Bang-Bang Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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Technical and general information from the podcast's RSS feed.

Bang-Bang Podcast

Van and Lyle are Bang-Bang

Tv & Film

Frequency: 1 episode/9d. Total Eps: 76

A show about war movies, with an anti-imperialist twist. Hosted by Van Jackson and Lyle Jeremy Rubin--military veterans, war critics, and wannabe film critics.

www.bangbangpod.com

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Apple Podcasts

🇬🇧 Great Britain - filmReviews
14/08/2026
#96
🇬🇧 Great Britain - filmReviews
13/08/2026
#83
🇬🇧 Great Britain - filmReviews
12/08/2026
#54
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
05/08/2026
#74
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
20/06/2026
#79
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
19/06/2026
#53
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
18/06/2026
#38
🇬🇧 Great Britain - filmReviews
21/04/2026
#78
🇬🇧 Great Britain - filmReviews
20/04/2026
#42
🇬🇧 Great Britain - filmReviews
19/04/2026
#68

Spotify

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Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jakarta_Method
2 shares
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World
1 share
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spook_Who_Sat_by_the_Door_
1 share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQpSkWt6SI&#38
6 shares
https://www.youtube.com/@un-diplomaticpodcast
2 shares
https://www.youtube.com/c/RememberShuffle
2 shares

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Score global : 48%

Publication history

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Latest published episodes

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Bang-Bang Podcast Teaser | from Ep. 1 on Combat Obscura

Wednesday, September 25, 2024 • Duration 02:02

Welcome to Bang-Bang! A show about war movies, with an anti-imperialist twist. The hosts—Van Jackson and Lyle Jeremy Rubin—are military veterans, antiwar advocates, and lovers of film.

In every episode, we grapple with the pain, humor, and contradictions of our war-addled culture. Our medium for that exploration happens to be war films we all know and love (and sometimes hate).

This teaser from our first episode—where we dove into a 2018 documentary called Combat Obscura—hopefully gives a sense of our vibe.

Subscribe today—Bang-Bang! ✌️

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bangbangpod.com/subscribe

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Combat Obscura (2018) | Ep. 1

Monday, September 30, 2024 • Duration 01:32:15

In 2011, the combat cameraman Miles Lagoze arrived in Helmand province, Afghanistan, tasked with manufacturing propaganda-friendly visuals and audio. In 2018, Lagoze released Combat Obscura, his documentary bringing together 70 minutes of recorded footage of his fellow marines, all originally left on the cutting room floor. The result was inconvenient enough for the U.S. government that it threatened (but ultimately abandoned) legal action. Van and Lyle discuss the film’s most endearing and vicious moments, as well as everything in between. They also reflect on their own roles in the war machine around the same time.

Further Reading

Whistles from the Graveyard (2023), by Miles Lagoze

No Good Men Among the Living (2014), by Anand Gopal

“The Other Afghan Women” (2021), by Anand Gopal

“The Afghan Women Left Behind” (2022), by Rozina Ali

“‘How Did This Man Think He Had the Right to Adopt This Baby?’” (2022), by Rozina Ali

“The Civilian Casualty Files” (2021), by Azmat Khan, et al.Song credit: “Dumpster Fire,” by The Great Heights Band, feat. Rauli V.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bangbangpod.com/subscribe

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War Machine (2017) | Ep. 2

Monday, October 7, 2024 • Duration 01:29:17

Lyle had been serving as a marine officer in and around the Helmand province for about five months before Rolling Stone published “The Runaway General” (June 2010), the explosive profile of General Stanley McChrystal and his entourage. Michael Hasting’s account led to the general’s immediate ouster as NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander in Afghanistan, and in 2012—about a year before the journalist’s own mysterious death—Hastings published The Operators, his book-length version of the same story. War Machine is the darkly satirical rendition of that book, and Van and Lyle have much to say about the movie’s didactic critique of counterinsurgency and implied critique of empire.

Reading List

The Operators (2012), by Michael Hastings

“The Runaway General” (2010), by Michael Hastings

“Who Killed Michael Hastings?” (2013), by Benjamin Wallace

American Cipher: Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan (2019), by Matt Farwell and Michael Ames

The Afghanistan Papers (2021), by Craig Whitlock

Human and Budgetary Costs of the U.S. War in Afghanistan (2022), Watson Institute

“Democracy Doesn’t Come in a Box” (2019), by Lyle Jeremy Rubin, et al.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

Jacob's Ladder (1990) | Ep. 3

Monday, October 14, 2024 • Duration 01:26:08

Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (no relation to Lyle) claims the first scene of Jacob’s Ladder was inspired by his own sense of being stuck in a rut, and the prevailing premonitions of doom that came of that. But the work itself comes off as something just as social as it is private, and even as a unique if at times blind-spotted meditation on U.S.-led violence and impunity. Van and Lyle explore the virtues and limitations of this genuinely anti-war film, as well as what the classic dark trip tells us about the American past and present.

Reading List

Jacob’s Ladder, Wiki Entry

The Stranger (1942), by Albert Camus

The Mersault Investigation (2015), by Kamel Daoud

Poisoner in Chief (2019), by Stephen Kinzer

The Deaths of Others (2011), by John Tirman

Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims (1979), Edward Said

Jacob’s Ladder Trailer

Video Teaser

Song credit: “Dumpster Fire,” by The Great Heights Band, feat. Rauli V.

Van and Lyle are only going to be able to keep this show going with the support of patrons. Consider becoming part of the Bang-Bang tribe!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) | Ep. 4

Monday, October 21, 2024 • Duration 01:25:29

“We tortured some folks.” Katherine Bigelow and Mark Boal’s blockbuster on the leadup to Bin Laden’s assassination was alternately ballyhooed and panned upon its release. Fans praised its purported cinematic achievements while critics lamented its alleged militarism or pro-torture sympathies. What’s remarkable today is the attention it received in all directions, perhaps a universal attention no longer possible in a society so fragmented and lost. Van and Lyle try to make sense of the movie as a contested event, and what its ambiguous ending might tell us about what came next. They also recall where they were when Obama ordered Seal Team Six to pull that trigger.

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The Battle of Algiers (1966) | Ep. 5

Monday, November 4, 2024 • Duration 01:28:40

Arguably the most successful revolutionary film of all time, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers boasts many legacies. For film buffs, its import derives from its landmark status in the pantheon of Italian neorealism and political cinema. For anti-imperialists, its value comes from its hardnosed but sympathetic depictions of armed struggle. And for imperialists or right-wing strongmen, the film has been deployed as a realistic guidebook for counterinsurgency. Van and Lyle relate these competing readings to the War on Terror and the latest debates around Gaza, Palestine, and liberation.

A Savage War of Peace (1977), by Alistair Horne

Discourse on Colonialism (1955), by Aimé Césaire

The Wretched of the Earth (1961), by Franz Fanon

“Negroes are Anti-Semitic Because They’re Anti-White” (1967), by James Baldwin

“Open Letter to the Born Again” (1979), by James Baldwin

On Violence (1970), by Hannah Arendt

“No regrets from an ex-Algerian rebel immortalized in film” (2007), Interview with Saadi Yacef

“The Communists and the Colonized” (2016), Interview with Selim Nadi

Hamas Contained (2018), by Tareq Baconi

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

In the Loop (2009) w/ Spencer Ackerman | Ep. 6

Sunday, November 17, 2024 • Duration 01:14:05

Scottish filmmaker Armando Iannucci’s In the Loop, a satire about the lead-up to the Iraq War, never achieved the household success of Veep (Iannucci’s later HBO series). Yet, D.C. staffers have come to see it as a cult classic, and there is much to be gleaned from the black comedy beyond the predictable, Beltway absurdities. Van and Lyle have the acclaimed journalist Spencer Ackerman on the show to discuss his own role in the film’s creation, as all three exchange biting laughs and commentary along the way. Especially about the rotting tooth that is Washington.

Bonus: In addition to dissecting the film, the first 30 minutes of this episode are an oral history of Spencer Ackerman’s experience with the making of In The Loop.

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Bang-Bang Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

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Bang-Bang Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

Wikipedia20

Youtube8

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Wikipedia20

Youtube8

Apple Podcasts

Spotify