Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Day 918: Pearl Harbor

Since I blocked off the entirety of Fourth of July weekend as "vacation time," I decided on Sunday night that instead of heading straight back into the buckets of work I have piled up, I would instead finish off my weekend in a calm way...or rather, as calm as you can really get while watching Pearl Harbor. The film, which premiered in 2001, actually has one pretty big Disney connection, aside from the fact that it was produced by Disney: The Backlot Tour.



It actually seems almost right to be blogging about this now, so soon after the announcement that The Art of Animation will be closing for good. Both tours were originally part of a lengthy backlot tour that initially started at the Art of Animation location now, touring through the Streets of America as well as the regular areas once visited on the Backlot Tour that closed about a year ago. However, as long as I can remember at least, the Backlot started from it's own location, including a walking tour portion that showcased special effects such as those used in films like Pearl Harbor.

If you've been to Disney World as often as I have, I'm sure you can recall the Harbor Attack portion of the Backlot Tour, which scared me a little right up until my last tour in 2013, but as I stood in line and watched the pre-show film about Pearl Harbor and other nautical films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, I always made a mental note to actually watch the film. Of course, I didn't know it at the time, but Pearl Harbor also appears in The Great Movie Ride Montage (or it used to at least), and I have a personal mission to watch all of the films included in that previous montage at some point in my life.

Watching Pearl Harbor never really happened though. I think it was on Netflix and my List there for a while, but like most things on my Netflix list, it never was watched. We don't have the DVD either, so when I noticed that the film would be starting soon on TV and I had the evening open, I sat down for a show and live tweeting of this phenomenal movie. To be fair, it's actually really long, something I definitely wasn't prepared for going into it, but it's well worth the length.

Honestly, I felt like I was watching Titanic most of the time, probably because throughout the entire beginning of the film you just have this knowledge of the tragedy to come and there's nothing you can do but wait for it. It's a terrible feeling, really, and while I knew spoilers for about half the movie and quickly figured out the rest, it definitely kept me entertained for a number of hours. Plus it was a commercial free showing, so that was nice. Oh, and I can't leave without mentioning the music...which was phenomenal, per usual for Hans Zimmer.

Oh, and one other quick reference. In high school you of course learn about historical events such as the attack on Pearl Harbor, and one of my friends always had trouble remembering the date. I, however, have never had trouble. Why? FDR's "Infamy" speech is a part of The American Adventure of Epcot, meaning that it's engrained into my mind for eternity.

Have a magical day!


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