Despite my liberal views or what I think about the person in real life or his story, I thought the movie was well done, and people should have known it would have a right-wing viewpoint - it was directed by Clint Eastwood, that would be like not expecting a left-wing viewpoint from a Roger Moore film. Despite that it was not a bad film whatsoever and the acting was superb.
Fury with Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf and Logan Lerman...7/10
Gory ass war flick based on a true event about a tank crew during WWII. The acting was well done, very humanized characters and showed the real horror of war, and the emotional sting with the loss of brothers but also touched on the darker aspect of how war effects soldiers. I recommend it to any war or history buffs.
I think i'm gonna go see American Sniper tomorrow so I can have an opinion.
American Sniper: 7/10
I agree with Hawg about it being pretty jagged in its transition between combat life and home life. The home life was underdeveloped and didn't pack the emotional punch it needed. It was like a TV movie compared to the actiony combat stuff. Some of the dialogue was cheesy, but I think it did a good job portraying Kyle as an individual. The scenes of him as a youngster where his dad instills in him a darwinian belief in humanity ("you're either the sheep, the wolf, or the sheepdog") was a pretty good foundation that explains his cynicism.
As a character study of a guy who was a cog in the war machine, I think it was very good. As a narrative story, not so good. Nevertheless, I think anybody saying it sucks due to its worshippy nature are blind and didn't see the heavy handed critiques. It didn't critique the Iraq War necessarily (I feel I could argue it did, but i'll let it slide), but it was pretty brutal critique of what war does to those caught up in it. It doesn't critique Kyle's character so much, but it portrays him as somebody who became of product of the cruelty of war. There are characters (soldiers and his wife) who have doubts about the war and whether they want to stay there, so it doesn't view Kyle as a perfect selfless human being, but as an example of one of the soldiers who fully commit. He is visibly upset at having to kill the women and children he had to kill, and there's a super tense scene of him with the scope on a kid and him talking to himself telling the kid to put the weapon down so he doesn't have to shoot him.
But in large part due to Bradley Cooper's acting we get to see a dude who has a fairly singular view of the world who is willing to do what is needed to be done to protect his country (delusions of grandeur et al), a guy who has trouble acclimating to civilian life and civilians in general, a guy who kinda resents his nickname "The Legend," and a guy who visibly deals with and tries to suppress the pain resulting from him becoming a one man killing machine. And again, there is room where Eastwood gives to critique Kyle's mindset, his wife does it often, and his fellow soldiers do. After the funeral of one of his fellow soldiers, a letter from that soldier is read in which the soldier questions being there, and in the car on the way home his wife asks what he thought of the letter, and Kyle basically says that it was a sign of weakness that led to him being killed. I don't think it can be viewed as anything but a critique of the psyche that Kyle developed.
So yeah, it was pretty good but not great. Could have been better, but it was neither the pro-war propaganda nor the admirable patriotism that people said it was. I think it's worth a watch because (I assume) it does a realistic job of showing what war does to individuals as well as their families. It'd have been better with more developed supporting characters and a less jagged transition from his combat life to his home life. Not good enough to win Best Picture, and maybe not good enough to even have been nominated, but it will be a travesty if Bradley Cooper doesn't win Best Actor.
I will probably never watch it again, but it was worth watching.
Horns- 9/10 (Netflix)
Pretty good flick although somewhat predictable. Stars Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and tells a story of Radcliffe's character who grows up in love with a childhood sweetheart only to one day be facing accusations of murdering her. During the turmoil and the ongoing investigation Radcliffe begins to believe that maybe he did kill her and internalizes to a point where he starts to grow devil horns. But as the horns grow he also develops the ability to see what people have seen and even influence people to do bad things. I was a little disappointed in the ending but overall this was very interesting and shows some really good acting by Radcliffe.
Rented Dracula Untold, I give it a solid 8/10
Not your typical vampire movie, it did not romanticize the creatures in either the Twilight fashion or even that of Underworld, they're truly monstrous. This was a real character film which looks at the character of Dracula from more the Transylvanian and Hungarian aspect as a hero with a twist (that he did it to protect his people). Has some Underworld, over the top action sequences which makes it more then a single genre piece and had some good overall elements. The actor who played Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans) who played as Bard in the Hobbit Trilogy was superb, others had their moment but he made the film in my opinion. Pretty good film for those who love fantasy and vampires.
Watched Chef Saturday night. 8/10. Great flick. Nice to see something original, really enjoyed it.
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