New Midway Movie

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

Subject notwithstanding, I wouldn’t expect it for quite some time. I have been working peripherally with a production company on an ETO-themed movie that is currently in limbo. I was talking with one of their people lately and was told there is NO big financing going on for big-budget films at all right now. The money people aren’t investing large amounts into movies right now. The recent large budget stuff you’ve seen in films were all financed long before the “meltdown”. I was told by one of them to expect a lot of romantic comedies and “buddy cop” movies for the next few years because they’re reasonably cheap to make.

"Pearl Harbor" was a romantic comedy. Ben Affleck's character fell in love with that nurse and the movie kept me in stitches laughing at how horrible and unrealistic all of the CGI airplanes were.

So, maybe there's hope!

My wife watched it one night and expecting something along the lines of a Guy Named Joe, she responded with dissapoitment and said it should have been called STONE HARBOR >


.

[TonyM]

I hope they show the true story of Torpedo 8...

Jerry

Jerry O'Neill,

You might already know about the really good book about Torpedo 8:

A DAWN LIKE THUNDER
The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight

by
Robert J. Mrazek

A great read.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

I hope they show the true story of Torpedo 8...

Jerry

Jerry O'Neill,

You might already know about the really good book about Torpedo 8:

A DAWN LIKE THUNDER
The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight

by
Robert J. Mrazek

A great read.

He really raked Swede Larson over the coals in that one.

[Garth]

And now with Toshirô Mifune and Pat Morita gone, and James Shigeta and George Takei both a bit old (the latter three were Hollywood's go to Japanese guys for years)...who will they get for Yamamoto?

My best cynical guess: Jon Gosselin...Anyone...anyone?
If he's too young fo the Admiral, strap him in a Tora surplus Kate or Val (I vote for a Kate) and make him the attack leader.
The director's instructions to him would be simple...."Jon, don't look at the camera.
Give me a determined, killer look. Pretend it's Kate on a raft...".

There's always the current go-to Japanese guy in Hollywood: John Cho.

[tom d. friedman]

that print is fabulous!!!! as well as the story behind it. from what i recall he didn't have much choice in doing it with the prevailing situation, but i could be wrong.

[mustangdriver]

It would be cool to see the MAPS Museum restore theirs with the torpedo to tell this story.

[whistlingdeath77]

well, i really hope it's not made like pearl harbor. Let's just be honest with ourselves and know that everything will be computer generated in some way. As much as we would all love to see real planes and period ships, it's going to come down to money. The good part of this is that the name Midway will be brought to the attention of the younger generation and hopefully not forgotten

[warbird1]

well, i really hope it's not made like pearl harbor. Let's just be honest with ourselves and know that everything will be computer generated in some way. As much as we would all love to see real planes and period ships, it's going to come down to money. The good part of this is that the name Midway will be brought to the attention of the younger generation and hopefully not forgotten

I have no problem with CGI, as long as it's realistic. Fortunately, computer graphics have come a long way in the 10 years since "Pearl Harbor" was made. I especially wouldn't mind if they got "Tochy" from Japan to do the graphics.

[Steve Nelson]

Agreed..the good thing about CGI is that you can get the correct aircraft types/variants/markings..same for the ships. When using real aircraft and ships, you always have to make compromises (although I still love seeing the "real thing" on the big screen when possible.)

The problem with PH was that they threw out any semblance of historical/technical accuracy and concentrated on making a second-rate melodrama, and hoped a few slam-bang special effects would keep the audience from noticing how bad it was.

A new Midway film would be great. The original wasn't all that bad, aside from the mish-mash of incorrect archival footage. And if you toss out the silly romantic sub-plot with Chuck Heston's whiny son and his Japanese-American girlfreind, the rest of the movie was a pretty decent straight-up historical retelling a-la Tora! Tora! Tora!

SN

[mustangdriver]

For everyone complaining about Pearl Harbor, watch Thunder Over Reno. It makes PH look like a documentary.

Pearl harbor I agree could have been 10 times better. However where it did good was it got people talking about the veterans. Many Theatres in the Pittsburgh area had special viewings for the veterans and their families. It got people to talk about, and remember that this took place. It also intoduced the Doolittle Raid to a generation of people that may have never heard of it. After the movie, many of my friends who are not aviation buffs asked if the Doolittle mission was real? I then directed them to the book and movie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. I took a trip to the NMUSAF with a few of them to show them the B-25 display there. And some came with me to see the CF B-25 when it came to Allegheny County Airport because they had seen Pearl harbor. SO at the very least it did some good. The same can be said for Saving Private Ryan, and (what I hold as the best) Band of Brothers. I think that telling a side of the love interests are not always a bad thing. Let's face it people had lives, and the war got in the way of that for a while. Alot of people don't like the telling of the love traingle. However, "Bud" Anderson had a friend get killed, and was the one to tell his friend's girlfriend. When he had time he would come and check in on her, and eventual they fell in love. They later married. So that stuff did happen.
Now the parts of PH that there just is no excuse for is things like the fact that you had like 5 pilots doing everything, and the raiders shoot out on the ground.
Peal harbor could have been a lot better, however it could have been a ton worse.

[Jerry O'Neill]

I'll have to be very honest here...I'll go see what EVER Kate Beckinsale is in!
Jerry

[mustangdriver]

Kate is indeed a beauty.

[JayGee]

One of the positives, if this Midway movie goes through, is that there could be funding to create some accurate TBD replicas for the film!

[Obergrafeter]

Wouldn't bet on it!

[Steve Nelson]

I think that telling a side of the love interests are not always a bad thing. Let's face it people had lives, and the war got in the way of that for a while.

I would agree..provided the love interest is worked into the story in a realistic way. Even though I admittedly skip over those scenes, I thought "Battle of Britain" handled that aspect fairly well.

SN