Cool News
THREE KINGS review
I walked into THREE KINGS with very high
expectations after Moriarty’s review. Specifically it
was the following paragraph that thrilled me:
“I never in a million years would have guessed that a film starring George
Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Ice Cube would turn out to be the first serious,
sober look at the ethics of that conflict. I never would have guessed that
Warner Bros., a company that is in bed with the man who most benefited
from
the Gulf War (Ted Turner), would release such a film. And I never would
have
believed it possible that David O. Russell, who has given us small, carefully
studied character comedies (SPANKING THE MONKEY and the brilliant
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER) up till now would have pulled off the first
great
war comedy since Altman's M*A*S*H.” -- Moriarty
That instantly set my expectations for something I
really love which is political satire.
Next I began focusing in on the trailers for the film,
which make this film out to be some sort of
KELLY’S HEROES remake, and I found myself
wondering if Moriarty was on crack the first time he
saw the film.
Well, to all the people out there like me that saw this
movie as a possible rip-off of KELLY’S HEROES....
No... That isn’t what this movie is. It goes in
radically different moralistic directions than the
trailer leads you to believe.
Moriarty and I are very similar on a couple of issues.
We both want to rule the world. We both will wed
Heather Graham. And lastly we both watched every
second of the Gulf War.
However, unlike Moriarty... I didn’t love this film. I
think the movie is very very good. I think the film
has moments of greatness inside of it. BUT... though
it has those great moments, moments do not a great
film make.
Anyone who watched the preceding politics and the
aftermath of the Gulf War can really clearly see that
the war was completely about economics and not
about ‘freeing the Kuwaiti people’. That was merely
the easy motivational tool created to get folks riled up
at home so that we wouldn’t have a Vietnam on our
hands and we’d have the ol Cavalry, yellow ribbons
around the ol oak tree tradition wrapped up in our
neighbors and community.
It was also about establishing the U.S. as the military
leader in the post-wall falling world.
There were a lot of issues at work in this war. Almost
none of which are faced here. We get a sampling
tray. You know, like at a party. Except here the
filleted salmon with a sprig of lettuce and a slice of
tomato is Oil.
The film covers some of the bases. Oil fields afire.
Pelicans in oil. Looting Kuwait.
As well as Bush telling the Iraqis to rise up and
overthrow Saddam... then pulling out and lending no
support thus dooming the revolutionaries to a life of
hiding and being wiped out.
These issues are covered lightly. As really... at it’s
heart this is a very carefree film meant quite a bit for
commercial enjoyment. And ya know.... I like the
film. It’s entertaining as all hell... BUT this is not the
GREAT GULF WAR FILM.
Which then beckons the question... what is the great
Gulf War film and how do you go about making it?
Well... Personally I don’t feel the great film can be
made from the American perspective. It really must
be set and starring Iraqis. The ones that Bush spoke
out to. The ones that bought his line about ‘rising
up’.
About people that listened to the message from a
foreign leader that after bombing them, then
requested that they rise up to overthrow their leader
and then not lend a hand. To me... there is a fantastic
story of using propaganda to create an underground
movement in another country, then backing off and
not being there for support.
Imagine if after we drove Hitler’s men back into
Germany we simply set up a guard post of his
borders. Dropped leaflets in Germany and asked that
they kill their leader. But... We wouldn’t supply
guns, ammo, medical aid, training, support of any
kind.
I remember how pissed ol Storming Norman was
when they didn’t follow through. It was... stunning.
Amazing. All that build up. All the speeches,
vilifying Saddam as the anti-Christ in a turban. After
making him out to be Satan... you don’t kill or
capture Satan? You let him sit there?
Sorry... went off on a tangent there. Well hold on,
another tangent just hit me. I’d be interested in
seeing ol Peter Arnett’s story about reporting from
Bagdad. That’d be a helluva story, I think.
Sigh...
No, nope... this film is a War Dramedy. It’s too
unfocused to be as great as Altman’s M*A*S*H. But
it...
God this is a difficult film to discuss and not speak in
specifics.
Ok.. Back to basics. What did I like?
Well.... pretty much everything in the film.
No no, be specific.
Oh. Ok. Well I loved Spike Jonze, to me... He
portrays the type of American that the gum cards for
DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM were
created for. I remember these people. I sold a
shitload of DESERT STORM cards. I remember,
they actually had ‘player cards’ of George Bush and
Storming Norman. At one point the ol Norman card
was pulling in a whopping $8 a card. It was amazing.
They were available at every grocery store and gas
station. They had series 1 and 2 and 3.
Spike Jonze plays one helluva uneducated redneck
kill crazy motherfucker. A matter of fact, he may
very well be the very best uneducated redneck kill
crazy motherfucker that I have ever seen in film
period.
What the hell? I thought this guy was a director, but
if he’s really this talented in front of the camera, team
him up as Ed Norton’s brother and lets have a good
30 films. I mean, he completely runs off into the dust
with this movie. I just wish everything had been from
his perspective.
That would have been warped, I know, but I wanted
to see the movie focused around an ignorant
sonuvabitch that tapes C-4 to a nerf football and
throws it for someone to shoot.
Somebody who sees reality in his own trailer trash
Ren & Stimpy cartoon universe where someone shot
in the neck becomes the damnedest thing you ever did
see. Then views it in his mind as... well... you’ll see.
Now you haven’t really seen Spike in the trailers.
Instead the trailer claims that the Three Kings are
George Clooney, Ice Cube and Mark Wahlberg.
Well... I guess they can claim that, but I believe that
the name comes from Spike Jonze singing ‘We Three
Kings of Orient old...” while they look at the ass map.
Clooney, if memory serves, wasn’t even in the tent at
that point, so I believe the Three Kings in the title
should be referring to Ice Cube, Mark Wahlberg and
Spike Jonze. Of course that is significantly less
marketable than having George Clooney added in
there.
And as is typical of Warner Marketing, they are
misadvertising this movie as KELLY’S HEROES, but
then I guess advertising it as a film about saving the
lives of Iraqi citizens due to the inhumanity of both
George Bush and Saddam... well... That probably
wouldn’t get many asses in seats. Whereas selling it
as a Gulf War redux of KELLY’S HEROES would
do the treat nicely. Then when an intelligent audience
sees this film, they’ll embrace it and say it is a lot
more than they were expecting....
Unless of course you read Moriarty’s review. In
which case you will go into the film expecting
something slightly more than you’ll get.
This is a movie that feels a bit Coen Brother-esque,
and not because of the Carter Burwell score (which
for me was barely heard) It’s Coen-like in the
inspired comedic takes it has... and the vervy
cinematic decisions that take us outside of the typical
fare. The film will undercrank and overcrank for
fantastic effect. It also has a wonderful sound effect
for tracking with bullets that I just adore. Next to
Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western ‘shots’ sounds, this
is my favorite. It isn’t the standard, “PIKewwww”
sound that Hollywood has drilled into our heads.
Clooney, Wahlberg and Cube all play exactly how I
expected them. Whoever the lead Iraqi soldier, who
questions Wahlberg is... He’s wonderful. He really
speaks to me. He’s not an evil man. If anything, he’s
a bit confused by how fucked up the world has
become. He had liked the Americans before the
bombs began falling. But... that has changed. He
isn’t hardened and furious. He’s reserved and
tragically human.
Strangely, Wahlberg’s wife... who is barely in the
film, affected me probably the most out of everyone
in the film. I believe that she is the girl in KILLING
MRS TINGLE that was the better student than Katie
and was a bit snobbish... But here... she is meant to
play a fairly one note, supportive wife at home. But
through a short couple of scenes and the wonderful
expressions on Wahlberg’s face when thinking of
her... Plus her own concern when she realizes the call
isn’t a simple from the base call.... Well... I really felt
for her.
As a result I got a bit distracted away from the film as
I began wondering about this poor lady. I mean..
Imagine if your husband is off in a war. You have a
one month old baby to deal with. Suddenly you get
this call. Immediately you are elated. Ecstatic.
Overjoyed. Then you hear the tone of your husband.
He’s exasperated. A bit desperate. He asks that you
give some coordinates to someone. You write it
down. You hear an explosion, he calmly tells you it
was a wall exploding... suddenly the phone is
dropped, you hear foreign voices and gun fire and
your husband being dragged off.
Now... we didn’t get to hold on her at all during this
scene. Instead I had to imagine what holding a one
month baby in one hand and what sounds like your
husband’s death in the other.
I just wanted to find her and give that lady a hug
afterwards because... man... She had one helluva bad
day after that phone call. You can count on it.
I really like this movie. It has tons to offer and is far
more than the typical comedy or typical ‘score’ film.
‘Score’ Film is “I’ve got this plan how we can all get
rich... all we have to do is...” that’s a ‘Score Film”.
But not so much more that I herald it as a Great Film.
It is, however, a very good one.
The flaw for me in the movie is that it is a bit
scatterbrained. It wants to cover the ‘Republican
Guard’ angle, the ‘Breaking News Reporter’ angle,
the ‘Iraqi Revolutionaries’ angle, the ‘Yes Sir No Sir
Soldier’ angle and the “I’ll do it my way” Soldier
angle. It does all of these well, but had it
concentrated on some of them a bit harder... say
focused on our 4 leads and their experiences with
both sides of the Iraqis.... I would have been happier.
But by bringing in the reporter, you open up another
subject matter not directly related to the story at hand
about media manipulation via the military and
American government... which is an entirely separate
film worthy of it’s own day in a theater. Now what is interesting is this is the same problem that U-TURN had, which was also written by John Ridley. I liked U-TURN alot, but felt that if it had been a little bit more focused... a problem at the time I believed was Oliver Stone's, but I now believe must reside in the screenplay since it exists here as well.
There is a lot going on here. I’ll see this movie again.
Spike Jonze... by himself is the reason to see this
movie. That and... the cow. Best use of a cow in
cinema since TWISTER. You will simply love the
cow in this movie. In fact between Spike Jonze and
that damn cow... You’ll be yapping about both with
friends for a couple of weeks afterwards.
Enjoy.
-
+ Expand All
-
Sep 23, 1999 1:28:58 AM CDT
I dunno, somehow "Kelly's Desert Heroes" doesn't sound so bad...
by frisco
I would like to want to see this movie, but the preview has scared me off. In a minute and a half they manage to fit in two cheap shots at President Bush and I just KNOW they're going to continue the revisionist "why didn't the USA finish the job?" angle in the picture. What was the USA supposed to do, defy the UN, its own allies, and the countries from which it launched much of the air and ground campaigns (Turkey and Saudi Arabia) by INVADING a sovereign, Arab, Muslim nation? Hell yeah, march on Baghdad, occupy the shit out of those assholes, and don't leave until we've hunted down, tried, and executed their leader! That's nice and civilized and will win us ALL KINDS of points in that part of the world. Besides, Japan will no doubt finance everything, right? Sheesh. Sorry for the microrant, but when Hollywood tries to do politics it almost always fails utterly. I'll bet I was as outraged as Harry was though over President Bush's appeal to the people of Iraq to overthrow their government. I would be surprised if anyone at the time actually thought the USA would or could support such an uprising, but it was lame of Bush nonetheless. More disturbing to me was the slaughter of the Iraqi troops while they were retreating out of Kuwait. I guess we weren't happy killing only a hundred of them for each American soldier lost, and had to raise the figure. That stupid-ass lucky SCUD attack threw the curve way off 'n shit... (sigh) Back to the movie. :) I'm glad Harry gives some good, small, specific reasons to see it. Gives me something to look forward to when HBO is playing it nonstop next spring. Speaking of which, happy Autumnal Equinox everyone!
-
Jim, Have you seen this film? It is not anything like TREASURE OF SIERRE MADRE. Not for an instant. Also, I never said the 'average American' is aware of KELLY'S HEROES. But they are advertising it like that was the film they were selling. In reality this movie isn't about going after gold at all. And is trying to be quite a bit about the aftermath of the Gulf War, with a 'caper' thrown in for good measure. It's an entertaining movie and it succeeds at that primary goal, but it is also trying to really spell out the morality of what was going on inside of the Gulf War. And the perceptions of right and wrong, the stereotypes, and the abandonment and sacrificing of many lives by not finishing the war. It still a very good movie... just not quite a great one. The fault is really in the non-focused nature of the script, just like what happened in U-TURN by the same screenwriter.
-
Ever since reading Harry's review of "Titanic," I've taken his opinion with a large grain of salt. Titanic was a fair movie with great visuals, mildy interesting though good-looking characters, a poorly-constructed story, and some of the most pathetic, laugh-inspiring dialoge I've ever witnessed in a film. And Harry raved about the movie.
Well, each to his own.
This is a great site, though, and I like seeing the different opinions people have about new movies. -
The film sounds cool but the trailor is god aweful. It gives you no idea what the film is and doesn''t exactly get you excited to see it.
-
I rarely post anything on talk back, but I had to his time. I actually knew what Harry's review was going to be based on the first line. All of his reviews follow a very distinct formula and often times it gets annoying.
For example, if you read through the Harry database you'll find these similarities in movies he does not like.
"This isn't a great movie, though im not saying it's bad. In fact this is a good movie."
OR...
"This movie had pieces of greatness, but it wasn't a great movie."
These were actually taken from some fo his reviews. I could post more if no one believes me, but I think you guys got the idea.
That's not it though, you then have one thing which annoys me beyond all other comments he makes!
"Blah blah blah, but you know what"
"You know what,? Blah blah"
He constantly says stuff about movie greatness and repeats "you know what?"
I don't know what this means, but it annoys me! and I think it takes away from the validity of his reviews.
All his revies start off it seems with Harry making excuses for why this film isn't great and then selects moments that he likes and really compliments the, but then tempers that with a negative comment which is usually compared to one of his "Great" movies. Like soundtrack, editing, or some other such thing.
Also there are continuity problems with his reviews. Sometimes he says he likes a movie and then when referencing another movie later on he points out how it didn't do what this other movie did, didn't make the same mistake. Which just so happens he DIDN'T mention in his orignal review.
I'm just nitpicking I know, but does anybody else notice this stuff? -
Really, in a month will anybody remember this flick? Making a movie around the Gulf War is like writing a novel about the bowel movement I had this morning: Nobody cares and it's long since gone. See ya on the bottom shelf at Blockbuster in 3 months!
-
Based on the trailer, I don't get the impression that 3 Kings is a Gulf War version of Kelly's Heroes. Kelly's Heroes was basically a action-comedy in which the main characters outwit their own commanders and rip-off (or buy off) the Germans. There was no morality involved except let's work together to get rich. Three Kings, on the other hand, seems to be a more serious movie (even though there is funny stuff in it) as the characters are dealing with politics and morality. Of course, this probably has a lot to do with the nature of the two conflicts. As for Saddam Hussein, another probable reason for him being left in charge was to help counterbalance Iran's power in that region.
-
harry, why doesn't the average american know what kelly's heroes is......i always thought it was prettty popular , and has a great cast......personalyy i allways loved it great fun............oh and by the way for the guy who doesn't like harry's titanic review.$1.8billion at the box office . the most successful film of all time in virtually every country it was released in and the biggest selling video of all time all over the planet.....to put the in perspective the no2 movie ,jurrassic park made just over 900 million dollars half as much money! harry wasn't the only person to love titanic.......whilst a lot of net people seem to hate the majority are against you.......
-
Come ON, there were like five moments in the movie that you totally blew for open for everyone! Maybe I'mjust being over sensitive, but you usually make such a big deal about spoiler scruples. Now I am going to be anticipating all this stoof that you went on about. The Football, the wife, the reporter, the iraqi soldier...DAMN. That's all I'm sayin'. Just DAMN>
-
So the original 'Spoils of War' would have been a better title? Oh well, I guess I'll have to see when it comes out what the final product looks like. I've only read the Ridley script, but I'm still trying to figure out what's making this movie so special. It didn't leap out at me.. if anything, Warner Bros. should do 'Man with the Football.' I thought it was an interesting twist on the Fugitive-type storyline by John Pogue. Oh and any news on Warner Bros. 'The Northmen'? IMDB says it's filming. It's the Viking version of Braveheart, I read that script a while back and it's another that didn't strike me as anything spectacular... c'mon Harry.. spill the beans.
-
The "Three Kings" trailer begins with a promising caper, screeches to a halt with slow motion "troubled" facial expressions and the Buffalo Springfield anthem that always reminds me of National Guardsmen shooting protesters at Kent State, and meanders to a "We can't save the world but we can save these people who're worth more than gold" ending. It seemed to be a heavy-handed dud to avoid at all costs but Harry's and Moriarty's reviews convinced me it may be worth catching on HBO next year; I'm still not buying a ticket or renting. P.S. TO DIRSIMM: I think a lot of regular readers notice what you cited but, for better or worse, that's Harry's conversational style of writing. I don't mind it but I hate when he doesn't proofread.
-
They're making a movie based on a short from the Simpson's featuring the late Geaorge C. Scott? Cool!
-
I saw this at an advance screening, and Harry's remarks are, for the most part, dead on. This promising story about the gulf War's impact upon the Iraqi people soon turns into a been-there-done-that story about abandoning personal greed in the interest of "fighting the good fight." Clooney, Ice Cube, Jonze, and Marky Mark (he will never live that down) were the surprising strong points in this film, along with about half of Russell's script (the non-schmaltzy, Coen-esque part). However, these were marred by ridiculous, self-indulgent directing (the slowed-down firefight in the village, followed by those ridiculous shots of Clooney and Ice Cube from below backed by time-elapse cloud footage, and the "visible-man" shots of Wahlberg's innards) and the cliche story. I could also live a long, happy life if I never had to sit through another "here's what happened to everybody afterwards" text-and-image epilogue.
-
I saw this at a free screening yesterday (which was done using a video projector for Chrissakes! ugh...)...it seems I'm the only one who appreciated the slo-mo shootout in the village. I mean, after Clooney schools the men on what a bullet does to your insides, I thought it very wise on Russel's part to show EVERY bullet being fired. On the whole, I agree with the very very good but not great ranking for this flick, and I will say this: you won't see too many better movies this year. This one really surprised me since the trailers were so bad. I did read Moriarty's review, BTW. And to those who have seen it (SPOILER WARNING) how about a cheer for Clooney becoming good ol' Dr. Ross in that one scene towards the end? Go Doug!
-
Listen, Kelly's Heroes has been my absolute favorite movie for, oh, the last 20 years and in all that time I've met maybe 5 people who've ever heard of it.
Two conclusions flow from this:
1) Everyone I've ever known is a moron.
or
2) Kelly's Heroes is a cult film which no major studio could possibily attempt to rip-off or use in a bait-and-switch marketing deal.
Having said that, the gold-renegade military angle of TK immediately made me think of KH. -
Of course Harry raves about Spike Jonze, or what ever his face is. Does he ever like the lead in any movie?
-
What trailer are you watching Harry? Download it and take a longer look. The moral delemma the "Kings" face is expressed in the last THIRD of the trailer and is also evident in the tv commercials.
-
I got to see this movie on Tues. and Harry's right about the best part: the cow. You all will love the cow. But there are moments of beauty that Harry didn't really talk about, points at which the movie slows down and presents the surreality (a word??) of the events going on. I don't know how to explain it, but there are some visuals that have stayed with me for almost a week and don't show any signs of leaving. I think this is a very well directed film.
-
you kind of went off in all sorts of directions with this one; well, first let me tell you... whereas the second premise is true the first... oh, but let me get back to what I was talking about... and as you can see it was really ok, and getting back to that other thing... Anyways, I'm not exactly complaining, but you went on like that for so long that by the end I had forgotten what movie the review was about. I guess the art of rambling has some qualities I'm not wise enough to recognize yet.
-
that's all I have to say about that.
-
....here in Toronto, and I loved it. Very entertaining but it definitely engages the brain too. Not simply the balls-out action/comedy one might think from the commercials. I hope it's a big hit--it deserves to be! I think word-of-mouth will be strong. Pay no mind to Harry's review. Just because this film may go in a number of directions, and confound your expectations at some points, is no reason to say that it is merely a bunch of "great moments." The characters are strong and believable throughout; the story sucks you in, and grabs hold until the end. It makes its points, not like a "sampling tray," but like side dishes, and without resorting to becoming a simple one-note morality tale or political polemic. Plays to your emotions of course, like all great movies do, but it's not manipulative. There are some innovative instances of camera work that serve the story and never seem gratuitous/gimmicky or out of place. Jeez, I'm beginning to sound like a shill for Warner Brothers, or a quote whore from the "Urban Radio Network," so I'll stop now. But I felt I had to counteract Harry's review. Not that any of you take his reviews seriously, I hope! I mean, he clearly loves the movies, but he should not be your first choice for critical analysis, to put it mildly. (And how about that recent Harvey Weinstein article--the first fellatio-via-web site I've ever witnessed, at least since the last time Harry mentioned Jim Cameron!) One reservation I have for the film is hard to relate without giving away details of the ending, so I'll just say that the morality of the protagonists' motivations and actions, specifically in terms of their, uh, 'timing,' is perhaps questionable. Or maybe that's just part of its confounding-of-expectations I mentioned earlier. Anyway, check out this fantastic film for sure!
--Jike Spingleton -
The trailer for this movie is terrible!!! Mark Wahlberg and that little sing song about "we three kings" is corny. I agree with narf, I don't think this movie will appeal to that wide of an audience. Too bad for Clooney, he has just about ridden his ER fame as far as he can....right into the ground. He hasn't had a genuine box office hit yet and I doubt he has one here. Dr. Ross as an army guy. Gee, decisions, decisions about what new movie to see this weekend. I think I'll take my nephew to that new Elmo flick!!!
-
Gotta go with Harry and Souldrum on this one. The movie has moments of greatness, but jumps around so much that they don't all have the impact that they should. There are ideas in this film that it should be hitting the audience over the head with (I'm not convinced Joe Average knows we trained and equipped the Iraquis, media manipulation, betrayl of the Iraqui people, etc), but often soft-pedals it, jumps to a joke, or quick-cuts to lessen the impact of the ideas. What it does do a great job of is being a comedy/action movie that also drives home the destructiveness of war. For every bomb exploding on CNN, widows and orphans were being created. I know this has been done well in many WWII and Nam movies but I think the impact is possibly greater here since there is less historical distance between the events, it happened during all of our lifetimes.
I don't hold the same affection for Spike Jonze's character, though. I found both he, and Jaime Kennedy to be mostly annoying. Give me the rednecks of Easy Rider, Deliverance, and even Gatorbait 2: Cajun Justice, any day. I really liked the movie, enjoyed most of the humor, and the stylized shootouts, but it never held me spellbound like American Beauty or The Iron Giant. And that's ok, not every movie has to be a "masterpiece", I'm just glad we seem to be in a period where the studio's are putting out more intelligent movies with even some subversive ideas. We've already had Rushmore, Election, Eyes Wide Shut, South Park, this one, and American Beauty, with only two short weeks until Fight Club. -
Harry: I may be wrong, but I have this feeling that the weekends' gross will prove you wrong about the campaign.
-
four guys in search of treasure avoiding a spitfire tv news amazon on a mission to find gold Saddam had stolen from Kuwait. Brilliant flashbacks of their daily grind tell you why they want the money. The simple mission to go in, get the gold and be back by lunchtime goes ruefully out of hand. It's in your face action, irony, a bunch of people thrown at a wierd situation but must decide their necessity. George Clooney shines as a superb action hero (we want him to play CIA stationhead Ben Dunne in our CASABLANCA riff, TANGELO), with terrific support from Mark Wahlberg, a man with a baby back home. The interrogation scene with the two men searching for the humanity they share is very powerful cinema. At times this movie plays like MASH jumped up a notch or two, and there's nothing wrong with that. What's truly incredible without giving too much away is that SAVING PRIVATE RYAN raised the bar on war movies, this first Gulf War movie easily jumps it. I expect to see Oscar noms for Clooney, original screenplay, director and cinematography. A great job guys. Humanity rippling through comedy.
Mr. Greenlight at www.greenlightscafe.com -
Lack of focus? Jumping around? Sounds a little like the experience of war. Sure, the Nora Dunn reporter character is a touch over the top, but that the ONLY misjudged note here. The rest of it is INCREDIBLE, confronting our current cynicism about death, humanity, and resposibility with amazing skill and humor, like The Road Warrior on smart pills. And these aren't easy choices that are being dealt with here. Splitting with the money or helping others go free...this gets to the heart of what being an American means. Sure, American Beauty tells us that the suburbs are full of uptights and wackos, and it seems profound...but the baddies are so caricatured that it's a rigged contest. Here, core attitudes are actually challenged. I'm a little disappointed that an achievement of this magnitude isn't getting more support here. This points the way toward a new era in action filmmaking--if not filmmaking in general.
-
Just saw this flick with the whole family tonight--Mom, Dan, baby bro and me and we all enjoyed it. It's a crowd pleaser. Imagine that...a movie with biting criticism about Desert Storm policy actually incorporates enough Hollywood traits (such as swelling music, satisfying conclusion) to be able to spit on the apple pie (let's call it a metaphor for government,) yet make you stand up afterwards feeling proud to be American. Kudos to the cast and to Mr. Russell. Its not an easy film...its a damn worthy one.
-
HEY HARRY, THIS IS MY FIRST TIME WRITING IN AND I LOVE YOUR WEBSITE. I JUST SAW 3 KINGS AND YOU'RE RIGHT SPIKE JONZE DOES STEAL THE MOVIE, BUT CLOONY WAS IN THE TENT AND CLOONY WAS ALSO GOOD IN THIS MOVIE. I HATE CLOONY BUT RUSSELL SOMEHOW GOT RID OF THE SHIT EATING GRIN CLOONY ALWAYS HAS, I HATE THAT GRIN, BUT THE MOVIE WAS GREAT IN ALL ASPECTS. GO SEE THIS MOVIE....NOW!!!!! HARRY FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!
-
To quote Harry:
Anyone who watched the preceding politics and the aftermath of the Gulf
War can really clearly see that the war was completely about economics
and not about -
Saw it today, thought it was a great film. it's not the best movie of the year - it on the same level IMHO as Clooney's last OUT OF SIGHT which says a lot because OOS is also a great movie.
I don't agree with most of the political BS that I have read on this film... to me it not an anti-Gulf War movie or anti-Bush. Its more morality play, do the leading actors go for personal fortune or personal conscience. Money or people.
9 out of 10. Four stars. Thumbs up. A solid A grade. -
Harry, I completely agree with you that the "Great Movie" about the not-so-great-Gulf War will be made from the Iraqi point of view. This, of course, will never happen. It really was the last possible angle for the Vietnam movie, never taken, the POV of the Vietnamese.... (Well, There was that treacly refugee story from O. Stone and that American cops team up with Viet Kong in da tunnels b-flick). It seems American filmakers are almost incapable of portraying "the enemy" without some kind of demonization. For my money, I thought 3K went a long way towards undermining that lousy tradition. For me, this was fantastic, ironic, moving, funny, thought provoking, cool, creative, all-at-the-same-time, film making. As fr "reality" and what was right /wrong about our involvement in the Gulf, well, I think we took the wrong turn in the early eighties when we started propping that two-bit fascist piece of shit Hussein up so he could fight our enemy, Iran. 1,000,000 young Iraqi and Iranian men lost their lives, many more mutilated. Politics are the enemy of the people.
-
I enjoyed the hell out of the film. I think it's truly one of the best action/war films in a very long time just on pure entertainment value alone. Not only is it funny and full of inventive action sequences, but it has a great message and may be cliche, but it just doesn't feel cliche somehow. I found myself relating greatly to the Kuwait people who were not simple stereotypes, especially the one who tortures Wahlberg. Definitely one of the most inventive, innovative and enjoyable films of the year. I disagree with you on this one Harry. I got more than my 8 bucks worth on 3K. I think it's very likely this will finish in my Top 5 of the year.
-
I saw Three Kings and I realy liked it - I would give it
*** 1/2 or an A-.
I don't understand why so many people disliked the trailer so much. The first time I saw the trailer it immediately became one of the movies of the season that I was most looking forward to.
-
I saw this movie yesterday and really liked it. It touched me deeply. The comedic elements blending into the drama made it a story with a message that you didn't really know you were getting yourself into when you decided to see this flick. I have to admit, when I saw the description of this film "Some soldiers try to steal gold that Iraq took from Kuwait at the end of the Gulf War" I was completely uninterested. This film was very good, however. You're cruising along with the story thinking that everything is okay when all of a sudden the film takes a left turn and sucker punches you. I found myself laughing and fighting back tears within a five minute period. I just finished Tom Clancy's "Every Man a Tiger" which is a discussion of the Gulf War from the perspective of General Tom Horner who organized the air combat portion of the war and was the top dog in Desert Shield before Schwartzkhoff went over. It gives a much clearer explanation of why we didn't go into Iraq. Mostly, the Iraqi's weren't the big pussies we were led to believe by the media, we didn't have the support of the Arab allies in the coalition and the preservation of that coalition was the only thing that made our participation a moral one instead of an American Big Brother deal, and we would have ended up with Vietnam in the desert if we had. This film makes it clear that we could have thrown guns and food into the country, but I think Bush and most of us really believed that Saddam was a demonic dictator that had all this people scared so that when we showed the Iraquis that Saddam wasn't all that with a bag of chips the majority of the Iraquis who were being oppressed would simply overthrow him. Unfortunately, they didn't. Only a few did and they got waxed due to the lack of support from their fellow countrymen. This is a great film. My political bent is such that I think the film improperly portrayed Bush as a villain for inciting the Iraquis to rebel. Movies and people in general tend to forget that you can only do what you can get away with. We can't free Tibet because the Chinese would kick our asses (not completely but enough to hurt forever), but we were able to take a stand on the massive murder and exportation of Kosovars because we were big enough to do so. Still, we didn't have a complete coalition and look where that's left us. So, you know, I'm just saying, see the movie.
-
One jerk off relates the Gulf War to a bout of bowel movement, that you forget in time. That
-
3 Queens
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 419 total posts 209 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 131 total posts 129 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 123 total posts 122 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 124 total posts 58 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 191 total posts 47 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 43 total posts 43 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 60 total posts 42 posts
- I am The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day! No, I’m the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day! -- 27 total posts 27 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 506 total posts 26 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 77 total posts 24 posts