iTunes Exclusive Episode Thank You For Your Service

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time for iTunes exclusive 326.
This strong train just keeps on running.
Welcome, my name is Rob, I am the executive producer of the Clubhouse Podcast and it's time
to talk a movie.
It's been a while since I did that with the other person sitting in the studio because
not long with me is the official fact checker of this show and a guy that's actually slept
at his own bed for more than three nights in a row.
You may know him as fond, don't go, but his mom and name him Don Ford, I'm going to call
him Don Ford.
Welcome, sir.
You know, I miss this.
It's been a while.
Yeah, as well as I'm doing the Lord to work with him.
You were?
You were?
You were helping people out and we appreciate that.
Yeah.
Well, I'm back home.
The fantastic report, she's happy.
Yes, I'm sure she is.
What do we do?
One of these is to review something and this is no exception.
Brand new film from actor, director, writer, guy, there's a lot of stuff.
His name is Jason Hollitt, it's called Thank You for Your Service.
For sure.
That's the whole thing.
Yes, I are.
You ready?
Yes, I are.
You got to think, Mary Ann, everybody, it's Slifox.
Zee, Zee, Zee, Zee, Zee, Zee, Zee, Zee, Zee.
Big fan.
Yeah, we love those people.
We're such a fan.
So let me set this up for you.
Let's tell our stars in this film based on a book which is based on actual events from
2007 on roughly.
He plays Adam Schumann, a sergeant in the US Army who comes home after a tour in the Middle
East with a couple of his buddies.
And really all you need to know is this is about a group of soldiers dealing with the
horrors of war and those horrors that carry back to the home front.
Trying to have tried to adjust back to civilian life, whether it's their families, whether
it's the lives they've left behind, whether it's consequences of decisions that they've
made.
The BTSD.
In some cases.
Yes.
In some cases.
If it deals with that subject alive, and as she could say, like I said, in some cases,
not all cases.
Yes.
Yes.
There's a lot of people in this movie that you would see and go, oh, that's who that
is.
Like Keisha Castle Hughes, who you've seen recently on Game of Thrones is in this.
Bula Cole, who's fairly new on the scene, he's one of the main characters as well.
And I'm going to save one for a little bit later because I kind of want to bury the
lead a little bit on this.
This is a film and it's subject matter that can easily kind of fly off the rails because
this is a very polarizing subject matter, whether it's how people feel about our military
and about our foreign policy and about the way people are treated and our veterans affairs
systems and things like that.
I really felt that this film was very respectful on every possible level that it could be.
I agree with you somebody now you're on Jason Hall who directed this.
This is his first major feature, directorial debut.
This is a whole lot of words it just saves his first time, you know, say it properly,
you know, this is his first time directing, yeah, for a big feature.
So you know, it didn't a lot of other stuff, acting, all that other stuff.
So he has skins in the game, but being the behind the camera, the big shot on the film,
this is his first time.
Was it respectful?
Yes.
Did it get deep?
Yes.
I mean, you really look at the films that talk about coming home, the deer hunter.
You know, there's those bars that are set of those films that talk about that kind of
thing.
Maybe a hurtlocker a little, but not as much this deals with the more of the after home
than the hurtlocker does, right?
Because the hurtlocker spends, you know, a little bit, but not the whole thing.
It was kind of vice versa, because this film, it only shows a little in the beginning
and a little bit of in the end of what happened in Iraq.
The rest of the film is mostly on the home front.
What I did notice, yes, it talks about the VA and if you're one of those people who are
up in arms in that situation, I think it got, yes, it was realistic.
Yes, it was respectful.
Yes, there's these problems.
But I think in some ways, it may have to hit too much of a jab at the VA in this film
in the system.
I'm not sure I agree with that because I think it's, it's only, to me, it's only a jab
if there's not that fact-based in it.
Yeah.
It made the point that, yes, these guys come home and yes, it hit the news and yes, they're
trying to fix it.
Yes, they're trying to make it better.
And that's a whole different talk.
But I think it did that a little too much in my opinion.
That's a big, you know, I just, that's right, that's fine.
If they would think it a little bit too much, I think it's still in a good way, we talked
about that stuff because he goes into the VA room and what's the waiting list there?
You saw the room was filled.
And that's the way it is?
Yeah, it's taken them.
Yeah.
They were to talk right to that thing.
Yeah, I'm trying to do this stuff.
My mouth's honestly.
Let me rotate like that.
There you go.
There we go.
There you go.
Like, I was in an office today, one of the state offices and it's right next to one
of the VA buildings, like your tea and that on the south side, yeah.
There was not a big waiting line in that building today, like what it showed in the film.
You know what I'm saying?
But there's an ebb and float it.
Yes, of course.
Yes, yes.
Yes.
You know, in big cities and stuff and all that.
But I think it got away a little too preaching my opinion.
I'm not saying, you know, I hate it because of that.
I just saw, I think it's been a little too much on the subject matters it was trying
to talk about.
I think it overplayed just a little bit.
But still, I agree with you on a percent respectful.
It goes and head deep into this thing.
This really says it's very gritty.
Yes.
It talks about the PTSD.
I mean, this is what let's really talk about it.
What these people go through?
Why they want to commit suicide?
Because there is that epidemic of people, these veterans who come home who commit suicide.
The rate, unfortunately, it's a horrible epidemic that we're trying to deal with in today's
society.
So yes, let's talk about it in a really, really does talk about it.
I think in a very good way, though, too.
This runs right about an hour of 50, right in that area.
Yeah.
I thought it was paced incredibly well, incredibly well, but it is very, very uncomfortable.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, when I chose to take my bathroom break, I think was right about the right time because
there's a scene in this where there's depictions of certain activities that are rough for
me.
Yeah.
And I was told later on that it was very realistic and I was glad I chose to go to the bathroom
when I did.
But it's not for shock value.
Like every piece of this story is valuable to the story.
Wells Teller is one of these guys that knows how to do a role and he knows how to do it
well.
And he fits into this role well, but he also understands, in some scenes, he has to take
that back seat.
And he also does that very well.
If you saw him in Whiplash, it's that same kind of mentality, which he did in credible
Whiplash.
Oh, yeah.
Whiplash is another film that's very uncomfortable to watch.
Yeah.
I, I thought, yes, I like to spot, I like the storyline.
But for me, by the end, it felt a little long.
I think I got to talk about this a little too much.
So yeah, it was a piece, okay, yes, but for me, it felt like the two hours is the best
way to put it.
Okay.
I think his work with Haley Bennett, playing his wife is excellent.
I think they played off each other very, very well.
And also, Bula Cole, I hope I got that close, as Solo, his, his buddy is very, very good
in this, very convinced.
And also the castle Hughes, he should castle Hughes.
He should castle Hughes as, as Solo's wife, girlfriend, fiancee, I don't think they said
Mary.
I could be wrong.
I'm just trying to do.
Okay.
So your wife, significant other, but I like how it really showed, because not too many
films really show this, and it did this in the good light, not too much of what the wives
go through.
And there's one scene where the PTSD hits one guy in their apartment.
And let's say that stuff happens, and what these, well, I really felt that this didn't
really overblow anything, it really kept it on the rails.
And I'm going to say something that I never thought I would ever say in the history of
ever.
Okay.
Props to Amy Schumer.
Amy Schumer comedian television star has done films like Train Rec.
Her role in this is very small, but it's pivotal.
And she's got really good dramatic chops.
She's developing very, very well as an actor.
I never was just like, oh, there's Amy Schumer, like she really brings it in the amount
of time limit.
And also, and I want to put this out there as well, from the IMDB trivia page, she donated
all the money she earned for this movie to Army War vet foundations.
Can I give it to her?
So respect.
Yeah.
I never thought I would say respect to her in a dramatic role, because people who are
known as comedic actors, it's very tougher than the crossover into drama Jim Carrey.
She does it very, very well as a widow of another one of their platoon mates.
And I don't want to go too deep into that because that's one of the subplots in the film
that I want people to experience for themselves.
I was very impressed with this film.
Well, it's kind of like Vince Vaughan in Hacksaw Rich.
Yeah, very small, does it well, very pivotal role.
I really, really enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would.
I gotta give, it's, you always see that term realistic brutality.
And it had it physically, like, you know, there's a couple scenes that are real
gritty.
They are.
Be careful.
If this film is brutal, it has those scenes where it really shows a realist of brutality,
like private Ryan Hacksaw Rich, but this one shows the realistic mental brutality.
Not too many films.
I could say that about realistic mental, I could say that and do it well.
Yes.
Yeah.
That's why I put my review at www.cobossplotcast.com.
That's our website.
I put that exact phrase.
It shows a realistic physical and mental brutality in this film.
And I'm not going to debate that.
I mean, there are moments where I actually closed my eyes and was just like, I don't
know that I can deal with this.
And not in a way where it was, again, it wasn't for shock value.
Everything that they did was vital to the story.
So it wasn't done, it was not violence for violence, sake.
It's not, you know, it's not in your face or in your face.
It has to be.
And that's what I respect about.
Now, you know, I was watching that film and that one scene you talked about where you
went to the restroom.
Good timing for you.
You know, some people, how do we say this to people who, like if Chad, I would just say
this, there is a scene that will make animal lovers uncomfortable.
Yeah, but I mean, people who are vets, some people this film might be, we have to warn
you, this is real life of my bring back memories, you know, there are people that, yeah, that
will identify with some of the things in this film.
No doubt in my mind at all, because all right, let's start, especially with that one
scene that was uncomfortable, it's like, Joe, God, Chad would hate this.
You know, it would make Chad very, very uncomfortable.
But I think it's, but again, it's not just to make you uncomfortable.
There's a purpose to it.
And what I wrote in my written review currently located at www.theclubhousepodcast.com, which
is our website is I hope that this film can be a conversation piece.
I hope that this film can help foster a conversation that needs to be continually had about what
are fighting men and women go through not only on the battlefield, but on the home front
as well, and that we can keep this in the spotlight so that we can have that continual
conversation.
And it didn't really show it, but it talked about a few times, but it brings up the point.
These guys come home, employment, yeah, employment, and it brought it up, I think, in a very
good way on that aspect, saying I could get my job being back as a green manager at a golf
course or something, you know, or where they offer, hey, there's an opening at this one
place and it's like, you know, let's put a, you know, alcoholic in a, as a manager of
a liquor store, you know, kind of thing, mentality, you know, what's what I'm talking about
on that.
So, I mean, I really like that aspect where, you know, with these guys come home, what
kind of jobs are there?
You know, yeah, some of these army people have, you know, skills from the military where
they can be, they want to be pilots and they get out of the military and they end up
being pilots for American Airlines or something like that.
So that, you know, we're not going to army at that point, I'm not saying that, because
there are a lot of people that, you know, they get out, they, they want to fight helicopter,
they're helicopter pilots when they get out, because they already have the experience.
And so, I mean, the military does great aspects in that too, but for some of these people,
you know, the infantry, they come home, what do they have?
And Adam Schumann actually makes an appearance in the film.
I don't know if you caught that.
No.
When they first get off the plane and they're all handing their weapons over and he says,
welcome home, that's the real guy.
Oh, really?
Okay.
Oh wow, I didn't know that.
Okay.
But I really like the, you know, the point, how, um, gosh, just lost it, never mind, apologize.
I'm sorry.
Not a problem.
Yeah.
But anything else you want to say before we get to the final analysis on this thing?
I think we're good.
All right.
The way we do the final analysis on the show, we're not going to give you thumbs up, thumbs
down.
We're not going to give you let it grades numbers, anything like that.
We're going to ask two questions.
Question number one is, would you see this film again?
If the answers know them, we're done here.
If the answer is yes, then it's going to be how far are you willing to go to see it again?
And from the best of the best of the worst of the best, here's your spectrum.
Full price of the theater, twilight, matinee, early morning, second run at the dollar theater,
actually leaving your house to get it from red box, streaming on Netflix, waiting for
it on cable.
Did you see this again?
Yeah.
Definitely.
How far are you willing to go?
I'm going to recognize them at me.
Okay.
Yeah.
Take the afternoon off, go get some dinner after or early dinner or whatever after, really,
really talk about it.
I would see it again, but I'm going to go one step above you.
I'm going to say it's twilight.
This is worth that extra couple of bucks to go to twilight because it's just such, it's
a great film and it approaches something without Hollywooding it up, which I really, really,
really respected about it.
And I just have to say on the recommendation, you know, if you're a vet, be careful because
this film may hit home.
Absolutely.
So just keep that in mind that this might, you know, hit you personally.
David Finkel wrote the book, Jason Hall adapted it to a screenplay and direct.
Thank you for your service.
Are we on the scene?
Yes, sir.
Don't think Mary Ann there, but it's Life Ox.
Zini.
Zini.
Zini.
Zini.
We're such fans of those guys, they let us see movies and stuff early so that we can tell
you about them and help you make the best possible decisions for your entertainment dollar.
That being said, let's do the plugs.
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Jules Womack usually is with Chad because that's how that works.
Faith Ford waited at the house for her husband to get home.
She liked it.
We don't want to keep you any further than we need to.
But she liked it.
Good.
Excellent.
Our normal show every week Sunday night, 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific is your one stop shop for
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cool stuff like this.
So until next time for Don and the Empire, I'm Rob.
Clubhouse is closed.