And this week's Friday night movie has been... Saving Private Ryan!
Well it's Oscar season so now would be a good time as any to address a movie that was a hot favourite for Best Picture but got pipped at the post.
I remember this movie being a big deal back in 1998 but I never got around to seeing it (at least until now). And I also remember a lot of anger that Saving Private Ryan lost the Best Picture Oscar to Shakespeare in Love. But conversely, i wasn't angered: I thought very highly of Shakespeare in Love - and still do - so i was delighted by the win. Sure it puts me in a minority position and yes it has since been revealed that grade-A douchebag Harvey Weinstein made an aggressive push to secure the Best Picture Oscar to Shakespeare in Love but I regret nothing.
Which in turn places me in an interesting position to approach Saving Private Ryan.
When it comes to Spielberg I have found he only makes two types of films: Light Entertainment (ie ET, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones) and "Take me Seriously Dammit!". And Saving Private Ryan does indeed belong in the latter category. Much has been written about the opening half hour and how it has set a new standard for portraying war scenes in movies but what i got out of it was just how brutal Spielberg's approach is: It's not just the violence but the shaky cam and the grimness of the whole thing. Clearly this was an attempt to show the war as it really was and the plonk the viewer straight in the middle of it. And the gamble paid off.
So yeah, as stated above, this movie was indeed a big deal and, it would appear, for very good reason.
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