I totally forgot: the recent really really really awful version of "Pearl Harbor" done with digital effects so you could see the bazooka joe bubble gum the pilots were chewing as they flew between battleships, wingtips sparking against the gray metal...

I tend to group war flicks into genres and give them different levels of criticism based on their period and place.

There's the interesting genre of the war flicks done while the war was still on, almost on, or barely over: "Sahara", "Song of Russia", "Casablanca", "In a Lonely Place", "A Guy Named Joe", "Courtmartial of Billy Mitchell". These things are done quickly and sent to the public, some for entertainment, some for propaganda, most with an element of morale boosting for the folks at home. The effects are as cheap as they come, the editing rushed, but the look of the people and the sound of the language is of the period, even if it is hollywoodized.

Then you get the post war productions. These are often plays and screenplays written by people who were actually there, acted occasionally by people who were actually there. Out come "Run Silent Run Deep", "Mister Roberts", "South Pacific"

Then a few years later you get the riff on a theme, the impossible mission sequence, the revision of history as we know it. Here y'get "Kelly's Heroes" "The Pigeon That Saved Rome"

Along the way come some timeless classics. Some of these have an individual's point of view: "The Caine Mutiny". Some speak for millions: "The Best Years Of Our Lives". Some try to capture human truths in the midst of the clash of civilizations: "South Pacific" "Teahouse Of The August Moon".

Some films try to chronicle a particular event: "Gallipolli", "Midway", "Tora,Tora,Tora". They often come out at a decade mark after the event.

When the next war comes along, there is often a return to the 'last great war': "Patton" came out while the US was deep in Vietnam. "The Civil War" by Ken Burns came out just as the US was going in to Gulf War I.

Most recently we've been getting some very good attempts to (re)capture the immediate reality of the times. This becomes harder as we grow away from the people of the period. We are now on our third generation post WWII so the human element is by far the most difficult: Truly excellent work has been done with "Das Boot" and "Band Of Brothers".

And of course there are the Post War War Films, from the wars since the BIG ONE: "Bridges at Toko Ri" "Green Berets" "Platoon" "Blackhawk Down".

Along the way: Plenty of Action, Lots of Lies, occasionally some really precious stuff.