Bored on the 4th of July

By Thomas Willett

It is summertime. There is no better way to kick it off than having a backyard boogie, waving miniature American flags, doing what Nick Offerman says, and watching fireworks fly through the streets. It is the American way to celebrate Independence Day with things that kind of didn’t exist when the Declaration of Independence was ratified. For the more peaceful crowd like me, I celebrate it indoors away from the Sousa covers (though apparently Carly Rae Jepsen will be more patriotic this year according to young people), in a peaceful realm where I can hear the bang, zoom, and pows of actors playing soldiers in grand dramatizations of wars past.

There is a common theme amongst the staff involving movies. I’m sure a few of you have your own celebrations, too. Some would consider it lazy, but I feel that it is fitting and way too easy to watch movies on their respective holidays. For this holiday, I am planning on tackling a movie that seemed like an inevitable choice: Saving Private Ryan. It has all of the elements of something that I would see. The biggest highlight is Tom Hanks working with director Steven Spielberg, who I recently praised for collaborating on Catch Me If You Can. I have seen the opening on ABC before, but I don’t remember seeing the rest. Now that my interest in Hanks is escalating at its fastest, this seemed opportune.

Here is where the themes come in. While I have rotated my Netflix queue to be any random genre that pops up, I still have a few movies that I keep pushing away. Movies that I don’t want to see, whether they be because of length, subject matter, or unappealing actors. I find it amusing to occasionally recall what my upcoming ten DVDs would be because some are now buried in the 200’s. This is mostly because another movie either strikes my fancy or is more prominent to upcoming events.

I am not a movie buff, let alone a knowledgeable associate of war films. I love Apocalypse Now, though I’ve only seen probably 5 movies about Vietnam (6 if you count Taxi Driver, which is about a post-war veteran). It has been an uncomfortable category for me because I feel pressured into liking it because of the historical context. I feel that I pushed many films off because if I came out against them even in the slightest, fans will explain the brilliance of its depiction of war and my questionable patriotism. Also, I’m just glad I held off because there were plenty of deep emotional conflicts that I couldn’t grasp until recently. Slowly, I am accepting this is a dumb myth, but should be background to why war movies are one of my more reluctant categories.

This is why when I noticed that Independence Day was coming up; I figured that I would challenge myself. Not with the titular Roland Emmerich film that seems to be more of a joke than a movie. I wanted an actual film that gave a real or coherent depiction of what war felt like. It would feel fitting to sync the battles with the bangs of the fireworks outside. I want to see why people have visceral reactions to these films. I have grown up hearing stories from my parents that they know veterans who claimed that Saving Private Ryan was a realistic depiction of Normandy. That has stuck with me, though not enough to watch a three hour movie.

I feel that this is the key reason that watching holiday themed movies is not stupid. While some may seem lazier than others (i.e. Groundhog Day on Groundhog Day), it is the chance to challenge yourself and watch movies that are possibly out of your comfort zone. I’m sure that I could find more war movies to watch for Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day, but I handle these things one at a time. I feel that more than anything, it is a nice change of pace from having to randomly select films off of Netflix and hoping that they are good. If anything, it makes it more memorable to watch themed movies for future reference. I can remember very few dates that I actually saw movies on, but I’m sure Saving Private Ryan will have more impact because I knew that I saw it on Independence Day.

It is important to expand your mind, and even if you do it thematically by date, it gives you a chance to surprise yourself. Maybe it’s for the worst, but you don’t have to live with the annoying thought that you have to move it down your Netflix queue every few days.

While war movies tend to be longer, and thus more tedious, you could also marathon them, or have a themed weekly event. I have caught up on films by Wes Anderson, Hal Ashby, and Woody Allen simply by watching a bunch of them over the course of one week. Sometimes you get burned out, but often you find new things to appreciate. I’m sure that I wouldn’t be such a big fan of the Last Detail if I didn’t marathon Ashby’s output from the 70’s. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have known that film existed, even with a great Jack Nicholson performance buried in there. I’m sure there is something in Saving Private Ryan worth noting that I never noticed before. Who knows, maybe this becomes my favorite Tom Hanks performance. Time will tell.

If you are curious to hear how this experiment goes, listen to next Tuesday’s show. Also, if you want to celebrate the celluloid way, check out your Netflix on demand services and see what they got. Last year was pretty bad and I ended up watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (it was about “the American dream,” though I argue narcotics). Hopefully their spill with Qwikster fixed that. If you find something good, let me know and I’ll be sure to check it out.

What are your plans for today? Are you going to hang out on your patio and grill steaks? Are you going to bump some Sousa off of your ghetto blaster? What do you think about watching movies themed with holidays? Is it the best way to clear out your Netflix queue without just neglecting to watch anything? Am I alone with thinking that war movies (the general output) are subjective and easy forms of creating patriotisms? Feel free to write me and let’s get a dialogue going. I could use some post-movie banter this evening.

You can read Thom’s blog every Wednesday and hear him on Nerd’s Eye View every Tuesday and Thursday at nevpodcast.com. Send your thoughts to nevpodcast@gmail.com. You can also read Thom’s movie reviews for Cinema Beach at cinemabeach.com.