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Thread: (Nit)Pick the Errors in the New "Midway" Poster

  1. #11
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    I always like the poster for the 1976 version of "Midway"....


    One thing that gets me about this...is the "island" on the carrier on the wrong side? Larry's image shows it on the port side as well. I thought they were always on the starboard side. Did the Japanese spin the propellers the opposite way on their carriers?

    Ron Wanttaja

  2. #12
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Switzer View Post
    I hate it when they remake a movie that was good the first time around. This one will probably be all CGI. I won't be paying to see it.
    I'm not that negative about CGI, as long as it's well done with people who are knowledgeable about aircraft and how they fly. I thought the "Dogfights" TV series did pretty well.

    The fact is, there aren't that many of these aircraft left any more. They're good for showing closeups of the actor and details of the aircraft themselves, but showing an entire squadron of, say, SBDs is going to take a lot of optical effects that often aren't all that convincing.

    And, of course, there ARE no flyable TBDs, and it's hard to tell the story about Midway without showing Torpedo Eight. I'd rather see a whole CGI squadron of Devastors than one or two gray-painted T-6s pretending to be them.

    "Flyboys" still makes me cringe when I see some of the sequences. While I know a lot of folks complained, I thought "Red Tails" did pretty well.

    They're getting pretty good at this sort of thing, but it's vital to have aviation-knowledgeable people involved. The "Midway" poster that started this thread was a good example...one would expect the artist probably had an SBD model to look at. But the artist decided to depict it with a four-bladed prop, which means they were looking more for spectacle than accuracy. One would hope the CGI folks are a bit better grounded.

    Ron Wanttaja

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by rwanttaja View Post
    I always like the poster for the 1976 version of "Midway"....


    One thing that gets me about this...is the "island" on the carrier on the wrong side? Larry's image shows it on the port side as well. I thought they were always on the starboard side. Did the Japanese spin the propellers the opposite way on their carriers?

    Ron Wanttaja
    that akagi and soryu had their islands on the left side, the theory being that the kaga and akagi were a division and would sail together one would use a right traffic pattern the other the left the soryu and hiryu the same. the idea was dropped with the shokaku and zukaku

  4. #14
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    All of the above, plus the cowl lip is sharp and not contoured, the rudder is hard over, and the greenhouse is not open correctly.
    For what it's worth, at least some of the planes did carry 100 pound incendiaries under the wings in addition to the centerline munition.
    I've had the pleasure of being remotely connected to one of the unsung heroes of the engagement, and for those who might be interested in a fascinating and humble first person account of his life, times, and exploits, read "Never Call Me A Hero". I am not impartial as the fella was the father of a friend, but it is a very cool story indeed.

  5. #15

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    Re above-- I think there may be something in the background behind the top of the tail that you are mistaking for the balance horn of a hard-over rudder. Actually, the Dauntless rudder didn't have a balance horn. (I didn't actually know that till I googled it, I just noticed that the picture didn't look like a hard-over rudder to me.) https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sour...61142242872012
    Last edited by quietflyer; 06-20-2019 at 12:39 PM.

  6. #16
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Well, the first trailer is out:



    Some thoughts:

    1. The implementation of the CGI looks pretty realistic
    2. But movie has standard "over-dramatization" of action sequences, showing the planes far lower and far closer than they actually would be.
    3. In the brief glimpses one sees of them, the planes look pretty accurate. The scene showing the Dauntless diving on the carrier (1:34) looked pretty accurate (given the issue raised in #2).
    4. Movie apparently covers the period between the Pearl Harbor attack and Midway, including the Doolittle raid. Not fired up about that (the movie Pearl Harbor also suffered from expanding the topic too much). Though the shot of the B-25 taking off through the spray is impressive (0:59).
    5. Woody Harrelson as Nimitz looks surprisingly good. Aaron Eckhart looks sufficiently craggy as Doolittle. Spencer Tracy still did it better.
    6. One brief sequence of Eckhart as Doolittle saluting correctly (1:22)...refreshing, considering some abominable salutes you see in the movies. However, still sloppy salutes from the extras in the background.
    7. No scenes showing actors with the aircraft on the ground, so we don't know if they've got accurate mockups or are using stand-ins. One SBD tail in a scene looks a little insubstantial.
    8. The battleship at 0:49 looks like a US Iowa-class battleship, which weren't commissioned until later in the war.

    OK, I'm looking forward to this one, now... :-)

    Ron "Problems with fresh water supply" Wanttaja

  7. #17
    BusyLittleShop's Avatar
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    Warbirds zipping around at Star Wars pace... wow oh wow thats the best CGI I've seen since last week...

  8. #18
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Saw the new "Midway" today.

    Surprisingly, I liked it a lot. Yes, they used CGI to overly-dramaticize the combat sequences. However, for the most part, the CGI is *very* realistic. The in-flight work was set up very similarly to the way air-to-air between real planes would look. There's a sequence where one of the main characters in an SBD is being chased by Zeros, and it's a real nail-biter.

    And it's a kick seeing a squadron of realistic Dauntlesses and Devastators maneuver around, vs. a batch of models or cut-up old trainers. I'll say, too, that the SHIP sequences...the carriers and others... were top-notch as well. Near the start of the movie, there's a camera shot that rises near the bow of a US carrier and tracks aft, showing the planes spotted on deck and men working. Great CGI work (probably a combination of CGI and live action).

    Sure, I saw stuff that was wrong. But I have to say the errors never "took me out" of the movie. It just tallied in my head (ping!) and I went back to watching the action. Wasn't a perfect movie (I thought the loss of the Yorktown was treated rather perfunctorily, and where were the Wildcats?), but there certainly have been worse ones.

    Couple things I'll praise about it. Woody Harrelson as Nimitz. No trace of the usual nutball that Harrelson portrays. Dennis Quaid as Halsey does a great job, as does Aaron Eckhart as Dolittle.

    One of the things the movie does VERY right is casting (mostly) young actors as pilots and flight crew. They looked the right age. Also, I was impressed with the costuming. The khakis worn by the American officers LOOKED like the clothing they wore every day. Not smooth permanent press, but kind of rough, kind of wrinkled. Sure, it's a stupid point, but for me, it did make them look like serving officers, not perma-press-clad actors.

    Finally, a special shout-out to the depiction of the Japanese side of the story. Very interesting to get their viewpoint.

    Worth seeing, folks.

    Ron Wanttaja

  9. #19
    Auburntsts's Avatar
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    I saw it this past Monday -- didn't like it that much. I thought the CGI was way too video game-ish and the plot line too contrived in order to create "drama" instead of simply telling a great story. I liked the 1976 original way better which I thought actually did a way better job of portraying the events leading up to and the actual battle itself. My recommendation, save your money and rent the original. YMMV....
    Todd “I drink and know things” Stovall
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    WAR DAMN EAGLE!

  10. #20
    FlyingRon's Avatar
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    Can't appreciate the original unless you have the "Sensurround" speakers installed in the theater.

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