Steven Spielberg’s latest. This movie was about what I expected. All the bare ‘grit’ of war. I can’t really think of anything too critical to say about this movie… it was quite good. I really liked the camera work, it added a bit more realism and was not overdone like some MTV video. I especially liked the lack of fiery explosions and the lack of any slow-motion violence sequences. For some reason, the movie industry seems to think that we can’t relate to explosions unless there is a lot of fire involved, even though almost all explosions are really fireless. Also, Hollywood seems to think that we “get more out of” slow motion sequences. I think slow-motion totally ruins the reality of a scene (with some exceptions). Real life is not in slow motion. Unlike a lot of people, I didn’t think this movie was necessarily ‘too much’ for some younger people (say… kids over ~13 depending on their maturity level… ) I’m sure a lot of people will disagree though, and I can understand why. It is very graphic, but I don’t think it will do permanent harm to anyone’s character. A lot of movies tend to make violence and death overly glamorous and dramatic – I think that’s a lot worse than just telling the truth about it. This movie shows what real violence does to people – there’s nothing glamorous about it. A lot of real soldiers get killed in agonizing ways, and luck has more to do with survival than skill. Who wants to bet their life that they’ll be lucky? War does indeed suck. Maybe people who see this movie will be less inclined to start them. (Oh, I think there was one plot screwup: Pvt. Ryan talks about the last time he was together with his brothers – back on the farm in Iowa. But, we learned earlier that they were all stationed together, and only split up after a different (and real-life) tragedy happened. )