I caught Flags of Our Fathers Friday night. As if there were any question I’d see a Clint Eastwood directed WWII flick. It’s an excellent film all in all and the best war movie I’ve seen in a long time. It will likely be compared to Saving Private Ryan but it’s a much better film. Saving Private Ryan had these really harrowing combat sequences but an ultimately stupid story. Flags of Our Fathers brings the brutal fighting on Iwo Jima into sharp focus but that’s only part of a larger, well-drawn story. The last 20 minutes of the movie suffers from “Return of the King Syndrome” somewhat, where you keep thinking it’s about to end and then there’s another scene. Other than that bit of drag at the end though, it’s a really well made film and well worth checking out. Eastwood has made a followup film, Letters from Iwo Jima, that shows the battle from the Japanese point of view. That’s out in February and I’m really looking forward to it.