Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The Pacific (2010) [Complete Series]

The Pacific (2010) blu-ray


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DOWNLOAD "THE PACIFIC (2010)" COMPLETE SERIES

Before director Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan left audiences in silent awe, Hollywood's depiction of war had long been dominated (perhaps rightfully so) by cynicism and anti-war sentiment. As early as 1930, golden age masterpieces like All Quiet on the Western Front turned their attention to entire generations of men haunted by the horrors of combat. By 1957, Academy Award-winning films like The Bridge on the River Kwai were dissecting the hopelessness and futility of the world's most brutal conflicts. In the 1970s, Vietnam ripped opened old wounds, paving the way for several scathing indictments of wartime practices and politics -- Apocalypse Now, Platoon, First Blood, Casualties of War and Born on the Fourth of July, just to name a few -- to examine the atrocity, madness and soul-crushing savagery of it all. Later films delved even further into the abyss, injecting injustice and inhumanity into everything from machismo-riddled '80s and '90s actioners to conspiracy-laden war dramas of the late '90s.

But Saving Private Ryan did something few other films before it had done: explore the impact, enmity and insanity of war without diluting the humble service and innate sacrifice of the ordinary men -- the everyday schoolteachers, teenagers, shopkeepers, fathers and sons -- who gave their all for something more pure and meaningful. In 2001, Spielberg and Tom Hanks took their study of the bonds of battlefield brotherhood a step further with the critically acclaimed, emotionally charged 10-part HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers. Disquieting and engrossing, it remains one of the most distinguished, cinematic, heart-wrenching television productions of all time. Needless to say, their next foray into the trials and tribulations of World War II, The Pacific, arrived earlier this year to tremendous fanfare and towering expectations.

Just as the Pacific theater of operations was home to a drastically different World War than the European theater, The Pacific is a drastically different miniseries than Band of Brothers. Not only is substantial screentime devoted to some of its characters' home lives and families, the themes that slowly develop, the battles that suddenly erupt, the challenges that emerge and the situations the soldiers find themselves in prove to be as unpredictable as the details of the lesser known Pacific War. Based on four separate WWII memoirs -- PFC Robert Leckie's "Helmet for My Pillow," PFC Chuck Tatum's "Red Blood, Black Sand: with John Basilone on Iwo Jima," Corporal Eugene Sledge's "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" and his followup, "China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II" -- The Pacific follows Sledge (played brilliantly by The Social Network's Joseph Mazzello), Leckie (Rubicon's James Badge Dale) and Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone (Homicide: Life on the Street's Jon Seda) into the fray, and focuses on a number of pivotal but bloody battles at Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and other Pacific theater hotspots.

It isn't easy to watch The Pacific. More a nine-hour, ten-part film than a traditional television miniseries, it paints a visceral, violent picture of a fierce, widespread stage of World War II often overshadowed by the Allies' efforts in Germany and Greater Europe. And if The Pacific makes any one thing painfully clear, it's that the blood spilled on the sun-streaked beaches of the Pacific was just as costly as the blood spilled at Bastogne and Berlin. Like Band of Brothers, The Pacific weighed heavily on my mind after each episode. There are moments of such startling sadness, poignant strokes of such raw human frailty, unsettling scenes of such terrible tragedy that I was grateful to have a week between each broadcast. While a sense of grand purpose and noble determination propels the soldiers forward, the injuries, deaths, sacrifices and shaken spirits that litter the screen are as overwhelming as they are moving. I found it all too easy to forget I was watching a cast of talented actors; to forget that I was being treated to a sprawling HBO production; to forget I was privy to a stirring technical achievement in which no expense was spared. Mazzello, Dale and Seda became Sledge, Leckie and Basilone. Their fellow soldiers were suddenly living and breathing the salty air of the Pacific. Fallen heroes cried very real cries before dying very real deaths. Fear rose and bravery surged, men fought and bled, lines were drawn and enemies routed. If nothing else, The Pacific is an utterly absorbing, wholly realistic experience worthy of its lineage.

It's a humbling trek as well. Of all the wars the world has waged, World War II is perhaps the most dignified. Diverse nations banding together to defeat a monstrous force; men from all walks of life fighting and bleeding under the same banner of justice; allies managing to put aside their differences to accomplish a single task. It's this same subtle nobility that permeates The Pacific. Sledge, Leckie, Basilone and their fellow soldiers are far from perfect heroes. Flawed, fallible and all too mortal, they struggle to hold onto the remnants of their war-torn humanity, frequently fail each other and occasionally wallow in ego and self-interest. But it's their drive and ability to overcome their baser natures that makes each one such a fascinating character. Likewise, the Marines' larger battles, strategic decisions and willingness to adapt makes each skirmish an intense encounter, each defeat a bitter loss, each quiet reflection a thought-provoking respite and each hard-fought victory a palpable relief. Like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, The Pacific never turns a blind eye to the mercilessness and atrocities of war, but also doesn't ignore the fact that even the most unspeakable horrors can sharpen the least among us, mold boys into men and transform soldiers into brothers.

Is it as gripping as Band of Brothers? Not quite. A slightly slower start and some initial distractions (mainly involving scenes that take place in the US) will require more patience from those anxious to sink into The Pacific. That being said, it isn't long before the miniseries gains its footing and drags its audience into hell with Sledge, Leckie and Basilone. By the time the Marines landed at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, I was entranced. By the time the story drew to a close, I was grateful to have been given such a gritty glimpse into a crucial theater of WWII I knew very little about. I doubt I'll return to its ten episodes as often as I revisit Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan, but The Pacific has earned a coveted place among the treasured war films and television miniseries in my collection.



DOWNLOAD THE PACIFIC (2010) [COMPLETE SERIES]

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Band of Brothers (2001)

Kray (2010)
Based on the bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose, the epic 10-part miniseries Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. They were an elete rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered 150 percent casualties, and whose lives became legend.

Band of Brothers (2001)

Director:
Screenplay:
Actors: Scott Grimes, Matthew Leitch, Damian Lewis
Date Released:
Genre: Action, Drama, History, War
MPAA Rating : TV-MA
Duration: 705 min
Official URL:
Average Rating
Rating: 9.6/10
Votes: 150,274 (as of 9 June 2014)
Reviewer:

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"Band of Brothers," an ambitious, grandiose, and above all else moving World War II-based miniseries that debuted on HBO in 2001, remains the quintessential story of not only the Company portrayed therein, but perhaps of the War on the whole. The series showcases effortless character development, incredible action sequences in both scope and detail, and many of the War's most significant developments through the eyes of Easy Company, from their training regimen in the United States through the end of the conflict in the European theater, all over 10 episodes that together run more than 10 hours in length. Saving Private Ryan colleagues Tom Hanks (Cast Away) and Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) produced the series based on the text of the same title by noted historian Stephen Ambrose. "Band of Brothers" is a product forged from hands both capable and loving. The material offers not only incredible value from an entertainment and production perspective, but it makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of World War II in Europe. It is a series that serves as a tribute to those men who served the world in perhaps its greatest undertaking, and is a reminder to current and future generations as to the sacrifices, courage, and love of freedom and country that shaped history, and the world, forever.

The aptly-titled "Band of Brothers" follows the progression of the Second World War through the experiences of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. From their Beginning at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, two years prior to the invasion of Normandy, to the capture of Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" compound at Berchtesgaden, Germany, and experiencing much of the War in between, Easy Company seemed the spearhead of the Allied War effort. Involved in several of the most memorable engagements of the War, Easy dropped in and fought behind enemy lines during the Allied invasion of France in June of 1944; the Company participated in the failed Allied attempt to win the War by Christmas of 1944, known as Operation Market Garden; Easy participated in the long, cold, hard battle of Bastogne in the winter of 1944-1945. Besides the fighting, Easy Company also experienced some of the most heart-wrenching moments of the War first-hand, including the public humiliation of Hollander Nazi sympathizers and their discovery of a concentration camp deep inside Germany. While each man's unique personality, outlook, and skill added to the makeup and effectiveness of the unit, it was nevertheless their collective bravery, dedication, and sense of purpose that made them a Band of Brothers.

"Band of Brothers" excels at many levels, both through its visual presentation and its stirring emotional overtones. As a War picture, or in this case series, the filmed action sequences offer viewers a spectacle like nothing before it, matching and arguably besting in scope, tension, and gritty realism, outings like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. Most episodes showcase a major confrontation, each a unique entity with its own character, hardships, and challenges. The action never feels repetitive nor clumsy. If anything, the series' visual style places viewers in the middle of the action thanks to its complete sense of immersion through both its visuals and world-class sound design, both of which are improved on by this Blu-ray set. While the chaos of the sequences sometimes leaves viewers in a state of confusion, unsure of what is exactly happening to whom, that sense seems to capture the essence of combat perfectly. It is anything but an exact science, a calm, easily understood organism that is structured and precise. The fighting takes place at night, in daylight, in cities and towns, in fields and forests. "Band of Brothers" does all filmmaking can to recreate the dread and disorder of combat with striking realism.

"Band of Brothers" is perhaps the most emotionally charged and positive series ever made. Even before the series begins to play, as images and the series' score loop over the main menu of the first disc, it is difficult not to become overwhelmed by the emotion conveyed by the visuals and the segments of the score that accompany them. Michael Kamen's score is an astounding tribute to the men, and a fitting theme for the series. It is both powerful and exiting, conveying the raw emotions of each and every scene it accompanies with amazing grace. The knowledge of what these men did for everyone then and now and tomorrow, the sacrifices they made, the hardships they endured, and the friends they lost, all in the name of freedom, often stirs the soul and brings a tear to the eye. Despite its power, it is not the reenacted series that offers the most dramatic and touching elements to the "Band of Brothers" experience. It is the interviews with the real-life veterans that precede each episode that provide the foundation for the series and set the tone for the emotional underpinnings of the episode to follow. The words, the eyes, and the souls of these veterans, as they briefly recount their tales, provide the real significance of the series. No actor, no camera, no set, no sound, no special effect can capture the essence of the experience better than these heroes who serve not only as the inspiration for the series but provided to their country and their world the freedom to tell their story through their actions as portrayed in the ten episodes of "Band of Brothers."

Encapsulating the series, the War, and the men who fought in it is the series' third episode, "Carentan." The episode centers around the experiences of a mostly anonymous Easy Company rifleman named Albert Blithe. Blithe is certainly not a hero but is rather an everyman with real emotions, real problems, and an honest outlook on both life and death. He is neither excited nor depressed to be in the War. Lost in the shuffle, he simply is unsure of himself, of the world, and of the War exploding around him. His story focuses on his experience in combat, the terrors of War, and his coping with the realities of his situation. His is a story of becoming a true soldier as, through the episode, he runs the gamut of life as a combatant: contemplating the meaning of the War, dealing with fear, trying to earn the respect of others, killing an enemy solider, and himself receiving a wound. The themes of the episode are tied around the edelweiss flower that adorns many a German soldier's lapels, described to Blithe as "the mark of a true soldier." Indeed, Blithe, and his Company, see their emergence as "true soldiers" and "The Greatest Generation" as a result of their experiences fighting in World War II.


DOWNLOAD INFO
Band of Brothers (2001) with Documentary (1080p, 1 hr 17 min)
1080p Blu-rayRip | MKV | AVC @ 10.9 Mbps, 23.976 fps | 1920 x 1080 | 11 hr 45 min | 72.1 GB
Audio 1: English DTS 5.1 48kHz, 24-bit @ 1509 Kbps | Audio 2: Chinese AC-3 5.1 48kHz, 24-bit @ 384 Kbps| Subtitle: English (srt)
Genre: Action, Drama, History | Country: USA