Band Of Brothers

I borrowed Band Of Brothers from Cap and started it last night… It is really good… Really…. Good.

After watching the first two discs (four episodes) I feel like I am watching one of the most original and honest takes on “war” I have ever seen. There is very little dialogue and little back story while some of the most incredibly subtle character development I have ever seen takes place. It is subtle, real and unbelievably honest.

The action scenes are not over-the-top (and there is a TON of it. I would say 70% of each episode is battle and gun shots). It is done in the same subtle way that the rest of the story unwinds in that the camera is in the trenches. Not too bloody, but definitely bloody … You are close enough to the action that it feels scary, but not too close that it makes you feel uncomfortable. There is a sense that during the fighting anyone would catch a bullet and be done for in a split second… Watching it brings me back to the sobering fact that life is fragile and combat is the most foreign thing for me (and most men my age). I could not imagine in a million years what I would do in that scenario. Would I be the hero? Would I be the chicken? Would fate and circumstance decide my fate like the dead paratrooper hanging from his parachute in a tree?

Band Of Brothers brings as much reality to war-entertainment as can be done. Good actors who look like REAL people act out a script of actions that REAL people would do. They love, hate, fight and flee the way REAL people would. No fancy Matrix style fight animations, no slick computer animation that shows a bullet blowing up inside someone, and no fancy one-liners. The characters are being introduced to me the way that they would be in real life. Small bits and pieces… No flashbacks and no deep emotional monologues explaining an upbringing in their hometown. After four episodes I know more about bits and pieces of their overall CHARACTER and moral makeup than what their mothers name is and weather or not they have a little lady back home… Which is EXACTLY the way that these men probably got to know each other. The show has commented on what kind of man do you want next to you in the trenches. Who would you trust with your life?

People watch action movies and say “WOW!!!” when the hero dispatches his victim. Band Of Brothers is so real that you see each and every person (German, American, British) as an actual human with a soul. You don’t have those kind of “YES!!!” moments during the battle scenes… During those scenes I could only sit motionless and think “how did that actually happen”.

With all of this serious action and reality, Band Of Brothers takes the time to be charming and a bit funny from time to time. It knows the seriousness of the subject that it is covering and does not insult it by being wacky. The writers must have known that a small contrast would be enough to satisfy.

Needless to say I really enjoyed the first four episodes. I am happy to have more.

People who HAVE to watch this ::
– Dad
– Hank
– Sam
– Lance

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Cap and I are going to the Avett Brothers concert with Creepy Steve and his friends on Saturday night at the Crossroads. I think it is going to be a HELL of a show.

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I rode my bike to work everyday this week… I RULE!

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I am really jones-ing to do some record shopping. I have not been for several weeks… I think I might look into buying some Chet Atkins and Les Paul.

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It has been cool enough to open the windows the last few nights. Sleeping with a natural cool breeze blowing over you is heaven.

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Listen, I don’t think I am some kind of world renounced music, food or movie critic (because I am obviously not). I know that my reviews are broken English half the time, but if I like something I like to pass it on… I also like to look back at the archives and remember how I felt about something at that moment of my life… I think it’s kind of fun.

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Speaking of sleep. I had a dream that I was on American Idol with one of my old friends from Plattform (Angie)… Needless to say, we got eliminated. 🙁