Movies
Taking Chance
This movie is only like an hour long because it was an HBO special feature at the beginning of draw down from Afghanistan. Kevin Bacon is outstanding in this and does a great job and honestly is the only real character.
War
Books
The Reaper
This is a decent book that tells a good story. However, it is nothing crazy. A memoir that doesn't explain anything beyond some almost repetitive statements about how military members deal with combat actions.
Movies
Valkyrie
This film, based on a true story about the final assassination attempt on Hitler, flew under the radar despite its stellar cast. The acting, especially from Tom Cruise, is top-notch. It's historically intriguing and enjoyable, with minimal violence and worth the watch.
Movies
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Just like the previous movie, I watched the extended version of this movie. I think this one has very scenes that extend and help the movie as compared to the last one, but for the readers I am sure these scenes are very important.
Movies
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Typically I do not like the initial movie of a know series, but this one was so well done. I mean it should be with 3.5 hours for the original and 4 hours for the extended version. This is a CLASSIC.
Movies
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
I enjoyed this movie. It did take me the longest to get through. It might be a conditioned response from the times of trying to marathon these movies and just crashing at the end of the night, but I never wanted to start the last hour of this movie.
Movies
The Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy
The Ring of Power is found and throws the world into chaos once again after centuries of relative peace from the forces of evil. The Fellowship ebbs and wanes against those forces as they work to get Sam and Frodo to Mt. Doom to destroy the ring.
Movies
Gladiator
This is an oldy but a goody. Russell Crowe does an amazing job for a completely historically inaccurate movie. So I was watching this and guess it was the extended version because I saw some scenes I have NEVER seen before. I agree they should have removed them as they just really slowed down
Movies
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
This movie is way funnier than it should be. Alan Ritchson and Henry Cavill play so well off of each other for this comedic moments, there are times you'd think it was a comedy rather than an action movie. You wouldn't be wrong though, it is a comedy.
Movies
Sisu
This movie is crazy. I knew the John Wick folks were involved, but they did not leave anything on the table. The story is simple telling only what needs to be told and nothing else. Legitimately, in the entire movie there is probably 200 - 300 words spoken.
Movies
Darkest Hour
This is part of an unintended trilogy that all cover the same event, the evacuation of Dunkirk. I recently saw and old Graham Norton Show interview were Hugh Jackman gushed over Gary Oldman's performance on this movie and having never seen it, I felt I had to
Books
The Last Viking
This book was nowhere near as interesting as I thought it was going to be. There is a heavy reliance on dates and people that override the narrative that I think was meant to be told. While Harold led an intriguing life, it is lost in the multitudes of historical details.