to a weak 10.2 mil. $ in North America, where it spent one more week in the top 5 (#4) an grossed just 33.6 mil. $ (51 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 13.1 mil. $ (19.9 %) and France with 3.9 mil. $ (5.9 %). Spike Lee caused controversy by criticizing Eastwood for not showing more black Marines in the two films, which turned out to be factually based; Eastwood stated that Lee should "shut his face." The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Sound Mixing, lost to Dreamgirls, and Best Sound Editing, lost to Letters from Iwo Jima. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won a National Board of Review award, several other honors and high placement on countless critics' annual top 10 lists. The film has reportedly made in excess of 45 mil. $ on home video sales in North America alone, which would change its status to just 'flop' if figured into its gross. It has since (in 2016) come to light that John 'Doc' Bradley was not, in fact, one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers. Eastwood returned with Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) and after that with Changeling (2008). Flags of Our Fathers is certified fresh at 73 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Flags of Our Fathers?

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

5/05/2018

Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

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