Saving Private Ryan was good. Spielburg knows how to do a good movie. It was cinematic, but that doesn’t make it bad, especially when you understand that it was very much an homage as much as it was a movie. If you want a “lovey-dovey” WW2 movie, watch Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
My other picks:
Bridge Over the River Kwai - Quite tense in the final moments.
Stalingrad - Kinda cheesy, but something from a different view point.
Hong Kong 1941 - Chow Yun Fat, and not bad; especially when Asian WW2 movies are lacking.
Empire of the Sun - Young Christian Bale, who does a great job portraying a young kid alienated from wealth and British prestige by the Japanese in WW2.
Downfall - Exciting, gripping account of the last hours in Berlin and the Fuhrerbunker.
Saints & Soldiers was good, especially for a low cost production.
A Bridge Too Far - I enjoyed this more from reading the book of Cornelius Ryan, and you can’t beat an all-star cast. You get the history, but it seems rushed in the last 30 minutes or so.
The Sorrow & The Pity - A great documentary on the French Resistance
The Tin Drum - Awesome movie about life in Danzig during WW2. It’s also a satire of the German people of that time.
The Thin Red Line - The poetic version of SPR in Asia.
The Great Raid - Might as well mention it, it was entertaining and deserves a little more attention.
The Pianist - Great movie, great music. Polish Jew survives the war.
Schindler’s List - Another Spielberg, and very good.
I dare someone to say U-571 or Pearl Harbor. 8-)
I’d like to see something more about the Africa Front. There’s probably something out there, but nothing notable that I’ve seen. I think a movie about Okinawa could be quite thrilling. And I’d like to see something on the Spanish Civil War, since I think it has quite a bit of revelance.