American Sniper

Clint Eastwood, 2014

GoWatchIt

2/5

Adapted from the biography of the same name, This biopic tells the story of Chris Kyle, considered the deadliest sniper in American History with 160 confirmed kills out of 255 probable kills.

To call the opening portion of American Sniper excessively Patriotic would be an understatement. It is like a Budweiser commercial starring Kenny Chesney with two Bald Eagles sitting on his shoulders. Bradley Cooper delivers a restrained, subdued energy to his Chris Kyle character. He's a man that keeps his feelings bottled up, a tradition pased on by the now-overly-cliched 1950's style father. There are attempts to show the origins of Chris Kyle the person, but they are short. They show you the beginnings of his shooting skills with a quick opening hunting scene with his father. They show you his strong devotion to his country when he sees the 9/11 attacks on television, and he is basically on the next plane to Iraq. They are light touches. Instead of constructing a layered protagonist you are served a mumbling Cowboy. You never get a true sense of his sniping numbers piling up. The battle scenes themselves are largely one-sided and never really cut into the complexity of the Middle Eastern conflicts.

To be fair, it is still an important story without question worthy of a movie. If it continues the national dialogue about PTSD sufferers than it succeeds. People like Chris Kyle need to be commended and praised for their service to our country. If it weren't for him, soldiers like him, we would all be living a much different life. Heck, we'd probably be speaking German. But this movie fails to properly examine Chris Kyle the person. Instead it creates a hollow hero image but its a character thats lacking. And in terms of judging this as a Great War film, it isn't even in the conversation. It doesn't have the intensity or impact of a Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty. Instead, it belongs in the same category as not-so-good also rans such as Jim Sheridan’s 2009 PTSD drama Brothers starring Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal. Eastwood is likely to blame. He’s certainly not Kathryn Bigelow. He’s an 84 year old filmmaker whose sensibilities have probably changed. He probably doesn’t have the energy to piss anyone off anymore. Even with the ending of the film, he takes the Werner Herzog approach. It feels like a cop-out. Chris Kyle was an American Hero, and his story would have probably been served better through the eyes of a different filmmaker.

Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn, 2014

Can I Stream it?

2/5

A group of space criminals team up to defeat Ronan the Accusor (Lee Pace) from destroying the galaxy with a small orb that he is in pursuit of.

Guardians provides some star-gazey visuals on a scale not really seen since Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. In fact, the movie itself has some of the workings of a modern day Star Wars (mostly due to the brisk battle scenes and diabolical antagonist), but because of the elementary dialogue - it ultimately becomes a not-as-funny version of Spaceballs starring the Blue Man Group. Much of the jokes fall flat, almost as if the closest punch-up writer was literally in another galaxy. To be fair it's a movie clearly written for 12 year old boys. Chris Pratt continues his 2014 campaign of being the Seth Rogen of 2010, or the Zach Galifianakis of 2012. His success is understandable, he has the sort of every-man charm that puts an audience behind it's hero. But on-screen charisma is not given the right amount of fuel to really take it far, like he did in 2014's great/much-more-compelling The Lego Movie. Instead, Guardians becomes mostly masturbation fodder for boys that have grown sick of seeing Zoe Saldana in Avatar blue and now warmly welcoming the idea to see her in green. But while the dialogue weighs the movie down, the cosmic scenery and incredible visuals are probably enough to justify a single viewing. There is a scene in which the ship is cruising through the remains of an old giant which has turned into a mining capital. David Bowie plays in the background as they glide through the glittering metropolis, and the scene is quite spectacular. The movie explores the tired trope of a bunch of characters in pursuit or defending a single item. We've seen it many times: in Men in Black, The Fifth Element, The Lord of the Rings. Guardians will probably expose a new generation of kids to songs that would be better heard while watching Reservoir Dogs, but they will discover that later on in life. But for the adults of the world who endured the two hour watch, it's disappointing that the massive $170M budget was spent on CGI and music licensing and not on better writing.

The Place Beyond the Pines

Derek Cianfrance, 2013

5/5

          Luke is a motorcycle stunt rider who performs with a traveling carnival group. When he returns to Schenectady a year after hooking up with one the locals, Romina (Eva Mendes), he suddenly finds a reason to stay there. He soon realizes that he's not very equipped to make living there nor is Romina very inviting. He turns to crime to make a quick dollar, soon finding himself in the cross-hairs of rookie cop Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper).
          While Blue Valentine was saturated with melodrama, Cianfrance tones it down here to a digestible, sufficient level. Though he does play on familiar themes of relationships overlapping each other, difficulty of maintaining love. Monetary struggles. He also broadens the spectrum of a love drama by adding issues of heredity and predisposed personality traits. He is sharp in examining relationships from a realistic perspective, studying the not-much-explored gray areas. Love is not always conveniently timed, and its not unusual for relationships to overlap one another or for exes to resurface without an invitation. Cianfrance makes many bold moves in this film. Making a drastic turn halfway through the movie is ballsy, let alone some of the shifts in time.
          I don't agree with the comparisons that have been made to Drive. I think it minimizes Cianfrance's efforts here, and that shouldn't be done. Yes, Gosling is a stunt rider like Drive. Yes, he does that very Goslingy thing where he leans up against a wall looking cool. This time its a cigarette in his mouth, and not a toothpick. His character in Pines has more depth, more history. He's been through one hell of a life. The many tattoos are like chapters. He didn't live with the world's greatest father growing up, or hardly lived with any father. He is sensitive to people's condescending tone with him (ie. when Romina is talking to him in the diner). Upon hearing that he has a son he has the immediate reaction to be present in his life and the intention to be a provider, presumably not wanting to make the same mistakes his father made. 

          There seems to be some maturity seen from Cianfrance from his last effort. The pacing is effective, and never drags on. The use of sound was present but not overpowering. He let the scenes breathe a bit. For example, when introducing you to Robin (Ben Mendelsohn), he didn't just have him run into Luke at a gas station. He did a pan shot of him watching Luke race through the woods on the motorcycle. It gave you a feeling of uncertainty, uneasiness. Mendelsohn, a perfect pick for that role, is an impressive character actor. Interested in seeing more of him in future roles.
          The climax of the film was already very satisfying, and then the Bon Iver song "The Wolves (Act II & II)" played as the credits roll which pulled on my heart-strings. I would imagine there are people that will be critical of the last scene in the film. I found it to be imaginative and rewarding.

Silver Linings Playbook

David O. Russell, 2012

4/5

David O. Russell has really refined his craft, especially from a pacing standpoint which in this film was so evident. Frantic and gradually calming, there is a great parallel to the progression of Bradley Cooper's character Pat's medication taking hold. There is a scene where Pat is having a manic episode. In the background is the very fitting "What Is and What Should Never Be" by Led Zeppelin and the scene is shot in a claustrophobic attic with a lot of close angle & shaky-cam that really added to the tension. By the final act I was literally on the edge of my seat - laughing to myself that I was actually looking forward to a dance scene. It was refreshing to see Chris Tucker again, and his character provided some levity in the already mildly comedic moments. Silver Linings cuts raw, and feels real.