Looking back now that I've finished this... sorry about the long post.
With Band of Brothers only Fallon's cameo bothered me, I had only ever seen him as a comedian and not a serious actor so it was very strange. I have to laugh at some of the other "cameos" like Simon Pegg, I and I think MANY other people, at least in the US didn't know who he was at the time that came out, he was just yet another of many British actors playing an American in that series. I did like the series overall though everyone seemed a little too perfect most of the time, Winters in particular seemed a little too good to be true. i'm saying this as a 12 year veteran of the military, everyone has flaws and bad days. I don't mean to bash Winters at all, I just felt that with a few of the men that maybe a few rough edges were maybe given a little Hollywood polish.
The Pacific: I saw this back when it first aired on HBO, it is much grittier than Band of Brothers, there seems to be a bit less of that Hollywood polishing of the rough edges I mentioned earlier. That might be why it isn't quite as well liked by many viewers, people don't like seeing the darker realistic side of things. One style criticism I do have is that unlike Band of Brothers which was based on one book, The Pacific is based on at least two, possibly three books, I forget how many exactly but at least two. Because they used multiple books the story jumps between characters often and it makes it a bit difficult to follow in the earlier episodes. Band of Brothers had a constant progression with the same characters but the first half of the Pacific feels like you are bouncing all over the place. I liked the grittier tone, seeing one character start out as an idealistic young man in the US and after being subjected to the horrific combat of the Pacific he begins to feel his humanity and sanity slipping away from him. If you have a parent or grandparent who was a veteran of WW2 but rarely talks (or talked) about it there is probably a good reason why, I know I was exposed to some intense things in Iraq and Afghanistan but they pale in comparison to what the veterans of that war went through. Don't get me wrong, I don't like seeing the "good guys" doing bad or morally questionable things and I know from previous conversations on this topic that I may have given some of you that impression, I just believe that regardless of what conflict it is, or where, or who was involved, the lines separating things blur easily, right and wrong, good and evil, and so on. The reality of war is that sometimes cruelty becomes a necessity and maintaining your sanity, staying the person you were before it all happened can be a challenge, no matter what your role or your exposure to the environment of it all, time in a combat zone affects you and changes you, some more than others and often in different ways. You should always be suspicious of any film or television program where one side, no matter how just their cause, is portrayed as a flawless hero. Something I see many civilians in the US seem to forget is that even with all the training we get, soldiers are still human. I should get off my soapbox now before I really start talking in circles more than I probably have already. But one last thing...
There was another HBO series called Generation Kill, that was made based on a book written by a Rolling Stone journalist embedded with a unit of US Marines in 2003 during the invasion of Iraq. I was not part of the 03 invasion, I was there in 2005 and then later part of the surge in 07. But still, I would highly recommend this series, the Marines in it act like real humans, not Hollywood supermen, at least one of the guys from the unit actually plays himself in the series, I forget his name, the big pretty-boy scout sniper. Some of the people in the unit may seem a bit far fetched but I assure you, in my time in I have met MANY people like that, the clueless leader, the kid who just wants to go kill someone, the Patton types who are just trying to further their military career at any cost, and the sane rational ones just trying to do their job and get their people home safe. The story is pretty good and while I'm sure some things were "dramatized", it felt to me like a fairly accurate representation of the invasion that I got from people I knew that were part of it, my experiences, and also of the military in general today, at least somewhat.
And in closing, don't waste your time watching The Hurt Locker, that movie is complete and utter, unrealistic, bullshit. Fuck the Hurt Locker and fuck Kathryn Bigelow for making it. If she had titled it: How to Get You and Your Entire Team Killed and Cut into Tiny Pieces and Left to Rot in Downtown Baghdad Because You Didn't do your Job Correctly and Decided you were John Fucking Wayne, then maybe I (and almost every other Iraq vet that has seen the film) wouldn't be so tough on her for it.
