Finisher

It's almost as though Eastwood abhors style. Childhood scenes were sub tv movie level. I know Clint's from the Don Siegel efficiency above all else school, but shit, so many setups in this film were just lazy. Also the portrayal of Chris the man is one dimensional and lacking complexity. Not enough sniping scenes.

Bradley Cooper was fine, but overall, material was better than the execution.

johnnysd

Lol, you just essentially defined what a jingoistic movie is. You don't see if because the movie reflects your own political beliefs. Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.

Dr. DVD

Saw it. Overall, it was a good movie. However, I am kind of stunned that it is doing so well. The showing I attended was close to sold out, and I got there a good twenty minutes before it started. I too found the movie somewhat jingoistic, but I felt it also balanced Kyle's negative aspects with his positives. Cooper did a great job, and I think Sienna Miller was unfairly snubbed by the academy for a nomination.
There were also some very impressive cinematic moments from Eastwood. I thought the last third of the movie with the sandstorm fight was brilliant. I also liked that

Also, the nerd in me found it kind of ironic that this patriotic man would start a family with the Baroness.

Defiant1

I'll probably see this next week in a double bill with Selma. My guess as to why it did so amazingly well this weekend is a perfect storm of timing:

- Solid reviews.
- Multiple Oscar nominations.
- Big name and well-known star in the lead.
- Clint Eastwood. Famous tough guy directing a tough guy movie.
- Great marketing. That trailer is one of the best of any 2014 movie.

Probably the biggest factor is that Western freedom of speech has come under attack twice in a major way in the past month with the Sony hack and the tragic events in France. It's like an attack on American liberties itself! So along comes a jingoistic war movie and it even has "American" in the title. The poster even has an American flag prominently displayed as the proverbial cherry on top. Americans couldn't really support a shitty movie like The Interview but here is a well-reviewed movie directed by a living legend. And it's about a soldier killing those damn foreigners with a powerful gun! The result is $90M in one weekend.

'Murica! Fuck yeah!

Dr. DVD

I am curious if this movie will boost Bradley Cooper's price tag a bit more, especially for rated R movies given that the two largest openings of all time for that rating have him in the lead (if you count him as the lead in Hangover 2).

RichC2

Honestly, The Interview did pretty well overall, and I didn't think it was all that shitty

Why So Blu?

I'll agree with that. Can't tell for certain if he will turn into a 20 million dollar per film man just yet but he's getting there. I think Liam Neeson became a 25 million dollar man (for Taken 3) after Taken 2 made a shitload. It took a few years.

RichC2

Nessie (dammit reddit) defied all expectation though and peaked in his 60s that's incredibly rare.

Daytripper

Did anyone else notice Eastwood's Hitchcock moment at the beginning of the movie? Showing him entering the church from a distance. When the Kyle family was attending a Sunday service. Also, first time coming to this thread. Thought I was imaging the fake babies in the movie. Just kind of odd. Anyway, I thought the film was great. Maybe not up there with "The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty". But close.

creekdipper

Almost posted this in a separate thread but it belongs here & didn't want to give Moore any more attention than necessary: https://tv.yahoo.com/news/american-s...230120523.html

Predictable for Moore to attack the movie, but seriously..."snipers are cowards"? Because your uncle was killed by a sniper? That's like saying that pilots, Naval gunners, and tank crews are cowards because one of your relatives got killed by them. Or mortar crews & demolition crews are cowards because they don't charge headlong into the enemy.

Perhaps if he did any research on the Russian WOMEN snipers during WWII their insanely high casualty rate....

Or just lift his little finger to learn anything at all about snipers other than what he "was taught" by relatives. For instance, how snipers spend day behind enemy lines inching their way through hostile terrain, facing the elements (jungle, vipers, heat, thirst, rain, etc.), waiting motionless for hours or days just to get one shot. Or how they fought delaying actions to buy time for their comrades to retreat to safety.

Guess when you're out of the limelight for a bit, you'll stoop to any level to get attention. Hate to even post except to give more evidence of his lack of credibility and eagerness to expose his ignorance about topics.

Don't know if anyone mentioned this earlier, but Sean Hannity attributed Kyle with the "most confirmed sniper kills in history." I suppose that's right if he's limiting that to the U.S. military, but some snipers in WWII reportedly had over 700 kills. Heck, female sniper Ludmila Pavlichenko had 309 confirmed kills. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko

JimRochester

I think in some ways it takes bigger balls to do what a sniper does. Watch Enemy At The Gates and tell me what cowards these guys are. Very few people can be that type of coward. What an asshat he is.

Solid Snake

I will see this cuz I want to see a good movie, I don't care for Kyle at all, I know so little about him, but when viewing the film you've got to grade it as it is. One can criticize the facts afterward as it stands as a piece of the art medium but the film's quality itself has to also be separated in my views.

I know Kyle is a big recognized kill guy for us here but as amazing as that is now... I'm left unimpressed in the overall of snipers. And I'm not one to really care for this but I mean Lyudmila Pavlichenko got 309 kills in WWII doing her thing in Russia. And not to diminish the situation Kyle was in but... that was in the 1940s. She didn't have a weapon like Kyle did and her situation was probably much more graver than his. Shit. In comparison...Kyle isn't a big deal compared to her. Are we that easily impressed to have a man in this period to do such a thing and root for him? I don't get people. Again I'm sure Kyle was a talented guy and I couldn't do what he did but... I mean... Let us get a bit critical here, folks. It's like mainstream is so dumbed down when we're presented iconography and interesting talents. Nobody cares to compare. I dunno.

I want to see the movie as it is... a movie. But I'm not like... in awe of his actions. Though they are worth recognizing.

mcnabb

The beauty of this country is that idiots like Michael Moore can express their opinion freely without consequences, no matter how dumb a statement he makes.

covenant

Big difference is Lyudmila could shoot any German solider she saw. Kyle had to weed through and only shoot obvious combatants who hid among the general population.

dsa_shea

He is being ridiculed on dvdtalk. Isn't that worse than death itself?

astrochimp

Fo' sheezy!

inri222

American patriot who killed North Korean leader speaks:

Seth Rogen: ‘American Sniper’ Like Fake Nazi Propaganda Film

http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/18/se...opaganda-film/

RichC2

I like that Daily Caller doesn't seem to realize he's Canadian.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

RichC2

I have the reading abilities of a 5 year old! Yaah!

Jaymole

Then you and the Daily Caller are a perfect fit

Dan

Seeing this in 30 minutes. Expectations are relatively low.

JimRochester

There was a lot of posturing and bravado from the soldiers but that's how they talk. I guess for me to consider it political, it would have had to make statements about the righteousness of the war itself. In order for it to do that, have a lot more character development regarding the Iraqi people and how they were mistreated under Saddam, or reasons why we were there. If anything it just followed a boilerplate war movie narrative showing the hero and a largely faceless enemy.

As far as the overall narrative of us vs. them; American Sniper, Band Of Brothers, Midway, Pearl Harbor, Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Flags Of Our Fathers, Memphis Belle, Black Hawk Down, etc. are all similar in how they portray the U.S. versus the enemy. So I guess if you consider all those political then yes, American Sniper was as well.

You have to get into movies like Longest Day or TORA, TORA, TORA with a 50/50 narrative to not be jingoistic. But obviously they are the minority.

DJariya

One of my colleagues from work is loaning me her Academy screener this week, so hopefully I'll get a chance to watch this later in the week. Her husband is a member of the DGA (Directors Guild of America) and they get DVD copies of all the potential Academy award nominees. I would have paid to see this in the theater, but she offered to loan it, so why not?

RichC2

Yeah, a couple of those leaked out on the internet, I was curious to see if they would get pegged as a reason for its financial failings. Looks like we'll never know for sure.

Looks like this grossed $89.5m for the 3 day weekend, and it received an A+ cinemascore. Estimates now have it pegged at $250m minimum total gross, with expectation of it going much higher.