On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 21/68 |
Michael Bentley |
Almost a great movie, though some of its parts are too fractured and the ending is a little flat. |
| 53/159 |
David Mumpower |
Fascinating treatise on how we define heroism loses steam midway through. |
Screen legend Clint Eastwood follows up his last two award-winning directorial efforts with another film that is sure to be a player later this year during award season, Flags of Our Fathers. The movie is an adaptation of James Bradley and Ron Powers book about the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima. The story was inspired by James Bradley's quest to learn more about the famous photo of six soldiers raising an American flag at Iwo Jima. His father, Navy corpsman John Bradley, was one of the six men. The film will tell their heroic tale.
Fellow legend Steven Spielberg, certainly no stranger to the World War II epic, will be teaming with Eastwood for the very first time as a producer on the film. Paul Haggis, Oscar winner for Crash as a director and Million Dollar Baby as a writer, and William Broyles Jr. wrote the screenplay. The cast is made up of a number of somewhat recognizable faces, but each relative unknowns. Some of the talent includes Jesse Bradford, Paul Walker, and Ryan Phillippe (who will play John Bradley).
Of course Eastwood himself is no stranger to success after his last two films, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, rode a wave of critical attention to multiple Oscar nominations (and the big win for MDB) and some substantial box office success as well. Each began in limited release, but made their way to $90 million and $100 million in domestic figures, respectively. Given the pedigree, we should probably expect no different for Flags of Our Fathers. (Michael Bentley/BOP)
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