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What do you want to watch tonight?

Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.

Closest to Enemy at the Gates first

  1. As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.

    The sides of Saving Private Ryan

    • The Normandy landing
    • Eight men looking for one
    • A bridge to hold

    Good for you if

    • you want to feel what a battle is really like.
    • you like Tom Hanks as a captain whose hand won't stop shaking.
    • you like a battle you feel in your seat. The landing on Omaha Beach opens the film.

    Bad for you if

    • very graphic battle wounds are too much for you.
    • nearly three hours is too much for one evening.

    About: duty · sacrifice · brotherhood

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  2. Band of Brothers 2001

    Series

    Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as their journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men from paratrooper training in Georgia through the end of the war. As an elite rifle company parachuting into Normandy early on D-Day morning, participants in the Battle of the Bulge, and witness to the horrors of war, the men of Easy knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear - and became the stuff of legend. Based on Stephen E. Ambrose's acclaimed book of the same name.

    The sides of Band of Brothers

    • The paratroopers of Easy Company
    • A night jump over Normandy on D-Day
    • The Battle of the Bulge in winter

    Good for you if

    • you want a war story built from the real men's interviews and letters.
    • you like soldiers who become brothers, from training in Georgia to the end.
    • you want to follow one company from Normandy to Bastogne and the end of the war.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch men wounded and killed in combat.
    • you need some lightness, and the cold of Bastogne and the camps are too much for you.

    About: brotherhood · courage · war

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  3. Dunkirk 2017

    Film

    The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.

    The sides of Dunkirk

    • Soldiers trapped on a beach
    • Small boats coming to the rescue
    • A ticking clock that never stops

    Good for you if

    • you like being tense from the first minute to the last.
    • you like war filmed for the biggest screen possible.
    • you like a score that ticks like a watch.

    Bad for you if

    • you want to get to know the characters. We barely learn their names.
    • you want a story told in order. Three timelines are cut together.

    About: survival · duty · rescue

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  4. During World War II, airmen risk their lives with the 100th Bomb Group, a brotherhood forged by courage, loss, and triumph.

    The sides of Masters of the Air

    • Bomber crews of the 100th Bomb Group
    • Missions over Nazi Germany
    • Airmen shot down and taken prisoner

    Good for you if

    • you want the air war of World War II seen from inside a bomber.
    • you like true stories of the men of the 100th Bomb Group.
    • you want big air battles high above Europe.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch planes torn apart with men inside.
    • you lose track of a large cast of airmen in uniform.

    About: brotherhood · loss · courage

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  5. The Pacific 2010

    Series

    Track the intertwined real-life stories of three U.S. Marines – Robert Leckie, John Basilone, and Eugene Sledge – across the vast canvas of the Pacific Theater during World War II. A companion piece to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers.

    The sides of The Pacific

    • Three real Marines in the Pacific war
    • Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa
    • Coming home after the fighting

    Good for you if

    • you want the true stories of Leckie, Basilone and Sledge.
    • you want to understand the war against Japan island by island.
    • you like battle scenes on the scale of a film.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch combat deaths filmed up close.
    • the toll of war on real men's minds is too much for you.

    About: war · brotherhood · trauma

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  6. When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.

    The sides of Black Hawk Down

    • American soldiers in Mogadishu in 1993
    • Two helicopters shot down
    • A long night trapped in the city

    Good for you if

    • you like being dropped into street fighting that barely stops.
    • you like a rescue that goes wrong hour after hour.
    • you want to see what happened in Mogadishu on that day.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch close, bloody wounds and soldiers dying.
    • you lose track of dozens of soldiers in the same helmets.

    About: brotherhood · duty · chaos

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  7. Lone Survivor 2013

    Film

    Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative must make an impossible moral decision in the mountains of Afghanistan that leads them into an enemy ambush. As they confront unthinkable odds, the SEALs must find reserves of strength and resilience to fight to the finish.

    The sides of Lone Survivor

    • Four Navy SEALs on a mission in Afghanistan
    • A choice about letting goat herders go
    • A real ambush in the mountains

    Good for you if

    • you like a long firefight where every minute counts.
    • you like soldiers' stories told from the ground.
    • you want the true story of Marcus Luttrell and his team.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't stand bodies falling down rocks and wounds in close-up.
    • you roll your eyes at a war film made as a tribute to the men who fought.

    About: brotherhood · sacrifice · moral choices

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  8. Unbroken 2014

    Film

    A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.

    The sides of Unbroken

    • An Olympic runner shot down over the Pacific
    • Weeks adrift on a raft
    • A prison camp guard called the Bird

    Good for you if

    • you like the true story of Louis Zamperini.
    • you like a man who keeps going on a raft and in a prison camp.
    • you like a Second World War story told through one soldier.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch a prisoner beaten again and again.
    • you roll your eyes at a film made to inspire. Its motto is if you can take it, you can make it.

    About: endurance · forgiveness · war

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  9. Hacksaw Ridge 2016

    Film

    WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

    The sides of Hacksaw Ridge

    • A medic who refuses to carry a gun
    • A cliff in Okinawa
    • One more, Lord, help me get one more

    Good for you if

    • you like a hero driven by faith and conviction.
    • you like Andrew Garfield as a soft-spoken medic who won't carry a rifle.
    • you want a war story that really happened.

    Bad for you if

    • very graphic battle wounds are too much for you.
    • you don't watch war films. Half the film is the battle for the ridge.

    About: faith · courage · conscience

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  10. An American Ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya as a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.

    The sides of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

    • Six security contractors in Benghazi
    • A siege of a US compound through one night
    • The real attack in Libya in 2012

    Good for you if

    • you like long, loud firefights filmed by Michael Bay.
    • you like a siege that lasts the whole night.
    • you want to understand what happened in Benghazi in 2012.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch close, bloody combat.
    • you find nearly two and a half hours too long for one evening.
    • you roll your eyes at soldiers' heroic talk.

    About: duty · brotherhood · chaos

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  11. Pearl Harbor 2001

    Film

    The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

    The sides of Pearl Harbor

    • Two pilot friends in love with the same nurse
    • The harbour under attack on a Sunday morning
    • A raid launched from a carrier deck

    Good for you if

    • you like scale and sound, and the attack is staged at full size.
    • you like a love triangle caught up in a war.
    • you want the day the United States entered the war told from the cockpit.

    Bad for you if

    • three hours is too much for one evening.
    • you roll your eyes at speeches about duty and letters read in voice-over.

    About: friendship · duty · loss

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  12. Using highly advanced colourisation techniques, critical moments from World War II, from Stalingrad to The Battle of Britain, are shown in a whole new light.

    The sides of Greatest Events of World War II in Colour

    • Archive footage of World War II restored in colour
    • Stalingrad and the Battle of Britain
    • Key moments of the war told one episode at a time

    Good for you if

    • you like seeing the 1940s in colour instead of grey.
    • you want the big battles of World War II, from Stalingrad to the skies over Britain.
    • you like real footage of the people who lived through it.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch real footage of combat and its dead.
    • you'd rather follow a few people closely than the sweep of a whole war.

    About: the second world war · memory · sacrifice

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  13. The Battle of Midway 1942

    Documentary

    The Japanese attack on Midway in June 1942, filmed as it happened. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, in 2006.

    The sides of The Battle of Midway

    • John Ford filming under Japanese bombs
    • Midway atoll in June 1942
    • Color footage from the Pacific war

    Good for you if

    • you want a real battle filmed by someone who was there.
    • you like wartime footage shot in color in 1942.
    • you want something short. It runs eighteen minutes.

    Bad for you if

    • you find 1940s war footage dated.
    • you roll your eyes at patriotic wartime narration.

    About: duty · courage · propaganda

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  14. Fury 2014

    Film

    April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theater, a battle-hardened army sergeant commands a Sherman tank with a five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines.

    The sides of Fury

    • A tank crew deep in Germany
    • A young clerk thrown into war
    • A last stand at a crossroads

    Good for you if

    • you like being trapped in a tank with five men.
    • you like World War II in its last weeks, fought from a tank across the German countryside.
    • you like a crew bound by everything they've done.

    Bad for you if

    • very graphic killing is too much for you.
    • you need some hope. In Fury the war wears the crew down to the very last scene.

    About: brutality · brotherhood · innocence lost

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  15. The Pianist 2002

    Film

    The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

    The sides of The Pianist

    • A pianist hiding in Warsaw
    • Years alone in empty flats
    • Music for an enemy officer

    Good for you if

    • you like a quiet performance of pure survival.
    • you like a true story that stays with you.
    • you like watching someone hold on through everything.

    Bad for you if

    • the Holocaust shown in detail is too much tonight.
    • two and a half hours is too long for your evening.

    About: survival · art · humanity

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  16. Valkyrie 2008

    Film

    Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.

    The sides of Valkyrie

    • A plot to kill Hitler
    • A wounded colonel with a briefcase bomb
    • A coup run from Berlin's telephones

    Good for you if

    • you like a ticking clock even when you know how history ends.
    • you want to see the German officers who tried to kill Hitler in 1944.
    • you like the politics of a coup, officers deciding whom to trust and who will hold Berlin.

    Bad for you if

    • you need a surprise ending, and you already know this one.
    • you want battles, not men on telephones in offices.

    About: conscience · resistance · duty

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  17. Greyhound 2020

    Film

    A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the "Black Pit" to the front lines of WWII. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win the war.

    The sides of Greyhound

    • A first-time captain escorting a convoy
    • German U-boats in the North Atlantic
    • Orders shouted across a destroyer's bridge

    Good for you if

    • you like a hunt for submarines that barely pauses in 90 minutes.
    • you like naval battles seen from the bridge.
    • you like Tom Hanks in a World War II story about the Atlantic convoys.

    Bad for you if

    • you want to know the people beyond their jobs on the ship.
    • you like sharp dialogue, and here most lines are naval orders.

    About: duty · faith · responsibility

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  18. World War II in Colour 2009

    Documentary

    World War II In Colour is a 13-episode television documentary miniseries recounting the events of World War II narrated by Robert Powell. The show covers the Western Front, Eastern Front, and the Pacific War. It is on syndication in America on the Military Channel. This series is in full color, combining both original and colorized footage.

    The sides of World War II in Colour

    • Archive footage of the Second World War in colour
    • Robert Powell's narration
    • The Western Front, the Eastern Front and the Pacific

    Good for you if

    • you want the whole war told in order, front by front.
    • you like seeing soldiers and battles as real people saw them.
    • you like real footage that feels closer once it's in colour.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't stand real images of the dead.
    • you find archive footage dated, even colorized.

    About: war · sacrifice · the world order

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  19. Oppenheimer 2023

    Film

    The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

    The sides of Oppenheimer

    • The man who built the bomb
    • A secret town in the desert
    • A hearing that decides his fate

    Good for you if

    • you like a lead performance carried by the eyes.
    • you like rooms full of brilliant people arguing.
    • you want to feel the first test in your chest.

    Bad for you if

    • three hours of talking is too much for one evening.
    • you want action. It's mostly meetings and hearings.
    • you want a story told in order. It jumps between periods.

    About: guilt · power · science

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  20. The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

    The sides of Schindler's List

    • A businessman who saves his workers
    • Black and white, and a red coat
    • A list that means life

    Good for you if

    • you like striking black and white images, and a little girl in a red coat you won't forget.
    • you like a villain who's frighteningly human.
    • you want to understand a true story from the inside.

    Bad for you if

    • the Holocaust on screen is too much for you tonight.
    • over three hours is too long for one evening.
    • black and white puts you off.

    About: humanity · courage · evil

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