One of the greatest films of our time..

Rating: 10/10 (30 May 1999)

I saw this film the night it opened last Summer. I sat in awe for the entire film. It was amazing. So, when Harrison Ford read Shakespeare in Love off the Best Picture envelope, I was in shock. I had seen both, and I feel that SPR is so superior in every way. Shakespeare is a comedy with no real message or any quality that makes it eligible. I watched the film again when it arrived on video, and It affected me even more on video. I broke down during the end. The first 5 minutes of this film are some of the most powerful you will ever see. I doubt I will ever forget seeing a soldier searching for his arm on the ground, or a another, a intestine laying on the ground beside him, screaming mommy when he bled to death. These are the most amazing scenes ever shot. Even the Longest day's epic scale battles do not hold the same power. This film portrayed WW2 amazingly well. It was the first to really show the hell of it. The early films somewhat glorified it, this was the first to handle WW2 in a long time. Seeing it again, I realize it is easily the greatest film I have ever seen. The opening moments and the final battle will go down as some of the greatest battles ever filmed, as well as the most realistic. The Academy was wrong in choosing Shakespeare in Love. This film blew all the others away. I did see the Thin Red Line, which I consider to be the WORST film ever made. it is horrific. Even it's battle scenes don't affect as the characters are so dispicabule. Private Ryan is amazing, and will be remebered as the most powerful film of the last 40's years. A triumph of film making.