tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post649470268140295157..comments2024-03-22T14:48:09.697-04:00Comments on Dell on Movies: American SniperDellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05634519605152190304noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-43165627294719000032015-09-08T19:44:28.420-04:002015-09-08T19:44:28.420-04:00Jake Gyllenhaal not being nominated was one of the...Jake Gyllenhaal not being nominated was one of the big outrages of the Oscars. I would never have recognised Sienna Miller.Alex Raphaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07080214073517411435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-15241985259468810762015-09-03T20:53:36.707-04:002015-09-03T20:53:36.707-04:00To boil it down to its simplest, it's clearly ...To boil it down to its simplest, it's clearly a right-wing fantasy. That's fine because even though I'm not a conservative there are lots of those movies that I actually like. I just didn't think Eastwood told much of a story. It was just 'here's the great Chris Kyle. He's great at killing people for US. When he gets home, he keeps making the world a better place by helping even more of US. The End.' You're right that the debate over the war is "louder" than this film ever dared to be.Dellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05634519605152190304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-47088657309354119362015-09-03T11:24:40.297-04:002015-09-03T11:24:40.297-04:00Well said! Well said! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-34963281087141679812015-09-03T10:01:39.813-04:002015-09-03T10:01:39.813-04:00I never quite understood the conflagration of cont...I never quite understood the conflagration of controversy this film went though (although, I guess I can, because 'Murica, y'all) - I thought Eastwood told a terrific story, if flawed in it's depiction of Kyle as anything other than a reluctant hero (that scene where he's confronted by another veteran at the mechanics is perhaps the best "emotional" scene in the whole film), and never really goes too deep into other external motivations. I think Coooper did an excellent job (but, like so many others have said already, how he got a nod from the Academy when Gyllenhaal was overlooked is one of those shake-the-head kinda things) but Miller was wasted, and almost everyone else on screen with Cooper (especially in the Middle East sequences) became just nameless, identity vacuums with no real heft to them whatsoever. <br /><br />I think Eastwood's direction on this was superb, on-point and restrained; the hyperbolic screeching by both sides of the war debate is louder than this film ever got. Admittedly, I see this film from an outsider's perspective, and can only bring my own values towards what it depicts, but I really thought it was an excellent film indeed.<br /><br />Fake baby.<br />Rodneyhttp://www.fernbyfilms.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-11846862313942046702015-09-01T19:40:14.726-04:002015-09-01T19:40:14.726-04:00Thanks for your kind words, especially since you d...Thanks for your kind words, especially since you dropped the 'b' word on me. The movie does set out to tell "one person's story." My issue is that I never got that story. I only got why people know him and deem him important. In other words, I got the persona, not the person.<br /><br />I did serve in the military, but I don't have the insight of one who served in combat since I've never done it. The entire first Gulf War happened while I was in, but I wasn't deployed. Anything I have to say about soldiers is only a tiny bit more informed than someone who hasn't served at all. While the military is an experience I had, a cherished one at that, I'm not one who absorbed it into the fiber of my being. What is more me is providing critical thought, that I hope is objective, on art. I've been doing it forever. As much as possible, I try to limit my critique of whatever I'm discussing to the confines of that particular piece. It's occasionally impossible, but a fairer way to look at things, at least in my opinion.Dellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05634519605152190304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-54720449612750996882015-09-01T17:35:12.705-04:002015-09-01T17:35:12.705-04:00Beautiful review! I saw this movie last winter wit...Beautiful review! I saw this movie last winter with my son. Oh, and guess, what -- he knows more than anyone else about snipers, too. :-P Anyway, I was especially interested in your opinion because, in addition to being a brilliant reviewer, you've actually served in the military.<br /><br /> I liked this movie more than you did, but you expressed your objections beautifully. I didn't feel the movie assumed viewers agreed with the U.S. invasion of Iraq or deified Kyle. I just saw it as one of those movies that, basically, only tells one person's story, and I was O.K. with that. I know virtually nothing about the experience of soldiers, and I am not savvy about war movies, a genre I usually avoid, but the film worked for me. I rambled about that on my blog, so I won't dwell on it here. :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-1352576411702876252015-09-01T12:49:50.623-04:002015-09-01T12:49:50.623-04:00Thanks. Off is a great way to describe it. The who...Thanks. Off is a great way to describe it. The whole thing just felt that way.Dellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05634519605152190304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-83326463181158439282015-09-01T11:53:09.673-04:002015-09-01T11:53:09.673-04:00Awesome review :) I loved this film but something ...Awesome review :) I loved this film but something felt off, and you put it into words perfectly. That fake baby though, oh my goodness...!<br />- AllieAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10938589355281359827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-87829892995599102152015-09-01T10:45:39.869-04:002015-09-01T10:45:39.869-04:00You lost me when you said he was "a bundle of...You lost me when you said he was "a bundle of contradictions." I just didn't see that at all. Kyle is portrayed as a guy so thoroughly convinced he is on the side of right he never questions his own actions. The lone exception being when he did not kill a child near the end. That loses power, however, because based on the fact we've seen him kill one. we already know had the kid taken another step in the wrong direction Kyle would've shot him. This is the only instance he even remotely seems to have any doubts, but since we know what his course of action would've been, it lacks impact. As far as his nickname goes, he never tells people to not call him that and never seems to bristle at the notion. He is only mildly embarrassed once. The way his PTSD plays out, it doesn't seem to stem from any complex thoughts at all. In fact, he practically shouts down the doctor for suggesting there was. His cure is simply saving more people. Other soldiers being anonymous felt like a flaw and helped keep us out of their heads. They were able to give voice to some things that hint at deeper thoughts, but nothing is ever done with these things other than using them signify that one character or another is about to die. It's just all really cold. I never saw any deep examination going on. He just felt like a savior right from the get go. So when that ending happens it didn't feel like a tonal shift to me, but logical conclusion to the life of a man presented as nearly perfect. <br /><br />For the record, I think Jarhead does a far better job of getting inside the heads of soldiers during wartime.Dellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05634519605152190304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-45614503533017891582015-09-01T09:43:14.040-04:002015-09-01T09:43:14.040-04:00Now having seen this, I can confidently say there ...Now having seen this, I can confidently say there is no way this performance is better than either of JG's from last year.<br /><br />My fave part of the fake baby scene is BC moving the arm with his thumb in a desperate attempt to make it look lifelike. Lmao every time I see that.Dellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05634519605152190304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-25540693402366020152015-09-01T09:34:25.178-04:002015-09-01T09:34:25.178-04:00I found the film a lot more complicated than most ...I found the film a lot more complicated than most people gave it credit for. It's been a while, but as far as I recall, there isn't one single scene where Kyle actually embraces, or even really accepts, his "Legend" honorific, and Cooper plays him as a bundle of contradictions that actually makes sense: This is a man who has the capacity to understand that what he's doing is on some level "wrong", but doesn't want to, even can't do so because doing so would mean not doing his job. He's a simple man capable of complex thought, which is where his PTSD (or PTSD-like symptoms) comes from. The film does a great job of getting inside the head of the modern soldier, far more so than any other film in recent memory. Of course the Middle Easterners are a faceless mass of anonymous brown people, because that's how the soldiers see them. And then, the film goes to the extra length of giving the American soldiers (Kyle excepted) not much more characterization than that; they're just as anonymous, even if we do spend more time with them. They're just as expendable as their opposite numbers. That's a pretty radical thing for a film to do in this day and age.<br /><br />Of course, the film then ruins it with that God-awful ending, which really does place Kyle on a pedestal to an extent the rest of the film does not. It's a horribly misjudged tonal shift, taking the film from intriguing ambiguity to outright deification, and it left a really sour taste in my mouth.<br /><br />I will say this though: I was so caught up in Cooper's performance that I did not even notice the fake baby until afterwards.Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11480863610135936930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227751790693713235.post-71306705652205894352015-09-01T09:04:28.939-04:002015-09-01T09:04:28.939-04:00Nice write up. I have no desire to see this film a...Nice write up. I have no desire to see this film at all. I never have. I'm still salty over Cooper getting nominated for an Oscar while Jake Gyllenhaal was left out. That being said, I have seen the fake baby scene, and that never stops being funny. Brittani Burnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07975067259283007280noreply@blogger.com