Yahoo! Movies: New War DVD Releases

Top Gun

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:26 -0000

A young recruit aspires to become the top fighter pilot in the prestigious naval training school he attends. (1 hr. 50 min.) Release date: Aug 5, 2008

The Boys in Company C

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:25 -0000

Hard-hitting drama about a squadron of five young Marines serving in Vietnam who find their lives dramatically changed. Told with brash and crude dialogue that accurately reflects the desperation and physical strain of the period. The realistic action was filmed on location in the Philippines. (2 hrs. 5 min.) Release date: Sep 2, 2008

Starship Troopers

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:24 -0000

Paul Verhoeven has fashioned a visually spectacular, morbidly funny comic book adventure that seems to merge the fresh-faced youths of the Archie Comics with the save-the-planet mandate of "Buck Rogers.' (2 hrs. 9 min.) Release date: Aug 5, 2008

Stop-Loss

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:23 -0000

Director Kimberly Peirce (BOYS DON'T CRY) tackles another controversial topic with STOP-LOSS, the story of a U.S. soldier forced back into battle. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) has just returned to Texas after a harrowing final tour in Iraq. He's accompanied by the remaining men from his unit, all of whom are more than a little shell-shocked. Welcomed home as a hero, Brandon is awarded a Purple Heart by a visiting state senator. But the homecoming quickly turns sour, as each of the soldiers struggles to assimilate back into society. Tommy (Joseph Gordon Levitt) can't lay off the booze, and Steve (Channing Tatum) roughs up his fianc�e. Brandon is eager to put the war behind him, but that dream quickly fizzles when he learns that he has been "stop-lossed," or ordered back for another, involuntary tour of duty. Stunned by the news, he goes AWOL and forms a plan to get help from the senator who so recently honored him. He hits the road for D.C., all the while trying to cope with PTSD and battle flashbacks. Torn between his fierce patriotism and what he believes to be outright betrayal by the U.S. Army, he doesn't know where to turn or what to do. He is ultimately faced with the harshest of choices: Iraq, or a life in exile.

There are now dozens of films that grapple with the war in Iraq, but STOP-LOSS is unique in its attempt to reach out to a younger audience. Produced by MTV, the film features a striking young cast and a thumping hip-hop soundtrack. There are many commendable performances, most notably from Phillippe and Levitt. Despite the occasional melodrama of some of the scenes, Peirce pulls no punches, and really hammers home the tragic exploitation of American troops. (1 hr. 52 min.) Release date: Jul 8, 2008

The Fall

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:22 -0000

In Los Angeles, circa 1920's, a little immigrant girl finds herself in a hospital recovering from a fall. She strikes up a friendship with a bedridden man who captivates her with a whimsical story that removes her far from the hospital doldrums into the exotic landscapes of her imagination. Making sure he keeps the girl interested in the story he interweaves her family and people she likes from the hospital into his tale. (1 hr. 56 min.) Release date: Sep 9, 2008

Uncommon Valor

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:21 -0000

A big city hospital's busy routine is shattered when an arsonist sets fire to the building. It's a matter of life and death as rescue crews try to clear patients and doctors from the debris and save the lives of those who depend on the miracles of modern medicine in order to survive. (1 hr. 45 min.) Release date: Aug 5, 2008

The Counterfeiters

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:20 -0000

Winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Stefan Ruzowitzky's THE COUNTERFEITERS is the first film from Austria to ever receive that prestigious honor. Based on the memoir by Adolf Burger, the film tells the inspiring story of a pre-World War II criminal whose cunning and fiery spirit enable him to overcome deadly odds and survive life in Germany's Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Before the war, Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) was one of the world's most ingenious counterfeiters, until he was finally caught and arrested by Friedrich Herzog (Devid Striesow). Years later, as the Nazi movement is in full swing, the nefariously charming Herzog--now a Nazi leader--recruits Sorowitsch to lead an enormous counterfeiting project called Operation Bernhard. Placed in a horrific position of moral corruption, Sorowitsch is forced to decide whether or not to save his own life or prevent the Nazis from causing further damage on an even grander scale. His fellow prisoner Adolf Burger (August Diehl) is determined to sabotage the operation, but Sorowitsch understands how dangerous a proposition this is.

While THE COUNTERFEITERS is based on real-life tragedy, it never loses its primary objective as a work of dramatic entertainment. This deft balancing act is what keeps Ruzowitzky's moving tale from becoming too bleak and depressing. The result is a deeply impressive work that addresses a topic not often explored in Holocaust cinema--the dilemma of victims who were forced to act immorally and illegally for the betterment of their captors. Powerfully acted by Markovics, THE COUNTERFEITERS is the type of film that the Oscars were made for. (1 hr. 39 min.) Release date: Aug 5, 2008

Beyond Belief

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:19 -0000

This documentary follows two 9/11 widows on a life-altering journey to Kabul, where they try to help Afghan women who have experienced great losses of their own. (1 hr. 38 min.) Release date: Sep 2, 2008

Racing With the Moon

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:18 -0000

Two young men enjoy the last days of their boyhood before enlisting in the military during the time of the Second World War. A tender, bittersweet tale of lost innocence and the horrible trauma of social violence. (1 hr. 48 min.) Release date: Aug 5, 2008

A Farewell to Arms

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:17 -0000

The last film by producer David O. Selznick (GONE WITH THE WIND), this is the second dramatization of Earnest Hemingway's classic novel about love in the midst of war. The producer's hand is a bit heavy in its treatment of the material, but the enduring, touching heart of the story remains intact. Selznick's wife Jennifer Jones (CARRIE) stars as Catherine Barkely, a Red Cross nurse who falls in love at first sight with an American volunteer ambulance driver for the Italian Army, Lieutenant Frederick Henry (Rock Hudson, MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION). Their torrid affair ends with Catherine's pregnancy and Fredrick's return to the front, where he loses touch with his lover; she thinks he has forgotten her. When Frederick witnesses unjust action by his fellow soldiers, he deserts and goes to be with Catherine, but their love continues to be plagued by tragic circumstance. (2 hrs. 32 min.) Release date: Aug 5, 2008

Escape From Fort Bravo

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:03:16 -0000

William Holden stars as tough Union calvary officer Capt. Roper, who commands a POW garrison at Fort Bravo in the Arizona Territory during the Civil War. Roper, who rules his demesnes with an iron hand, is famous for never allowing a prisoner to escape, a tribute both to his obsessive professionalism and to the inhospitable landscape surrounding the fort. As a result, his own troops hate him nearly as much as the prisoners do. Adding to his problems are the vicious Mescalero Indians roaming the land that was once theirs. Roper, then, is not the most joyful of men. But when the distracting Carla Forrester (Eleanor Parker) arrives at the garrison, his mood seems to change perceptibly. While he's still narcotized by her charms, a group of prisoners decide to take advantage of his relaxed vigilance and make a break, without having factored the local Indians into the equation. Roper, even more angry than usual after realizing he's been set up, lights out after the Confederate fugitives. Holden is perfectly cast as the surly Yankee, and the desert shots of the estimable Robert Surtees are beautifully composed. (1 hr. 38 min.) Release date: Aug 26, 2008