Documentaries & Biographies > Military Documentaries Documentaries & Biographies > 10 GBP to 15 GBP

Advantages: Great cast, epic military scenes
Disadvantages: Very long, not always compelling

No doubt this film did need to be this long (and at nearly 3 hours it is long) since this military exercise was of huge significance and of huge scale. When i recently watched this film for a second time i really did start to struggle to keep focussed on the film. There are large chunks of the film which although necessary, really do nothing to grip the viewer and let the mind wonder to other things. Now the film has some great redeeming points. ...
...ever seen in one film with the likes of Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier and Robert Redford all in great form in their own right. The plot is based around Operation Market Garden which, during WW2, was the biggest airborne mission ever attempted. Briefly, the plan was to drop several airborne divisions into different parts of Holland, capture all the bridges along the main highway ... Read review

Advantages: Research for history; politics and psychology, education.
Disadvantages: None

This film which I have in my private collection of rare and classic films was made by the brilliant Leni Riefenstahl who in 1934 was only in her twenties when Adolf Hitler commissioned her to direct and film his political rally at Nuremberg. To appreciate the film is to look first into the brilliance and artistry of one of the greatest women directors of our time. In the early years of sound film, Riefenstahl was ahead of her time, employing new ...
...Hitler and his inner circle of ministers, including Josef Goebbels, are at their malevolent best, seen almost surreal-like through the camera lens which travels everywhere, from the approach to Nuremberg, the preparations of the thousands upon thousands of young soldiers, panning on a slice of their military lives. We see young soldiers joking, laughing, others preparing giant pots of food, still others engaged in ablutions. Then we see the youthfulness ... Read review

Advantages: Thought provoking, will learn alot about graphs and spreadsheets
Disadvantages: You may never want to go near Microsoft Excel again, tad boring

...follow (Super-Size Me for example), An Inconvenient Truth is essentially one of Al Gore's lectures, put onto film, with a few clips 'tacked on' to break up the never ending flow of graphs. Some just don't seem to fit with the nature of the film, for example, the clip of Al Gore losing the 2000 American elections. Although he does explain why it's important to his passion for global warming (unfortunately I wasn't convinced), its obvious the real ...
...going to the cinema, not an auditorium. Humour plays a small part in Gore's fight, with cartoons displaying simple-to-follow explanations of global warming, and stories that poke fun of the intellect of the American education system. Unfortunately, despite its best efforts to appeal to a wider audience, only scientists will be able to sit comfortably throughout the films running time. Some parts of the lecture have the American audience in stitches, ... Read review

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...on a regular basis. Dog The Bounty Hunter is based of Duane "The Dog" Chapman and his family that are real life bounty hunters. An ex con that has turned his own life around and now encourages people that are in the same boat as what he has been in to do the same. Working in Hawaii with his family, including his wife, Beth, his brother, and his son and daughters, the whole family follow the lead of the dog that goes round trying to track down people ...
...of the cases deeply disturb Dog himself and he has to greater lengths to try and catch these villains than he should do and landed himself in more bother, in one case he crossed over the border of Mexico to catch a criminal in which they are not allowed to do and landed himself in prison. What makes me laugh is when they actually catch someone and they pile them into their people carrier one of the first questions that they ask is "Do You want a ... Read review

Advantages: Great use of footage, analysis from experts and pieced together wonderfully
Disadvantages: None

'When We Were Kings' is a documentary by Leon Gast, centred around the 'Rumble in the Jungle', the boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, which will undoubtedly go down as one of the most famous sporting events in history. Held in Kinshasa, Zaire, the event generated massive interest from all around the world. The documentary focuses primarily on Muhammad Ali, who at this point in his career, and with Foreman's dominance in the boxing ...
...the fight. Ali's charisma, personality and charm meant he was always going to be the man the fight centred around. 'When We Were Kings' charts the build-up to the fight, utilising interviews with experts in the boxing field, members of the media who were in Zaire at the time of the fight, and natives of Zaire as well as interviews and press conferences with the two boxers involved. It tells of us how the natives felt a connection with Ali and supported ... Read review