Nomination Talk

[Big Magilla]

Just out of curiosity, Big Magilla, did you watch the movie in a Red State or Blue State (or liberal or conservative town)? It would be interesting to see how different audiences react to the film.

Blue State in a town with a mix of young and old, liberals and conservatives, but probably more conservative than liberal. Lots of retired military.

I imagine the audience reaction to the film is the same everywhere. No cheering, no applause, lots of people wiping away tears as they walked out of the theatre. It's a very somber film regardless of what one may think of it.

[Okri]

That someone could make that comparison is mindbogglingly obtuse. A metric tonne of ignorance in those words.

[nightwingnova]

Amen.

This stupid conversation about the oscars being "too white" is fucking sickening.

Maybe in the next olympics the same people that are now complaining should make an argument about too many kenyans, ethiopians, jamaicans or african americans winning gold medals. And why do they win them? Maybe becuase they are better at what they do than "whites", right?

Being "politically correct" is one of the things that is ruining our societies

[mlrg]

This stupid conversation about the oscars being "too white" is fucking sickening.

Maybe in the next olympics the same people that are now complaining should make an argument about too many kenyans, ethiopians, jamaicans or african americans winning gold medals. And why do they win them? Maybe becuase they are better at what they do than "whites", right?

Being "politically correct" is one of the things that is ruining our societies

[rolotomasi99]

For those who haven't seen it, wait until you do before casting aspersions on it. The film does not glorify war and killing. Kyle is shown as conflicted from the get-go. His first kill is of a young boy and then his mother, yes, but he had no choice as they were intent on throwing a grenade. Later, he is relieved that another young boy who was intent on picking up a grenade launcher and aiming it gave up and walked away.

It's not an easy film to watch or like, for that matter, but it's a complex film with complex ideas. There is nothing simple or simple-minded about it.

The mentality of the film was "we fight them there so we don't have to fight them here." This is not a man defending his country from being invaded. He is the invader, and the people he is killing are defending their homeland. Chris Kyle is not shown enjoying his kills (except maybe Mustafa), but it is very clear he sees these folks as the enemy who must be brought down. Here is the perfect quote from Kyle in the movie (per IMDB): "I was just protecting my guys, they were trying to kill... our soldiers and I... I'm willing to meet my Creator and answer for every shot that I took." That is the entire mentality of the movie, and it speaks to a very large segment of our country. That is why AMERICAN SNIPER is such a hit.

[nightwingnova]

I doubt if it will push American Sniper to any Oscar wins, but projections are that the movie will end the four-day weekend with a record-breaking $105M - more than twice the previous record.

[dws1982]

True, but Eastwood didn't choose the project, Bradley Cooper did. He asked Eastwood to direct and he agreed.

Oh, I know, but it's easy to see, even from a script level, why Eastwood agreed, and for anyone willing to even slightly scratch beneath the surface, I think it's apparent that he turns Chris Kyle into an "Eastwood hero". (Which is to say, an anti-hero.) Is it an accurate portrait of the "real" Chris Kyle? Probably not, but I'm also not that interested in delving into that question, any more than I'm interested in whether or not Selma is an accurate portrait of Martin Luther King and Lyndon Johnson.

[rolotomasi99]

Well now I am just confused. Have you seen the movie? It ends with his funeral.

I was referring to the circumstances of his death, not his funeral. Anyway I don't remember a funeral scene. The last thing I saw was his opening the door to a troubled young man who it is revealed shot him. I left during the credits. Did they show the funeral after I left?

They show the casket being driven along some high way with people lined up praising him for being a hero. Over those images we are told he was murdered by someone he was trying to help, but I do not recall them mention his name. Just out of curiosity, Big Magilla, did you watch the movie in a Red State or Blue State (or liberal or conservative town)? It would be interesting to see how different audiences react to the film.

[Greg]

Supposedly UNBROKEN owes its success to conservatives as well.

At a recent town-hall meeting, my Tea Party U. S. Representative praised Unbroken.

[Big Magilla]

My take on the fi

And this, for me, was the area American Sniper felt short in -- it just didn't really feel like it was about anything for me, except for how awesome guns are.

For one, it's about a system that's willing to send men off to war but is unable (or unwilling) to equip them with the emotional resources to deal with the consequences of warfare. "Your dad's a hero", the one young veteran tell's Kyle's son, as everything in Bradley Cooper's body language throws doubt on such a suggestion. It's about being left adrift and remote in the world because you feel no one can share or understand your experience, about only being able to relate to people under specific contexts. (Hmmm...wonder what attracted Eastwood to this material?)

Maybe Chris Kyle wasn't the best person for Eastwood to use as a vessel for dealing with these issues, but to me that's like saying Terrence Malick should've made The Thin Red Line a Vietnam film. He didn't, so we need to deal with the movie he made, not the one he didn't make, or the one we think he should've made.

True, but Eastwood didn't choose the project, Bradley Cooper did. He asked Eastwood to direct and he agreed. I learned this while leaving the TV on after the Oscar nominations on ABC. He was a guest on the talk show that came on afterward and revealed this during his interview with Anderson Cooper and Kelly Rippa.

For those who haven't seen it, wait until you do before casting aspersions on it. The film does not glorify war and killing. Kyle is shown as conflicted from the get-go. His first kill is of a young boy and then his mother, yes, but he had no choice as they were intent on throwing a grenade. Later, he is relieved that another young boy who was intent on picking up a grenade launcher and aiming it gave up and walked away.

It's not an easy film to watch or like, for that matter, but it's a complex film with complex ideas. There is nothing simple or simple-minded about it.

[Big Magilla]

Eastwood knew the true ending of the movie would be a bummer, so he created a final moment for the audience to cheer...he just had to lie about real people to create that moment. To me, why someone changes history in a movie is more important than what they change. I think Eastwood knew the audience needed a Middle Eastern equivalent of Chris Kyle to help the less blood thirsty audiences feel comfortable watching Kyle kill all these folks. He needed to create a false enemy so everyone watching could understand why Kyle needed to stay there and keep killing. That is what pisses me off.

I don't know what "true ending" means. If you're referring to the end of Kyle's life, that is something Eastwood had to stay clear of because his killer has not yet been tried. It might have jeopardized his eventual trial.

Well now I am just confused. Have you seen the movie? It ends with his funeral.

I was referring to the circumstances of his death, not his funeral. Anyway I don't remember a funeral scene. The last thing I saw was his opening the door to a troubled young man who it is revealed shot him. I left during the credits. Did they show the funeral after I left?

[dws1982]

And this, for me, was the area American Sniper felt short in -- it just didn't really feel like it was about anything for me, except for how awesome guns are.

For one, it's about a system that's willing to send men off to war but is unable (or unwilling) to equip them with the emotional resources to deal with the consequences of warfare. "Your dad's a hero", the one young veteran tell's Kyle's son, as everything in Bradley Cooper's body language throws doubt on such a suggestion. It's about being left adrift and remote in the world because you feel no one can share or understand your experience, about only being able to relate to people under specific contexts. (Hmmm...wonder what attracted Eastwood to this material?)

Maybe Chris Kyle wasn't the best person for Eastwood to use as a vessel for dealing with these issues, but to me that's like saying Terrence Malick should've made The Thin Red Line a Vietnam film. He didn't, so we need to deal with the movie he made, not the one he didn't make, or the one we think he should've made.

[Sonic Youth]

Breaking news:
The federal holiday that falls on the 3rd Monday of January has officially had its name changed from "Martin Luther King, Jr Day" to "Chris Kyle Day".

[The Original BJ]

I'm now realizing at least WHY Eastwood and Hall and co. left off the ending to American Sniper -- as dws and Magilla pointed out, from a legal standpoint, a depiction of a crime that still had yet to be tried is something Warner Bros. never would have allowed.

But from an aesthetic standpoint, I nonetheless find it extremely problematic. The filmmakers weren't allowed to "comment" on this event...but that's what a movie based on a true story should BE, filmmakers making some kind of comment on real-life events, developing themes and ideas about them. And this, for me, was the area American Sniper felt short in -- it just didn't really feel like it was about anything for me, except for how awesome guns are. So the fact that the one point in the story where the treatment of this subject could have been complicated in a very interesting way was tossed off with a title card strikes me as ideologically troubling. It felt a lot to me like watching Foxcatcher without the final scenes -- if you take those away, what is even the point of telling this story?

[ITALIANO]

I never thought on this board of all place my opinion about AMERICAN SNIPER would be in the minority.

They are Americans, what do you expect? And so are the critics who, in America, only had great things to say about this movie. They are immersed in the American culture and way of thinking. It's not even exactly their fault.