Bang-Bang Podcast

• Part I: The Thin Red Line (1998) w/ Andrew Coville | Ep. 14

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.bangbangpod.comFew war films feel as sensuous, fractured, and unsettlingly beautiful as The Thin Red Line. Released the same year as Saving Private Ryan but standing in stark contrast to Spielberg’s unabashed Americanism, Terrence Malick’s adaptation of James Jones’ novel turns war into a meditation on nature, destruction, cosmos, self. Van and Lyle welcome Andrew Cov…

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• Part II: Three Kings (1999) w/ Kevin Fox | Ep. 13

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.bangbangpod.comThis is Part II of our coverage of Three Kings. Check out Part I here, or wherever you get podcasts. A madcap collage of American Berserk—that’s one way to describe David O. Russell’s Three Kings, and it’s exactly how Van, Lyle, and screenwriter Kevin Fox dive into it.This two-part episode (the second installment drops shortly) unpacks the film’s wild genre mash-up: comic book absurdities collide with nods to Star Wars and Apocalypse Now, all while a grim commentary on U.S. militarism and society simmers underneath. The group digs into how the film disorients viewers with slapstick humor and sudden, brutal violence—like Mark Wahlberg’s character, whose torture by an Iraqi soldier (grieving the loss of his son to an American bombing) flips the script on American power. When Wahlberg’s character feebly defends U.S. actions as “maintaining stability in the Middle East,” the soldier shoves a CD-ROM in his mouth—a searing metaphor for the imposition of U.S. hegemony.From cartoonish “United States of Freedom” patriotism to cow guts and milk truck explosions, Three Kings might not be the perfect vehicle for telling Americans—and all the privileged in the Global North—what they need to hear. But at times, it sure comes close.Further ReadingKevin’s Website“The Class of 1999: ‘Three Kings’,” by Matthew Goldenberg“Three Kings: neocolonial Arab representation,” by Lila Kitaeff“The Gulf War, Iraq and Western Liberalism,” by Peter Gowan“The Gulf War’s Afterlife: Dilemmas, Missed Opportunities, and the Post-Cold War Order Undone,” by Samuel HelfontThree Kings TrailerTeaser from the Episode

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• Part I: Three Kings (1999) w/ Kevin Fox | Ep. 12

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.bangbangpod.comA madcap collage of American Berserk—that’s one way to describe David O. Russell’s Three Kings, and it’s exactly how Van, Lyle, and screenwriter Kevin Fox dive into it. This two-part episode (the second installment drops shortly) unpacks the film’s wild genre mash-up: comic book absurdities collide with nods to Star Wars and Apocalypse Now, all while a grim commentary on U.S. militarism and society simmers underneath. The group digs into how the film disorients viewers with slapstick humor and sudden, brutal violence—like Mark Wahlberg’s character, whose torture by an Iraqi soldier (grieving the loss of his son to an American bombing) flips the script on American power. When Wahlberg’s character feebly defends U.S. actions as “maintaining stability in the Middle East,” the soldier shoves a CD-ROM in his mouth—a searing metaphor for the imposition of U.S. hegemony. From cartoonish “United States of Freedom” patriotism to cow guts and milk truck explosions, Three Kings might not be the perfect vehicle for telling Americans—and all the privileged in the Global North—what they need to hear. But at times, it sure comes close.Further ReadingKevin’s Website“The Class of 1999: ‘Three Kings’,” by Matthew Goldenberg“Three Kings: neocolonial Arab representation,” by Lila Kitaeff“The Gulf War, Iraq and Western Liberalism,” by Peter Gowan“The Gulf War’s Afterlife: Dilemmas, Missed Opportunities, and the Post-Cold War Order Undone,” by Samuel HelfontThree Kings TrailerTeaser from the Episode

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• Bonus Episode! Pistachio Wars (2024) w/ Rowan Wernham | Ep. 11

  Free bonus episode!If you’re like us, many terrible things have been front of mind lately: California wildfires, overdevelopment in unsuitable locales, billionaire corruption, and the climate crisis to name a few. Lucky for us that Rowan Wernham, the co-writer and director of a 2024 documentary called Pistachio Wars, joins us to talk about how all of that converges. You might not think of those issues as constituting war in the traditional sense, but they sure do amount to a class war, from above. And as we discuss in the episode, California’s favorite agricultural oligarchs actually do play a role in American militarism, especially toward Iran! Enjoy this special live crossover episode with The Un-Diplomatic Podcast and the Bang-Bang Podcast. Stream the film at home: https://www.pistachiowars.comLivestream of Our Episode: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bangbangpod.com/subscribe

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• Paths of Glory (1957) w/ Daniel Larison | Ep. 10

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.bangbangpod.comVan and Lyle kick off their first of many Kubrick features with a splendid and superb discussion of the auteur’s WW1-era classic, Paths of Glory. And in case you’re wondering why we describe the discussion in these terms, that’s because such language—in all its freakish loftiness—infuses the film from start to finish. French generals in chateaus sacrifice their men in the trenches while boasting about how they love “to create a pleasant atmosphere in which to work.” Frontline tours are peppered with patronizing commands to “be good to your rifle so that your rifle will be good to you,” just as this same high-level brass demean their troops as contaminants and scum. It isn’t long before the viewer realizes they’re watching a class war just as much as any other kind of war, and we bring on longtime antiwar critic Daniel Larison to make sense of the tension…as well as the not so understated satire that ensues.Further ReadingEunomia, Daniel’s newsletterCrashing the War Party, yet another newsletter and podcast hosted by Daniel and Kelley Vlahos“Paths of Glory: ‘We Have Met the Enemy…’ ,” by James NaremoreThe Casualty Gap, by Douglas Kriner and Francis ShenPaths of Glory TrailerTeaser From the Episode

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