American Sniper
POSTED BY: SHINYGOODGUY
UPDATED: Sunday, June 7, 2015 01:32
VIEWED: 12920
PAGE 4 of 8
People seem to forget that, although Eastwood may be a republican douchebag asshole, who talks to empty chairs at conventions, he is a master craftsman in his field.....which happens to be filmmaking.
This may not have been one of his ultimate masterful movies (such as Million Dollar Baby) but it did have his touch. Subtle but poignant, simple yet complex, the deft touch of an impressionistic painter where you could barely see the brushstrokes.
Forget, for a moment, the brutal and loud battle scenes. That's the background. Watch Cooper's performance and you could almost see Eastwood telling him, "less is more" "go inward." With each passing tour of duty Kyle went deeper and even more introverted. I'm glad that I didn't know more about Kyle than I already did, for then I would be questioning Cooper's every move, Eastwood's intent (oh wait, I already did).
It was pulling all the elements together to tell a story. What I saw was a story about how a man slowly lost his soul, and just as slowly fought against it. Not everything was there on the screen to be explained away, but it was suggested in those very scenes that you describe. The nursery scene, the auto shop scene, the television scene. And each of us - you, me, Second - took something unique to our experience from it.
SGG
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The only facts most people remember about wars are the movies. World War II has Bridge On the River Kwai or Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nazis are the best villains, ever! The Korean War has got MASH. Vietnam War? John Wayne's The Green Berets or The Deer Hunter or Apocalypse Now. Take your choice. Then there is the Iraq War with The Hurt Locker www.metacritic.com/movie/the-hurt-locker
Clint Eastwood has done his version of an Iraq War movie and used all his art to make a point. And he did it with great success. But Clint's point is off-point. I know why. Clint needs to redirect your attention to the suffering troops. Look, look, look at lost legs and arms. See Bradley Cooper do mental anguish, Texas style, which is far more subtle and nuanced than NY/NJ style. New Jersey gets loud when it suffers. Clint Eastwood decided it is his job to artistically direct your attention so you can remember the Iraq War to the best advantage of an unnamed political party.
I will leave with another fact that will never make it into a Clint Eastwood movie. Clint would say the fact is not in his movie because of “artistic decisions” which perfectly protects himself from being accused of extremist nutcase political bias in favor of an unnamed political party.
Remember roadside bombs that plagued the Army in Iraq? Thank the Army for those explosions. The Army made excuses at the time for not securing the explosives before the terrorists trucked the bombs away. All bullshit from the Generals, all the time. Every Texan I have ever known is unaware of this. But you no longer are. Thank me. No thanks to old fart Clint Eastwood.
www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.explosives/
www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/international/middleeast/25bomb.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Qa%27qaa_high_explosives_controversy
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Ok, if I go into a theater knowing I hate a particular director for whatever the reason, then.....................my question is: Why see the movie if you know, going in, that all you will see is a pack of lies?
You bring a very heavy piece of luggage my friend? Do you do this with all the movies you watch?
And, of course, Eastwood is going into it with a particular point of view. If you know this going in, well.....................
I found out about John Wayne's politics a few years back, but yet I still watch his films and enjoy them. Art and politics can be a powerful combination, but they can also drive ya' crazy.
Dr. Strangelove!!!
You are supposed to only pay attention to the politics which are not radical leftwing extremist. All of the extreme leftwing libtard radical politics evident in the "mainstream" or "centrist" film, drama, acting are to be ignored or reveled in.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
People seem to forget that, although Eastwood may be a republican douchebag asshole, who talks to empty chairs at conventions, he is a master craftsman in his field.....which happens to be filmmaking.
This may not have been one of his ultimate masterful movies (such as Million Dollar Baby) but it did have his touch. Subtle but poignant, simple yet complex, the deft touch of an impressionistic painter where you could barely see the brushstrokes.
Forget, for a moment, the brutal and loud battle scenes. That's the background. Watch Cooper's performance and you could almost see Eastwood telling him, "less is more" "go inward." With each passing tour of duty Kyle went deeper and even more introverted. I'm glad that I didn't know more about Kyle than I already did, for then I would be questioning Cooper's every move, Eastwood's intent (oh wait, I already did).
It was pulling all the elements together to tell a story. What I saw was a story about how a man slowly lost his soul, and just as slowly fought against it. Not everything was there on the screen to be explained away, but it was suggested in those very scenes that you describe. The nursery scene, the auto shop scene, the television scene. And each of us - you, me, Second - took something unique to our experience from it.
SGG
I wondered at the time, and still do, how many missed the quip in Cooper's final wrap-up scene, where he said that she was what made the effort to come back to the living worth it.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Take your choice.
OK.
Quote:
The only facts most people remember about wars are the movies.
WWII was preceded by the War to End All Wars, aka The World War or World War I: Gallipoli, Red Baron. Most of the films I wanted to list here are not found on the interweb search I just did.
Quote:
World War II has Bridge On the River Kwai
In Yurp...
Quote:
or Saving Private Ryan
In Yurp...
Quote:
or Schindler's List
In Yurp...
Quote:
or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In Yurp...
Quote:
Nazis are the best villains, ever!
Good thing the Italians or Japanese were not involved in the war, or the Allied Powers could have lost a few lives in combat. Also forgot Catch-22.
Others include Tora Tora Tora, Flags of Our Fathers, Baa Baa Blacksheep (I'm partial as a former Blacksheep), Midway, From Here To Eternity.
Quote:
The Korean War has got MASH.
severly diluted by the horrible TV show which followed.
Quote:
Vietnam War? John Wayne's The Green Berets or The Deer Hunter or Apocalypse Now.
Platoon.
Quote:
Take your choice. Then there is the Iraq War
American Sniper.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
What!? you lost me.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The only facts most people remember about wars are the movies.
1. For most people, not in the armed forces, this is how we experience war, through movies.
Clint Eastwood has done his version of an Iraq War movie and used all his art to make a point. And he did it with great success. But Clint's point is off-point.
2. How can Eastwood be both successful and off-point? Apparently, I missed something. I don't see how this film was ever political. Could you point out just how he made this into Republican propaganda? I'm approaching this from a film standpoint, since I have no experience as a soldier.
Clint would say the fact is not in his movie because of “artistic decisions"
3. If we were talking about Heartbreak Ridge, then yes, definitely a right leaning propaganda movie. Again, what specifically about his choices made this a Republican film (aside from the obvious, Bush declaring war on Iraq).
Remember roadside bombs that plagued the Army in Iraq?
4. Yes, I remember the roadside bombs. I don't recall seeing one in this movie.
I saw this movie as kind of anti-war. I didn't see it as Republican brainwash theater. Remember, I'm a democrat.
SGG
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Oooooooo, so close!
So you're calling old stone face Eastwood a, what was it, radical leftwing extremist.
And what is this clap-trap? the "mainstream" or "centrist" film, drama,"acting are to be ignored or reveled in."
You lost me there with that one.
SGG
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:It is not an anti-war movie so much as it is a Killing-is-harsh-on-his-soul-but-Chris-Kyle-will-make-the-sacrifice-to-keep-America-safe-from-Terrorists movie. The Killing-is-harsh-on-his-soul is one of those lightweight moral insights that Hollywood has used a thousand times. See Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992). If the movie was a heavyweight, it would have looked at, for at least two seconds, Is-Kyle-keeping-America-safe-from-Terrorists? That will never be in an Eastwood movie, especially when he is a shill for the Republican party. There is not enough ammo in the universe for Kyle and his rifle to keep America safe when the Whitehouse and the Pentagon are making stupid decisions such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bremer#Disbanding_the_Iraqi_Army and http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.explosives/
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
I saw this movie as kind of anti-war. I didn't see it as Republican brainwash theater. Remember, I'm a democrat.
I saw this in the newspaper: How We Learned to Kill
In Marine officer training we were taught to be decisive. Even a bad decision, I was told, is better than no decision at all. But the combination of imperfect judgment, the confidence of authority and absolute decisiveness does not produce measured outcomes.
For a while after I ordered the Marine to take that first shot, everything we did seemed acceptable. It revealed that killing could be banal. Each day would bring a new threat that needed to be eliminated. Bombs would drop, Marines would fire and artillery would blanket hills with explosions. I had a rough estimate of how many people we killed, but I stopped counting after a while.
On most occasions, when ordnance would destroy the enemy or a sniper would kill a Taliban fighter, we would engage in the professional congratulations of a job well done like businessmen after a successful client meeting. Nothing of the sort happened after killing a civilian. And in this absence of group absolution, I saw for the first time how critical it actually was for my soul and my sanity.
Nobody ever talked about the accidental killing. There was paperwork, a brief investigation and silence. You can’t tell someone who has killed an innocent person that he did the right thing even if he followed all the proper procedures before shooting.
When I returned home this group absolution was supposed to take the form of a welcoming society, unlike the one Vietnam veterans returned to. But the only affirmation of my actions came through the ubiquitous “Thank you for your service.” Beyond that, nobody wanted to, or wants to, talk about what occurred overseas.
-- www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/how-we-learned-to-kill.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Take your choice.
OK.Quote:
The only facts most people remember about wars are the movies.
WWII was preceded by the War to End All Wars, aka The World War or World War I: Gallipoli, Red Baron. Most of the films I wanted to list here are not found on the interweb search I just did.Quote:
World War II has Bridge On the River Kwai
In Yurp...Quote:
or Saving Private Ryan
In Yurp...Quote:
or Schindler's List
In Yurp...Quote:
or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In Yurp...Quote:
Nazis are the best villains, ever!
Good thing the Italians or Japanese were not involved in the war, or the Allied Powers could have lost a few lives in combat. Also forgot Catch-22.
Others include Tora Tora Tora, Flags of Our Fathers, Baa Baa Blacksheep (I'm partial as a former Blacksheep), Midway, From Here To Eternity.
As a Marine Officer, I wonder why you didn't realize there was a War in the Pacific, the Island-hopping Campaign. Never heard of Capt Earl Ellis?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Oooooooo, so close!
So you're calling old stone face Eastwood a, what was it, radical leftwing extremist.
And what is this clap-trap? the "mainstream" or "centrist" film, drama,"acting are to be ignored or reveled in."
You lost me there with that one.
SGG
Perhaps you got confused when you inserted quote marks incorrectly, or in the wrong location.
Or you are not serious.
Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Ok, if I go into a theater knowing I hate a particular director for whatever the reason, then.....................my question is: Why see the movie if you know, going in, that all you will see is a pack of lies?
You bring a very heavy piece of luggage my friend? Do you do this with all the movies you watch?
And, of course, Eastwood is going into it with a particular point of view. If you know this going in, well.....................
I found out about John Wayne's politics a few years back, but yet I still watch his films and enjoy them. Art and politics can be a powerful combination, but they can also drive ya' crazy.
Dr. Strangelove!!!
You are supposed to only pay attention to the politics which are not radical leftwing extremist. All of the extreme leftwing libtard radical politics evident in the "mainstream" or "centrist" film, drama, acting are to be ignored or reveled in.
Maybe I was not clear.
John Wayne and Clint Eastwood are NOT representative of the radical leftwing extremist, which is the norm in Hollywood. These should be the targets of your attention, belittling and nitpicking them and their work.
On the other hand, the Hollywood standard of extreme leftwing libtard radical politics which Hollywood insists is "mainstream" or "centrist" shall be heretofore celebrated, reveled in, or ignored during critiques or critical thinking. This rule applies to entire films, or the drama or acting within.
Got it?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME