War Dogs

Right off the bat the best part of this movie is the acting: Teller and Hill have great chemistry on screen. Jonah does a particularly good job at playing the "guy you love to hate". I can't attest to the faithfulness of their portrayal of the real life people since I don't know anything about them. The rest of the cast does a great job as well.

The marketing for this movie was, unfortunately, deceitful: the trailer made it out to be this upbeat, funny, over the top comedy - which it's not. In reality the movie has a much slower pace, not a lot of situational humor and is certainly not filled with hilarious quips (the bulk of which are in the trailer). This is not to say that the movie was bad or not at all funny, it just wasn't what I expected (and I am sure I'm not alone).

My final critique will go unnoticed for the majority of viewers but I found it personally offensive so I have to report it: some of the movie takes place in Albania, only the set for Albania is actually Romania. Which is fine, I understand that they probably did this for practical reasons and as a Romanian movie goer I just have to accept it (we all recognized it immediately though). However, at some point in the movie an "Albanian" woman says something, only she says it in Romanian. This may not seem like much but it totally took me out of the movie and ruined the experience for me. I find it completely unacceptable that they could not hire an Albanian to say those few lines. The two languages might seem interchangeable to the rest of the world, I am sure, but that was very much NOT the case for me and everyone else in the theater.

I am a paying movie goer as well and I expect to be just as entertained as everyone else. This is, of course, not the first time that I've seen this in a film. But when a producer does something like this it shows me that they don't respect their movie, so they can't expect me to.

My rating, however, is not based on this final bit of criticism. I gave it a 7/10 for slow pacing and lack of humor, which is the opposite of what I expected.

I'd still recommend it, just don't expect to be blown away.

After watching it for a second time I decided to change my original rating from 7/10 to 8/10, mainly because the acting is just great and I respect the fact that the movie made me think about it and made me want to see it again.

Similar tone to Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, It was a lot more serious than what I expected after seeing the trailer. It's not the first time I've seen either Miles Teller or Jonah Hill in something more dramatic, I just may have assumed their first real outing together in a movie would be more of a straight up comedy.

Semi based on a true story of two young guys from Miami who became arms dealers, Miles Teller narrates the story of how David Packouz teamed up with this best friend from the tenth grade, Efraim Diveroli and got in too over his head.

I was expecting more comedy from the two rather than just two young stars being entertaining. The movie is not disappointing with the team of Teller and Hill. If you are a fan of either one of these guys you are going to love the film.

Jonah Hill gives a performance that seem to be something between what he did in 21 Jump Street and the Wolf of Wall Street. The part just fits him so well as he plays a con man who tries to be everyone to everything on the outside but is really evil in the inside, and no matter how much you discover about his evil, Hill still makes the character likable.

But the likability is more met for Miles Teller, who Hill is supporting with greatness. Teller plays the sympathetic role of a man whose lost in his life at a time when his girl is about to have a baby, and he needs the money.

Director, Todd Phillips weaves a story about how people have profited from the war, and done bad things to profit from a bad war. It's almost like the Big Short, with it's explanation about how the arms game really works, but I always felt that the actual story was getting overshadow by the personalities of the two stars worthy of watching.

But overall, It is a very funny film and very entertaining, thanks to the Hill, Teller combo

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This film tells the story of a message therapist who goes broke because his business venture of selling luxury bed sheets does not work out. He is recruited by his childhood friend to make big money by bidding on military contracts.

"War Dogs" touches on a mysterious aspect of the world which is not often talked about. Therefore, the story is already intriguing, and I want to find out what happens to the two guys. What they do might seem questionable to some, and their subsequent success gives much food for thought. The ending makes you think and reflect on the fine line between right and wrong; and how people can get caught up in their successes. Another god aspect is that despite the subject matter, the story manages to be funny yet still remains dramatic enough to be taken seriously. I enjoyed watching it.

Hangover/Due Date director Todd Philipps makes a film base on the true story of young, entrepreneur gun-runners David Parkouz and Efraim Diveroli who managed to secure a ridiculous contract to supply arms to the afghan army via the pentagon.

Miles Teller plays the struggling and ambitious David who bumps into his childhood buddy Efraim played by Jonah Hill who is somewhat of the opposite, a loose cannon, fearless and a little trigger-happy. Now, Efraim has found himself a little niche in the market, the market of arms dealing and strikes up small deals with the US military. David needs a job to support his expecting girlfriend, the stunning Ana de Armas who looks a little like Penelope Cruz only more beautiful and has one of those exotic accents. Efraim sees an opportunity for David and the two team up to what leads to the deal of the century for all parties involved.

Now, the film has plenty of other film references most notably Scarface, even one of the promotional posters is a respectful nod to the DePalma/Pacino's film. But it's actually Lord of War Efraim is a huge fan of in real-life and it's probably more like Lord of War than Scarface, yet it has tinge of Pain & Gain, another crazy true story movie. Maybe it's Miami? But it has that vibrant and funny yet serious storytelling style that makes the film almost unbelievable and shocking.

The rest of the cast does include Bradley Cooper who also produced the film, playing the harden, borderline war-criminal, pretty much the Branson of the arms market and someone you don't really want to be messing with. There's Kevin Pollack playing the bankroll and an awesome cameo of venture capitalist playboy millionaire Dan Bilzerian.

It's accompanied by a great soundtrack with tracks from 50cent, Beastie Boys, Iggy Pop, UB40 and CCR but the awesome score threw me completely thinking it was Harry Gregson-Williams or Steve Jablonski, no, it was Cliff Martinez with those ambient sounds.

The film is highly entertaining, funny in parts but this is not a comedy; its perfectly paced with some great scenes like the duo gun-running across the triangle of death and some nice camera work. However it's not to epic portions, not that it should put anyone off watching this, it's still a very watchable and enjoyable film and I don't think they could have done it any better.

Running Time: 8 The Cast: 8 Performance: 8 Direction: 8 Story: 8 Script: 8 Creativity: 8 Soundtrack: 9 Job Description: 8 The Extra Bonus Points: 5 for a slick story, good editing and a great score/soundtrack to boot.

78% 8/10

The story is eye opening, relevant and very clearly told with a humorous tone through the serious subject matter. This is based on a true story with some fictionalized elements to make it entertaining. A massage therapist links up with a childhood friend who is a small time arms dealer. Very interesting to get a look at the legal but morally questionable world of arms dealing. I thought this would be a juvenile buddy movie with a bit of war thrown in but it isn't.

Jonah Hill has some funny lines and he does a great job with the over the top character but he can be subtly sinister when he needs to be. Miles Teller plays his character sympathetically and I liked him here. Quite different from the rather annoying characters he usually plays. Bradley Cooper who produced the movie and has a small but pivotal role and he is effective as an arms dealer.

Quite a transporting experience as the action takes you from Miami to Jordan and Iraq with some funny situations there and Albania.

Watch this movie. It deserves to do better than it has so far.