I’ve spent the last few days watching a vast number of war films for an article I’m doing (deadline today… time to start writing… damn…). I’ve done the whole range, from Lawrence of Arabia and The Birth of a Nation through Dr Stranglove, The Guns of Navarone, Barry Lyndon, The Battle of Algiers, Ice Station Zebra, Black Hawk Down, Apocalypse Now, and God alone knows how many others – including a few that are only tangentially war films, like The Manchurian Candidate. Then, having pondered various other old favourites, like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, All Quiet on the Western Front, Duck Soup, A Bridge Too Far, The General, The Longest Day, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Zulu and the like, I have finally reached a conclusion. My favourite war film (at the moment, at least) is Starship Troopers.