Embark on a gripping journey through the sands of Iraq with us as we bid a poignant goodbye to our TV series reviews, starting with the unflinching "Generation Kill." Natey & Katy dissect the series' raw depiction of the early stages of the Iraq War, scrutinizing the soldiers' varied perspectives and the weight of their mission. As we prepare to pivot our gaze back to the allure of the silver screen, we tease a bittersweet shift in our show's direction that's sure to spark curiosity and anticipation.
As Oscar season approaches, we couldn't resist sharing our predictions and thoughts on the nominees, especially the buzz around "Poor Things." This episode is not just a review—it's a reflection on the military narrative, challenging the portrayal of soldiers and the unexpected lack of character demise that subverted our dramatic expectations. We rate "Generation Kill" for its stark and palatable narrative, straddling the line between raw authenticity and accessibility. Remember, we're eager to hear from you—send your film suggestions our way and join us for the next cinematic chapter.
Embark on a gripping journey through the sands of Iraq with us as we bid a poignant goodbye to our TV series reviews, starting with the unflinching "Generation Kill." Natey & Katy dissect the series' raw depiction of the early stages of the Iraq War, scrutinizing the soldiers' varied perspectives and the weight of their mission. As we prepare to pivot our gaze back to the allure of the silver screen, we tease a bittersweet shift in our show's direction that's sure to spark curiosity and anticipation.
As Oscar season approaches, we couldn't resist sharing our predictions and thoughts on the nominees, especially the buzz around "Poor Things." This episode is not just a review—it's a reflection on the military narrative, challenging the portrayal of soldiers and the unexpected lack of character demise that subverted our dramatic expectations. We rate "Generation Kill" for its stark and palatable narrative, straddling the line between raw authenticity and accessibility. Remember, we're eager to hear from you—send your film suggestions our way and join us for the next cinematic chapter.
One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough Together. Fun will be had by all. This is Nadia and Katie at the Movies.
Speaker 2:This is your host, nadia and Katie coming at you live from Fayetteville, north Carolina. We're just about to talk about a great show that we just watched, and then question our political ideology called.
Speaker 3:Generation Kill. I'm your host, Nathan AKA Nadia, of course, and with me, as always, is my good friend Katie. Hi Katie, how are you?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm great. I'm just sitting next to my hubby. We're eating some dessert, and Scott actually watched some of this with me and the parts he didn't watch he had to listen to me talk about.
Speaker 3:That's right. We're talking about Generation Kill and before we get into even the synopsis, I wanted to let everybody know, if you're not following our social media, that this will be our last TV show that we will be reviewing. Katie and I discussed and we thought at first oh man, this would be a great idea to go movie and TV, but then we realized that watching a bunch of episodes is a really big task. So we're going to stick with the movies. We already have a list planned. Don't worry, we'll always let you know where you can stream the movies we're going to watch. And at the end of the episode I have another sad announcement which, again, if you follow us on social media, you already know this, but it pertains to what we're going to be reviewing the next episode. But before we can get to any of that, I have to go over the synopsis.
Speaker 3:So Generation Kill is about a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with the first recon Marines has. He chronicles his experiences during the first wave of the American lead assault on Baghdad in 2003. Generation Kill stars Alexander Skarsgard, james Ranson, lee Turgan, john Heretis. This one of the shows where I'm watching and I'm like I know these actors from somewhere and I was correct. So Lee Turgan was actually from Wayne's World. He plays Terry. And then John Heretis is Miguel from this Is Us. If you've ever watched that TV show, he is from that show. So yeah, those are just random tidbits from Generation Kill before we dive into our thoughts.
Speaker 2:Also Nathan. I want to add in that there's a guy named Rudy who plays Rudy himself. It wasn't until I did some research after that. That actor he's kind of the eccentric one. He's always shirtless and really buff. He kind of looks like Rambo and the guys make fun of him a lot for kind of being a pretty boy. He played himself, which is really funny to think about because he's such an eccentric guy.
Speaker 3:I think the most famous guy is Alexander Skarsgard, who is related to two other famous actors whose names I can't think of. I know one of them has been in the Marvel movies he plays like the professor in the Thor movies. And then his brother, bill Skarsgard, I believe, is Pennywise from the newest it movies. So he comes from a family of actors, so that was interesting to see as well.
Speaker 3:This show is about the Iraq war, the attack on Baghdad, taking down Saddam Hussein and all that fun stuff that takes place during that time. This show obviously has a political slant to it. It kind of shows the effects of the war. Some of the guys in this group are kind of getting like restless because they want to basically go in and kill the enemy and take names and kick butts, and so the show basically shows like different aspects of this group those that are 100% for the mission, no matter what, and then those that see what's going on and start questioning the reasons why they're there, the motives why they're there and again, like I said, it kind of does have a political slant to it questioning the war. What was the purpose of the war? And having the Rolling Stone reporter there also kind of solidifies like WMDs, where they actually there or not.
Speaker 2:And if they weren't, then Weapons of mass destruction, aka oil.
Speaker 3:That's right. And if we can go in there and we can get some oil, I'm all hunky dory, you know.
Speaker 2:I'm saying no, I think you're spot on today, but and I appreciate, I mean I wouldn't say that it was a major leaning I think I honestly felt like they did a great job. I'm assuming a lot of these guys are not very, very liberal and I watched tons of interviews of the real life people this is based on, which we didn't say that. I mean this is based on actually a real, true story. There was a Rolling Stones reporter that joined this group. All the characters are based on real people.
Speaker 2:A lot of the dialogue is close to verbatim things, but all these guys in their interviews said that they supported the way the show is portrayed. But they agreed that yes, like you said, maybe it leaned a little more towards Showing some of the dark side of war. But, that being said, at least they're not being secretive about it, right, like they even make jokes a lot in the show of. They call him, like this liberal reporter oh, we know. Oh, go ahead and take. They passed by a child that's been killed and he's like taking pictures and like oh, of course you're taking pictures of that.
Speaker 3:Obviously, the media has their own spin on things and they do tend to only show the negative sides of almost every single story that's out there. And so, yeah, I think they did do a good job at showing that. That's basically what he was there to do. And what was cool about it is that you did see that he kind of had like that bonding experience with the group and he got to see both sides of it. You know, yes, he probably did still leave saying that this war was pointless and all that stuff, but he saw how passionate they were about it and that they were there to do what they believe that they were sent to do and they wanted to do more. And that's that's what went to like they're frustrated when they would be put on a mission and then they would be pulled from that mission unannounced.
Speaker 3:But let's just go to our likes and dislikes. I think we could talk about what we thought the plot was for the show for hours and hours and hours. What were our likes and dislikes? I only had one like and one dislike. I'll let you go first, katie, just in case you have more to say than I do.
Speaker 2:Well, and Scott, if you want to chime in Scott watched one of the episodes with me, the first one. We both were really big fans of Banda Brothers and that's actually where since we're not gonna watch the TV shows anymore, I will say that was ranked number four on the list of best TV shows of all time, and so to me, I thought the show was a very close resemblance to Banda Brothers, but for more modern time, where again you're having what very, very much mimics a glimpse into what these people deal with on a daily basis. The way it was shot felt very like in real time. You feel like you're in there with the guys. You're one of the people in their story and I really, really appreciated that. I liked that. It did make it slow sometimes because of it being filmed that way, but it kept you in the action. I was like all my toes constantly, so that was definitely a positive, I have to give. I know you, so we talked about the plot a lot, but that was one of my biggest positives. I love when people choose good stories to tell and I felt like this was a very thought-provoking Show and I felt, like Scott and I talked about, like it started really good conversations for us at home, just talking about war and soldiers and what it would be like and opening people's eyes Up to what these guys deal with. So I really really like that and I love how dynamic they made the characters.
Speaker 2:Again, we're not making characters, is real life but I love how they portrayed them. So you hear them all. They're all pretty self-aware. So you've got these like super racist these guys. I mean that might be a negative later, but there's constantly like sexist jokes and racist jokes and there's horrible each other. They're saying all this crazy craft stuff and talking about killing.
Speaker 2:But then there's other side with they're saying like yeah, but like first of all, we kind of make these jokes because we're just family, like we're all friends, like I would. You know, even though I'm saying all this like racist stuff, like I would die, I would like throw myself in front of a bullet for this guy. That's the different race than me, even though I'm. We're ragged on each other. So seeing that side and then also see them highlight the fact that we're over here at RPG white, white picket fences judging the militia. You know the stereotypical military guy. You know who's crass and Hair bull and racist and wants to do things, and they're they're looking at us like, yeah, but we're the ones that are keeping you safe at night, and you guys would never put yourselves out here and you would never die for someone the way we would, and I really appreciated that, because I think society is very judgmental towards those people in that position, and so To me, it would be important to watch this, because it would open your eyes up.
Speaker 3:So so you're the type of person who thinks it's okay to like yell in someone's face and and say things to someone because of the relationship they have with each other, and it's not necessarily a sign of disrespect and that people might hound about someone like pushing and elderly, probably someone who's like a little older than them, and yelling in their face and acting like a child, but it's okay if they do that because of the relationship that they have. Is that what you're trying to say?
Speaker 2:I'm gonna tell you right now that Travis Kelsey and Andy Reed are perfectly fine in my book. I don't condone the behavior, but I definitely don't agree with people who are ragging on the guy, because we all make mistakes.
Speaker 3:Katie, what are you talking about? I'm just talking about the show and the stuff that they say wow.
Speaker 2:On that note, nathan, you're talking about respect and how you treat maybe your superior. I was watching all these interviews of the guys and they were sitting there in a room talking with the real reporter there. One big critique that they said that they didn't like about the show was that it made the officers look bad sometimes. It constantly showed this. They don't know what they're talking about. We don't trust them. Why are they making these dumb calls? They did come back on that and say we didn't appreciate the way they're portrayed. We really do feel like you can trust our military. Of course, there were some people questioning stuff sometimes, but they felt like that was a little overdramatized.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that was definitely trying to do the political slant that we talked about previously. My biggest like with almost everything I watch is the acting. I think, like you said, the characters were portrayed really well, obviously based on real people. I would hope that if you're playing a real person, you would, number one, obviously do your research and you would want to play that person as close to the actual person as possible. I thought the relationships were very well shown. The characters were very well done, very fleshed out, very like you started caring about them. Like you said, there were moments that, like, I was almost literally on the edge of my seat and I wanted to watch what happened next in the next episode. If a show can do that for me and I don't fall asleep during it, then awesome blossom. That's what this show was to me.
Speaker 3:Let's go to our dislikes. I think you mentioned maybe a little bit of yours. My biggest dislike which isn't really a surprise in the context of the type of show that we're watching but it was the language. I'm okay with language to a certain extent, but even I was like, okay, this is a little much, but again, from what I know of the military, that's probably how they talk to each other almost 24-7. I don't think it was an exaggeration, but still at the same time I was like, okay, it kind of took me out of it at times, but that would be my biggest dislike.
Speaker 3:Overall, I thought the show was very well done. It showed us I think we mentioned this before it did a good job at showing us both sides of the war change their perspectives and I think they did a really good job at the end showing that when there's a Marine who is filming everything and then they all gather together to watch the film and slowly, one by one, they all walk away from it, and some of them obviously are walking away from it to do other things. But you can see on some of their faces they're like this is, I mean, it's the cruelty of war and what they went through and what they observed, and I thought it was a really good way to end the show. Did you have any other dislikes about the show?
Speaker 2:I had a few dislikes, for sure, even though I really really did like the show and, to your point, I really did like that ending. And I think again, there's so many of my thoughts like the show was so good, but I have so much to talk about and think about which we won't share all year, but it just really makes you think a lot about our military and about war. We have a huge war happening right now. We have multiple wars going on in the world, but seeing the civilian casualties and seeing like just the gruesome and the sadness and of course these soldiers are unfortunately part of the civilian casualties, but it's not like they're enjoying it, like it's a horrible thing and their question themselves. And so for me sorry, this is still to go positive For me I just really appreciated getting into the mind of these guys to say like no, I don't really want to see violence of a kid, like they definitely didn't shy away from that.
Speaker 2:They showed like a little kid, like a dead kid with his legs blown off, like there's plenty of dead civilians and the cruelties of war, but on the other hand, you got to be a little bit messed up to like be able to kill. So in some ways the military sort of uses these guys and it really makes you understand when we have, when we talk about taking care of our veterans, like taking, how do you come back from that and try to live a normal life? So I really liked that. But to go on my negatives, this is so bad and Scott, I kept telling Scott, oh, wait till the end, cause it'll get really good. I was expecting someone to die.
Speaker 2:I know that's a really bad negative, but like I just felt like it was this build up, build up, anxious, anxiety, anxiety, anxiety. And then like no one got even really that hurt, like I think a guy got his foot hurt, but to me I wanted a little more drama, I wanted somebody to get hurt. So that was a disappointment. And again, I think the only other negative for me, nathan, is, like you said, there's just so much language. It's not a negative of the show, it's just I don't like hearing it, cause I do think if you're a military guy watching this, you would be laughing and be like oh yeah, like you know, I get all those jokes or all that sounds like something I'd say, but I don't. It's not like I like to hear constant sexual jokes and like sexist jokes and they're like there's one part where they see a female soldier and they're all just like being so nasty towards her and you're like, oh, this is awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it makes you wonder if those guys appreciated, like Marines being shown as misogynistic and extremely racist and all that stuff. Like. Were they like hey, okay, we may say some of that stuff, but we're not that, we're not that bad.
Speaker 2:It's just locker room talk. You know, it's not really, don't really mean it, it's just locker room talk.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is how guys talk to each other, apparently, so that that is Generation Kill. I thought we both thought it was a very well done show.
Speaker 2:My final thought on it, too, is I think that they did an incredible job of making it palatable for someone like me who's not military but still raw enough that military guys would appreciate it, and I think they balanced that really well. Like I think that you could and I watched some interviews too where they talked about that like we want this to be a show where guys in the military experiencing this are not gonna make fun of it Like they will be. Like yes, this is accurate.
Speaker 3:It really was a really well done show. So let's go ahead and rate this thing. Katie, I'll let you go first. One out of six stars. What would you give our last TV show of this season, generation Kill?
Speaker 2:It's no Band of Brothers because I didn't leave it feeling inspired, but I was thinking about it a lot and I've talked to a lot of people about it, so I'm gonna give it a five and a half, which is pretty high.
Speaker 3:Well, now I feel bad about my score because it was a good show. It did a good job portraying war and the effects of it and the different perspectives of characters that they had like the ones that it really enjoyed killing and the ones that started second guessing why they were there and just really really good characters. So I'm actually gonna bump up my score from what I originally was gonna give it and I'm gonna give it a five out of six stars, because I was gonna give it a slightly lower. But you made me change my mind, katie. It's like a first that Katie made me change my mind about my score.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, well, and you know, it's like you said, not only do I not fall asleep, but I found myself binge watching it, and I think that's a good sign.
Speaker 3:So we're moving on from TV shows. Sadly, I know some of our listeners are probably really sad about that, I don't know. And we're going to go straight back to the movies. Unfortunately, our movie that we were going to end February with it Happened One Night the classic Clark Gable movie is not available on any streaming services. I thought it was. I'm sorry. I'm really sad, because I was looking forward to watching it, but we're going to go to our next movie on our list and that is what you're about to listen to right now.
Speaker 1:Sorry I'm late. We didn't ever think you'd leave. Ole Miss it does take four years. Jolene, I got a job today writing for the Jackson Journal. Great, you can write my old picture where it's all it's feeling Dad, her daughter still single. Does this dress look like I made it? I recommend you finish it warm. Thank you.
Speaker 2:She looks like the winning horse at the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 1:I have drafted the Home Health Sanitation Initiative, the. What A bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom. For the help, maybe we should just build you a bathroom outside. Hailey, minnie, hey, abelie, hey, minnie, uh-huh, these women raise white children. We love them and they love us, but they can't even use the toilets in our houses. Minnie, are you in there? You are fired.
Speaker 3:You said you'd write about what disturbs me, particularly if it bothers no one else. I'd like to write something from the point of view of the health.
Speaker 1:I want to interview you. No maid is ever going to tell you the truth. That's a hell of a risk to take in Jackson Mississippi. Courage isn't just about being brave. It's about overcoming fear and daring to do what is right for your fellow man. What changed your mind? God and Miss Hailey Holbrook, I'm gonna help with your stories. We all are. Y'all brought me into this, but I'm gonna finish it. Have you lost your mind? No, ma'am, but you brought to you.
Speaker 2:It's quite scandalous. It sounds like Jackson, if you ask me.
Speaker 1:You tell Aberlein, do I have plans for her?
Speaker 2:You are Godless woman. You're going every day. Now You're gonna wake up.
Speaker 1:You're gonna try much more. We're going done it now.
Speaker 3:That's right. We're going to be watching the Help, starring Emma Stone, viola Davis and a plethora of other fantastic actors and actresses. I'm looking forward to talking about this movie. I think this is a movie that Katie and I have both seen before, so we're gonna be rewatching it, and I'm just gonna tell you right now I already watched it and I'm excited about talking about it because it's a great movie.
Speaker 2:Watch Poor Things for our Oscar episode, so it'll be funny having just seen that version of a stone and then coming back to like very, very early on Emma Stone. I'm excited and it's actually convenient, nathan, because happy celebrating National Holiday, black History Month, so I'll be excited to end our Black History Month with a movie called the.
Speaker 3:Help. Speaking of Poor Things, we will be doing our Oscar prediction episode March 9th, the day before the Oscars. I'm almost done watching every single best picture. Katie's watching a few. She already mentioned Poor Things. Can't wait to talk about that. So, katie, how would you like to end this episode of Generation Kill?
Speaker 2:I feel like we need to end with Nathan doing a George Bush.
Speaker 3:Well, all I gotta say is mission accomplished.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Nati and Katie at the Movies. Feel free to leave us a review so people can find the show. Follow us on all our social media platforms and if there's a movie that you want us to watch, feel free to contact us at natiandkateyatgmailcom. Thanks for listening and have a great day.