Dunkirk - The movie

rsv1cox Sun Jul 30, 2017 3:32 pm

Went to see it this morning with family. Good movie with very little dialogue. No principle characters, instead the movie is weaved around situations. Lot's of explosions with seat shaking sounds. Put's you in the middle of the violence. The flying scenes featuring Spitfires are spectacular even if many are computer generated.

I have not been in a movie theater for many years and was amazed at this state-of-the-art facility. I used to be a projectionist, part time job while I was in the Navy. Old carbon-arc dual Simplex E7's with exhaust pipes to carry away the heat. Five reel 35mms up a flight of stairs was ok, seven or more was a hump.

None of that today. I mused if they would let me in the projection booth to see the newest projectors. My son just laughed and showed me the "projection room" which is a glassed in enclosure readily available for all to see. Banks and banks of computers without a person in sight. Seldom have I felt so unnecessary. Is this human-kinds eventual fate.

We arrived early. First showing was at 10:20 am. Sat through ten minutes of commercials for local businesses. Then the previews of coming attractions. Ten more minutes of gratuitous violence played at amplified seat shaking volume. Really stupid stuff, at first I was disgusted at the action then appalled, then I just started laughing at it. People actually pay to see?! What the hell ever happened to The Blue Max, Doctor Zhivago, Saving Private Ryan, violence with a meaning that you can respect.

fredvon4 Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:07 am

Many many years ago we traveled 45 min north to a (still there and running) drive in theater. Last movie was Will Smiths Wild Wild West...I guess late 90's

WE had to leave early .....GRRRRRRRR DAMMIT!

Mostly because, in Hot/warm evening Texas the 4x4 Diesel trucks to the left, right, and in front of us, with some guy and GF--- who just had to sit inside with engine idling for the AC...too noisy and a lot of nauseating exhaust....

Not to mention all the knuckle heads arriving late and cruising around looking first for friends and then shuffling around for a close to each other spot....with head lights on for the entire 20~30 minuet dance

That was way back, and I am still real [bleep] because we will not go back.... Renie and I dearly love drive in theater experience...We prefer to arive early, get a good row in the center, back in, open the lift gate, set out our lawn chairs, cooler of snacks and liquids, (sound plays through local FM radio in the SUV...hence the need to keep back gate open)

Years earlier we stopped going to local walk in sit down theaters because of all the super inconsiderate people chatting, texting, or just plain old moving around constantly to socialize with their friends... Sheesh folks can't you appreciate that some of us paid a goodly sum to actually watch and hear the Film?

I guess over time some of my OUT OF MY WAY discussions with theater managers about why I would not be back.....had some impact. We do have several newer theaters locally now with a lot of ADULT* amenities, and codes of conduct that are actually enforced.

MY one singular bitch is they all have the full surround sound volume set so high it is uncomfortable, even for wife and me with significant hearing loss from Army life

* like pretty good (all be it very expensive) selection of food and BEER! Delivered to you inside the theater you are in.
* or in a few of the Five different Theaters in the complex...recliner seats with a LOT of side and leg room...very comfy and mostly very clean
* my favorite.. 3 to 7 showings a day every day...With a phone app, I can see how many seats sold, select a set of seats during some showing with very few other customers---- Like 3:30 PM Wednesday where wife and I only have 10~25 other customers in the "seats 75~250" theater

Dunkirk is currently on our date ~~night~~ Afternoon list

Kim Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:39 pm

Got to love the P-39 Spitfire that can defy gravity, physics, and the Space Time Continuum.

andrew Wed Aug 02, 2017 1:03 am

Glide ratio: 786 to 1
Time in air without power: 17 hours, 11 minutes, 47 seconds

rsv1cox Wed Aug 02, 2017 6:43 am

Ok Kim and andrew, you forget that your dealing with a noggin damaged old idiot here whose brain is a mile wide and an inch deep. I only see the surface of things but I will try to make the connection.

A P-39 (Supermarine) Spitfire........don't get it, but I did get the space time continuum thing. In the final scene of the movie an out of gas Spit shoots down a Me-109 then glides for perhaps an hour and a half landing safely on the beach where the pilot casually extracts himself, tosses his log books into the cockpit shoots a flare from his Very pistol destroying the aircraft. Goes to andrews 17 hours etc. airtime thing I think.

But, on me! Researching further, it seems that they used real and replica aircraft in the movie along with drones, not CG as I speculated.

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/dunkirk.html

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3777420/spitfire-plane-crash-northern-france-airshow/

Brakes locked up maybe? Or, not enough up elevator.

And Fred, sounds like your theater was the same, comfortable well padded seats that reclined with sometimes uncomfortable sound levels that left me wondering if I would still able to hear once I left the theater.

Crowd not a problem. At 10:20 am there were only about a dozen other souls attending outside of our family. We had plans for later in the day.

Kim Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:29 am

andrew wrote:Glide ratio: 786 to 1
Time in air without power: 17 hours, 11 minutes, 47 seconds

Well, it's always been said that the English considered it a 'Miracle Plane'!

Kim Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:38 am

[quote="rsv1cox"]

A P-39 (Supermarine) Spitfire........don't get it, but I did get the space time continuum thing. In the final scene of the movie an out of gas Spit shoots down a Me-109 then glides for perhaps an hour and a half landing safely on the beach where the pilot casually extracts himself, tosses his log books into the cockpit shoots a flare from his Very pistol destroying the aircraft. Goes to andrews 17 hours etc. airtime thing I think.

Sorry...just 'nerding' it a bit. Don't want to spoil it for my buds before they see it, but don't forget the dead-stick-shoot-down of a diving Stuka. The P-39 reference can be found in the burning wreckage of the Miracle Spitfire.

Some high-dollar beautiful footage in the movie but their technical advisor must have been bound and gagged and stuffed in his trailer. I'd told my date that it was a case of Romantic License run-amuck.

rsv1cox Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:41 am

I missed that reference Kim, easy for me. Sad

The P-39 as you well know being a completely different bird.

A couple of things I thought funny in the movie that didn't fit but won't mention for those that haven't seen it. Altogether a good movie that for me didn't live up to the hype. Looking forward to "Churchill" due out this Fall.

PS - I thought it neat though that they showed the pilot pumping down the gear as loss of engine power resulted in loss of hydraulics.

GallopingGhostler Wed Aug 02, 2017 11:44 am

I haven't seen the movie yet. Reading this thread, I watched a trailer and a comentary, 7 Times Dunkirk Got History All Wrong:

Seems they used CGI to make up for gaps. I don't think we'll ever see a truly historical Hollywood movie, as it's all depended on sales.

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