MOVIE REVIEW: AMERICAN SNIPER

There are things going on in American Sniper that I'm just not sure I understand. I'm tempted to call it a decent movie with one hell of a performance out of Bradley Cooper. But, if the things I think I get are things I actually get, the move is a trip and a half.

First off, Sienna Miller, who plays Chris Kyle's wife, is never ever ever a likable character. Even her introductory scene is one where she is purposely being a bitch. On top of not being a likable character, it is rare that she is even a sympathetic character. It's a hell of a thing to pull off to be unsympathetic as an Armed Forces wife.

Second, the "big bad" is given a very humanizing scene where we see his family. We see this right after Kyle leaves his family to return to the war. Not only that, but the "big bad" is a character made up for the film, and is in direct opposition to Kyle in a few scenes. He is also has the same specialty that Kyle does.

Third, a kid gets slugged and we're supposed to accept it as an audience. But this acceptance doesnot happen in the Ethics 101 "what would you do" after the situation type of way. It's real time, you throw up your hands and say, "wow."

Fourth, the Hero Worship of Chris Kyle happens predominantly off screen. We're shown once, in a flashback, that Chris Kyle is the good guy. After that, it is up to the viewer. Even as we feel his shame in a growing iconic status.

Fifth, as the movie goes on, you feel something is missing. That "something" is soul. That "something" is a connection between characters. That "something" is the tame lapse that occurs during and between four tours.

But Cooper's performance is phenomenal. So, is this faulty movie making? Or were these purposeful decisions made to accentuate Kyle's descent from a confident moral arbiter to a man who almost throws a haymaker on Lassie?

I cannot say.

I do believe it was masterful how religion played a role to the characters in the movie, but did not become a thematic "us versus them" type of distraction.

All that said, if it is faulty movie making, Cooper's performance makes up for it. If it is intentional, bravo Eastwood. Bravo.

88/100

OTHER MOVIE REVIEWS:
Cinderella (2015)

Get Hard

ADRIAN FORT is a writer, blogger, and essayist from Kansas City, Missouri. Follow him on twitter @adriananyway. His work has appeared in Existere, decomP magazinE, The Bluest Aye, Bareback Magazine, Gadfly Online, Chrome Baby, The Eunoia Review, Linguistic Erosion, and Smashed Cat Magazine. His Master's Degree is from Lindenwood University. 

Cinderella (2015): Or A Tale of Inspiration for Upper-Middle Class White Women

Disney is continuing their trend of double-popping stories that are largely someone else's by making them live-action. I'm not oppose to this. They switch up the story a bit, sprinkle in some ethnicity, and special effects are so good now that a remake actually makes sense to do.

But do they have to be so trite?

I know, I know, they are for children after all. Little girls, especially. Little white girls especially especially. Upper-middle class little white girls, especially especially especially. This version makes sure the target market feels nice and at-home with the story by exposing us in depth to the fact that Cinderella, or Ella as she was then known, was actually fairly well-to-do before all the Stepmother business. Her father did well enough as a merchant that the family had help. And Ella helped them whenever she saw fit. The family actually had so much help that mommy had little else to do besides give Ella a nice, loving childhood and make sure the little girl was superstitious enough to believe in magic and fairy godmothers and even white men that are richer than her father.

That's right, girls. The classic tale of looking just good enough for one night that you can trick a rich man into marrying you so that you don't have to work is incomparable by women's rights movements and growing poverty rates and Kenneth Branagh.

Speaking of Branagh, when is he going to stop getting a free pass based on the "scope of his vision"? He's been directing Shakespeare since the Reagan years. In fact, his directorial debut opened a couple weeks before the Velvet Revolution and the release of "The Little Mermaid."

Which brings us to the cast. Lily James is as boring as you could hope a Disney Princess would be. Also, eyebrows. Any amount of Helena Bonham Carter is overwrought. She's gone full Depp. Ben Chaplin, who plays Ella's father, looks like Antonio Banderas and Steve Coogan had a baby. Once I got over that fact, his eyes still creeped me out. For some reason, I feel like Richard Madden has only ever played a prince. Branagh is compelling as Iago. Sophie McShera and Holiday Grainger play the evil stepsisters Drisella and Anastasia respectively. Grainger's hair has more charisma than Lily James (eyebrows), and both sisters should have had more screen time.

But here's the real conundrum. Cate Blanchett stole the show as Cate Blanchett is one to do. But I wonder if there is something more going on here. In a movie which attempts to cash in on the emotional investment of childhood memory as oppose to building it fresh, the Big-Bad was genuinely a more compelling character. One written with more freedom. And acted in superior fashion. I wonder if this will only resonate with adults as children are so easily sold their stake in a protagonist.

There are some neat effects in the movie. Like a stomach-turning moment when a lizard is morphing into a footman which visually falls into the Uncanny Valley. Also, it was funny to hear the rich, white, twenty-something woman and her mother sitting next to me having such audible guttural reactions to a cheesy movie.

VERDICT: If this is your bag, you're going to see it and love it no matter how bad I tell you it is. If it's not your bag, take someone to see it, that way you don't have to see Avengers: Age of Ultron by yourself.

72/100


ADRIAN FORT is a writer, blogger, and essayist from Kansas City, Missouri. Follow him on twitter @adriananyway. His work has appeared in Existere, decomP magazinE, The Bluest Aye, Bareback Magazine, Gadfly Online, Chrome Baby, The Eunoia Review, Linguistic Erosion, and Smashed Cat Magazine. His Master's Degree is from Lindenwood University. 

OTHER MOVIE REVIEWS:
American Sniper

Get Hard

Aquaman: Khal Oceano

I was on board (pun intended) with the casting of Jason Mamoa as Aquaman. He's the exact opposite of what you think of when you hear the name "Aquaman." And what I mean by that is he's intimidating. Not the joke of a hero who talks to fish.

Especially with the DC universe shaping up to be as, I guess, "dark" as it is shaping up to be. After all, we've had one movie, and in it Superman ruined a truck drivers life, let his dad die in a tornado because his dog was probably going to die in a tornado, and I'm pretty sure he calls Zod a "motherfucker" while beating him in the face. Also, massive IHOP destruction. Then they made Ben Affleck into an alcoholic looking Batman. Then a woman from (perpetual warzone) Israel was cast as Wonder Woman. All things considered, Aquaman was not going to fit.

So when Khal Drogo was cast, I thought it was a pretty good call.

Break from tradition and the casual-fan perception of Aquaman as a joke by bringing someone to the table who probably stole your lunch money. It stands to reason that if you're going to go in that direction, you break completely from the character, bring in an actor and make both the actor and the character unrecognizable to common perception.

Then they released a picture of him.

It is literally Khal Drogo as Aquaman. Same hair, same weird eyebrows, same eye shadow, same tattoos, same facial hair.

This is the equivalent of Disney going to Robert Downey Jr. and saying, "Hey, we're going to make a middle-aged Obi Wan movie, and we want you for it. But keep the Iron Man facial hair goatee thingey."

What's Dothraki for "half-baked?"

The Ant-Man Cometh

So...Marvel, huh? 

Their last movie starred a talking raccoon and a semi-talking tree. You saw it. Both trailers for their next movie use the Pinocchio theme song. You'll see it. The movie after that stars Paul Rudd. It's called Ant-Man. The trailer was terrible. You'll see it.

Admit it, Marvel owns you.

Imagine I told you about a movie that starred the chubby fella from Parks and Rec, the voice of Bradley Cooper, a professional wrestler (not named The Rock,) a mono-quote piece of bark, and a green woman who used to be a blue woman. It takes place on planets you've never heard of. Oh yeah, and it has a soundtrack from, uh, the 70's? Hypothetically, how would you feel about that movie?

Now, how many times did you end up seeing it?

Honestly it would be simpler if I could just get Marvel to take monthly debits from my account. Then, at least, I wouldn't have to feel the shame when the ticket booth guy at the AMC calls me by name and doesn't check the ticket stub before pointing me towards a screen. 

I'm going to see Avengers: Age of Ultron so many times I'll have to fill out a change of address form.

And then there's Ant-Man. Like I said, Paul Rudd, funny title, bad trailer. Sure, can you break a twenty?

If not, I'll take a ticket for today and one for tomorrow too.

You will too and I'll tell you why: This is where it all comes back home. John Campea of AMC Movie Talk on Youtube (which I cannot recommend highly enough) has been asking for months, how do you make it personal again? 

(So, the Fantastic 4, huh?)

It's a great question and a huge conundrum for the comicbook movie genre. Marvel has been making a living off of planet pulverizing peril lately. The X-Men franchise is veering towards Apocalypse. Green Lantern happened. Man of Steel was one pierce-a-character's-eyeball-with-a-needle scene away from being a global torture porn movie. So, how do you reduce the body count and keep the stakes? 

A movie about fathers and daughter.

Genius. It resets the pallet. It keeps the Marvel mood. Also, demographics, man. If you're reading this, you're probably an 18-35 year old male who wears glasses. And you're sweating. And you've got a neck beard. Hey, man, I'm not judging. I'm the one writing it. But Marvel has also done surprisingly well with women in the same age-range (abs.) Boys 3-17 all believe they are Iron Man. And now you have a hero that all little girls can root for and fathers can dress up as for Halloween. And a viable excuse for women 35-50 to use, "Honey, you're so much like that Ant-Man character, maybe he'll pop up in this Thor movie..." when they really just want to see a Marvel movie (abs.)

Basically, in one movie, Marvel is putting a Blitzkrieg on most of the demographics that they don't already own. This makes me wonder if Cumberbatch will be wearing prosthetics to look geriatric for Dr. Strange. Admit it, you'd be intrigued. Maybe Micheal Keaton turns up as one of the Inhumans. 

Looks like the ticket booth guy down at the AMC has a lot of names to learn.   

ADRIAN FORT is a writer, blogger, and essayist from Kansas City, Missouri. Follow him on twitter @adriananyway. His work has appeared in Existere, decomP magazinE, The Bluest Aye, Bareback Magazine, Gadfly Online, Chrome Baby, The Eunoia Review, Linguistic Erosion, and Smashed Cat Magazine. His Master's Degree is from Lindenwood University.