three kings

Destroying a helicopter using an American football laced with c4 was a work of true genius.

The camera work with the bullets flying was great too.

Unfortunately I also agree with all of you.

Certainly I like its viewpoint and the points it makes about the Gulf War, but I think there was too much romp - leaving us with a ludicrous ending which I think could have been a lot harder hitting and therefore possibly more effective. Having Spike Jonze's character as the only one that dies is a pity because it is almost as if his ignorance (he's the stupid character after all) is what doomed him to dying. Generally I found Ice Cube's character pretty superfluous - he's there to illustrate one point (the sand nigger jokes) and beyond that not much else.

Its a good movie, but I think it played a wee bit too safe in places. And the title is terrible. It tips the wink that Jonze is going to get it from start.

It doesn't until after he dies. Three kings = how Jonze refers to himself, Wahlburg, and Ice Cube in the very beginning of the film. More than once! George Clooney wasn't included in it.

Anyhow, I love that movie, George Clooney is the bomb.

Say what you will about Clooney, but he's alright in my book.

Flirting With Disaster is a magnificent movie - the best screwball comedy of the nineties.

Wheeler, you are drunk.

Current political climate as reason for liking the film: Dud, I guess, but it's a good excuse for people who haven't seen it to do so.

Tom's sum-up upthread - "an action romp with essentially liberal undertones" - Classic, and I'll use that as my hook when getting people to watch it.

Only Dud part of the movie for me, now, is Jamie Kennedy, not because he sucks in it but because I can't see him any more without thinking of him as "The Jamie Kennedy Experience."

Neither really... But it's still too early to tell.

I liked Three Kings back when it was released and I think I like it a little bit more now. I've been meaning to check out the DVD for the extras.

Oh, and for folks interested in the current NYT article, it's here.

So is there going to be a sequel to correct that happy ending?

we sent one out on his bike, to the video store, and he had trouble crossing police lines around protester lines in the middle of roads, etc.

I like it a lot and have seen it lots of times as it was one of the few films I had with me in the czech republic for four months.

BTW Blount is OTM re: Kelly's Heroes - which is still one of my favorites - KH needs a journalist chick though

George Clooney = totally rad. Did you know he tried out for the Reds at one point? He talked about it with (ugh) Bob Costas in a HBO Real Sports interview last year.

I get the feeling that David O Russell would be hard to work with (he's an "auteur" and all that that entails). Spanking the Monkey was terrible, though Flirting With Disaster had its moments. (he did those, right?)

I have a 100% true, juicy-as-Hi-C story on Georgie which would disprove the ever-likelihood of this proposition, but I'm not going to post it on here; I think I've already discussed it at length in some Ilxaim chat.

Elvis, Bobby Rahal and Budweiser.

= the greatest blurb ever!

Warner Brothers has decided not to distribute the director David O. Russell's new antiwar documentary when it re-releases his 1999 Gulf War movie, "Three Kings," this fall, judging it "totally inappropriate" to do so in a political season, a studio spokeswoman said.

This movie is evergreen.

i wish spike jonze acted more, he's really good in this

is the 'Method Acting with Ice Cube' thing on the DVD as great as I hear it is?
― James Blount (James Blount), Monday, April 7, 2003 1:26 PM (fourteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it really is, james. you totally need to see it.
― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, April 7, 2003 2:08 PM (fourteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol I will still vouch for this.. there's a companion piece to it on the being john malkovitch dvd which is basically spike jonez throwing up

it's kind of a trip to realize what a gamble it was to cast Spike in this ($42M then, now $65M) budget film, you have to remember this was pre-Malkovich & pre-Jackass. At the time he was known mainly for directing skateboarding videos (esp. Video Days, one of the best skate videos ever) & music videos ("100%", "Cannonball", "Buddy Holly", "Sabotage", "Da Funk", etc.)

But here he was doing a legitimate stretch acting role in his Hollywood debut, and I'm pretty sure he did his own stunt when his car gets blown up.

There were probably lots of gen x cusps who didn't realize it was Spike in the "Praise You" video or who didn't really care either way. But by that point in history I figured he was kind of a counter culture celebrity.