Ed Haywood
En-Route
Agreed, but if you are a historical warfare tactics nerd, the scene of infantry forming square to receive cavalry at Waterloo is worth sitting through the whole movie. I'm still geeking out over that.
Masters of the Air--coming to Apple TV
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Sierra1
Pre-Flight
Agreed, the story line was so shallow and you barely got to know the characters. I get it, it was a meat grinder, but it barely told their stories. Overall it wasn’t horrible, but BoB and the Pacific were so much better overall.
CJones
Final Approach
Maybe that was the point? I haven't watched it, but having seen several comments here, and after reading the books that Pacific was based on, I think the "barely got to know the guy before he was gone" was a common sensation for those that served during that time period. Maybe the show makers intentionally didn't give you all the details to try to show what it was like to be left wanting to know more about someone OR feeling the sensation of thinking "it's not worth getting the details of this guy, 'cause one of us will be dead in 24 hours anyway...".
Just throwing it out there as an option...
skyking3286
Pre-takeoff checklist
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skyking3286
Given how much of social media goes to the dark side of opinions in everything, it was a good show and we are all lucky to have anything approaching this level of detail in our culture. If you want something to compare it, think “Pearl Harbor” recently. Or just how lucky it was to reach production after all the HBO and Apple legal departments had their say. Enjoyable entertaining history for a generation removed from the greatest generation.
Timbeck2
Final Approach
The key is to watch the Hanks/Spielburg narrated documentary after called “The Bloody 100th”. In the series, I thought Buck was just a little too cool. It was watchable but don’t expect Band of Brothers or The Pacific quality
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Velocity173
I think this review is spot on. The three biggest gripes. No preamble to war. For those of us who know the history, that’s fine but it would have been nice like BoB or The Pacific to get an understanding where they came from. Second, character development. This goes back to the first issue in not highlighting their training and their private lives before deployment. Finally, what’s been covered before, the CGI. It lacks realism. It’s like going to an IMAX movie and watching CGI vs real imagery. Just don’t get the same feeling.
www.rogerebert.com
Masters of the Air movie review (2024) | Roger Ebert
No matter how much time we spend with any of these characters, they’re little more than broad biographical re-imaginings rather than real people.
www.rogerebert.com
On a related note, I finally visited the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum in near Savannah, GA this week. Well worth a couple of hours if you are in the area.
Giving the series a re-watch. I think my problem the first time was one of too high expectations. I'm actually really enjoying it this time through. Knowing the characters helps a lot. Also, the documentary timbeck2 mentions made me appreciate that a lot of the unbelievable stuff actually happened. Through episode 7 is only skipped about 30min. Episode 8 is the real stinker though, iirc.
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
IIRC, it went from 25, briefly to 30, to 35, to 50 by the end of the war... But finding a reference for that is proving quite difficult, though I am prone to going down ratholes when it comes to learning about the details of WWII.
I don't know about that. It seems like smaller airplanes get tossed around too much to accurately depict how a bigger airplane flies.
Per that link, there are six airworthy. However, they're pretty optimistic about calling something airworthy:
1) 44-8543, owned by Erickson Aircraft Collection, wearing "Ye Olde Pub" markings and registered as N3701G, is legitimately airworthy and currently touring Canada.
2) 44-83514, owned by CAF, "Sentimental Journey" registered N9323Z, is legitimately airworthy and also currently touring Canada.
3) 44-83546, owned by Military Aircraft Restoration Corp, wearing "Memphis Belle" markings, registered N3703G, is "undergoing heavy maintenance" and last flew in 2021.
4) 44-85470, owned by EAA, "Aluminum Overcast", N5017N, also grounded since 2021.
5) 44-85784, owned by Imperial War Museum Duxford, "Sally B", G-BEDF, is airworthy and flies in the UK, seemingly mostly just from Duxford.
6) 44-85829, owned by an unknown owner since being sold in June, N3193G, last flew in October 2023.
So, there are just three that are actively flying, and a fourth of unknown status at this point. Hopefully the other two will eventually return and the seven additional ones that are supposedly being restored to airworthiness can one day return to the sky. However, those have been under restoration since 1995, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2021. It is clearly not a fast nor easy process to get these birds aloft again.
As a footnote, the Real Memphis Belle B-17 was restored to Airworthy Condition before it was placed on Display at The National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson AFB. The Museum restores all aircraft to Airworthy Status before they go on display, usually never to fly again. I watched them run the engines during the restoration process.IIRC, it went from 25, briefly to 30, to 35, to 50 by the end of the war... But finding a reference for that is proving quite difficult, though I am prone to going down ratholes when it comes to learning about the details of WWII.
I don't know about that. It seems like smaller airplanes get tossed around too much to accurately depict how a bigger airplane flies.
Per that link, there are six airworthy. However, they're pretty optimistic about calling something airworthy:
1) 44-8543, owned by Erickson Aircraft Collection, wearing "Ye Olde Pub" markings and registered as N3701G, is legitimately airworthy and currently touring Canada.
2) 44-83514, owned by CAF, "Sentimental Journey" registered N9323Z, is legitimately airworthy and also currently touring Canada.
3) 44-83546, owned by Military Aircraft Restoration Corp, wearing "Memphis Belle" markings, registered N3703G, is "undergoing heavy maintenance" and last flew in 2021.
4) 44-85470, owned by EAA, "Aluminum Overcast", N5017N, also grounded since 2021.
5) 44-85784, owned by Imperial War Museum Duxford, "Sally B", G-BEDF, is airworthy and flies in the UK, seemingly mostly just from Duxford.
6) 44-85829, owned by an unknown owner since being sold in June, N3193G, last flew in October 2023.
So, there are just three that are actively flying, and a fourth of unknown status at this point. Hopefully the other two will eventually return and the seven additional ones that are supposedly being restored to airworthiness can one day return to the sky. However, those have been under restoration since 1995, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2021. It is clearly not a fast nor easy process to get these birds aloft again.
I enjoyed that too.
Looks like that is currently on Max (formerly known as HBO Max).
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Velocity173
Loaned out the Blu-ray’s to my parents recently. They loved it. My dad thought the flying scenes were real. “How did they get all those aircraft for the flying scenes.”