iTunes Exclusive Episode Beirut

1.
If you are hearing the sound of my voice, it means the following conditions have been met.
At least once in your life you've checked out the Clubhouse Podcast live every Sunday
night 7 Eastern 4 Pacific, you are one stop shop for all things pop culture.
But it also means you check out our little show on your favorite podcast app because it
is time for another A TOOLS EXCLUSION!
Number 369 Welcome, my name is Rob, I am the executive producer of the Clubhouse Podcast
and I enjoy history very much, it's one of my favorite things.
But I'm not alone for this particular episode, joining me across the desk is the official
fact checker of this show and a man has got a lot of opinions he's already to share
with you.
You may know him as fun, don, go, but as mama name him, don, ford, I'm going to call him
don, ford, welcome, sir.
You're not going to believe this, I rarely do, I got to have fun school once and it was
in the history.
The only time I ever got it now, hard as I believe, being me in the smart guy that I am.
I'm waiting for the shocking part, no I'm kidding.
Actually I have fun kidneyguard too, maybe take it twice.
You know why?
Why?
Because you call it tindi garden, it's kinder garden.
That's at the two minute mark for those of you playing at home.
Also joining us is the newest member of the crew and a man that I'm surprised has not
already run away screaming Alex's here.
Well, it's also the aspect of it's a good thing Don didn't have kids because he'd have
to drive into school because they're in the same class.
Wow, that's hard.
It would drive a Ford if it's still repaired anyway.
I'm so glad I hadn't started drinking my water when that just happened.
Whenever we do one of these, it is to review something and this is no different.
Brad Anderson, who you might know as the director of the machinist, Transyberian, next stop
Wonderland, has a brand new film and it is called Beirut.
So what's up to the whole thing?
Yes sir.
We got thing Julian Airbagged Slifox.
Zee-ee-ee.
Zee-ee.
Zee-ee.
Zee-ee.
Some of our favorite people over there at Slifox, they give us the opportunity to see
films before their release and we can tell you about them.
Yeah, you were out of town.
I was.
Yeah, but I was able to see it for the Empire.
This runs right about an hour 50.
Rosemind Pike, John Hamm, Mark Pellagrino.
See you outside.
Dean Norris.
Dean Norris.
So I mean, this is an interesting, based on the events that happened in Beirut.
Crot and the crossfires of Civil War, CIA operatives must send a former US diplomat to negotiate
for the life of a friend he left behind.
I have seen the trailer for this.
Yeah.
And I am very, very intrigued by it.
So let's just get right into it.
Don, talk to me.
Well, the plot is based around John Hamm's character of Sykes.
Basin's, Namesin's Skiles.
Skiles, I'm sorry.
He was living in Beirut at the time in the early 70s about time was born in 72 and at that
time was still kind of flourishing.
It wasn't the raw, raw, ravaged place that you remember from in the 80s.
And he's like a diplomat and he's doing a lot of big business and stuff like that.
But then an event happens where his wife gets past his way and respectively and stuff
like that.
So he kind of leaves, goes back to America.
He's still in the attorney and he's doing like union negotiations and stuff with big
labor and big businesses.
But it's not the life he had.
He's now co-holic now and everything because it's 10 years after the fact.
Then all of a sudden the government comes to him and says, we want to, we need your help
immediately.
And they want him to negotiate an American diplomat's release who is held captive.
And now if I'm not mistaken by seeing the trailer on this, yeah.
He's still kind of dealing with all of the things in his life.
Like he doesn't want to do this.
No, he says, the only place I'd want, the last place on earth I literally want to go
to is back to Beirut because all the tragedy happened to him.
And because they show that in the beginning of the trailer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean, he had a great life and then something happens.
He never wants to go back there and he's an alcoholic step.
But what happens is the diplomat who is held hostage, the person who, the kidnappers
want him specifically to negotiate.
They called him out personally.
Okay.
So it comes to a deal of him having to come back to the place he hates to deal with his
past plus the present.
And deal with these different sides and the governments of Israel, the United States,
and the era people trying to negotiate and make everybody happy, which you know is not
an easy thing to do.
So that's the basic story of trying to negotiate the release and deal with international
companies plus he's him dealing with his demons going to last place, or if he ever wanted
to go.
Now, does the setup, it appears to me, and maybe just because I've seen the trailer
only, but it seems like the setup of everything of him before he goes back there.
Does that happen fairly quickly, or do they tell it out there a little bit?
So the scene where it starts off for about the first five minutes, he's having a big
get together with some at his place, which is a nice place in Beirut.
He got the big diplomats and some big businessmen there.
And so it shows how life is good.
He's able to negotiate deals and everything.
And then that event happens right there.
Okay.
So in the first five, 10 minutes, so it's set up, and then you see him in DC 10 years
later, waking up in a sleazy hotel, drinking alcohol, bottle right next to him, and then
he's doing some kind of low pay attorney work.
So you see how 10 years later, real fast forward, but you kind of tell real fast that his
life is not what it used to be.
And so, but he is able to get back on the horn and basically get back and deal being
great negotiator in this film.
So overall, I really like Beirut because it showed on the look, there are a lot of places
in this film where you go where it's demolished.
It shows what would be like in 84.
You see the whole neighborhoods where everything is crumbled, but the people are still there.
You see demolished buildings and everything like that.
So it starts off showing Beirut beautiful in 72, but then when you come back, you can
see the big difference between the two.
So I like how they really showed how 10 years later, it wasn't the big business prosperity
place that some people thought it would be in early 70s.
So the look was really, really good.
I thought the acting, you got to give it to Dan, incredible.
It's that simple.
He's a good man.
Yeah, I'm a big fan.
And so he takes the big brunt of this film, Pike, Rosman Pike, she plays like the assistant,
the female assistant trying to help him on the American side.
She's in there, you get to be like a best supporting actress role.
Then there's a lot of minor roles.
But for instance, like Mark Pellegrino, he is the person who's held captive, let's just
get out of the way.
Okay.
Okay.
But so he's at the very beginning, hey, you're my friend, he's at that big party at the
beginning, but then there's some scenes where you see him as a captive.
So he's not near too much, but when he's there, he still makes an impact.
But acting wise, I really had no complaints.
The thing that I really kind of got into, which you want to my written review at www dot
dot com.
That's our website.
That's our website.
The pockets are a little too complicated.
Okay.
It does.
When you see how they're trying to go shape with Israel, with United States, and with the
Arab terrorists or kidnappers, it could be, there's the underlying story of how the American
government can be a little bit dirty in this thing.
Okay.
It's a real preachy with it though.
I wouldn't say it's real preachy.
It's just like real life where you think, okay, there's a lot of shoddy deals in the
past.
Now it's coming to life because of this situation, that kind of thing.
But I still thought the plot got a little complicated in the plot.
Does it play with the story or is it more of a dig in the writing as far as, hey, look,
this is how they can get really shady, or is it something that really enhances the story?
I think it enhances, but I think it just got too much.
If they didn't do too much of this complication of who has what and who has this and we want
this for that and that for this for this, it becomes too much of a complicated negotiation
of a business.
Did it take away from your enjoyment of it, Tom?
I thought it did a little bit.
The other thing is I thought after a while, it seemed like a little too long.
I think they just tried to make the story too long because basically what it is is they're
trying to negotiate and get some information and some other things to get his release.
That's the basic story.
Nothing more, nothing less.
That story of, again, the complication in it was, I think, a little too long.
That's my down draw to this film.
But acting, I had no faults in the acting.
I thought the acting didn't incredible, especially the two leads, you could say, the male and
female.
Rosemind Pike and John him always.
Yes, he does it.
He plays a person who can just, he's now, he plays a great businessman, then obviously
he's seen as a drunk.
Then you see him back on the horn real fast because he has to for his friend, which he
owes.
Anything else you want to add to that?
Not really.
Obviously, ready to the final analysis?
Yes.
All right, do we do the final analysis on this show?
We're not going to give you a thumbs up, thumbs down.
We're not going to give you letter grades, numbers, sunglasses, anything like that.
We're going to ask Don up to two questions.
Question number one is, would he see this film again?
If the answer's no, then we're done here.
But if the answer's yes, then I'm going to ask Don how far he's willing to go to see
it.
And from the best of the best of the worst of the best, here is the spectrum.
Full price at a theater, twilight showing right before that, Matt and me before that.
Probably morning on a weekend, down to second run at the dollar theater, down to actually
leaving your house and getting it from red box, down to streaming on Netflix, and then
down to cable.
Don, would you see Beirut again?
I would.
How far you willing to go?
I would say a matinee or Saturday afternoon, something like that.
Okay.
So it's still so pretty far out there.
Yeah.
The complication got a little too much, but the beat, the look was great.
I like how they're really time.
The props and all that was historically correct, and you could really show how Dave
Beirut, Beirut just crumbled in 10 years, but this complication kind of got to me.
All right.
It is Beirut.
For insolving you.
Yes, sir.
You got the jewelry nearby.
It's live, Fox.
Zining.
Zining.
Zining.
We're such fans of those guys.
They give us the opportunity to check out films before they're released.
So we can tell the Empire about them.
So the Empire can make the best decisions they can with their entertainment dollar.
Let's go ahead and do the plug, shall we?
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So until next time, for Alex, and for Don, and for the Empire, I'm Rob.
Clubhouse is closed.
Brittany Palmer.
You can work her here somewhere.
She's great actress.