I rented it last night. As a fan of frenetic film, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and thought the use of light and color was genius. Any thoughts? The director was David O. Rusell, who has only directed three other films, the wierd incest movie “Spanking the Monkey” and something called “Flirting with Disaster” that I haven’t seen, but has good IMDB ratings. Any thoughts? DOES Infinity make a convertable?
I thought it was really good but the ending was a complete cop-out and seemed rushed. I saw Flirting With Disaster (but not STM) which is entertaining but not really funny- expect to chuckle but not laugh out loud.
I’ve never seen an Infiniti convertable but that don’t mean there ain’t one.
SO and I saw it about 3 weeks ago. We thought it was amazing - the colors, the cinematography, the acting. I think it gave a pretty interesting view of war, with them starting out as basically muscle-clad mercenaries in search of wealth and then being struck by the people who actually have to live in the towns beseiged by the war.
On a completely different topic, my boss once sent out an email calling for the “Spanking the Monkey” test on the software we were writing. There was much giggling and hush hush conversation in the hallways while we considered the idea that he had no idea what “Spanking the Monkey” referred to. Finally, one person approached him, and sure enough, he had never heard that it was a euphemism for masturbation. It boggles me that such people exist.
I thought the movie was great. I had heard many good reviews, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was also refreshing to see Ice Cube broaden his horizons by not playing his typical “gangsta thug”.
Three Kings was a great film, one of my favorite of last year. The acting was excellent, it had a good story, and the dialogue was fun and interesting.
Flirting With Disaster did make me laugh, alot. Thats the first movie I saw Ben Stiller in, after loving him in his television show. It was so out surprising and unexpected the whole movie was funny. I loved it.
Spanking with the Monkey was good, but in my opinion not as good as the other two. It did have some deep themes, and at the same time alot of funny lines. “What’s ya doing?” “Killing my Mom” “C’mon, you need to get out!”
David O. Russel is a sign of quality for me. I have enjoyed all three of his films and I hope he continues to make such great movies.
pat
When we rented it, I fully expected to ask the age-old question about why some musicians try to make the leap onto the big screen. I was pleasantly surprised and had to remind my husband that the same guy in the hilarious FatBoySlim video was the dorky kid in the movie.
Did see STM awhile back. Yes, very odd, but interesting.
I loved it. Being a lefty, of course, I thought it was great how Clooney laid it out about how Bush left the Kurds and the Sunnis out to dry after the war. Overall the movie was well-made - Mrs. O loved it too. Big fat coupla thumbs up from us both.
I think the ending was perfectly logical given the kind of things Ice Cube, Clooney, and Wahlberg’s characters found out about the whole situation - life was absolute shit, it was going to get worse, and they had a chance to make things a little easier for some of the people they ran across. What was really powerful for me was the way Wahlberg embraced one of the rebels right after coming out of the torture session.
I agree with Mojo. It started out very rebellious and thoughtful, and got progressively more Hollywood as time went on. The tone was very inconsistent, which works sometimes and fails sometimes. I’d say it sort of worked this time. The bit with convincing Iraqi soldier that Saddam was coming to kill them because they had failed him seemed like something out of Kelly’s Heroes. There was also the serious stuff with Marky Mark getting tormented by the taciturn Iraqis. On the whole, a bumpy ride.
Didn’t see Spanking the Monkey. Sounds too icky to be worthwhile.
I saw Flirting with Disaster and I loved it. A friend of mine calls it “emotional slapstick”. I especially liked the couple who worked for the Bureau of Tobacco, Tobacco, and Tobacco. Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin! Patricia Arquette playing a frumpy housewife! Everybody was great.
great movie, all three of my thumbs up. (woops, tee-hee.)
actually, i found it very realistic as far as their portrayal of the reservists and guard, and the way the army operates. yes, it’s quite pathetic sometimes. but the movie showed it how it is. Applaud to clooney and wahlberg. good job.
I thought it was the best movie I saw last year. Strong characters and great story, and the theme that greed ain’t good was sorely needed. Certainly the definitive Gulf War movie. 
It was criminally overlooked at Oscar time.
I found Flirting with Disaster good, but a bit uneven.
Best actor award to whoever played the illiterate redneck. Many of the shots were constructed in amazing ways. Kelly’s Heroes for today’s generation? Excellent entertainment, but nothing more.
For me, Three Kings is one of the ten best films of 1999. Check out the details on my site (address in sig). The DVD has tons of great stuff, for those of you with videophilic inclinations.
I agree it was criminally overlooked at the Oscars, but as is constantly repeated by me and many others, quality has nothing to do with Oscar performance. The best film of 1998, Festen, wasn’t nominated for a thing.
BTW, the illiterate redneck was played by Spike Jonze, who directed another of the ten best films of 1999, Being John Malkovich.
Mr. Ujest and I saw it last summer. We gave it four big thumbs up because of many factors: excellent editing, good acting, gave both sides of the proverbial coin, humor was good and it was well paced.
Having never endured a gangsta flick in my life, I wouldn’t have known Ice T from a Snapple. When the credits rolled by, and I saw who he was, I was pleasantly surprised.
The ending did seem a little to Hollywoodish, but how else are you going to end it?
I also liked the fact that the characters had real jobs (carpet salesman) in the real world, nothing huge.
My only pet peeve was that with Clooney’s character, he was special forces. He didn’t do anything, other than the black light (or whatever) thing to read the map. I fully expected to see some more razmataz kung fu stuff.