Color me there on opening night!

In case you didn't know, on October 20 (only two weeks away), the film adaptation of the book Flags of Our Fathers is coming to the movie screen. The book was written by James Bradley, whose father, John Bradley, was one of the men who raised the flag on top of Mount Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima. The movie chronicles the battle and the aftermath of the lives of the flag-raisers who survived, but brought the battle back home with them in their heads as they were recruited to help sell war bonds.

The movie is directed by Clint Eastwood, produced by Steven Spielberg, and written by Paul Haggis; all three of whom have directed movies that previously won the Oscar for Best Picture - Eastwood for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, Spielberg for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan (Best Director), and Haggis for Crash.

That is a lot of talent, and the movie's trailer looks excellent.

Bonus - Eastwood filmed a companion movie back-to-back with Flags of Our Fathers. This second movie is called Letters from Iwo Jima, and shows the battle from the Japanese perspective. The protaganist in this movie appears to be General Kuribayashi, the leader of the Japanese garrison on the island, and he is played by Ken Watanabe. You might remember him as the bad-ass Samurai who befriended Tom Cruise's character in The Last Samurai. Letters from Iwo Jima is slated to open in theaters in December. You can watch the trailer here if you have the correct media player. For me, it always seems that no matter which media player I need to watch something, I never seem to have it.

Good Day to You, Sir.