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Lost In The Trenches - A Discussion on Contemporary War Films
36 Plays3 months ago
This week on Lost In The Frame, a discussion on contemporary war films. We break down our thoughts and opinions on Warfare (2025) , Jarhead (2005), and Act of Valor (2012).
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Transcript
Introduction & Episode Theme
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome back to lost in the frame. My name is Malik. My name is Alex. My name is Tachi. And today's episode who up acting on the valor. Did I say it right?
00:00:25
Speaker
Something like that. all right, cool. How are you guys doing today?
00:00:31
Speaker
doing great just strong start i'm doing good i i'm really excited for today's discussion think it's i think it's gonna be a good one could be the best one we've done yet i mean we're only three in so i don't think the i don't think the bar is set too high yet well third time's the charm so that's true tachi how are things in your world ah Good.
00:00:53
Speaker
Ready to talk some war.
Film Preferences & Crushes Discussion
00:00:55
Speaker
You guys been watching any other movies besides these last three? I feel like I need detox from all these war movies. like i feel ah feel weird.
00:01:06
Speaker
Yeah. i watched High School Musical 2 and 3 pretty recently. Nice. Which one's your favorite? m Probably the first one. I think the second one's a pretty strong contender.
00:01:19
Speaker
It's not bad. The color... The coloring is kind of insane, but don't know. Three has the best production. oh yeah you mean yeah. They got they got the Disney budget on High School Musical 3.
00:01:32
Speaker
Yeah. Three looked great, sounding great, but one is just it's classic. Can't go wrong. Is it true that Zac Efron did not sing in the first movie? It is mostly true.
00:01:43
Speaker
Mostly true. He sings like the first line of the first song and then he sings one line when he's standing on a balcony. I think that's it.
00:01:54
Speaker
Alex, do you like High School Musical? I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more than I would admit in ah and like middle school and elementary school when it came out. I also had a huge crush on Ashley Tisdale. I thought you were going to say Zac Efron.
00:02:07
Speaker
Well, I mean, you know. That one's a given. Yeah. We all did. We all
Movie News & Academy Voting
00:02:12
Speaker
did. Yeah, Alex, you been watching anything else besides are sides these war movies? Well, the p plan to ah cleanse my palate from these war movies, I watched The Passion of the Christ.
00:02:22
Speaker
Whoa, okay. Yeah. It was Easter, so I had to mark the occasion, you know? Oh, that's true, that's true. Were you with family? No. You just raw-dogged it.
00:02:33
Speaker
Just ripping Passion the Christ. I shouldn't say raw-dog Passion of the Christ.
00:02:39
Speaker
Oh, that's my bad. That's my bad. All right. You're going to hell. and Before we get into the war movies, we got a couple snippets of some movie news.
00:02:50
Speaker
Do either of you want to? We only got a couple here. Either of you want to take the first one? Yeah, i'll I'll actually take the first one because the first one something that I forgot to add to our little docket. I actually just saw it come out on Twitter today. um i thought it was pretty interesting. Indian Paintbrush Studios announced that there's going to be a live performance of Conclave ah going on in the Vatican City in the coming weeks. so No way. Yeah.
00:03:13
Speaker
Wow. That's kind of cool. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that um Amazon released Conclave on Prime like for free, i think, yesterday. That's pretty cool. They wasted no time.
00:03:27
Speaker
Hope died and they're like, you know what? It's time to promote this movie. RIP propensis. That might be the best marketing marketing ploy I've ever seen. Very timely. Very timely. and What's next?
00:03:38
Speaker
Yeah. Alex, you look like you're about to say something. I can't believe you guys just completely glossed over what I just said. What did you say? What did you say? That Indian Paintbrush Studios is doing a live performance, a stage play of Conclave in the Vatican City in the coming weeks.
00:03:57
Speaker
Am I missing something? Like they actually are. They're not. It's happening. I'm going to let you sit with it for a second. um Our next bit of news is that the Oscars now require everyone to watch everything that they vote on.
00:04:14
Speaker
I'm so glad this is happening. How that took 97 iterations of the Oscars to get to is beyond me. It comes out every year, and I saw a lot of it this past year.
00:04:26
Speaker
But I guess they'll get a lot of the Academy voters will get interviewed randomly and kind of talk about why they're voting voting for what they're voting for. And just so many...
00:04:39
Speaker
clips of these articles of people just add like blatantly admitting that they didn't watch this because of xyz oh this movie was too long so i didn't get to it oh this is my friend's favorite movie so i'm voting for it that's unreal the one that always pissed me off was um did you ever see like some of the snippets of people talking about like animation the animation category what's the most recent one Um, I don't remember which one it was for, but I remember seeing a snippet floating around on Twitter recently or X. We're going to call it Twitter.
00:05:10
Speaker
Um, I remember seeing something floating around on Twitter recently. Um, that was some guy was complaining that it's like, I stopped watching it like animated movies when I was a kid. And the only reason that I do is when my kid goes theater and it's like, Hmm.
00:05:23
Speaker
dude have some professionalism yeah you are in the academy because you are in theory someone who um contributes to art yeah and if you don't consider animation art you can just get out of here it's really embarrassing yeah for him yeah i wouldn't be caught dead not watching any of these movies like if i was an academy voter How do you become an an Academy voter?
00:05:52
Speaker
I think to, so the Academy I think is just, um, that's a good question that I don't know the answer to. um I want to say it's like, if you
Alex Garland's 'Warfare' Discussion
00:06:04
Speaker
are an Academy voter for acting, it's because you are an Hector. And I think you are invited to like join the Academy as like, um, like a voter,
00:06:14
Speaker
I think there are a lot more people in the Academy than people realize. So when people are like, oh, like the Academy, they're picking or like, you know they sit. I think a lot of people imagine a bunch of like old Hollywood types sitting around like a like an oak table in some dark room.
00:06:30
Speaker
It's got to be thousands of members, right? And they're like, Amelia Perez is getting 11 knives this year. um No, it is something in like the thousands of members and what the Oscars are. It's i pretty sure it's just like an aggregate of.
00:06:44
Speaker
like the top movies receiving votes so like i think that's worse that amelia perez got that many nominations with amongst thousands of people that's almost worse than group of five old white men around an oak table that was my nominations then the wins amelia perez must rise again Have I ever showed you, so I won't say names, but there was an old leadership person at a place where, Alex, you and i worked.
00:07:17
Speaker
This person is no longer there. McDonald's? Sure. But his sister was a or is a casting director and she lives in Los Angeles and she's an Academy voter.
00:07:27
Speaker
yeah So one day, yeah, ah one day he knew i was into movies and stuff. And just randomly, he tells me he's like, he's like I'm going to bring you something tomorrow. He's like, but it's a surprise. And I was like, OK, cool.
00:07:40
Speaker
So I show up to work the next day and he hands me here. Let me see if I can find. It's crazy that all this was happening at the McDonald's we worked at and we're just yeah taking orders. Yeah, it's insane.
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah. And then he hands me a little bag and there is a DVD copy Avengers Endgame, but it's an award screener for Avengers Endgame. So this is what they send the Academy voters, whoever's nominated. And you can see on the back here, it's got everything that it was nominated for this year, but like a...
00:08:12
Speaker
Like an official Academy. That's so cool. That's really cool. Avengers end game. I think this is so sick. How did I not know you had that? I mean, we've been getting on our physical movie kick. So yeah, this kicked it off. I would say.
00:08:26
Speaker
Yeah, that would do it for sure. Yeah. But I thought that was pretty cool. What else we got here? Dominic Sessa's Anthony Bourdain and new a 24 biopic.
00:08:37
Speaker
you guys say biopic or biopic? I say biopic. I say biopic. Okay, we got two biopics, one biopic. I dare to be different, but I love the casting.
00:08:47
Speaker
I think there is an argument to be made that he is the best part of the holdovers. Oh, yeah, for sure. I think Giamatti is the best acting performance, but I think Dominic Sessa is the in his character.
00:09:02
Speaker
think it makes the movie. That's fair. And so when I saw him cast as Anthony Bourdain, I was just ecstatic. I love the kid. I think he's going to be a great.
00:09:13
Speaker
I'm all in on Dominic Sessa. I'm with you. Conjure shot. Yeah, I'm with it. I was thinking we were going to see him ah maybe a little bit quicker after the holdovers, but I mean, this is a good this is a good jumping off point.
00:09:27
Speaker
But you know what? i'm i'm I'm glad we're not, actually. I'm glad that he's taking but it seems to be taking the time on intentionally picking his next role.
00:09:39
Speaker
I mean, you think about, like, there's a lot of great actors out there who are just in, like, slop. But you think about the ones who aren't, like Daniel Day-Lewis. I mean, sure, you might not like every movie he's in, but he seemed to be very intentional about the roles that he picked.
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah. Whereas like and this isn't to to put her down because I think she's fantastic. Cate Blanchett is in a lot of movies where it's like, why is Cate Blanchett in this Borderlands? Cough, cough.
00:10:07
Speaker
And it's like, it does she just do it for like the love of the game? Like, I love being on set or is she just I don't know, like I'm not Cate Blanchett. And if um if I was, this podcast would have way more viewers than it currently does.
00:10:24
Speaker
Well, maybe she does the the classic like two for them, one for me. So she makes two slot movies and then gets the check. And then that lets her go do the more meaningful quote unquote work.
00:10:39
Speaker
She doesn't pay the box office. The what? So she goes hard in the paint with tar. Exactly. Tar is so good. That's a great movie. Anyone else have any news that they want to call out before we hop into the next bit? I mean, feel like it was kind of a light week in terms of trauma.
00:10:58
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like it was a pretty light week. um I saw Hayden Christensen says he had dinner with Ryan Gosling after it was announced that he would be leading his own Star Wars film. saw that too.
00:11:10
Speaker
It was a really good dinner. I was really glad Hayden treated me to that. You got to stop. I saw TikTok edit of ah an interviewer asking Ryan Gosling, like, oh, like, what made you want to do Star Wars? Like, what makes you so excited about this project?
00:11:25
Speaker
And it was like an AI voiceover of his answer. And he was just like, I fly. And then...
00:11:33
Speaker
Well, it does make sense because, I mean, he has recently decided to pivot to movies that he's like, what would I want my kids to see me in? um Is he on record saying that?
00:11:45
Speaker
Yes. I think he's taking um like a little bit more family friendly approach and it would make sense. I mean, he's been in. what What are his last three roles? Barbie, Fall Guy, and then.
00:11:57
Speaker
Good question. But I mean, because those are a far cry from like the Blade Runner 2049, you know, Drive, Place be Beyond the Pine characters that I think we kind of all fell in love with him with.
00:12:10
Speaker
And I'm happy that he's happy and he's kind of doing, you know, what he wants for his family. I think that would be the ultimate goal, really, least for me as an actor. It's like I want to leave legacy for my family, like, you know.
00:12:24
Speaker
Like, what do they want me in You know, I'm going to do that instead of like the gray man. says Gray man. Oh, there's a movie. great. talking about just Not good. Barbie.
00:12:34
Speaker
Good. All guy. Good. I never saw First Man, but I wanted to. I don't remember First Man. But I did see it.
00:12:45
Speaker
I only saw, um what was the other space one with Brad Pitt? Morshin? Ad Astra? Ad Astra, yeah. That was so boring. That's Matt Damon. Morshin is Matt Damon. Ad Astra. Did I watch?
00:12:58
Speaker
I'm pretty sure I saw Ad Astra. That one I don't remember, but that might just be for my bad memory. No, it's it's very forgettable. Is it really? Mm-hmm. What was the Ryan got was was thery Gosling one called?
00:13:10
Speaker
First Man. First Man. He's Neil um Armstrong. Yeah, i the first time I watched First Man was during ACL weekend. I got a little too anxious for some reason because of a piece of candy that I had.
00:13:26
Speaker
and so i walked out of the park and i walked to a movie theater to the violet cinema in downtown austin and i went to go watch first man and i do not remember the movie however because of the the candy that made you sick yeah but that that was my that's my my memory of first man sounds like a good memory For sure.
00:13:48
Speaker
And also we brought up Ryan Gosling every single episode and I think we need to keep that tradition up. I agree. All right. Let's get into these movies. Let's we do it. We are war pilled. We're going talking warfare, Jarhead and Act of Valor.
00:14:02
Speaker
Alex, you want to speak a little bit about maybe why we picked these specific
Exploring 'Jarhead'
00:14:07
Speaker
movies? i'll Yeah, i'll I'll dive into that. I mean, these three monuments to the war genre really deserve to be discussed.
00:14:16
Speaker
ah three All three. with A24 releasing Warfare you know within the last month, ah a lot of the online discourse that I've seen surrounding it, especially when the trailer came out, was...
00:14:30
Speaker
you know, does this movie glorify war? And you're seeing a hot debate on Letterboxd, Reddit, Twitter, you know, wherever you go and get your your terminally online movie opinions.
00:14:43
Speaker
um You're seeing a lot of back and forth on that topic. Now, I've seen the movie and I have my own opinion. That opinion has been, you know, kind of influenced by my upbringing for those who aren't listening or the ones who aren't listening wouldn't hear it.
00:14:56
Speaker
But those who listen and don't know, um i yeah yeah i was raised in an army family. My dad was in the army and I've lived overseas on base and have lived through you know him being deployed to the very war that warfare depicts.
00:15:12
Speaker
um So it is, you know, it's not a personal movie for me, but it's one that I definitely have a lot more you know personal context for. And so I definitely thought that, you know, with this contemporary war film, I mean, this is a this is a movie that we have grown up seeing play out on you NBC, ABC, CNN for almost years.
00:15:36
Speaker
all of our childhoods, really. And we're going to see more and more of these as they come. You know, I feel like when people think of war movies, um they think of, you know, a Saving Private Ryan or a Thin Red Line is something about World War II or war that's, you know, kind of ancient history, so to speak.
00:15:54
Speaker
But we, um you know, as time passes, I do think we will start to see more and more and more contemporary war films come out. And, ah you know, these contemporary wars that the United States has been involved in not to get political are um very controversial.
00:16:10
Speaker
ah well we'll put it that way. And so the media that comes out subsequently will always have a little bit of controversy surrounding it. And so we wanted to take three contemporary war films.
00:16:22
Speaker
We wanted to pit them against each other and see, you know, is there a trend of these movies glorifying war? Is there not? What do they do differently from others? You know, and do they, know, and is, is this discourse warranted?
00:16:37
Speaker
And so, um You know, with that context, there is something I'd like to bring up before ah hop into this discussion. You know, to get a lot of equipment for these war movies, um they the DOD does have to sign off on them.
00:16:54
Speaker
And that's true for, like, a Marvel movie, too. Like, the DOD was heavily involved with some of the Marvel movies just because of the equipment they were showing on screen. So, you know, this isn't... Like, we just wanted to bring that out there just because, um you know, obviously, like...
00:17:10
Speaker
That is the case for these movies. You know, there is involvement with the U.S. military for them and warfare so much so that one of the main characters in the movie actually helped Alex Garland direct the movie.
00:17:23
Speaker
So I'll stop eulogizing on the mic and Malik, I'll pass it to you. Why don't you introduce us to warfare? Sure. Thank you for yeah that's great alex after for that explanation.
00:17:35
Speaker
um ah so A brief synopsis of of warfare. A platoon of American Navy SEALs on a surveillance mission gone wrong in insurgent territory. A boots-on-the-ground story of modern warfare and brotherhood told in real time and based on the memory of people who lived it.
00:17:51
Speaker
And some of the cast and crew for this one is Joseph Quinn as Sam, Farrow Woon Atai as Ray, Cosmo Jarvis as Elliot, Aaron McKenzie as Kelly, Alex Brockdorf as Mikey, we've got Finn Bennett, Evan Holtzman, Michael Gandolfini, and quiet in quite a few more. Will Poulter, Noah Centennial, I didn't know he was in this.
00:18:13
Speaker
I don't remember seeing him. um But yeah, that's some of the cast crew. You forgot my dog, Charles Melton. Did I forget Charles Melton? You forgot Charles Melton. Charles Melton.
00:18:25
Speaker
I'm sorry, Charles. That was not on purpose. It is such a stacked cast. It has a very stacked cast. And I was... kind of surprised to one see alex garland turn around and i mean we had we just got civil war i think this time last year like i think civil war came out last may so it was kind of surprising to see him turn right back around and and and direct another another war movie like this but yeah i'd be curious to to hear you guys's thoughts because alex garland like i i enjoy a lot of alex garland's movies and i feel for at least the last couple years there's
00:19:00
Speaker
been what feels like a harder stance that he's trying um to take i think from from his movies and and the message that he that he's trying to to convey going from these pretty hardcore sci-fi movies to these more politically uh centralized war films so would be curious to see if maybe you guys have thought of something similar or or have any thoughts around that past you tachi i was just going to say, um I don't know that I remember your actual question.
00:19:36
Speaker
Maybe it was too long of a question. a What do you think about the pivot Alex Garland has done between the sci-fi movies like Annihilation to Civil War and now Warfare? Yeah. um I think once you know he gets away from those sort of abstract sci-fi types of movies, it's easier to come to conclusions about what he's trying to convey.
00:20:00
Speaker
But I will say, I think there's still room for interpretation. Like the way that I experienced these three movies, i feel like I could easily come away with a different conclusion from each of them. Like different as in each movie is unique.
00:20:18
Speaker
in terms of what it's trying to accomplish, I guess to pull it back to warfare, I have also formed my opinion on this and I don't know like how it aligns with maybe the majority of viewers, but um to me it felt really clear about his, I guess the purpose of the movie.
00:20:38
Speaker
Yeah. and And why he put it together. And when did you guys watch this? ah When did you guys get to check this one out? I watched it last night. Last night? Hmm. I saw Warfare ah the night before we saw Sinners, actually.
00:20:52
Speaker
Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah, i honestly, i haven't seen much splash about this movie. like I feel like it's going pretty under the radar, especially as compared to like Civil War. I feel like everyone was was talking about Civil War last year, but this one kind of... I mean, i don't want to say it came and went, but I feel like it's not really getting a buzz.
00:21:14
Speaker
i was I was thinking about that during my viewing of it. Tony Sandoval, PhD.: : Turning the slow parts and I was wondering like why no one's talking about it because. It's gripping.
00:21:26
Speaker
Yeah. I was stunned leaving the theater from that one. Actually. Um, I thought I, liked civil war. I think more than a lot of people did, but I was, I was floored by warfare.
00:21:40
Speaker
I mean, just like if if this is the direction that Alex Garland is going to go in, like he has my full approval because I mean, as long as he keeps producing movies like this, I think,
00:21:52
Speaker
I think it's fantastic. I mean, that was one of the most... gripping and realistic movies about like a contemporary war that I have seen.
00:22:03
Speaker
And the thing for me that was so powerful when I was watching it was how real it felt. I mean, there were moments watching it and if you haven't seen it yet, I mean, maybe take this into consideration when you go, cause you should go, you should see this movie in theaters because the sound design is so realistic.
00:22:22
Speaker
It is insane. I almost wish i ever heard like the the the scenes when they're in a firefight. I wish I had earplugs in. It felt like I was at the range.
00:22:34
Speaker
It was that loud. The crack of the guns is so real ah when they do shows of force with the, you know, the jets. I mean, oh, my God, this was but amazing.
00:22:45
Speaker
There was even one moment in the movie, and I won't spoil it, but you guys will know exactly which one I was talking about. It caught me so off guard because of how this the sound was. I jumped in my seat. yeah Literally, i I flinched more so than in any horror movie I think I've seen in the last couple of years in the theater.
00:23:03
Speaker
It was it was that just. um I did a hand thing like the listeners can see it. um it It was it was that jarring.
00:23:15
Speaker
And I'm pleading with you. If you're listening right now, you need to go see this movie in theaters. Yes, I did flinch every time they did the the show of force, like even knowing it was coming. Just the sudden boom is.
00:23:28
Speaker
Jolted me out of my seat. It was, I mean, and and yeah, you you hit the nail the even when it was coming. I mean, there was one of the scenes you could see the plane banking in the sky and coming in for the run. You could literally time it out.
00:23:43
Speaker
And it still caught me by surprise because it was so loud. I mean, this movie was... this was made to be in a theater. I mean, no home sound system can do that movie justice unless you have thousands of dollars to spend.
00:24:00
Speaker
Like your sound bar, not going to cut It'll sound great. It'll sound awesome. But I mean, this movie was probably one of the the most impactful theater experiences I've had in a bit.
00:24:13
Speaker
um And I thought Civil War was similar. I thought the end of Civil War with the battle scene in DC, I thought that the sound design there was crazy. mean, it felt like, you know, the combat was going on right set right outside the theater walls. yeah And this one, I mean, it wasn't just like the machines and the the gunfire. I mean, it was the sound design of like the voices, yeah how they communicated with each other, how they couldn't hear each other.
00:24:39
Speaker
And then, i mean, the the screaming of anyone who got wounded. i That was just horrifying, i thought. It was so unsettling listening to it.
00:24:51
Speaker
And I'll go ahead. No, I'm just it cut me off, please. I can go on and on about this one. One of my ah favorite examples of of just how great the sound design was, was um and I don't think this is spoiling anything, any anything super major, but I mean, or is it really spoiling when it's like the Iraq war? I mean, you can't really. It's really not. Yeah, cool. Yeah, that's that's that's very true. Spoiler alert, guys, we pull out.
00:25:21
Speaker
But it was a sequence of the communications that Ray was doing. And I think something major had just happened and they're trying to get some support.
00:25:33
Speaker
And there's just all of these voices coming in from all directions that he's probably hearing. Yeah. And like, like in the theater, like I was at a Cinemark and I don't think Cinemark has like the greatest sound.
00:25:46
Speaker
Like Alamos is a lot better, but like, there was a like 10 seconds where it literally felt and I'm putting my hands like on my head. It felt like they were like talking like in my eyes. Like that's the only way I can describe it. But it felt like right here.
00:26:02
Speaker
It was insane. I watched it at the AMC with Dolby. Oh my God. That, that one and scene that you're talking about, it was so overwhelming.
00:26:14
Speaker
I, I honestly, I didn't know how much longer I could take it Yeah. and rips on He rips out the calm and I was like, my, like, I felt like I could breathe. Yep.
00:26:25
Speaker
It was suffocating. Yeah. Yes. um That's a perfect word to use. That's what I've been thinking of since I watched it is because like, I don't know. There are so many so many things about this movie and how it was produced that intertwine to like give the experience that I think he was intending to make it feel suffocating.
00:26:48
Speaker
like the The way that the camera weaves through the platoon in in the house, the way that... We only see and hear and feel their experience. We don't see anything external.
00:27:03
Speaker
Like when it, when it shows them looking out the window, sometimes we, we never see what they see. Um, we don't know who they're shooting at. We feel just as lost as they do. and it's just horrifying and suffocating and very hard to deal with that opening 15 minutes of the movie was so was executed so well and just laid the foundation of that intensity that you're talking about that you feel for the entire runtime
00:27:38
Speaker
And it just and it just doesn't let up like seeing the majority of of what our character is looking at through the scope of the sniper and just the the comms here and there just built up such a just a profound way to open a movie. And yeah, like I said, just just does not let up. And it it really, really immersed you into that world.
00:28:01
Speaker
Also, the call on me sequence. right at the oh yeah yeah that really immersed me yeah that was that was hype it actually was was like look at the boys they're just getting down having fun like we should have uh added added that song in before we started started talking about this movie we'll put it in in post And real quick, just to go back to the show of force, I don't want to glamorize this, but that was really, really cool.
00:28:30
Speaker
Oh, so sick. Like, that's really badass. I'm not going to lie. i mean, we can zoom out and in a vacuum, like, that was sick. Yeah. yeah I love planes, dude.
00:28:43
Speaker
I was losing my mind. Big plane guy. Big plane guy. visual effects were great too. I don't know how much of that was practical, but it looked awesome. Yeah. I definitely want to see some, some interviews with Alex Garland. I'd love to hear him talk a little bit more, um, about, about this movie.
00:29:00
Speaker
Hmm. One of the, I wanted to get your guys' take on this. One of the common detractions I see on this one is a lot of the people
Critiquing 'Act of Valor'
00:29:10
Speaker
who don't like the movie cite the Iraqi family in the house that they're occupying.
00:29:15
Speaker
And they say they weren't, like, focused on enough. Like, they were kind of shoved into a corner. You know, they weren't respected. want hear your thoughts on that. It felt very intentional.
00:29:28
Speaker
Like, even though... I really enjoyed this movie for giving us this lens of following just this team over this two-hour period.
00:29:41
Speaker
like i was I wasn't sure what this what the movie was going to like kind of go for. i hadn't seen any trailers walking into it. So when the credits rolled, I was surprised that we were just in that it was just a single location.
00:29:53
Speaker
like If I think war movie, I don't think single location. So I think that in itself, and then that just lends its hand into, again, the experience that that a lot of these teams went through. So with the Iraqi family kind of literally and figuratively being shoved into a corner, that just felt like that was the full intention kind of kind of going into it.
00:30:16
Speaker
Because, I mean, on the outside, there's this there's this bigger picture in that that house that we're in that's happening everywhere. There's so many other instances of of exactly that happening and them trying to focus specifically on on their mission.
00:30:30
Speaker
We can edit this bit out, Malik. There's an animal trying to get to see your cat. Your cat's paw is just like... There's a paw. You're talking about this really like... I know.
00:30:42
Speaker
Like sensitive topper and I just see like this face. thought Tatsu was smiling and I was like, I'm failing. I'm not cooking. No, what you were saying was so good, but I think Luna's trying to get it. I'm going to open the door real quick and then remember what I said and then respond to it.
00:30:58
Speaker
I already forgot. focusing on the cat like the last 30 seconds of him talking yeah
00:31:13
Speaker
yeah i'm so sorry i i really was not paying attention that was so sad you you should do a post-credits blooper of us realizing the cat was trying to break in how lua where did i where did i leave off you You had kind of just finished up, but you were talking about the intentionality of it. And then so we'll cut in in three, two, one.
00:31:37
Speaker
So, yeah, I just it was i think there's there's it's hard to kind of put it all into words. But I mean, what what was some of the like discourse that you were seeing around it?
00:31:49
Speaker
I was seeing a lot of like, like it was disrespectful to not include like they're suffering on camera more. Um, I'm in the camp with you. I think that will a, um, this was a movie based on the perspective of the soldiers there.
00:32:05
Speaker
Um, so it doesn't make sense that you in the, the combat, the, um, the family wouldn't be focused on, but I think they did a good job of kind of showing how messed up it was.
00:32:15
Speaker
And the scene that really sticks out to me is when they're calling in, um, the tank strike when Charles Milton calls in the the tank to, to shoot the roof of the place. And the guy is freaking out. I mean, that, that scene stuck with me a lot because the owner of the house is like, you're destroying our house and they just completely ignore it.
00:32:34
Speaker
And they let it linger enough that you can tell, I think that kind of eats at at least Ray a little bit. um I mean, because they also took the due diligence to ah at the end of the movie. And this isn't a spoiler. This is in the end credits. um They show pictures of the real people involved, including the family.
00:32:53
Speaker
um They did take the time to include them as well. You know, obviously, um this was an American point of view movie. And I think even that being the case, I don't think it takes away from the fact that millions of Iraqi people suffered from that movie.
00:33:11
Speaker
And I don't think this movie tried to erase that. I just think it's from the point of view of someone who was there. Well said. hey agree. In fact, if you flip that perspective, it kind of highlights how mistreated they were.
00:33:23
Speaker
how forgotten they were, how yeah much they were not considered during all this. I agree with you. I agree with you a hundred percent. I mean, because I mean, think about it. Imagine if, you we're filming this podcast and and soldiers break into of y'all's house while they're filming this and they just post up and stuff you in a bedroom.
00:33:44
Speaker
It would be awful traumatizing i mean and i think that's partially why um i liked civil war so much was you you take that you know like war photography like look look at all these tragic pictures from home or from the from abroad you know we're in afghanistan look what life is like in kabul you know the war look how tragic it is and it is but imagine if that came home now and i think that's why i fell in that movie so powerful was you know you take
00:34:15
Speaker
you know, the war photographers shown in that movie were very you know hungry for the shot. It almost felt like Nightcrawler little bit. And I'm sure a lot of that goes on in real war correspondence.
00:34:26
Speaker
um But now it's like you're kind of just looking at the gore of our decaying society. And it's like, well, who are you? Who are you doing this for? You know? Are you doing this for yourself, for your own ego? But, mean, I digress. um I think that the Iraqi perspective is important, but I don't think it was important for this specific movie.
00:34:49
Speaker
um I think that there are many movies to be made that will... do their um to they're suffering justice.
00:35:00
Speaker
And I think Tachi had said something earlier. um was either It was either you or Tachi, but this kind of does feel like a glimpse into maybe how we will be seeing war films from here on out because i mean compared to a lot of the war films from from the 2000s that i think a lot of people do argue um could be quote unquote glorifying war these feel more personal these feel a lot more what word can i use yeah real they felt real they just feel real mean it
00:35:36
Speaker
This was no advertisement for being in the military. Not at all. I mean, these are Navy SEALs, some of the toughest guys out there. And that just looked like hell. And I think a lot of the discourse comes from people just seeing a trailer for a war movie like this and immediately labeling it as propaganda.
00:35:55
Speaker
You know what I say to them? What? Why don't take a propaganda at these nuts?
00:36:03
Speaker
and There you go. Very good. ah We got two other war movies to talk about. Any last thoughts on warfare? Please watch in the theater.
00:36:14
Speaker
Yes. And please watch it with an open mind and please be prepared to feel stressed. Do we want to give our scores for this one right now or do we want to wait until we do the other three as well?
00:36:26
Speaker
let's let's Let's wait until we do them. Yeah. Okay. or like yeah let's let's wait until we do all of them we'll finish we'll do jarhead next then we'll do active valor i think we rate active of valor and then i think we rate jarhead and i think we we should end it with uh rating um warfare okay before we move on though do you do we want to do favorite scenes or moment sure yeah i talked about mine if there's one that you didn't get a chance to to hit on yet i don't know this movie it's kind of hard to pick a favorite scene it's hard to pick a favorite scene we all know it's the show of force yeah I mean that was cool all right we'll say on on the count of three ready one wait what are we saying our favorite scene
00:37:10
Speaker
on the count of three yeah okay all right one two three show of force show of force timing was off the guys this is why we're not in the army so awesome all right tachi take us to jarhead sure jarhead released in 2005 directed by sam mendez which i was ah kind of surprised by i was too I'd never seen Jarhead. Had any of us, real quick, had seen Jarhead before this?
00:37:40
Speaker
Nope. no Okay, let's go. So, quick synopsis. Jarhead is a film about a U.S. Marine, Anthony Swafford, and his experience in the Gulf War. um After putting up with the boot camp, Swafford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf, where they're eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action.
00:37:59
Speaker
Who's in this? Who's in it? Good question. Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, two bangers off the bat. yeah um John Krasinski makes an appearance.
00:38:10
Speaker
About 30 seconds. Yeah. Jim Halpert jump scare. Right. um Those are like the really notable names.
00:38:22
Speaker
The guy who plays mother milk Mother's Milk in the boys was in it too. Was that him? Yes. I thought it was. log like again Yeah, there was a scene where he was holding a cigar and it kind of like a a ball. And I was like, is that Mother's Milk?
00:38:34
Speaker
Laz Alonzo. Yeah, you're right. And don't forget Cheddar Bob. Cheddar. From 8 Mile. Oh my god.
00:38:44
Speaker
Two of them I didn't even realize. i don't know who that is. I'm sorry. That's why he. I was like. I was. looks so familiar. It took me half the movie to figure it out. i' like Who is this guy?
00:38:55
Speaker
That's Cheddar Bob. That is Cheddar Bob. Ah. ah He didn't shoot himself in the leg with his own gun in this one. No. Someone else got shot though. but not many spoilers for a nearly two decade old movie. Come on, man. Spoilers for jar head, jar head.
00:39:14
Speaker
I went into it blind. I didn't read the synopsis. I didn't watch the trailer. and Yeah, completely. It was not what I expected. Yeah. It was almost like a slice of life type of movie. you know mean?
00:39:29
Speaker
Yeah, it was, it it felt like a modern day full metal jacket. Mm hmm. Like a modern retelling. Does Full Metal Jacket use the... da um In that one song?
00:39:45
Speaker
It's been quite a while since I've seen Full Metal Jacket. don't think it does. But, it I mean, it opens like Jarhead does. I guess Jarhead opens like Full Metal Jacket does with um Marine Boot Camp, you know.
00:39:58
Speaker
yeah You little scumbag! Yeah, right off the bat, like, the tone of that scene, like, was all... Like, I kind of got whiplash, like, from the beginning, like, thinking, like, again, I think, when I think war movie, I think something very specific.
00:40:12
Speaker
Right. But there's already, like, a lot of comedy elements in the first five minutes of this. You are green! i should Do you think I look good in my uniform?
00:40:23
Speaker
Sir, yes, sir! Do you love me? i can't think when you're hitting my head.
00:40:32
Speaker
Yeah, I, um... I loved the comedy interjected with that. I thought it was, it was a good refresher coming off of, uh, off of warfare.
00:40:44
Speaker
um You know, it was it was fun to kind of see some um some humor kind of thrown into it from someone else's recollection.
00:40:56
Speaker
ah You know, kind of make fun of themselves a little bit. Yeah, this I did. I did enjoy this this movie, too. For some reason on Apple, when I had clicked the movie, it had mentioned that it was nominated for an Oscar, but I couldn't find anything.
00:41:10
Speaker
on that so i don't believe it was i don't know if i overlooked but this would have been the 78th oscars i believe in 2006 and i' i may have just read something wrong but it was nominated for a bunch of uh other award shows for its screenplay um like going into wood or something yeah for for adapted screenplay since this is based off of a book Wikipedia doesn't have it nominated for anything besides the 10th Satellite Awards and ah the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards of 2005. Okay. Yeah. But yeah, what did you guys think about about Jarhead?
00:41:52
Speaker
I liked it a lot. And I was surprised at the amount of negative opinions I saw of this movie because I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it, actually.
00:42:03
Speaker
I thought it was very funny. i thought it was, ah like you said before, I thought it was a great slice of life. And I thought it was very, um, very unique.
00:42:17
Speaker
Cause think it differed from full metal jacket a lot, even though like I described it as like a modern retelling. Um, But i mean, it it it felt like its own original movie, even though it kind of followed the same beats opening.
00:42:32
Speaker
It's a different story. And I thought it was, you know, i thought it was it was really powerful. I thought it was the themes of, you know. Having that kind of brotherhood as Swofford did in the Marines, but then kind of.
00:42:47
Speaker
Almost getting isolated in his own mind was like. It was thought it was very powerful. Very good. Yeah, I'll pass it to you. yeah Yeah, I agree with it with everything you said there. It did feel um like a descent into madness.
00:43:03
Speaker
And then just kind of seeing how boredom like how boredom just takes over takes over a lot of a lot of this team. um And I think one of the most powerful scenes in it that that kind of describes that is when we're initially at the oil wells that are on fire.
00:43:22
Speaker
And Cheddar Bob, I'm forgetting his name in the actual movie, presumably takes takes a body to kind of play around with it. And everyone's kind of just really put off by it. And it seems like he's already kind of descended into that madness. And then one of his his other teammates tell him to ah keep his mind in check.
00:43:42
Speaker
And you can see it really hit him like like in that moment. it was It was such a shocking scene. um The visuals of the oil wells burning is, I think, probably the most iconic imagery from the from Desert Storm.
00:43:58
Speaker
And to kind of have that scene going on in this you know very iconic moment from that conflict, I liked a lot, the dichotomy of it.
00:44:10
Speaker
you know, here's this, you know, widely publicized image and below it is something going on. That's absolutely depraved. Cause this guy's lost his mind. And, um, but that's kind of how it was. You just,
00:44:23
Speaker
Get really bored. Some guys just went ah completely off the deep end. I mean, ah my dad was in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, so he went through a similar experience. Now, his was a little different.
00:44:34
Speaker
um He was in a different branch of the armed services there. But um yeah, it just wandering around the desert for 100 plus days. Like, guys are going to kind of lose it.
00:44:46
Speaker
And especially... um you know for the Marines, I mean, they had been trained to to kill, to dehumanize the enemy because they were going to go in and they were going to kick some serious ass. i mean, that's what the first half of the move was.
00:45:00
Speaker
So like, of course, some guy's going to lose it and really dehumanize the enemy. I think that was the most... jarring scene of jar head was, was that scene under the, ah the, the oil fires.
00:45:15
Speaker
It was like, Whoa, where did that come from? Yeah. I mean, they, there's all sorts of crude humor and it leading up to it. And then it was just like, boom, there it is. Crude like humor.
00:45:27
Speaker
Oh, there's another one.
00:45:30
Speaker
Someone stopped me. I think this movie made it a little more clear when it's, I guess when some war movies want to ask the question from the soldier's perspective like of like, why are we here?
00:45:45
Speaker
What is our purpose? Like, what are we actually doing? I think this movie made that a little more on the nose because it was such a slower pace, like just day in the life, hanging out in the desert, waiting to see some action, waiting to see some action, waiting to fire a gun.
00:46:02
Speaker
And it just may or may not ever come. And they're just like, why? why did I spend so much of my life here suffering in the desert, you know, putting up with all this crap?
00:46:16
Speaker
Like you've been amped up to have this epic moment. Like here it comes, here it comes, here it comes. And then just never comes. and it's like, yeah, you hit the nail on the head. What waste, you know? and I think the movie was very effective in taking, in taking that tone.
00:46:31
Speaker
And I think that, I think that culmination comes out, in the scene, I think that really comes together in the scene with, uh, with Jake, with Gyllenhaal and, uh, and Alan played by Peter Sarsgaard that are quite literally about to get their first kill, like a hundred days into this. And it's finally about to happen. And they're, they're, they're scoping out the tower before another staff Sergeant comes with completely different orders.
00:46:56
Speaker
And Alan just loses it. Just goes like absolutely hysterical, like crying in the corner. calling attacks. Yeah. Like throwing, throwing nothing short of a, of a temper tantrum for not, for not being able to get the kill. And it's like, once the movie ended, it made me like, it made me a bit uncomfortable.
00:47:17
Speaker
Because like as an audience member, like we're kind of waiting and expecting for for this action to happen. And like you said, and how they lived it, it it never did. And so it feels almost weird to... I mean, I don't want to say disappointed, but like...
00:47:33
Speaker
just like let down after it didn't happen and then you then i kind of took a step back and you got to think like like it's like it's war we're talking about like it's this isn't this isn't great this isn't what we want to be doing and yet you have this this group of men that are disappointed that aren't getting that that satisfaction and i and i think that's what draws me to really enjoying this movie is the way that it's asking or telling us those uh those questions i think that's where a lot of the original negative feedback came from though um i feel like my understanding was that it was marketed as like an action war movie some people will get in the theater and there's there's like no payoff there's a couple scenes where it's like some exciting stuff happens but
00:48:20
Speaker
They weren't given what they thought they were going to get, which is exactly what the movie is about. But i think that's where a lot of some of those negative reactions come from. People are like oh this is just boring. It's trite, you know, whatever.
00:48:34
Speaker
um It's like, no, that's the point. um And I really liked it a lot because i think I think one of the reasons I liked a lot was it...
00:48:45
Speaker
I think there was a very balanced dichotomy of like, here's why this sucks, but here's why, like here's how we got through it. There were a lot of scenes of them just having fun with the boys.
00:48:59
Speaker
And that looked like genuine fun, you know, you know, playing football in the desert, you know, kind of, ah um you know, some malicious compliance going on, you know, sneaking under the officer's noses.
00:49:12
Speaker
ah ah know That looked fun. yeah that That brotherhood, that camaraderie, you know that's that's something that I think is very hard to come by when you're not a part of that. Not to say that like you know we don't have brotherhood or camaraderie, but that's a very specific form.
00:49:28
Speaker
You know, like you're in the suck together. And when you're in there together, like it is a whole different kind of bonding than us hanging out outside of the podcast or outside of work or something.
00:49:40
Speaker
But on the flip side, interjected for those brief moments of fun and laughs is just a ton of just awful, monotonous and and like soul crushing events that happen to these people.
00:49:54
Speaker
And it's like, sure, it looks like fun, but I mean, this is, it's like a coping mechanism, really. That's not to say that everybody who's out there is just miserable and awful because, you know, sometimes just like a job. Like, oh, well, this is my job. I'm in Saudi Arabia.
00:50:08
Speaker
But I mean, know, that was Swofford's experience. Other people have different experiences. Some people probably had, you know, good experiences. Some people didn't. um it is It is a wide spectrum, but I think it did a really good job of saying here's the upsides and the downsides. like you know This isn't going to happen to you beat for beat, but this this was my experience. This is what it was really like to to be a part of this.
00:50:33
Speaker
It was not glorious. It was not epic. It was, by and large, very boring. And like you know just ah like so boring that you kind of lose your mind a little bit.
00:50:46
Speaker
I think um that also plays into the part where ah and a significant part of the movie is um Jake's character dealing with, you know, what he's dealing with being a Marine in the desert, but also having to come to terms with like his anxiety and dealing with relationship problems and just being this fresh faced 20 year old guy way out of his element.
00:51:13
Speaker
um just feeling lost and it's just um unbelievable levels of stress I couldn't even imagine yeah like that that scene in the tent where he's like trying to get a reaction out of the guy oh yeah well that was hard to watch it was very hard to watch Jake Gyllenhaal put on a really good performance in this movie he was awesome he he did really i I like Jamie Foxx's performance too I was surprised to see him in this why?
00:51:40
Speaker
i don't know I mean, like like like we said at the beginning, I didn't read the synopsis. All I knew was that Jake Gyllenhaal was in it. And that was it. And so when Jamie Foxx shows up in the bathroom, I was, oh pleasant pleasant surprise.
00:51:56
Speaker
Jake Jornal.
00:51:59
Speaker
Any favorite scenes? I loved the end where they ah find out that the that Saddam surrendered. Yeah, that was cool. That might be my favorite too. Or the, it's not really a favorite.
00:52:12
Speaker
But it stands out a lot to me was when they were first trying to cross the desert, just total flatlands. They see some planes. They're getting confused why the planes turn around.
00:52:24
Speaker
And there's a show of force. Yeah. so i but Show of force is here. Right. That probably stands out to me the most outside of the tent scene when he's trying to get a reaction out of his squad mate.
00:52:38
Speaker
Those are really powerful to me. And now they just moved on from that. They just kept walking. Yeah. So what else can you do? Yeah. I think the tent scene would be, would be one of mine. Um, as far as like favorite shots, we talked about it earlier, but the oil wells on fire, just this cool cinematography. And this was shot by Roger Deakins.
00:52:58
Speaker
So wouldn't be the last time that Sam and isn't, and the Deakins work together. 1917. Yeah. nineteen seventeen No takers for the cuck scene? Oh, yeah.
00:53:10
Speaker
I wouldn't say that's my favorite. did see in the IMDb trivia that that's like a ah like a ghost story that has a lot of factual evidence that things like that happen. Oh, my God. Those revenge tapes.
00:53:23
Speaker
That's unfortunate. That's crazy. imagine Finding one in war would be apoplectic. Yeah. That was a big word. I didn't even know what that meant. It means apoplectic.
00:53:35
Speaker
I said it once. I couldn't say it correctly the second time. Tachi's Googling it. I am apoplectic, active, overcome with anger, extremely indignant. Exactly.
00:53:47
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. How do you guys feel about Jim Halpert's scene? I wanted a little more. i wanted some more too. got a jump scare and then yeah dipped.
00:54:00
Speaker
I saw in the trivia, he wrote his lines for this movie. What? Really? Yeah. How? And why? They weren't great. That like one of his first roles. Yeah. It had to be.
00:54:12
Speaker
He looked so young. I think that had to be filmed around the time season one of The Office started. 2005. Yeah. So filming before. Yeah. seventy four um Oh, also, real quick, I don't know how realistic that drill was where they're firing live rounds right above their heads.
00:54:31
Speaker
But yeah surely that's not a real drill that they do, right? Like, I'm sure there's been accidental and friendly fire, of course. But that just seems like... But surely... higher i mean, he was shooting like a foot above them.
00:54:47
Speaker
um That can't be real. Jamie's pulling this up for us. Who's Jamie? Yeah. Chat, who's Jamie? Also, having to while you're looking that up, if I had to burn a big old metal barrel of poop and pee with diesel, ah I'd quit.
00:55:06
Speaker
ah Oh, that was so gross. Horrific. And then Mr. State Farm had to add to it. Y'all remember him as the State Farm guy? Yeah. It was weird that he was in this movie.
00:55:18
Speaker
He, um, so another one of my favorite scenes is, ah the breakdown of Alan not being able to get his first kill. Hmm. The downside of that scene for me was the State Farm guy when he barges in.
00:55:31
Speaker
It just sounded like he was like popcorn line reading his lines. like Yeah. Like when he first came on, I was just like, oh, okay. And then but like that scene specifically, didn't just felt like his performance felt so off. Did you feel that? Yes.
00:55:45
Speaker
A hundred percent. Yeah. It was very off-putting. Like took me out of the scene completely. It did. i found our answer. Okay. Which got... um This comes from our good friend JB Dyer on r slash ask historians on Reddit.
00:56:01
Speaker
This is ah via the Recruit Mortality Registry, which was started in 1977.
00:56:08
Speaker
um The obstacle course gunshot fatality, Private Derrico White, 21, of Flint, Michigan, happened in 1994 at Fort Sill in Oklahoma during a night training exercise on a squad platoon offensive tactics course.
00:56:21
Speaker
Recruits carried M-16s and crawled under barbed wire and live fire from an M-60 machine gun. The machine gun was set to fire about eight feet high with safety mechanisms to prevent it from firing downwards.
00:56:33
Speaker
During the exercise, the gun jammed, and while the sergeant tried to clear the jam, he took it off its mount and it fired, and that is what killed the private. It was not in any sense the recruit's fault. The Army recommended future training sessions to include a second M60 to be used if the first one fails rather than trying to fix the gun mid-training.
00:56:50
Speaker
So it seems like that it did happen. Wow. But not Oh, I mean, were they at Fort Sill during that scene? I don't remember. I'm not sure.
00:57:04
Speaker
Maybe played up a little bit because it seemed like they were pretty low. Yeah. Yeah. um So probably just played up a little bit for, I guess, movie purpose purposes, but still crazy that they do that. I'm just fired blanks or something. Yeah.
00:57:19
Speaker
think there are better ways to simulate gunfire, but that's just me. It was also ah ninety s Crazy time. So I guess lawless land. Any last thoughts before we get to our last, our last movie here?
00:57:33
Speaker
We covered it. No, I got nothing. All right. Alex, who up acting on the valor? I'm up acting on my valor. Ladies and gentlemen, our third and final film of the night, we're going to talk about 2012's Act of Valor, directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh. Saving the best for last.
00:57:53
Speaker
Scott Waugh. Yes, we are. The only easy day was yesterday. When a covert mission to rescue a kidnapped CIA operative uncovers a chilling plot, an elite, highly trained U.S. SEAL team speeds to hotspots around the globe, racing against the clock to stop a deadly terrorist attack.
00:58:15
Speaker
Unlike our first two features, this one is not based on reality. It's not based on a true story or a book or a memoir. um But similarly to Warhead, it does ah focus on Navy SEALs. Warhead? Yeah.
00:58:36
Speaker
More like more head, am I right?
00:58:40
Speaker
Similarly to warfare, it does focus on Navy SEALs um and it does actually include um real Navy SEALs in the creation process the film. Most notably, I believe that the main actors are real Navy SEALs. I can tell.
00:58:57
Speaker
Much to the audience's chagrin. Yeah. So it stars Rosalind Sanchez, Emilia Rivera, Gonzalo Mendez, and tons of people that you have never heard of before.
00:59:13
Speaker
um So we'll look at the director, Scott Waugh. What else has he directed? He's directed a movie called Hidden Strike, which I have never heard of, The Expendables 4, and everybody's favorite car movie, Need for Speed, starring Aaron Paul.
00:59:28
Speaker
That's actually insane. This was Scott Wall. Scott Wall and Mike McCoy. Mike McCoy hasn't directed anything of note, correct?
00:59:40
Speaker
As far as I, the only thing on Letterboxd at least is Active Valor. and Okay. Yeah, I did take a look at Scott's filmography and saw Need for Speed and shut my laptop.
00:59:54
Speaker
I wanted to like Need for Speed so bad. i was a huge fan of those games as a kid, but we're not goingnna you're not going to dive dive into that. We are going to talk about the fact that this movie started when Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh of Bandito Brothers Production made a promotional ad for the special boat teams.
01:00:19
Speaker
which led the U.S. Navy to allow them to use active duty SEALs and special boat team members. Then they decided after that to make Act of Valor. So this movie literally started out as an advertisement for the U.S. military. It feels like it.
01:00:34
Speaker
It sure does. It's an hour and a half of propaganda. It's here. it it's It's literally... Literally. I mean... I don't even know where to start with it.
01:00:46
Speaker
This movie appealed to me when I was in middle school. That's when it came out. You've seen this before? I had seen it once before with my dad, actually. And when I was a kid, I remember, oh, my oh the action was so sick.
01:00:59
Speaker
And I remember my dad goes, eh. He just was like, eh. And in hindsight, watching it yesterday, because I watched it yesterday before we... um Yeah, before i I did a double feature of this one in Jarhead.
01:01:15
Speaker
i I just remember thinking... This sucks.
01:01:22
Speaker
Like, I'll give it the credit. I'll give it some credit. I think the action sequences were actually pretty decently directed. a lot them agreed. I thought the the use of first person was pretty at yeah cool.
01:01:37
Speaker
But then when you remember that this is a recruitment ad for the U.S. military, it's like POV, you're killing somebody. Yeah. Like, um The thing that really makes this movie suck and why I just thought it was painful to sit through was because in between all like the ridiculously action movie operations that the SEALs are going on.
01:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, compare these operations to compared to Warfare's. Same group of people, by the way, just every single one liner that they would drop. It's like, this is so hard.
01:02:19
Speaker
It's like this. so This sucks, dude. Like I was there was too many to count. Like I had started writing. i i wrote some two lines and then I had to give up because it just kept happening. Yeah.
01:02:33
Speaker
i I liked the one where it was like the guy gets like shot in the face, and then it's like, like you're going to be fine, man. you're a You're a hard dude, so you're going to be fine.
01:02:47
Speaker
And then it's like, it wasn't for nothing. Because they find the phone. But then the guy gets shot in the face. It wasn't for nothing. it wasn't for nothing But the the guy gets shot in the face. It's like, oh, it's like, you're hard. You're going to be fine. It's like, oh okay. And then he's like, fine for the rest of the sequence. yeah He's like, you know, mogging the camera. Like, look how wounded I am.
01:03:14
Speaker
Like, I mean, I think the villains in this movie were like so comic book ridiculous. was cartoonishly bad. Like, the the the um the jihadi character,
01:03:28
Speaker
who's like Russian. Cause I mean, I guess ah I'm genuinely impressed. They, they actually made him like Chechnyan and not just like, Oh, he's a Russian jihadi. Cause like, at least they like tried to make it like somewhat lore accurate, but like his motivation was so like comically ridiculous.
01:03:50
Speaker
It was really like, like he was my, he was my friend. Well, no, that was the other guy, the the drug cartel guy. OK, OK. We had a yeah a double whammy of of the war on drugs being fought and then um the war on terror being fought in this movie as well.
01:04:09
Speaker
It was crazy. I mean, in these seals, they were flying them everywhere. They were racking up some serious miles. between operations they were in africa and then asia and then they were in mexico they started in costa rica i will say they did a decent job at the uh at filming the the skydiving scenes it was cool i mean it really went like that's the worst part is it's like as much as i wanted to detract against this movie it's like there were some sequences where it was like That was pretty sick. Like it made me want to skydive.
01:04:41
Speaker
did It did. I'll give them credit where credit's due. This was a technically very well done movie. It was very well done. The DoD budget went hard on this one.
01:04:53
Speaker
It was um also technically really bad.
01:04:59
Speaker
I will say ah the budget was spent entirely on like the the camera. Mm hmm. yeah the The writing department's like, oh, we forgot to write the movie. four like we We did kind of already address this, but for the most part, the action was directed and filmed pretty well in an entertaining way.
01:05:19
Speaker
However, the sequence when they are... I don't know where they're at. they're I think they're driving through a Mexican town... Wherever they are.
01:05:30
Speaker
Towards the end of the movie? Yeah. Okay, yeah. All of the deaths of the cartel members, it's like they had to film that in five minutes. Like 20 different deaths where they just stand center frame and they just fall back.
01:05:46
Speaker
That part... That was so ridiculous. That part felt honestly to me like... the is propagandic a word we'll we'll let it slide for this one okay prop that part specifically felt the most propagandic to me because it was just like i don't know they're like they're out there they're they're just like they're kicking ass and we just got like these close-ups of like every single death of every single one of these cartel members you're supposed to just be like fuck yeah yeah
01:06:16
Speaker
like they like I kind of disagree, Tachi. I feel like they took their time with those but those deaths. like I think they like and really wanted to showcase it and be like, look how sick this is. It just felt like an arcade game.
01:06:28
Speaker
Like a 90s arcade game. I think that's a great that's a great way to put it. It did. yeah This felt like live duty Call of Duty. That's exactly what it felt like.
01:06:38
Speaker
du I mean, you want to there were a couple honorable mentions for the most propagandic scenes for me. when they're on like the boat going to the Mexico operation and, um, it's like, like, I would always regret not being out there with you. Like if you asked for it, it's like, the guy's got like a kid on the way and he's like, I need to be in the fight with my brothers.
01:07:03
Speaker
It's like, but you, you put in for a two week vacation. It's like, I know we got, got one more in me. thought we were going to kiss. It would have been better if they did. The sexual tension was palpable.
01:07:16
Speaker
It was crazy. It The way he smacked his butt after that conversation. he and They were always an inch away from each other. Their faces were so close. The scene... like But the problem is like the tension wasn't just between the seals.
01:07:30
Speaker
It was also between... like When they show up and they get like the Mexican military guy and it's like, it's an honor. Like... Like, I want to fight alongside you for Mexico. And it's like, geez, like just go get a room, dude.
01:07:46
Speaker
the um The one dude um who was doing the, ah I guess, the interrogation scene on the boat, I couldn't, I could only see Tom Segura. Like, he was like a spitting image of Tom Segura.
01:07:59
Speaker
And that scene specifically, I forgot exactly what he said, but he's like, He's trying to be like buddy-buddy with this guy. Oh, your name's Christo? Your name's Christian? Christo?
01:08:10
Speaker
Christian? You've seen Star Trek? Oh, I'm so... Oh, you've got to watch it. Hey, Corn Pop. Yeah. I was like, oh my... Stop. the The biggest... The biggest propagandic moment for me... Yeah, propagandic.
01:08:25
Speaker
It's in Webster's. We're... Our first merch drop, guys. propaganlinked Solid colored t-shirts that say propagandic. um The most propagandic moment for me, though, was in the final battle sequence in the tunnel when, like, the Mexican soldiers were just getting completely smoked.
01:08:47
Speaker
And it's like, they're just, like, not focusing on all. you just see guys in, like, these covert uniforms getting smoked. And then, like, When like one of our our glorious Navy SEALs gets shot, it's like, what you say?
01:09:08
Speaker
Also... It's just the slow-mo where it's like falling. He drums on... I'm going to spoil the movie because you shouldn't watch this. um The scene ends with the guy who had the kid on the way jumping on a grenade to save everybody instead of like, but it takes him like so, so long. Three minutes of screen time to be like, there's a grenade. And then he's like, mogs the camera one last time and then jumps.
01:09:38
Speaker
um And then he lands on the grenade and then dies. And then there's like a solid like minute of like, no, my buddy. And then they immediately just lock in again. Yes, literally. i was like, what?
01:09:57
Speaker
But the worst part is the movie ends with this guy's funeral and his grieving wife is there. And then it's like ending where it's like this voiceover. It's like,
01:10:08
Speaker
But your dad is dead and you're going to wonder why. But he was a warrior and you have warrior's blood coursing through your veins. No one is as dangerous as a man who can harness his emotion.
01:10:26
Speaker
it's like... Like, what are we doing? Who is this convincing? I don't know. Who is this made for? I think it was made for, like, angsty, hormonal teenagers who didn't have anything else going on. And it's like... Like the future poster boy for, like, MAGA film.
01:10:45
Speaker
It felt like... I would love to compare Act of Valor to, like, Sound of Freedom. What the hell?
01:10:58
Speaker
That was my reaction the and for the entire runtime. And then I was thinking, i had I had a note here. I was like, do any of these guys die? And then as soon as I wrote that, the grenade scene happened. I was like, all right one died.
01:11:09
Speaker
the i can't I apologize for making you guys watch this. Five minutes into it. I was like, why am I rewatching it? I picked it like again, like with Jarhead, that was a very nice surprise, not knowing anything, walking into it. So was like, okay, act of valor.
01:11:25
Speaker
I went as far. Like I didn't look it up on letterbox. I didn't want to see what the average rating was. I didn't see what the rating on IMDb was no influence for any of these films. I did call it cringe in our show notes.
01:11:37
Speaker
You did. I called it cringe. So but that was ah i I picked this one specifically because I mean, it's it is the same group of people as warfare.
01:11:47
Speaker
I will say in addition to like a lot of the action ah being decent, I do feel some of the cinematography as well was was pretty good.
01:11:58
Speaker
But I feel like they didn't give it any chance to breathe. no like as like also like with the writing it's just like line after line after line and i'm like if they could just like stay on some of these shots for a little bit longer like there was a there's a lot shots where it's like okay that's actually kind of interesting and then it was immediately gone and it just felt like that the whole movie was just like getting to the next thing the next thing the next thing us and the soldiers were just being constantly transported to a new place over and over and over again yeah it It's just, I mean, you look at what the Navy SEALs actually went through in warfare and how awful that was to sit there and experience.
01:12:37
Speaker
And then watching Act of Valor where it's like, these SEALs died, but they were men. Like, and they look like are you kidding me? It's a movie that is so divorced from me reality. And I don't mind that in like a war movie, you know?
01:12:56
Speaker
Like, I think, like, Black Hawk Down did a really good job of, like, being a pretty good action movie, but still being, like, a really solid war movie without, like, getting too far away from what really happened.
01:13:10
Speaker
This was ridiculous. And, yeah, it's not based off, like, a real operation, but it the the movie opens with, this movie was based on real acts of valor. Yeah. Like, it felt like it didn't actually respect any of the acts of valor.
01:13:25
Speaker
It was just a bunch of dudes patting themselves on the back. like Like, thank you for the government and the president. Thank you for the service. like that was it's like It was complete lip service to like real sacrifice that guys have made.
01:13:39
Speaker
Because there have been guys who jumped on grenades, you know guys who've taken bullets for their brothers. And this was just, I think, the cringiest way to to hone in on that that theme of brotherhood.
01:13:52
Speaker
Because it I felt it's almost disrespectful. yeah In Black Hawk Down, there's a scene that it lives rent-free in my head. It's one of my favorite sequences in the whole movie. um It's when Gordon and Shugart go in to defend Mike Durant after the second Black Hawk crashes.
01:14:06
Speaker
ah Those guys won the med ah Medal Honor for that. They died. And that scene, I think, does an incredible job at portraying that. And they are they're heroes. They really are.
01:14:17
Speaker
And um you might... say, why did they do that? Why did they go into something where they were going to die? But, you know, they they did it anyway. And, you know, Mike Durant is alive today.
01:14:31
Speaker
Maybe. I don't know. He he he survived Black Hawk Down. ah He made it out of Somalia. um I don't know what he's up to today. Maybe he's listening. Hi, Mike.
01:14:42
Speaker
He's like, Act of Power is my favorite movie. Did we get an angry letter from Mike Durant? You guys suck. And i I think that for a movie that was starring real servicemen,
01:14:58
Speaker
I think it didn't really give any sort of valor to the acts of valor. It felt so superficial. And I think that's what pissed me off about the movie the most.
01:15:09
Speaker
It just like felt fake. You didn't even try. Yeah. Yep. Like one that always gets thrown around. It's a contemporary movie as well. So I'll throw it in here. One that always gets you know thrown around as being propaganda as American sniper.
01:15:23
Speaker
And, you know, Chris Kyle, his story didn't add up as best or that we'll put it that way. Story didn't really add up when you look into it, but I will take it at face value. Even that movie, which gets a lot of propaganda hate, it still didn't really portray things greatly.
01:15:40
Speaker
mean, he he wasn't particularly happy throughout the movie, but an act of valor that's like, this is great. They were having a good time. My boy's dead. This movieop was movie was something.
01:15:53
Speaker
touching and anyway Do you guys have any favorite yeah i mean favorite scenes? like No. actually There was one shot, and I don't know if it's just because i partook in the Devil's Lettuce before watching it, but there's It actually seems like the the the right way to watch this. Nightmare blunt rotation.
01:16:13
Speaker
back to i Actually, i had to lock in because I wasn't sure if like I was going crazy or not. I'm like, are are they actors? What's happening? What is the script?
01:16:25
Speaker
So i I really had to focus to even understand what I was watching. But there there was a cool shot, like the very beginning of the movie. I think it's in the first 10 minutes, maybe. They're like rolling a body.
01:16:38
Speaker
with a rug. Oh yeah. Kind of really smoothly transitions with the camera onto like into a new shot. I thought that was actually really cool. I did write that one down too. Yeah.
01:16:49
Speaker
That was neat. It felt kind of camp, but it was also done well. Yeah. was really smooth. I think my favorite scene was the skydiving scene. Hmm.
01:17:01
Speaker
and I don't remember the difference between them, dude. I've already forgotten like half that movie. I don't even know if I have a favorite scene. I'm going to say the interaction between the two when he gives them the poem and then ends it with spanking him on the butt.
01:17:18
Speaker
Because I thought they were going to kiss. Oh, is that what he gave him? Yeah, that was the poem that he was reading and at the end of the movie. It's really romantic. It was.
01:17:28
Speaker
He's like, I'm to fold this up into a paper airplane and give it back to you. I'm going to get a
Movie Ratings & Recommendations
01:17:33
Speaker
kiss. And then we're going to kiss. What do we give it out of 10? We want us we want to go... I want to go in descending order. Okay, hang on. Let me get my scores in order.
01:17:43
Speaker
Out of 10, right? Yeah. I'll give mine first. Active Valor, 2 out of 10. Oh, am I doing all of them? No, I think we're just doing Active Valor. Okay, okay. I think I'll give Active to Valor... and Give it a 4 out of 10.
01:17:58
Speaker
There was some good action. I'll give it a three. It's a difficult three. It's not an easy three, but it's not. It's not saying much. Yeah. It's just that it wasn't completely horrible.
01:18:10
Speaker
There were some positive aspects. That's the two for me. Yeah. i I feel like the problem is with like rating something that low. It's like it's so arbitrary. be below sticks Yeah.
01:18:24
Speaker
um I'll give Jarhead an 8 out of 10, though. Okay. I'm giving Jarhead... Can we do halves? Yeah. Sure. Nah, I won't do a half. 8 out of 10.
01:18:36
Speaker
Then I guess I'll also give it an 8 out of 10. Nice. We don't have to do any math for that one. no and So for Act of Valor, we had 4, 3, and 2. Yeah. So would be... Our average rating for that one's a 3. Yep, 3. This one's a 4.
01:18:53
Speaker
And then i'm going to start off with warfare because I am going to do a half. um I might change it later.
01:19:01
Speaker
going give warfare nine and a half. and Wow. i am I'm actually strongly debating giving it a 10. Wow. And the only reason that holds me back from not giving it a 10 out of 10 is because I am not sure it deserves to be the first war movie I've given a 10, so i might have to go back and retroactively put Saving Private Ryan as a 10 or something. But I'm thinking it's like a 9.5 or a 10. I loved it.
01:19:25
Speaker
I'm glad you loved it. I will say the same. I will also give it a 9.5. That was such... that was such an amazing theater experience and an amazing movie experience, but more specifically,
01:19:38
Speaker
I think outside of infinity war and end game in terms of movie experience or theater experiences that is right up there with me. Wow. And I don't know if it's just because of the Dolby, um, sound system that I had.
01:19:51
Speaker
Um, I'd love to rewatch that at that theater. highly recommend it. and Well, I'm going to give warfare an eight and a half out of 10.
01:20:02
Speaker
Okay. So that's what a nine or 9.25, I guess. two five i guess I'm doing math. Hang on. What you say? and a half million like Eight and half, Malik? 9.166666667.
01:20:17
Speaker
You heard it here first, folks. Okay. Yeah, this... um i i had a good time getting to watch these three movies. Like... And I think Jarhead puts it perfectly.
01:20:28
Speaker
Jake Gyllenhaal says in the narration towards the end of the thing I think exactly what you're going to say. All war is different. All war is the same. I wrote that down. And I think that's a good summarization of the experience of watching these three movies.
01:20:43
Speaker
I'll agree with you there. Yeah. I can't wait to watch more. I'm a big war guy. I love war.
01:20:52
Speaker
what are I think you two like war movies a little bit more than I do. Am I correct in saying that? Yeah. What are some recommendations? Not that I'm going to watch movies.
01:21:04
Speaker
Easy. yeah Black Hawk Down is one of my favorites. I haven't seen that one. I have been meaning to watch a Thin Red Line. If you want to come over and watch that. um even Oh, yes.
01:21:15
Speaker
Thin Red Line. The one I got at Criterion. If you want to go a little bit back in history, this movie gets a lot of flack, but honestly, I really like it. And that's The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise.
01:21:26
Speaker
so Apocalypse Now. um Deer Hunter. ego really they were watching deer hunt They were watching Deer Hunter in Jarhead. They watch just thought there we're gonna yeah they were to.
01:21:37
Speaker
but They were supposed to watch Deer Hunter, and they did watch Apocalypse Now in Jarhead. Apocalypse nice that good that was good platoon is another good war movie there's a nicholas cage one you're interested in that think it's called um wind wind talkers hold on you got like hacksaw ridge um letters from irujima oh hacksaw ridge has been on my watch list for a good minute there's a lot out there you said wind talkers with nicholas cage it's probably what you would expect
01:22:12
Speaker
I'll check some more out. Probably not anytime soon, though, because like I said in the beginning of the episode, I need a I need like a detox. From all these guns. um This isn't necessarily a war movie.
01:22:24
Speaker
It is um um military movie. Sicario. That's I love Sicario. Great movie. Sicario is good.
Closing Remarks & Next Episode Theme
01:22:33
Speaker
Awesome. All right. Do you guys have any any closing thoughts?
01:22:37
Speaker
You guys didn't get my joke. ah Yeah, I'm still not there. Which one? The one I made during the news. What did you say? i forgot. One more time.
01:22:50
Speaker
Indian Paintbrush is doing a live action performance of their movie Conclave in the Vatican City.
01:23:00
Speaker
Okay, I think I get it. Because the Pope died and they're doing a conclave. Yeah. I got it. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, I got that. What the hell?
01:23:14
Speaker
Oh my God, no way. What a beautiful place to end. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you guys so much for listening. We will see you in the next one.
01:23:25
Speaker
We'll join you for next week. And I actually think we can say confidently that we have next week's topic. Star Wars. Yep. Oh, so may the fourth be with you.
01:23:35
Speaker
Yeah. What's going to be? Don't know, but it will be Star Wars themed.
01:23:40
Speaker
<unk> See you then. Cue the outro music. Thanks everybody.
01:24:10
Speaker
you