It's very likely that this post will cause a bit of controversy. I know that the movie is about an "American Hero" so therefore every American is in love with it, but is it actually a good, quality, Academy Award worthy movie? No.
As I'm typing this I can practically hear the gasps from the readers. I know it seems so "un-American" to be hating on a movie about the Chris Kyle, the man with the most sniper kills, an American hero. But I would encourage you to watch the movie (or rewatch it if you have already seen it) without the pressure from society to just accept that you have to love it because its the American thing to do.
As I'm typing this I can practically hear the gasps from the readers. I know it seems so "un-American" to be hating on a movie about the Chris Kyle, the man with the most sniper kills, an American hero. But I would encourage you to watch the movie (or rewatch it if you have already seen it) without the pressure from society to just accept that you have to love it because its the American thing to do.
Like most of the movies from this past year, I was excited to watch American Sniper because it looked great from the trailer. And again like most of the movies from the past year, the trailer deceived me. About 75% of the highpoints of the movie are in the trailer. One of my biggest pet peeves is when the good parts of a movie are ruined because they put it in the trailer.
For American Sniper, there are three specific things in this movie that just ruin the movie as a whole. They are as follows:
1. The horrible, horrible fake baby. Yes I know everyone is talking about it and now I'm talking about it too. But how often do you see this in an Academy Award Best Picture nominee?? It's just painful! Bradley Cooper is obviously extremely uncomfortable. The part that gets me every time is when he transitions the baby from his shoulder to his arm- the baby doesn't move at all. Its just so horribly obvious that its fake.
2. The stupid cheesy music that plays while they are running across the rooftops of the house. I understand that American Sniper is going to be an action movie and therefore have scenes where the bad guy is running to or from the bad guy...but who decided to have music that would fit better into the running scenes in Twilight? AND also get nominated for Sound Mixing for the Academy Awards. I know that they are really nominated for the "war sounds" but still. That scene was serious and I just started cracking up because the music didn't match at all. It's a good thing I didn't see this movie in theatres.
3. And finally, the absolutely most important scene of the entire movie (surprisingly it wasn't in the trailer!). Kyle has a clear target on the insurgent he has been trying to hunt down through the entire movie. But he was 2100 yards away (that's 21 football fields!!). He took the shot anyway and killed the guy. Here's the thing that completely ruined this scene and the whole movie, when he takes the shot the bullet comes out in SUPER slow motion. Why? Just why??? It really just ruins the whole because it makes it seem so cheesy and fake.
With all politics aside and just focusing on American Sniper as a movie, it does not deserve nominations in all six categories it is nominated for. Bradley Cooper absolutely deserves to be nominated for Best Actor, he did a fantastic job. And a nomination for Adapted Screenplay I understand as well. But American Sniper should not be nominated for Best Picture. I honestly think that Gone Girl deserves that nomination more. Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Editing I won't fight as much because the war scenes steal the show of course.
I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this, and if you do PLEASE comment! I would love to talk to more people about this movie! But when you look at the IMDb page it is only rated 7.6 out of 10. I know that's not horrible but five out of the eight movies nominated for Best Picture has an 8+ rating. On a side note, Gone Girl is rated at a 8.3, just saying.
I don't know if I will ever like this movie. The only reason I stayed interested in it was because Bradley Cooper was great. If you haven't seen it I'll leave it up to you to decide if you actually want to watch it. I might watch it again, and if I do it will be a long time down the road, but for now its a one and done. It is an interesting story based on true events but for me it just wasn't up to par. It could have been so much better. I know that Clint Eastwood is capable of making better movies but it just didn't work as a whole for me, especially because it is nominated for six Oscars and receiving so much praise.
Let me know what you thought about American Sniper! I know that some of you reading this will completely disagree with me about this movie, tell me!
For American Sniper, there are three specific things in this movie that just ruin the movie as a whole. They are as follows:
1. The horrible, horrible fake baby. Yes I know everyone is talking about it and now I'm talking about it too. But how often do you see this in an Academy Award Best Picture nominee?? It's just painful! Bradley Cooper is obviously extremely uncomfortable. The part that gets me every time is when he transitions the baby from his shoulder to his arm- the baby doesn't move at all. Its just so horribly obvious that its fake.
2. The stupid cheesy music that plays while they are running across the rooftops of the house. I understand that American Sniper is going to be an action movie and therefore have scenes where the bad guy is running to or from the bad guy...but who decided to have music that would fit better into the running scenes in Twilight? AND also get nominated for Sound Mixing for the Academy Awards. I know that they are really nominated for the "war sounds" but still. That scene was serious and I just started cracking up because the music didn't match at all. It's a good thing I didn't see this movie in theatres.
3. And finally, the absolutely most important scene of the entire movie (surprisingly it wasn't in the trailer!). Kyle has a clear target on the insurgent he has been trying to hunt down through the entire movie. But he was 2100 yards away (that's 21 football fields!!). He took the shot anyway and killed the guy. Here's the thing that completely ruined this scene and the whole movie, when he takes the shot the bullet comes out in SUPER slow motion. Why? Just why??? It really just ruins the whole because it makes it seem so cheesy and fake.
With all politics aside and just focusing on American Sniper as a movie, it does not deserve nominations in all six categories it is nominated for. Bradley Cooper absolutely deserves to be nominated for Best Actor, he did a fantastic job. And a nomination for Adapted Screenplay I understand as well. But American Sniper should not be nominated for Best Picture. I honestly think that Gone Girl deserves that nomination more. Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Editing I won't fight as much because the war scenes steal the show of course.
I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this, and if you do PLEASE comment! I would love to talk to more people about this movie! But when you look at the IMDb page it is only rated 7.6 out of 10. I know that's not horrible but five out of the eight movies nominated for Best Picture has an 8+ rating. On a side note, Gone Girl is rated at a 8.3, just saying.
I don't know if I will ever like this movie. The only reason I stayed interested in it was because Bradley Cooper was great. If you haven't seen it I'll leave it up to you to decide if you actually want to watch it. I might watch it again, and if I do it will be a long time down the road, but for now its a one and done. It is an interesting story based on true events but for me it just wasn't up to par. It could have been so much better. I know that Clint Eastwood is capable of making better movies but it just didn't work as a whole for me, especially because it is nominated for six Oscars and receiving so much praise.
Let me know what you thought about American Sniper! I know that some of you reading this will completely disagree with me about this movie, tell me!
Since the Academy Awards are only 13 days away, this week and next week I will have three blog posts because there are so many movies I still have to talk about!! So I will be posting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! I hope you will come back to read about my Top 4 movies of the year! And yes its the ones I wouldn't let Shawn write about :)
Caitlin
Caitlin