![]() For tonight’s pairing, I grabbed a bottle of MacLeod Ale Brewing’s The King’s Taxes. Not the cubes you put in hot water to make soup.Īnd with our liberated Kuwaiti gold, it’s time to pay our taxes. But overall I really do like this movie, but you can definitely tell that it was a learning experience for David O. I also found the film’s ‘where are they now?!’ ending to be a little cheesy but that’s fine, you’re entitled to do that, I guess. ![]() This visual inconsistency, and stop-start pacing detracts from an otherwise solid film carried by solid performances (is Clooney ever bad?). Highly styled, blurred slow-motion combined with the overuse of whip pans is intended to convey the chaos of a gunfight, but mostly I found the formalism to be intrusive and distracting. And within sequences, the visual language also varies dramatically. The narrative goes through big, tonal swings from comedy to heartbreak to action and the pacing of those moments varies wildly, as if stitched together. Russell’s brand of quick-wit/dumb people humor but the visuals of the film are that of someone still figuring out their style. The writing and acting is very much David O. Most of the politics are background noise against the human drama, but the film does reserve some time to relay the profound message of ‘what the hell are we doing here?’Īnd while the film’s political message is commendable, the most interesting part of the film is its presentation. The film quickly tacks away from the simple premise as our heroes stumble into the quagmire of local politics, pitting soldiers against civilians against the American military against Saudi/Iranian interests. With an impressive cast including, but not limited to, George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, (weird, right?), Judy Greer and a young Alia Shawket (weird, right?), we follow four soldiers on their quest to “liberate’ Saddam-stolen Kuwaiti gold. In 1999, David O’ Russell (of Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle fame) released Three Kings, a bizarre humanitarian heist movie set against the closure of First Gulf War (remember when there was only one?). Kings, gold, taxes and beer: it’s almost like I planned this pairing. ![]() We’re watching the 1999 film Three Kings and sipping on MacLeod’s The King’s Taxes. Grab your gold and a beer because today’s BAAM is all about paying bills (or collecting, if you a king I guess). ![]()
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