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Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

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Director: Clint Eastwood Writers: Iris Yamashita, story by Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis, from the book "Picture Letters from Commander in Chief" by Tadamichi Kuribayashi and edited by Tsuyoko Yoshido Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando, Yuki Matsuzaki This American film presents the battle for Iwo Jima from the perspective of the outnumbered Japanese soldiers who were stationed there.  Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker with a wife and a daughter he has never met, is not seduced by the nationalistic fervor that prefers death to defeat.  He wants to go home to his family.  The new commander on the island, Gen. Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe), who has lived in the United States and cherishes a pistol that was a going-away gift from his American friends, is resolved to fight for his homeland.  Watanabe projects the weary determination of a man fated to play his part in a conflict that he persona...
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The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings #3) (1955)

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by J.R.R. Tolkien Sauron’s armies close in on Gondor and its allies, while Frodo and Sam struggle toward Mount Doom to destroy the Ring.  The war is fought on two fronts at once: open battle for the world, and a private test of endurance and judgment.  The long denouement after the Ring is cast into Mount Doom depicts change, loss, and what it means to deal with the trauma of war both for the participants and the homes to which they return.  Middle-Earth with its meticulously crafted history and language is unsurpassed as an example of world building.  JRR Tolkien denied that he wrote a commentary on his wartime era, yet it is hard not to notice political and social allegories, such as a satire of socialism, echoes of Nazism, allusions to postwar shortages in Britain, and an environmental strain that explores what gets consumed, stripped, and ruined when power expands.  JRR Tolkien Tolkien’s treatment of Denethor’s decline is a clear example of the book's richne...
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Ranked: The 1930s

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A ranking of all the films released during the 1930s that have been reviewed on my blog. #12 The Black Cat (1934) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-black-cat-1934.html #11 Dracula (1931) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2025/09/dracula-1931.html #10 The Roaring Twenties (1939) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-roaring-twenties-1939.html #9 I Was Born, But... (1932) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2022/06/i-was-born-but-1932.html #8 The Raven (1935) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-raven-1935.html #7 Son of Frankenstein (1939) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2023/10/son-of-frankenstein-1939.html #6 The Invisible Man (1933) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-invisible-man-1933.html #5 Bride of Frankenstein (1935) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-bride-of-frankenstein-1935.html #4 It Happened One Night (1934) https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com/2022/12/it-happened...
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