Films in Focus

Bad Santa

According to our principal distributor, port congestion along the West Coast has led to the delay of a number of important shipments that were scheduled to arrive in early December. Fortunately, most have now cleared customs and are headed to our supplier, including Forces of Valor, Eaglemoss and Hobby Master, before they are then earmarked for our own warehouse. Other shipments, from such stalwarts as Corgi and Modelcollect, could be delayed as well, so we’re carefully monitoring the situation on a daily basis and will continue to provide updates as they are warranted. As a result, we strongly suggest ordering only those products marked as being in stock if you are looking to give them as a gift or need them to arrive before the holidays.

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It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

While much of the snow that fell on the Northeast yesterday has since melted or washed away, that doesn’t mean its starting to look and feel more and more like Christmas at The Motor Pool compound. Earlier this month, we expanded our customer support hotline to cover more hours, updated our web site and generally received much of the product we expected to take delivery on, all in an effort to get ready for the final holiday push. Some key product will still arrive after the Thanksgiving weekend, meaning we will do everything in our power to fill as many orders as possible before the holidays arrive. Again, we ask for your patience in this matter and hope you refrain from contacting us unless you feel you absolutely have to to check on your order. We update our web site hourly, so its still the best means of judging when an item will likely arrive during the hectic hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

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Films in Focus: Operation Finale

Slated to open in US theatres in late August, Operation Finale tells the tale of the Israeli mission to capture the notorious Nazi henchman and architect of the Final Solution, Adolf Eichmann. The film stars Oscar Isaac as Peter Malkin and Ben Kingsley as Adolf Eichmann, with Lior Raz, Mélanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, and Joe Alwyn in supporting roles. The plot follows the story of the Jewish Nazi hunters as they set out to find and capture former SS officer Adolf Eichmann in 1960. Following his capture, Eichmann stands trial for his war crimes against humanity in Israel where he is later hanged.

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Films in Focus: Destroyer

No stranger to war films (Braveheat, The Patriot, We Were Soldiers, Hacksaw Ridge), Mel Gibson has picked up the directing baton once again to lead his next big budget film, Destroyer. Interestingly enough, Destroyer marks the second time he will return to Okinawa, the closing battle of WWII’s campaign in the Pacific in which the US Marines, Army and Navy paid a terrible price to wrest control of the island from the Japanese. His 2016 film, Hacksaw Ridge, about pacifist medic Desmond Doss’ heroic efforts to save wounded soldiers during the allied assault on the island received wide critical acclaim and was a commercial success. This time around, he’ll be manning the anti-aircraft guns aboard the USS Laffey (DD-724). Laffey, as USNI News points out, is famous for surviving a relentless attack by two dozen kamikaze aircraft while serving on radar picket duty early in the campaign to capture Okinawa. Laffey sustained substantial damage when it was struck by six planes and four bombs, yet was able to stay afloat and continue to fight.

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Films in Focus: Top Gun 2 Gets Topped Off

Val Kilmer is back as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, Pete Mitchell’s chief competitor at the Top Gun academy. Still dangerous after all these years.

According to the Aviation Geek Club, Val Kilmer has signed on to lend his talents to Top Gun 2, thereby reprising his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky alongside Tom Cruise. Like Cruise’s character, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, Iceman will likely portray a fellow naval instructor at the Top Gun academy. The site also claims that Kenny Loggins will re-record Highway to the Danger Zone, the song that helped catapult the film into cinematic stardom. Presently, its not clear if any of the other former actors and actresses that appeared in the original film will be asked to rejoin the cast should the script permit and who will be added to the role call to portray a new class of naval aviators.

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Films in Focus: Top Gun 2 Starts Production

On the first day of production on Top Gun 2, Tom Cruise tweeted out this image showing him in the foreground in front of a naval aircraft. Fast forward 30 years, and its likely the F-14 will be swapped out for a more stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter or, as some suggest, this two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet Strike Aircraft.

By now, you’ve likely heard that Tom Cruise signed on to do a sequel to Top Gun, entitled, what else, Top Gun 2. Yesterday he tweeted out an image with the three-word tag line “Feel the Need”, which aptly paraphrases the “Need for Speed” musical montage that helped to launch the original movie into cinematic history over 30 years ago. In the sequel, Cruise, who reprises his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, plays a flight instructor at the world-famous Top Gun Naval School who likely becomes embroiled in a conflict over the contested waters known as the China Seas. Drones and F-35C Joint Strike Fighters will likely take center stage this time around replacing the retired F-14 Tomcats that became the hallmark of the original film.

And, while we’re on the subject of Top Gun, we still have an ample supply of F-14s in both 1:72 and 1:200 scales, along with a bunch of ancillary products that combine to make the displays rich and filled with seat-of-the-pants excitement. Check ’em out now before they fly off into the danger zone.

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Films in Focus: Unbreakable Spirit

I guess some former Hollywood A-listers are past their prime and will do anything for a buck. Such is the case with Bruce Willis, who stars in a Chinese-made WWII flick entitled Unbreakable Spirit (formerly The Bombing). According to Cinema Escapist, “Unbreakable Spirit aims to dramatize Chinese resistance during the Bombing of Chongqing, which lasted from 1938-1943. Located deep inland, Chongqing served as China’s temporary capital from 1937-1946, as Japan captured many coastal cities including the formal capital Nanjing. Aiming to crush China’s government,  Japan flew 268 raids over Chongqing. The raids killed over 10,000 civilians and destroyed much of the city center.”

While the CGI generated combat scenes look decent enough, we’ll leave it up to you decide when this film will go straight to video in the english-speaking market and whether or not its worthy of serious discussion as a war tribute. 

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Films in Focus: Midway

Back in the seventies, director Jack Smight amassed an all star cast for the feature film, Midway, which, as its name implies, portrayed the pivotal air and sea battle that enabled the US Navy to wrest control of the war in the Pacific from the Japanese Empire. Fast forward forty years and now director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Godzilla (1998), Independence Day (1996) and The Patriot (2000) is looking to cast an equally star-studded ensemble that once again returns to the vast ocean waters near Midway Island. Emmerich is reportedly being backed with a $100 million budget, and has already locked up several prime time actors that include Woody Harrelson and Mandy Moore. For more details on the project, visit Film School Rejects.

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Films in Focus: Wunderland

Translated simply as Wonderland, Wunderland harkens back to the cold, wintry days of Christmas 1944, when the Germans launched a last gasp winter offensive aimed at splitting the Allied armies in two and striking towards the English Channel. As the Germans make one final push in the West, US Army Lt. Robert Cappa and his platoon of 2nd Infantry Division soldiers have been ordered to hold a vital road junction against the German onslaught. Cappa and his men must find their faith and strength to stand against their enemy in the epic fight know as “The Battle of The Bulge.” Starring Tom Berrenger, we aren’t sure if this will make a full theatrical release later this year or is destined to go straight to video based upon our first impressions. Have a looksie and decide for yourself.

Note: We have since learned that this filmed has been renamed Battle of the Bulge: The Last Great Battle of WWII for the North American market (not to be confused with the original film starring Robert Shaw and Henry Fonda) and is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Bulge-DVD-Tom-Berenger/dp/B074ZPL2TB

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Films in Focus: No Better Place to Die

Tom Hanks and Dale Dye on the set of Saving Private Ryan

Sounds as if Dale Dye has finally gotten his wish. According to the web site, We Are the Mighty, US Marine, military historian and actor, Dale Dye, is teaming up with none other than screen legend, Tom Hanks, to create a feature film that retells the story of an American airborne unit in Normandy during the D-Day operation.The movie is centered around the defense of La Fiere Bridge by elements of the 82nd Airborne (“All-American”) and its pivotal role in the early stages of the Normandy campaign.

Dye had been shopping around the story/script for quite some time leading many to believe he would never get the proper backing to film the tale. Now, with Hanks in his corner, it appears as if the story will come to fruition, although no director has been named nor a producer. For more information on the news release, visit We Are the Mighty.

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