The title immediately puts me off – “The Battle for Middle Earth”? 
They were obviously trying to trade off the popularity of the LOTR movies.
Some comments on the accuracy. I don’t feel tempted to watch it.
Thanks to all who are replying. I’ve seen some very good suggestions:
Yes that is a problem - Maybe these would be better handled as a straight historical piece by Ken Burns or by “The American Experience”. I’m reminded of a quote from the film “Sweet Liberty” - according to IMDB:
[Bo Hodges] You realize who goes to see movies. Eighty percent of them are between the ages of 12 and 22. And you know what the kids like?
[Michael Burgess] What?
[Bo Hodges]: Well, this may sound silly to you, but kids go completely ape if you do three things in a picture: defy authority, destroy property, and take people’s clothes off.
I actually liked his 2008 war movie: Tunnel Rats, where GIs are sent in to hunt out Viet Cong soliders in their tunnels. So much so I actually thought he’d made it before he’d become shit, and it turns out it was more recent.
It seems as if Garth Ennis might have provided a bunch of suitable comics with stories for War films or mini-series, after being on a roll from Preacher and They Boys.
They’re War Stories and Battlefields. The former tending to be one off stories, the latter 2-4 issues for each story. Covering all theatres, mostly WW2, but some Spanish and Israel 1973 ones. Stories of sadness, bravery, last stands, fightbacks, boredom, horror and sadness. One which sticks in my mind is a nurse during the fall of Singapore, called Dear Billy. Others are tank battalions, and The Night Witches: the female soviet bombers who uses to torment the German army during the night.
He’s got some separate books too of similar things: Sara a tale of female russian snipers during WW2, and The Stringbags - Three tales of british flyers of crappy planes in big events in WW2 such as sinking the Bizmark, Taranto, tied together with a single fictional crew.
Apparently his later, more indie-toned, movies are better than his earlier bigger-budget ones. I have never bothered to find out.
That reminds me - a Charley’s War series would be awesome.
Thanks I missed Charley’s war. I thought there was an unrelated film called the same though.
Twelve O Clock high was based on Second Schweinfurt,
Ok, one that hasn’t been mentioned; the Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631, where Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden defeated the Catholic powers and (perhaps) save Protestantism. It features mass cavalry charges, routs, the use of ‘light’ artillery against mass formations (to provide the necessary slaughter), some larger-than-life characters (Gustavus, Tilly, Pappenheim)… Yeah, most folks don’t know about it at all, but lots of folks don’t know about the other battles mentioned, either…
I second that. Pat Mills penned the best WWI epic since Erich Maria Remarque.
Yeah, Charlie’s War was about Charlie Wilson and the CIA’s backing of the Mujahideen against the Soviets.
That’s called Charlie Wilson’s War.
The rescue of the Jewish population of Denmark during World War 2 could be made into a great movie:
I’m sure trading in on LOTR was part of it.
To be fair, though, in Old English and Old Norse cosmology, both Christian and pagan, the world was referred to as Middle Earth, middangeard --“middle yard” in OE–between heaven and hell.
The Polish movie The Day of the Siege is ok. Watch it for the visuals rather than the plot.
For myself, I’d like to see movies about colorful characters, candidates include:
Yeah, but that’s the whole world, not one poxy Duchy (and some of its more desirable offshore islands.)
I like the idea of movies about Kursk and Nelson’s battles but one that I think would benefit from a big-budget modern take is “Operation Chariot” about the raid on St. Nazaire during WW2.
It is an incredible story and the scope and scale of the raid would make for an incredible spectacle. It even comes with a built-in cliffhanger ending.
I think it would be very interesting, if it was presented as something of a thriller; start by showing the genesis of the Great Sioux War of 1876 and the subsequent campaign by the 7th Cavalry under Custer, with building suspense surrounding the confusion prior to the battle on the part of the US Army and specifically the 7th Cavalry, as well as showing the battle from the Native American perspective. Wrap the whole thing up by showing the actions of Reno, Benteen and Custer in the right time sequence, and the aftermath, including the postmortem mutilation of Custer’s troops.
I’ve stood on that battlefield. What I want in a movie about it is just one shot: Custer and his men in a defensive position, just below the crest of Last Stand Hill, and turning to see Gall and every Lakota in the world riding over the crest behind them.