Great

• It’s also the final film for its star, Michael Caine, as he has recently announced his retirement.
• In doing so, it marks itself as a British answer to Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Troubled homecomings

• From the troubled homecoming of Homer’s Odysseus to the spate of Hollywood films produced in the 1970s and 1980s focused on the angry and alienated Vietnam veteran such as The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979), the traumatised ex-soldier has long been a figure of cultural interest.
• This has especially been the case in the British film industry over the last 30 years.
• Or, more recent productions focused on returning soldiers, such as Outlaw (2007), The Veteran (2011) and, of course, Harry Brown (2009).

D-Day on film

• In the modern era, however, the D-Day film of most renown is undoubtedly Stephen Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998), which starred Tom Hanks and Matt Damon.
• Intended as a homage to the “greatest generation”, the film begins with an old soldier (the titular Private Ryan) searching the graves in the vast American military cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy.
• This was the scene of some of the deadliest fighting on June 6 1944.
• Whether or not Parker’s film goes on to have the same cultural impact as Spielberg’s award-winning production remains to be seen.

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Sam Edwards has previously received funding from the ESRC, the US-UK Fulbright Commission, the US Army Military History Institute, and the US Naval War College. Sam is a Trustee of Sulgrave Manor (Northamptonshire) and of The American Library (Norwich).

• FISHKILL, N.Y., Nov. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MedAllies, a national healthcare connectivity services provider, announced today that it has been Certified™ by Great Place To Work®.
• This year, 87% of employees said MedAllies is a Great Place To Work – 30 percentage points higher than the average U.S. company.
• "MedAllies is honored to be Great Place To Work-Certified™ as we place a high value on creating a positive work experience for all team members," said Meredith Stein, Human Resources Director, MedAllies.
• "Great Place To Work Certification is a highly coveted achievement that requires consistent and intentional dedication to the overall employee experience," says Sarah Lewis-Kulin, the Vice President of Global Recognition at Great Place To Work.

• Among those pre-foreclosure properties, about 8,900 sit vacant as zombie foreclosures (pre-foreclosure properties abandoned by owners) in the fourth quarter of 2023.
• That figure also is up slightly from the prior quarter, by 1.4 percent, and up 15.3 percent from a year ago.
• The stable number of zombie properties in the fourth quarter has come as the U.S. housing market has rebounded from a temporary setback last year.
• Among the roughly 15,000 foreclosed, bank-owned homes in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2023, 15.9 percent sit vacant.

• Gross profits on typical single-family home and condo sales across the country also went up during the third quarter of 2023.
• Both measures improved over the Summer as the supply of homes for sale in the U.S. remained historically low.
• But mortgage rates started increasing again in the third quarter, rising toward an average of 8 percent for 30-year fixed loan following a stable second quarter.
• Home prices tied or hit new highs during the third quarter of 2023 in 86, or 55 percent, of the 155 metro areas in the report.