Until everyone got distracted by senior commend skirt chasing, it sure felt like the national discussion this week was going to be all about the role of military advisers in the entertainment industry. Oliver Stone’s Savages (out now on a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy/UltraViolet 4-way combo pack) and the studio sent us “Military Consultants” clip from the Bly-ray. It features actor and Army vet Jake McLaughlin and military consultant, stunt coordinator and retired Navy SEAL Keith Woulard talking about how they contributed their real-life expertise to the movie.
Stone has never been shy about his own service in Vietnam and used that experience to great ends in Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. He’s also maintained that background gives him extra insight when he’s floated the elaborate conspiracy theories that fueled JFK and his new TV series Untold History of the United States. Savages, based on the excellent novel by Don Winslow, feels a hell of a lot more like his genre crime movies Natural Born Killers and U Turn. +Continue Reading
To promote his upcoming show in Cardiff, Wales, Snoop Dogg had his people scour the news. They found a story about Ian Neale, a local farmer who had grown the world’s largest “Swede,” which is short for “Swedish turnip,” which is what they call rutabagas over in the UK.
So Snoop made a video inviting Ian to the show where he hoped the farmer would share some “gardening secrets.” The guy showed up and Sky News bit. Now we’re posting the story. Good work, sir.
Mexican drug dealers aren’t afraid of no stinking wall. They just built a medieval-style catapult to throw bundles over the U.S. border fence. They got caught this time, but their nearly-unlimited R&D budget means that technology will improve and probably render the fence irrelevant.
“Man, if we could just hide weed in sodas and then drink it, no one would ever know.”
California’s Proposition 19 would give local governments the ability to legalize and tax pot sales in their jurisdiction. While the measure may or may not pass when it goes to a vote next month, Colorado’s Dixie Elixirs is ready to cash in if weed goes legit. +Continue Reading
Under the Radar is commentary. We don’t report the news; we offer our take on what happened.
