Valkyrie

Rating: 5 

This is a very good story.  Before this, I figured all Nazi's were ruthless, it was really interesting to see a story about men who decided to stand up against Hitler, stand up for what's right no matter the consequences.  Colonel von Stauffenberg's sole desire was to help others, completely unselfish.  He saw what Hitler was doing to the men in his command, as well as to the people they were attacking.  He was put in quite the moral dilemma of chosing between staying alive with his family, or trying to bring down the Third Reich.  

Heroism doesn't always promise rewards in this life.  Von Stauffenberg didn't die a coward (this is not a spoiler since we all know Hitler wasn't assasinated).  He could have fought back when being arrested, but decided to face the punishment, die honorably, and make the Nazi's completely responsible for the death of a good man.

Valkyrie made me think of all the brave men who have the courage to stand up for what's right, no matter the cost.  I wonder if I, in such circumstances, would be able to do so.  I believe there are many people out there willing to stand up against evil.  Though the battles will have some casualties, and some battles may even be lost, we know who will win the war in the end.

Dirty Dozen, The

Luke

Rating: 2

We had initially given Disturbia a rating of a '2,' but after some consideration we decided to drop it to a one, since it had zero moral value and this movie had some promising moments, though flopped at the end.

I had some hopes that this would turn out to be a good movie. Tom Hanks described how touching of a movie it was, the ultimate guy-flick, in the movie Sleepless in Seattle, and Orson Scott Card also mentioned that it was a must see movie. I was excited to see it.

Everything was going pretty good (about three-quarters of the way) until the Major decided that his unit needed a "reward" for working so hard and relieve stress before their operation, so he brings in a bunch of prostitutes! Maybe it emphasized his desire to not conform to the rules, but it was totally not needed.

I also didn't care for the graphic display of the soldiers' deaths at the end, I've seen much more tactful ways of displaying death in war or in other circumstances.

Maggot was also just plain evil, and I think the evil was glorified through his character. Sure his religious fanaticism is what creates the whole predicament they end up in which makes the movie that much more intense, but something else could have easily been setup. All in all I just didn't feel good after watching the movie, it didn't inspire me to do good either. The one thing that keeps this from dropping to a 1 is that I did enjoy the first part and could label that as descent entertainment.

Carr

Rating: 2

This will be an easy review. I did not feel uplifted at all; I could even feel a spirit of contention by the end of it. There were a few humorous parts, but I see no real value in this movie at all. There was too much graphic violence for my taste. There wasn't necessarily an evil feel to it that I have unfortunately felt in a few other movies, but like I said, it wasn't a good spirit...it wasn't virtuous, lovely, of good report or praiseworthy in any way so it shouldn't be sought after. Not only was I not inspired to do good, but I felt very negative feelings.