Movies worth watching (with Scouts?)

[Cambridgeskip]

I wonder whether A Bridge Too Far might work? Rather long but does have quite a few lessons for scouts;

 

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail

Keeping going against the odds

Keeping your sense of humour

Looking after your friends

Leading from the front

[JasonG172]

If not mentioned

 

GOONIES!

[SSScout]

"Battleship"?   Ha!  When we visited Hawaii, Scoutson  was all over the Missouri.   When that waste of mylar came out,  he was quick to point out the problems/inconsistancies:  Aliens that can immobilize an entire battlegroup but can't land on land?  Destruction of everything?  They don't want slaves or "booty"?  Tactics by Cartesian coordinates?  He understood the EM pulse handicapping all the solid state stuff, but instantaneous re-upping a forty year old ship?  Using how many gallons of how old bunker oil? And where did they instantaneously get those 16" shells and cordite bags?  And the aliens waited while all this was  happening?  Nice to see all those old timers lauded as heroes again, and the boy gets the girl...

 

"Godzilla".   Absolutely, as entertainment,  but include at least the  American (if not the Japanese)  original with Raymond Burr.  Compare rationales. 

 

Double feature suggested:   "In the Shadow of the Moon" (Ron Howard details the Apollo missions by interviewing the astronauts) and '"Destination Moon"  (George Pal's animation/special effects were surprisingly accurate for the 1950's)

[CalicoPenn]

Ok, yes - instant re-commissioning of an old Battleship is a major gap in realty but we are talking about a movie titles Battleship in an era where we have no modern battleships so I let that one pass (and the scene where all the old salts are standing on various high points of the ship always causes the dust in the room to get in my eyes). 

 

But, I must overrule some objections.  It's entirely possible that an alien civilization may have large ships that are incapable of landing and operating on land - though they did have smaller craft that could - these aliens had special helmets to cut down on the light of the sun - one conclusion that could be drawn is that they come from a dark planet - but since they have specialized helmets that allow them to venture in to the sun, I would suggest that they might live either underground, or, since they have ships that move so well in water and can't land on land, that they live under water, where it would also be dark - a water based civilization would have large craft that operate in water with smaller landing craft for land based operations.

 

It's been a long established tradition in Science Fiction writing that there could be civilizations who invade and destroy everything without taking "booty" or slaves - I call your attention to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where Earth is to be utterly destroyed to put in a new space highway.  This invasion was by a vanguard who lost their communications ship and was trying to re-establish contact with their fleet to bring down the real destruction - perhaps terraforming the planet to meet their needs or perhaps just to plunder some resources.  Maybe they were there for the booty but didn't have time to get it - and if they were going to terraform or just plunder, they might not have need for an "insignificant" species like ours for slaves.

 

And that insignificance could be the answer as to why the heroes could retrofit the Missouri - they have defeated us and we could be ignored.

 

As for the Cartesian coordinate tracking - what better way to try to track vessels that are invisible to more modern means of detection - it's yet another example in the movie of how the old-fashioned ways of doing things can still be useful - besides, it's a movie based on a classic board game that uses Cartesian tactics - I thought it was cleverly done.

 

But too each their own - you can show your boys The Sound of Music, Black Beauty, Babe, Mulan, Life is Beautiful or The Empire of the Sun if you want.

[Krampus]

Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated!

 

- The Atraxi

[Torchwood]

FWIW, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) has a parents guide for every movie in the database- includes violence, sexual content/references (if any), language, smoking, drug references, etc. I have the app on my iPhone and iPad just to quickly ID actors and where else I have seen them (usually a Doctor Who episode) while we are watching movies at home.

[ianwilkins]

 you can show your boys The Sound of Music

 

Can we put the subtitles on and sing along? If so I'm IN!

 

You could say The Sound of Music makes important points about loyalty to country, family, honour, finding your place in the world and so on, AND you get to sing Do-Re-Me!

 

Ian

[blw2]

The Martian is brand new, so its unlikely to appear on many lists yet, but i think it is really excellent.  It is rated PG-13 for language, but it has lots of really good examples of American heroism.  I just love it, and before the end, I felt like the United States really had sent astronauts to Mars. :-)

 

 

Whatever movie you watch, might I recommend you PREVIEW the WHOLE movie for situational issues and language. Some of the most mundane movies you may want to watch might have the f-bomb, s-bomb or suggestive scene you won't want your 11-13 year olds seeing (e.g. Transformers). 

 

 

I was gonna say I'll bet the martian has some bad language.  I haven't seen it YET, but I just finished the book. Lots of F bombs in there.  Other than that i really enjoyed it.

 

having just joined, my oldest is on the low end of the age scale so i don't have history of what a modern Scout aged boy would like.

 

I wonder if an oldie like Bridge over the River Kwai might be well received.

 

Regardless, this is really a question for the SPL, IMHO.  Just set some very clear rules about ratings/language.  No doubt a good SPL can be responsible enough to do that, and he's in touch enough with the scouts to know what they might like.  Might even discuss it with them (or the PLC?).  

Might be an idea to ask him to submit choice or choices to SM for previewing

[qwazse]

The Eagle Huntress (http://sonyclassics.com/theeaglehuntress/) just made it to our independent theater.

I was very impressed. It's an ideal movie for young venturing youth.  It would be great for Troops, but not so much if your boys have trouble reading subtitles and speak neither Kazakh nor Arabic.

Also, if your people have qualms about skinning and butchering animals, you may want to give them a heads up.

 

The heroin is a 13 year old Mongolian. Her father is her sidekick. I think any dad who has taken his daughter hunting (or in my case,  tracking) will really appreciate this one. It's also a great way to get psyched for winter camping!

 

Of course it's an added bonus is when, after the closing credits, you can walk across the aisle to the families with three young girls, say, "Would you guys like to see an Eagle feather?" And pull the one you found on your last hike out of your wide-brimmed leather hat.

[Eagledad]

"My side of the mountain". 1960s movie about a teenager surviving a long northern US winter in a hollowed out tree. I haven't seen it in years, but it was a Boy Scout favorite in the 70s.

 

Barry

[Tampa Turtle]

Usually shown on long Bus trips

 

Godzilla (1954)

Bond Films (Guns for the younger boys Girls for the older ones)

Monty Python + Holy Grail (Occasional Language) Boys either love or hate it

The Dark Knight+Batman(1966) double feature (billed as the Depressing One and the Mayor from Family Guy)

Das Boot

Apollo 18 (surprised me)

Shaun of the Dead.

World War Z.

Most any other Zombie movie.

Star Wars (New Hope and Empire Strikes Back most popular)

Independence Day (the 1st one)

Finding Nemo (the older boys will recite the entire movie word for word-it is a nostalgia trip for them) 

The Longest Day (surprised me)- they liked the gear and the theme songs

Bridge Too Far (mostly for the tanks-the boys will watch things if it relates to a game they have been playing)

Lord of the Rings Trilogy (once for a lock-in.)

 

Very much depends on the age of the boys and the event.

[Tampa Turtle]

I was gonna say I'll bet the martian has some bad language.  I haven't seen it YET, but I just finished the book. Lots of F bombs in there.  Other than that i really enjoyed it.

 

having just joined, my oldest is on the low end of the age scale so i don't have history of what a modern Scout aged boy would like.

 

I wonder if an oldie like Bridge over the River Kwai might be well received.

 

Regardless, this is really a question for the SPL, IMHO.  Just set some very clear rules about ratings/language.  No doubt a good SPL can be responsible enough to do that, and he's in touch enough with the scouts to know what they might like.  Might even discuss it with them (or the PLC?).  

Might be an idea to ask him to submit choice or choices to SM for previewing

 

I thought Bridge over the River Kwai would go great. We loved it in High School. But it went down in flames. I guess it was the pacing. You never know.

[fgoodwin]

Most films that have this issue (Raiders is one of them), you can edit out the bad stuff on your own and save them to digital for showing to Scouts.

 

We always pre-release our movie schedule just in case a mom has an issue. Had one parent who forbade her kids from watching Harry Potter (magic was a no no as being anti Christian), but some how Star Wars was okay (despite Anakin being immaculately conceived and the prolific use of the force/magic).

 

FYI: "Immaculate conception" means born w/o original sin, and according to Catholic teaching (I'm Episcopalian myself), only four people were conceived immaculately: Adam, Eve, Mary, and Jesus.  This is different from "Virgin birth".  I think you meant the latter.

 

Fred Goodwin

Cub Scout parent

San Antonio, TX

[mashmaster]

Just watched 12 angry men with my son and he was blown away.  He couldn't understand why it was in black and white though.

[MerleneMir]

October sky