Non US Army movies.

[Jorlaan]

I recommend the Canadian war movie Storming Juno if you can find it, I own a DVD copy so it is out there.
It is a great slightly doc-style movie that is all about well...D day and the Canadians who fought and took Juno beach primarily, also some paratroopers inland. It has some good actions scenes, a few scenes where they describe things like in a documentary (talking about DD tanks and such) and overall is a good representation of Canada at war and D day as a whole. The entry scenes with the bombers flying over the invasion fleet was quite well done I thought.

 

[BestOfTheWest]

Definitely the best WW2 movie, because its a black comedy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(film)

Great movie about the pacific theatre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Red_Line_(1998_film)

Worth watching if interested in the Chinese theatre:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Sun_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Emperor

There are also some great older ones, like
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai
or

Critique to titles above:

- Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter.
Its rather ridiculous, especially as they tried to include a German Jew as one of the main characters, by that they definitely overreached,
resulting in scenes like this:

Viktor Goldstein (the German Jew) manages to jump off a running train on its way to a concentration camp together with a polnish teenager.
They stand now somewhere in a polnish forrest.

Polnish Teenager: Where do you go now?
Viktor: Back to Berlin! (and that in 1942 or so, as a jew who just jumbed off the train to a concentration camp)

Out of nowhere, some Wehrmacht-Soldiers appear and open fire without even asking for identification or anything.


- Indigènes (Days of Glory)
Its OK, but the final battle of the movie is plotted very badly. A Panzerschreck is not meant to be your personal artillery, Landsers!

 

[Zupanicarr]

Definitely the best WW2 movie, because its a black comedy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(film)

Great movie about the pacific theatre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Red_Line_(1998_film)

I have heard nothing but bad things about both of those movies, but I haven't seen much of either, so who am I to talk?

Worth watching if interested in the Chinese theatre:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Sun_(film)

That's a pretty good movie though, forgot about that one.

 

[laune573]

I always like tora, tora, tora and midway.

 

[Axe99]

Bridge on the River Kwai and the Great Escape are probably my two favourite WW2 movies (so don't discount the older stuff - and not just those two by any measure), but as well as the ones others have mentioned, I've bumped into a couple of Czech/Slovakian (with subtitles) movies about WW2:

Dark Blue World - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Blue_World (2001, so fairly modern, and I enjoyed it - not 'blow you away', but solid)

and

Tobruk - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Blue_World (2008, so very modern, also solid, about a Czech platoon at Tobruk)

 

[BunnyPoopCereal]

 

[Rubidium]

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is the classic treatment of the role of Witchcraft in defending against German invasion of the UK.

More seriously, there's always Downfall.

 

[Caesar15]

Well based on your requirements for no oldies and not U.S army..I'd say Patton.

 

[henzington]

Downfall probably one of the best films on Hitler in the bunker.

 

[tazaaron]

I own I giant collection of war movies from around the world.

Russian.

The Star
They Fight for the Motherland
9th Company (9 rota) About Afghanistan War
Brest Fortress
Come and See
Liberation (5 part movie) Osvobozhdeniye

Korean. Korean War movies except My Way is Ww2

My Way
Front Line
71 into the Fire
Tae Guk Gi

Chinese.

The Assembly

French.

Intimate Enemies
Days of Glory
Battle for Algiers

Italian.

El Alamein (2002)

German.

Downfall
Generation War
Stalingrad (1993)
The Bridge
Das Boot

Polish.

Kanal
1939 Battle of Westerplatte

Aussie.

39th Battalion (Kokoda)
Beneath Hill 60. (Ww1)
Gallipoli. (Ww1)

Czech.

Dark Blue World

Finnish.

The Winter War

Dane.

Flame and Citron

Dutch.

Winter in Wartime

Yugo.

Battle of Neretva

Isreal.

Beaufort. (Lebanon 80s)

and I know you said you like only newer movies but theres alot of British movies made during and after WW2 that are worth warching

Malta story
Cockleshell Heros
The Cruel Sea
Dam Busters
Convoy
Gift Horse
They were not Divided
Reach for the Sky
Angels one five
The red beret
The Silent enemy
Corvette K-225
Battle of the V1


Some newer ones.

Battle of Britain
First Light
Battle of the river plate
Piece of Cake
Bomber Harris
Mosquito squadron
Sink the Bismarck
The Desert Rats
A Bridge too Far (one of the best movies of all time)


Theres 100s more but I cant sit here for 3 hours but even though this isnt a non US Army movie you can always sit down and watch Kellys Heroes

Cross of Iron is a solid movie about German soldiers

 

[Zupanicarr]

El Alamein (2002)

That got me curious about how many Italian El Alamein movies there were, I did a quick look up on IMDB, found a few, and I have honestly no idea which one I was talking about... Possibly the 1958 version... I think...

Anyway, I'm just saying this for clarification... Kinda.

 

[tommylotto]

I have not seen mention of Max Manus: Man of War (2008) It was a pretty good show for a foreign flick.

 

[tazaaron]

I have not seen mention of Max Manus: Man of War (2008) It was a pretty good show for a foreign flick.

Yes it is, got that one also. A Norwegian movie.

 

[tommylotto]

That got me curious about how many Italian El Alamein movies there were, I did a quick look up on IMDB, found a few, and I have honestly no idea which one I was talking about... Possibly the 1958 version... I think...

Anyway, I'm just saying this for clarification... Kinda.

The 1968 version (not '58) has real cheesy acting and uses post-war tanks, but in the final climactic battle scene you can see a real Semovente 75/18 running around. It was kinda cool that they found one that was still in running condition.

I had not heard of the 2002 version. It looks like it might be a decent flick. I may have to check it out. It is not available in the US iTunes store, but I saw it was available out of the Irish iTunes store.

 

[tazaaron]

That got me curious about how many Italian El Alamein movies there were, I did a quick look up on IMDB, found a few, and I have honestly no idea which one I was talking about... Possibly the 1958 version... I think...

Anyway, I'm just saying this for clarification... Kinda.

The 1968 version (not '58) has real cheesy acting and uses post-war tanks, but in the final climactic battle scene you can see a real Semovente 75/18 running around. It was kinda cool that they found one that was still in running condition.

I had not heard of the 2002 version. It looks like it might be a decent flick. I may have to check it out. It is not available in the US iTunes store, but I saw it was available out of the Irish iTunes store.

Ya the 68 one is pretty bad, think they used M41 tanks or maybe 48s cant remember. New version is tops, well shot and acted and the final shot of the movie youll remember for years to come

 

[Zupanicarr]

The 1968 version (not '58) has real cheesy acting and uses post-war tanks, but in the final climactic battle scene you can see a real Semovente 75/18 running around. It was kinda cool that they found one that was still in running condition.

I had not heard of the 2002 version. It looks like it might be a decent flick. I may have to check it out. It is not available in the US iTunes store, but I saw it was available out of the Irish iTunes store.

I don't know which one, I don't recall the acting being great in the movie I saw, but it was easy to ignore since I don't speak Italian... Can't remember the tanks at the end, but I know there were tanks in the climax.
Anyway, whichever old Italian El Alamein film I saw, it was entertaining, not necessarily great in anyway... I recall a scene where a guy's forced to run in circles for hours...

 

[Admiral Piett]

I have heard The Admiral is decent, though it apparently portrays Admiral Yamamoto as a noble, flawless genius rather than anything more nuanced. It also inexplicably uses the horribly dated version of events at Midway where Nagumo's strike wave was on the flight decks and ready to launch at the time of the SBD attack, something that was most definitely not the case.

 

[philbex]

There's also 633 Squadron, about mosquitoes bombing heavy water plants in Norway.

As for French movies:

-Le mur de l'Atlantique
-La traversée de Paris
- La bataille du rail
-La grande vadrouille
-Un taxi pour Tobrouk
-Paris brûle-t-il?
-La 7eme Compagnie
-L'armée des ombres

Some of those are comedy, others more serious.

 

[adam_grif]

Come and See finally got mentioned on Page 3. It's a Soviet era film about (IIRC) Belarusian boy who finds a weapon and joins up with the Red Army. It's one of the most shocking and confronting movies you will ever see - Wikipedia calls it a "Psychological Horror" film. Just it's one of those movies where some of the poster/DVD covers give away the ending, which is irritating.

 

[Jonas]

I liked Fury, it's not bad when you take it from an entertainment standpoint, and not a "How the hell can a tank crew kill so many Germans!?" standpoint.

It is difficult to see past that last standpoint! It is pretty disturbing to see a crap tank, immobilized and stationary at that, fight countless Germans from dusk to dawn in summertime without getting blown up or running out of ammunition. Do the maths on the hours of constant firing. It is also typical of American movies that the Germans run around a few meters in front of the gun instead of any other side of the tank. Unfortunately it is not just this scene that is totally ridiculous; the entire film is.

The Finns make good films:

Framom främsta linjen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377935/ (with English subtitles)
Tali Ihantala http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378848/ (with English subtitles)

Bearable American-made films are really, really rare. I thought When trumpets fade was ok. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135706/