Up through the Midway movie discussion now. Some more comments:
-- Good update on SFB CTA. I had just assumed the game was dead. If ADB can revise and re-release it along with minis, I might resume. That's still my favorite system. (I think, could be just B5 CTA nostalgia... )
-- Simple reason why there's so many good Sub movies, and fewer good Ship/Topside movies: Filming a sub crew just needs a few rooms. Filming a ships crew needs a LARGE open air deck - bad enough in the age of sail, near crazy size for modern ships without the Navy's help.
MASTER AND COMMANDER is damn near the only sail and cannon film I can think of that's worth a damn, and with modern effects (discounting the PotC filsm which are essentially a fantasy setting).
I concur with Greg - this is the first film ever that conveyed just how awful splinters were. As a result, I can barely stand the scenes in PotC where splinters fly everywhere, but no one gets bloody.
My one quibble with the film was peripherally mentioned - the Midshipman Hollum subplot. When the crew gets desperate while stuck in heat with no wind or rain, they call him a Jonah, which leads to the discipline incident but ALSO Hollum's suicide. And only after that suicide does the ship get moving.
Hollum's outcast status reminded me very much of being a gamer in high school. Thus I found the crew's actions to be a horrible example of ship life. And Aubrey's failure to truly protect his officer was disillusioning. And how the wind resumes after the Jonah's death felt like the movie saying, "Great, now the nerd is gone, all the *real* men can get on with things!"
So it made for a big fat sour grape in an otherwise sumptuous meal of a movie.
Pirate films like CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE SEA HAWK are pretty awesome, even some Sinbad movies, but despite the Naval setting the ship combat is truly secondary.
Its very sad that there's no definitive film version of CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS, maybe the best intro to the realities of ship life, especially for a young person. I remember the 1977 version well, as it ingrained a deep dislike of sailing in me (I *really* don't like blisters) - perhaps having an opposite effect than intended.
This subconscious impact is probably why I always balked at the idea of joining the Navy, even when the Navy ROTC was offering a $30K bonus for Physics majors to switch from (ch)Air Force to Navy (with a required 3 year submarine nuclear specialist tour). Yes, I regret this shortsightedness :-)
Probably the most critically well-regarded film about navies and sailors is BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, a 1925 silent Soviet film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. It's been in my queue for over a decade, so I really need to prioritize it.
I still haven't see Gregory Peck's take on Hornblower either.
I still feel like Hollywood has all the tools it needs for making a landmark Naval film with modern tools, they just haven't made it happen yet.
Just random thoughts while listening...