War Dogs (Film)
How did two twentysomethings get into the business of selling arms to the U.S. government? ‘War Dogs’ tells this story.
Based on the Rolling Stone article ‘Arms and the Dudes’ by Guy Lawson, Miles Teller and Jonas Hill play David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli. Packouz is a massage therapist, constantly being sexually harassed by his very wealthy male clients. He also sells expensive high quality bed sheets to old age homes but he’s told they don’t want to buy them because it would be like wrapping a lizard in very nice bedsheets. But when he runs into long lost friend Diveroli at a funeral, his life takes a dramatic turn. Living with his girlfriend Iz (Ana de Armas) in a cramped flat, Packouz takes up the opportunity to work at Diveroli’s company – AEY Inc. to make more money. It’s a company Diveroli set up to sell weapons to the U.S. government, with silent partner dry cleaner owner Ralph Slutzky (Kevin Pollack). AEY is initially tasked with obtaining beretta guns for a general in the thick of the Iraq war. When the italian-made guns can’t be transported directly into Iraq, it’s up to the Packouz and Diveroli to drive the truck to Iraq via Jordan, and that’s exactly what they do, risking their lives for a $2.8 million payoff. They then discover that the U.S. government has what seems like billions of dollars to give out to companies just like theirs in order to procure weapons, and all bids listed on a government website.
With a lot of cash now in hand, and with fabulous new properties they’ve bought (plus a new baby girl for Packouz and Iz), AEY decides to expand their business. They head to Las Vegas for Vegas X, a comicon-like convention with grenades and not comics. This is where they meet Henry Girard (a very good and subdued Bradley Cooper), who puts them in contact with the Albanian government to help them obtain ammunition to arm the Afghan military (money which the U.S. Government will pay. Their $300 million bid is amazingly accepted by the military generals but they tell them that their bid was $50 million less than the lowest bid. The men carry out the order, not realizing until too late that the ammunition the Albanian authorities are selling them are actually Chinese, which they re-brand and re-package (illegal). Diveroli’s greed and his and Packouz’s crumbling relationship gets the best of them, and it all comes down to not if they will be caught, but when.
While ‘War Dogs’ is a very good film, reminiscent of a Martin Scorcese movie, though not all of what you see in this film actually happened. In the beginning we’re told that ‘War Dogs’ is ‘based on a true story,’ so several events in the film didn’t actually take place (driving the truck from Jordan to Iraq.) Directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and produced by Phillips and Cooper, ‘War Dogs’ succeeds, however, in the performances of both of it’s leads (though neither one of them look in their 20’s and Hill is quite chunkier than usual), and the film’s script is clever and witty. ‘War Dogs’ also has an excellent movie soundtrack, with songs by The Who, Pink Floyd and House of Pain, carrying the spirit of a 1990’s Scorcese gangster film. If ‘War Dogs’ were a fictionalized film, then it would’ve been fine the way it is. But there’s no reason why the filmmakers couldn’t have just stuck to the real version of events of these two very young arms dealer – it would’ve made for a more compelling and very realistic tale.
The nominations for the 86th annual Academy Awards – also know as the Oscars – were announced today in Hollywood.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts have announced the nominees for the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA’s). Gravity leads the way with 11 nominations, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Director for Alfonso Cuaron, and Leading Actress for Sandra Bullock. 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle are right behind Gravity with 10 nominations each. 12 Years a Slave has nominations for Best Film, Director for Steve McQueen, Chiwetel Ejiofor for Leading Actor, Michael Fassbender for Supporting Actor and Lupita Nyong’o for Supporting Actress. American Hustle is also nominated for Best Film and Director, for David O. Russell. It also has acting nominations in each acting category, including Christian Bale for Leading Actor, Amy Adams for Leading Actress, Bradley Cooper for Supporting Actor and Jennifer Lawrence for Supporting Actress. Captain Phillips has 9 nominations, including Best Film, Director for Paul Greengrass, Tom Hanks for Leading Actor and newcomer Barkhad Barki for Supporting Actor. The winners will be announced in a ceremony to be held on Sunday February 16th at London’s Royal Opera House.
