I just saw American Sniper over the weekend. Eastwood did a fantastic job and the whole thing was very well acted, but I'm still certain that the movie's content and release date were completely aimed at earning awards. In other words, it was very high quality Oscar-bait.
@HahiHa I'd ignore that critique. Political extremists and internet trolls are not a good basis for judging something.
SPOILERS The movie spends a lot of time showing how consumed he was with the war. While his brother, wife, and the soldiers who left either injured or after their tour was up all tried convincing him he should stop going back to Iraq he continued to take on more tours of duty and try to push himself into the line of fire. Even after his friend dies because they rushed into an ambush on pure adrenaline he says that it wasn't the ambush that killed his friend but his friend's doubt in the righteousness of the war. At best, the movie depicts Kyle as obsessively trying to live up to his father's standards (a man who, in the first half hour of the film, becomes so enraged by his own speech he whips out his belt and starts threatening to beat his children) by killing anything that poses even a remote threat to his family and/or country. At worst he's shown as psychotically obsessed with killing as many terrorists as possible and a sniper named Mustafa. In fact, it isn't until he almost dies killing Mustafa that he finally decides to stay at home yet he tells a psychiatrist that he still wants to keep going back and that he doesn't see that as a bad thing. END OF SPOILERS
So yeah, if someone watches that movie and only comes away with "Chris Kyle killed so many brown people, he's AWESOME!" they would have twisted the movie to say that no matter what it's message was.
I'm thinking about watching Against The Sun tonight, anyone seen it?
Also, in the last few days I've seen Chronicle (Scifi/Thriller), The Guilt Trip (Comedy), For A Good Time Call...(Comedy), Rob The Mob (Crime Drama), and Two Night Stand (Rom Com).
Not much to say here. Chronicle started out bad, got good in the middle, then ended ok. Rob The Mob had a lot more drama and a lot less action that I thought it would have, but was made well and by the time it was done I felt like barely anytime had passed, a sign to me that I liked it. Two Night Stand was a slightly less chessy romcom than most.
I just watched Wadjda. Wadjda is a ten year old girl who likes pop music, sells bracelets on the schoolyard, and wants to buy a bicycle. However, this is not considered proper behaviour for a woman in Saudi Arabia. This leads to friction between her and the fundamentalist establishment. Wadjda is a deeply affecting, beautiful film that left me with a lump in my throat (That's as much of an emotional reaction as any media gets from me).
I watched The Wind Rises. Veteran anime director Hayao Miyazaki's final film is a beautiful story of a romantic in an unromantic world and a love poem to the majesty of flight. I actually cried at the end, something that rarely happens nowadays. Farewell, Hayao Miyazaki. The world of cinema has lost a true great.
Okay so since the 11th I've seen: 2 Guns (Action Comedy), Vehicle 19 (Thriller), World War Z (Apocalyptic Action), Time Lapse (Sci-fi Thriller), Headhunters (Thriller), Let's Kill Ward's Wife (Comedy), Against The Sun (Adventure), Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (Horror Comedy), I Am Legend (Post-Apocalyptic Sci-fi Horror), and Hot Fuzz (Action Comedy). Plus I re-watched 21 & Over
World War Z is now one of my top movies ever. It's filled with 2012-esque cinematography. Also the best "zombie" movie I've seen.
Headhunters, one of 2 foreign films on that list, was also good. It kept me attention to the very end. Actually all of them were enjoyable and I would recommend them all.
Abigail's Party, a 1977 TV play about a party in English suburbia. What begins as a stiff and polite gathering soon descends into petty squabbling as more and more alcohol is consumed. Overall, I thought it was pretty good. Pretty stagey, but very acerbic and funny.
So, I just watched Fifty Shades of Grey with my significant other. I'm telling you, I was more disappointed than she was. Actually she wasn't but I was. It really isn't much to be honest. It only got its hype from the sex scenes which were supposedly like porn (?). But no, it was nothing like that. In fact, I would even go far as to say it was a bad movie.
For the week leading up to Valentine's Day cinemasins went through a bunch of romance movies, I've never seen either of them but the description of 9 1/2 weeks was about what I expected Fifty Shades of Grey to be like. Judging by your post SirLegendary, I was right.
I watched Snow Piercer today. It doesn't have the best pacing, especially at the end, but otherwise is an excellent movie. It's a lot of fun and has some great moments that are very memorable.