JANUARY 2015 MOVIE DISCUSSION

[Death From Above]

 

 

Have you ever submitted a continuity error to the 'Goofs' section of IMDB?  Don't watch it..

 

 

LOL that is the best criteria.  I need to steal that.   "If you're a nitpicking, joyless douche, avoid this film." 

 

The "goofs" section so ridiculous.  My favorite is in "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," where one viewer posted about how the apes, while riding horseback and firing guns, never reload.  Jesus Christ.  This is a film where apes ride on horseback and fire guns, and this is the hill you choose to die on.  That lack of reloading, while APES RIDE HORSES and FIRE GUNS, was just a bridge too far.

 

 

I think my all time favourite of these was when on the Simpsons, Itchy was playing Scratchy's ribs like a xylophone and some asshole pointed out that the same rib played two different notes.

 

This is close though. Good. Good.

[peterien]

Seen American Sniper twice now, wont comment on the actual film itself but Cooper is outstanding i thought he was great, cant see him getting the Oscar win but you wouldn't find any complaints from me if he does.

[piranesi]

 

 

 

Have you ever submitted a continuity error to the 'Goofs' section of IMDB?  Don't watch it..

 

 

LOL that is the best criteria.  I need to steal that.   "If you're a nitpicking, joyless douche, avoid this film." 

 

The "goofs" section so ridiculous.  My favorite is in "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," where one viewer posted about how the apes, while riding horseback and firing guns, never reload.  Jesus Christ.  This is a film where apes ride on horseback and fire guns, and this is the hill you choose to die on.  That lack of reloading, while APES RIDE HORSES and FIRE GUNS, was just a bridge too far.

 

 

I think my all time favourite of these was when on the Simpsons, Itchy was playing Scratchy's ribs like a xylophone and some asshole pointed out that the same rib played two different notes.

 

This is close though. Good. Good.

 

 

I hate to ruin this for you, but Ithat was a joke within an episode.  In the Poochie episode when the voice actors were at a con.  It was followed by

 

Homer: I'll field this one. Let me ask you a question. Why would a man whose shirt says "Genius at Work" spend all of his time watching a children's cartoon show?

Nerd: I withdraw my question.

[Death From Above]

Quit making fun of my lousy, sleep deprived memory. Just let me have my little universe.

[piranesi]

The followup:

 

Nerd: Excuse me, Mr. Simpson, on the "Itchy & Scratchy" CD-ROM, is there a way to get out of the dungeon without a wizard's key?

Homer: What the hell are you talking about?

 

Goddaman remember when every two-bit t.v. and radio show put out an interactive CD Rom?

[Tabe]

I'll wade in here with my review:

American Sniper - American Sniper, tells the story of Chris Kyle, "the most lethal sniper US military history". Bradley Cooper, in a riveting, incredible performance, portrays Kyle. I haven't seen the other Best Actor nominees this year, but with David Oyeloww not nominated for Selma, it would be hard for me to imagine anybody's performance being better than Cooper's. We follow Kyle's life through his enlistment, his SEAL training and then four tours of duty in Iraq. Along the way, he makes difficult decisions on people to snipe, leads assaults, and becomes emotionally hardened, nearly leading to divorce. Kyle develops a high profile among his squadmates, who nickname him "Legend" for his skills. In the end, the story of American Sniper is told very well. The movie itself is well-made and, if you're not ready for it, the ending is a gutpunch extraordinaire. My theater was absolutely dead silent after the movie was over as people filed out. You could have heard a pin drop. Easily the quietest I've ever heard. Anyway, my rating? 8/10.

Having said that, I am uncomfortable with at least some of the factual changes and inaccuracies. I don't like it when "based on a true story" movies change key events. I don't mind so much if something isn't real important but when it IS? That I have a problem with. Example: One of the key scenes early after Kyle goes to Iraq, one heavily featured in ads and trailers, has been altered. It happened but Eastwood changed it to make it far more heart string-pulling. Not cool. Some of the other things, like changing the bounty on Kyle, or having the movie center on the chase of an Iraqi sniper, are merely altered and don't hurt the movie per se. I've also seen criticism that a doll was used in two places instead of a live baby. In my group of 12 people, nobody noticed that. I doubt I would have cared if I did notice. It's a triviality that doesn't detract from the movie.

I've also seen lots of people, including many who haven't seen it but are somehow experts on it, criticizing the movie for being pro-war or jingoistic or for showing all Iraqis as bad people. I think that criticism is off-base and misses the point of the movie. The story of the movie is Chris Kyle, his view of the war and what he went through. In his mind and perspective, the war was a righteous one that he believed in. And that's the story being told here. If you're looking for a movie that presents a fair-and-balanced "should we have been there at all?" type of perspective, you're looking at the wrong movie and to criticize American Sniper for not being that movie is simply unfair. It's akin to criticizing a movie on the life of Walter Payton for not dwelling on the NFL's concussion problems.

I've also seen a lot of people wonder about the movie because of Chris Kyle's credibility issues. No question about it, this is a guy who lied about stuff. I think, however, that his general story, the one in the movie, is generally authentic and one that can be separated from some of the other nonsense stories he told. It's a powerful story and one not changed by the protagonist's credibility issues in any meaningful way.

[Tabe]

The action scenes in American Sniper were amateur hour and things like the morning of 9/11 were downright laughable. The dialogue was terrible. Also, firefight while wife is on the phone? Come on.

The firefight with the wife did actually happen. In fact, there were two different instances where Kyle was on the phone back home when fighting broke out - once with his wife, once with his father.

[Tabe]

Also, the "Tiny Dancer" scene is one of my favorite "sing-along scenes" in film. It's right up there with "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Wayne's World for me, and Almost Famous is an infinitely better film than Wayne's World.

Yeah, the Tiny Dancer scene is the most feel good movie moment ever for me.

I went back and rewatched that scene to see if I'd still feel the same way the second time. I did. My reaction? LOL, that scene is just awful. It's schmaltzy, cheesy and just...ugh. It feels incredibly forced and just did not work at all for me. And then "Shhh...you are home" - barf. Could you be any more unoriginal, cliched and lame? Ugh. Yeah, that whole scene sucked.

[Brian Fowler]

That's my second favorite kind in the movie.

(Behind "What kind of beer?" Which is probably a top ten movie line for me period.)

[Tabe]

That's my second favorite kind in the movie.

(Behind "What kind of beer?" Which is probably a top ten movie mine for me period.)

That was a great moment in the movie, no doubt about it.

[S.K.o.S.]

I've also seen criticism that a doll was used in two places instead of a live baby. In my group of 12 people, nobody noticed that. I doubt I would have cared if I did notice. It's a triviality that doesn't detract from the movie.

 

I briefly noticed that it wasn't a real baby, and pretty much thought "Oh well".  At the time, I was much more focused on Kyle and his wife and what they were saying.  Same sort of thing when Kyle fires a bullet in a climactic scene and it's clearly CGI - I noticed it, and thought "Oh well".

 

However, someone put up a clip of a large chunk of one of the scenes with the doll on YouTube (looks like it's been taken down now, though) and when you're just looking at the doll, it's hilarious.  Cooper surreptitiously jiggles the doll's arm with his thumb at one point to make it look alive. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

 

The action scenes in American Sniper were amateur hour and things like the morning of 9/11 were downright laughable. The dialogue was terrible. Also, firefight while wife is on the phone? Come on.

The firefight with the wife did actually happen. In fact, there were two different instances where Kyle was on the phone back home when fighting broke out - once with his wife, once with his father.

 

 

I read that it didn't and certainly not the way it was portrayed here. I'll tell you who I don't believe on anything. Chris Kyle. He lied and lied and lied some more.

[Tabe]

Yeah, it was a little different in real life than the movie but I attribute that to acceptable artistic license.

Anyway:
 

Did Chris Kyle really use a satellite phone in the midst of battle to call his wife to tell her he is done with war?
No. In the movie, Bradley Cooper's character uses a satellite phone to call his wife Taya (Sienna Miller) and tell her that he is done with war and is coming home. Exploring the American Sniper true story brings to light the fact that in real life, he never made such a call, nor just prior did he kill Mustafa with a near impossible sniper shot from over a mile away (he never encountered the enemy sniper Mustafa).

In real life, Chris Kyle did use the sat phone to call home during lulls in battles or while he was perched in a position on watch. On at least two occasions (once with his wife and once with his father), fighting broke out while he was on the phone. On one occasion while talking to his wife Taya, insurgents attacked the building his team was in. He abruptly put down the sat phone without ending the call. His wife heard most of the firefight, curse words and all. The battery on the phone ran out, and he didn't end up calling her back for two or three days, not realizing he hadn't ended the communication. She was an emotional wreck.

A similar moment is depicted in the movie when the convoy is attacked and Chris (Bradley Cooper) drops the phone while his wife Taya (Sienna Miller) is on the other end. She listens frantically as the ensuing battle unfolds.

Source: Hollywood vs History

[Chaos]

The producer for American Sniper apparently tweeted about the fake baby thing too before it became a controversy.

 

He said that the real baby was sick with a fever, and the backup baby no-showed. Clint looked at him and said "give me the doll, kid."

 

Given the understandably strict regulations when dealing with children and infants in Hollywood. I would not consider that something we should be starkly critical about.

 

I hope to see the movie this weekend; however, I am amused by the outrage over it from people watching it from a (mostly) political prism. It's something I can't comment on here without it being a "common sense" perspective and viewed as too political for this board, so I'll leave it be.

[Reed]

I've also seen lots of people, including many who haven't seen it but are somehow experts on it, criticizing the movie for being pro-war or jingoistic or for showing all Iraqis as bad people. I think that criticism is off-base and misses the point of the movie. The story of the movie is Chris Kyle, his view of the war and what he went through. In his mind and perspective, the war was a righteous one that he believed in. And that's the story being told here. If you're looking for a movie that presents a fair-and-balanced "should we have been there at all?" type of perspective, you're looking at the wrong movie and to criticize American Sniper for not being that movie is simply unfair. It's akin to criticizing a movie on the life of Walter Payton for not dwelling on the NFL's concussion problems.

 

 

Here's my issue: The Iraq war, IMO, is one of the biggest tragedies of our generation. And, a decade later, Hollywood doing certain politicians' dirty work for them and trying to re-write history and paint it as "not so bad" is freaking hideous.

 

And I think you summed up one of the problems: It's Kyle's story. Because even when hundreds of thousands of people die, a country gets torn apart and entire region is destabilized...it's always has to come back to the personal journey of a white dude with a gun. Funny that.

 

I will watch this movie because it's not fair to trash it when I haven't seen it, like you say. But everything that is being said about this film sounds loathsome on every possible level.

[Brian Fowler]

I don't want to get into the politics directly, but that's a big part of why I don't want to see it.

I'm also simply not big on most war movies.

[Chaos]

I don't want to get into the politics directly, but that's a big part of why I don't want to see it.

I'm also simply not big on most war movies.

 

I think that's fair when you leave it at that.

 

I think my comments are more aimed towards the potshots taken at the film, and I think there's just a lot that could be said about that particular sect.

 

From a film buff's perspective, I'm expecting a movie that feels like Oscar bait and really should not have been in the Best picture discussion while remaining a perfectly okay film.

[Hoffman]

On its own, I think American Sniper is a good movie, but nothing out-and-out spectacular.  It's really your standard action film featuring people shooting people and blowing up things, with a man who loves his wife and kids but can't figure out how to express his emotions, so he goes back out for more shooting and exploding.

 

My audience absolutely fell in love with Bradley Cooper; laughing at any light-hearted situation, cheering on his victories, shouting encouragement during his setbacks, and plenty of applause at the end of the movie.  It was like being in the studio audience for a '70s sitcom, and I think that overall experience lifted the film a few notches for me.

[caley]

Is it just me or was Transformers: Age of Extinction clearly the best Transformers film by a country mile?  It was certainly the best-looking of the series (So many glorious sunsets I thought I was watching a Terrence Malick or Kevin Costner movie!), but I thought Mark Wahlberg brought way more to the table in the lead than Shia LaBoeuf did.  I mean, you can nitpick this thing to death (Why was Mark Wahlberg, an inventor, so adept with a space gun and can beat CIA guys in hand-to-hand combat? etc. etc.), but if you turn your brain off and enjoy the effects and cinematography, there's actually quite a bit to enjoy.  Plus there weren't any scenes as embarrassingly insulting as the black-ish robots in #2 who said "We don't read so good" or the girl telling Megatron in #3 that he's another robot's bitch and he responds not by crushing her but by being genuinely insulted to the point he turns on his ally?

[Curt McGirt]

My audience absolutely fell in love with Bradley Cooper; laughing at any light-hearted situation, cheering on his victories, shouting encouragement during his setbacks, and plenty of applause at the end of the movie.  It was like being in the studio audience for a '70s sitcom, and I think that overall experience lifted the film a few notches for me.

 

I think you nailed the problem Reed and many others (including myself) will/do have with this film in two short sentences. 

[Technico Support]

 

 

The action scenes in American Sniper were amateur hour and things like the morning of 9/11 were downright laughable. The dialogue was terrible. Also, firefight while wife is on the phone? Come on.

The firefight with the wife did actually happen. In fact, there were two different instances where Kyle was on the phone back home when fighting broke out - once with his wife, once with his father.

 

 

I read that it didn't and certainly not the way it was portrayed here. I'll tell you who I don't believe on anything. Chris Kyle. He lied and lied and lied some more.

 

 

Word is lied about the lies that he lied about.

 

I also have it on good authority that he even lied to his aunt when he went down South.

[Hoffman]

 

My audience absolutely fell in love with Bradley Cooper; laughing at any light-hearted situation, cheering on his victories, shouting encouragement during his setbacks, and plenty of applause at the end of the movie.  It was like being in the studio audience for a '70s sitcom, and I think that overall experience lifted the film a few notches for me.

 

I think you nailed the problem Reed and many others (including myself) will/do have with this film in two short sentences. 

 

 

True.  It would receive much less flak if it wasn't the biography of a recently-deceased man whose actions, whatever your opinion of them, are fresh in our minds.  Take Bradley Cooper, make him a random gruff-but-lovable roguish family man who shoots people for a living, and you have a film that would be either loved or ignored.

 

I saw American Sniper last Friday night, and I went to see The Interview two nights before that.  American Sniper received more audience laughs than The Interview did.  That's probably not what was intended to happen, but there we are.

[Jrag]

 

 

My audience absolutely fell in love with Bradley Cooper; laughing at any light-hearted situation, cheering on his victories, shouting encouragement during his setbacks, and plenty of applause at the end of the movie.  It was like being in the studio audience for a '70s sitcom, and I think that overall experience lifted the film a few notches for me.

 

I think you nailed the problem Reed and many others (including myself) will/do have with this film in two short sentences. 

 

 

You just saved me from writing about a 1,000 words on this.

[Jrag]

Just kidding I still have some things to say...

 

It's a powerful story and one not changed by the protagonist's credibility issues in any meaningful way

 

The story itself is not changed by his credibility issues, but the decision to present the story in the way they did? That's why the internet is blowing up about this. When a vast majority of the audience is walking out thinking this guy was a good man, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth.  It does so because I know about the credibility issues.  I know that this guy claims to have killed American citizens in New Orleans post-katrina.  I know that they changed lines like "I don’t shoot people with Korans. I’d like to, but I don’t." to  "I don't know what a Koran looks like."

 

Clint could have copied word for word from the book and it would have at least been more honest.  If it was a lesser director I would probably just shrug it off, but it's Clint fucking Eastwood and he is better than this.

[Technico Support]

The main tragedy of The Interview not getting a wider release is that not enough people were exposed to the fact that Katy Perry's music deserves to be a punchline.