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About 40 minutes into Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, Raymond Lam cracks a smile. Hardly a momentous development out of context, but for Lam’s protagonist, Chan Lok-Kwan—a refugee in Hong Kong’s notorious Kowloon Walled City who’s spent every preceding moment of the film desperately clawing for survival—it marks a point of no return.

Sharing a game of mahjong with three newfound allies, Chan forges the kind of emotional bond that represents both a lifeline and a liability in the unforgiving world of Walled In. It’s one of the many small moments of humanity that dot Soi Cheang’s action epic, and evidence of the director’s capacity for personal expression even at the largest of filmmaking scales.

Though it’s been in the making for over a decade now, there’s still something hard to believe about Soi’s ascent to the top of the Hong Kong film industry.

An American filmmaker, Steven Spielberg has several high-quality and well-known films under his belt, like Jaws (1975) and Jurassic Park (1993). He's dabbled in various genres throughout the years, making several historical dramas and even a few fantasy films. He's arguably the greatest director to ever work in science fiction, thanks to movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Minority Report (2002), and more.

But from 1941 (1979) and Empire of the Sun (1987) to Saving Private Ryan (1998) and War Horse (2011), this director has also mastered the art of war films. And while he's the most popular name to do so — he's arguably the most famous filmmaker, in general — plenty of other directors throughout cinema history have perfected the war genre. Their work is entirely worth noting before delving into the greatness of Steven Spielberg.

Other Directors Known for Their War Films

Off the bat, there's one name most prominently worth...

Our 75th guest! The legendary filmmaker John Sayles joins Josh and Joe to explore some of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Ulzana’s Raid (1972)

Django (1966)

The Birth Of A Nation (1915)

City Of Hope (1991)

Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980)

The Challenge (1982)

Avalanche (1978)

Eight Men Out (1988)

Piranha (1978)

The Howling (1981)

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

The Killers (1964)

The King And I (1956)

Time Without Pity (1957)

The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)

Ben-Hur (1957)

The Ten Commandments (1956)

Two Women (1960)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Spartacus (1960)

Fixed Bayonets! (1951)

The Steel Helmet (1951)

Merrill’s Marauders (1962)

Targets (1968)

Touch Of Evil (1958)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Woodstock (1970)

Crime In The Streets (1956)

The Bad Seed (1956)

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

Fedora (1978)

Dune (1984)

The Cotton Club (1984)

Choose Me (1984)

Raising Arizona (1987)

El Norte (1983)

Yellow Sky (1948)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The Irishman (2019)

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019)

The Thing (1982)

Chinatown (1974)

Manhattan (1979)

Duck Amuck (1953)

Goodfellas (1990)

Humanoids Of The Deep (1980)

Cockfighter (1974)

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