American Sniper
Movies that make me write essays, part two.
So, in the last three years I have fallen madly in love with Bradley Cooper. I did not get what the big deal was about him in the early days, and movies like The Hangover do not interest me. (I know, I know, IT'S SO FUNNY. But no, I will not enjoy it, it's not my kind of movie, trust me.) I remember watching the Sandra Bullock movie All About Steve, which also stars Bradley Cooper and thinking, that's exactly right. Steve was nothing special in that film and neither, to my mind was Bradley Cooper.
And then I saw Silver Linings Playbook. I am a big fan of David O. Russell as a director and writer, and who doesn't love Jennifer Lawrence? That was enough to make me suppress my what gives attitude about Bradley Cooper. So I saw his first Oscar-nominated performance, and struggled the whole movie with denying that I found him attractive. Because really, that was my biggest problem with him--everyone was like HE'S SO HOT! and I was just like DON'T SEE IT!
And I still don't, not in the aesthetic sense. I get that he's a big tall manly-man, which is attractive to me, despite my recent years of being fixated on skinny little white guys from Louisiana, BCoop's body type is definitely my type. There is this scene in Silver Linings Playbook where he throws himself down on the bed, sexually frustrated by his feelings for Jennifer Lawrence, and that was the scene for me where I like, OKAY I SEE IT. But let's face it, portraying someone who is bi-polar didn't make him like the most attractive he could be. He was kind of crazy in that movie, so there were all kinds of reservations for me as I watched it.
But I couldn't deny what a great actor he is. And that was the selling point: his talent was just really impressive.
Then he did American Hustle...and he had a perm. And again, his character was this quirky weirdo. But I walked out of there unable to deny that it didn't matter how weird he played, he is sexy. He has the X factor, period. So pretty much after that, I was desperately awaiting whatever he would do next.
So, I saw American Sniper yesterday afternoon. It was in the biggest theater at the cine-plex, and it was PACKED. I can't remember the last time I was in a theater with that many people. I get that it was opening weekend and all, but my sister and I were really surprised by the turn out. Come to find out, that's what's happening everywhere, at least here in the States.
Now, for me, BCoop was the biggest draw, but I also love Clint Eastwood, so I had expectations for it to be good even though I didn't care for Clint's last director's effort (that Nelson Mandela movie with Matt Damon...about the World Cup? I can't remember the name of it). I also knew going in that this was a true story and that the man depicted had been murdered after he survived FOUR tours in Iraq.
I also get that I'm conservative, and that my perception of war and country and all that is different than a lot of people's. I'm sure that Clint Eastwood wanted to make this film because he's very conservative and his view falls in line with Chris Kyle's: God, Family, Country. But what was interesting to me, is that Bradley Cooper was also a producer on the film. He wasn't just an actor who got given this fully realized character who was a real human being, but he had a lot to do with getting the whole story up on screen.
It's controversial, for sure. I went to the IMDB page last night and was sort of appalled (I don't know why I can still be shocked at the horrible things said on message boards, but I can) at what I read there. But then I started to see the perception of this man from the other side: murderer. Some people said he deserved the way he was murdered (after he got out of the Navy, he worked with veterans who suffered as he did from PTSD, and one of those people he tried to help shot and killed him and his friend on a gun range in Texas); they said it was "karma" for all the people he killed.
I remember a few years back getting into quite a discussion with some online friends about the way the American government took out bin Laden. I do think, culturally, Americans tend to be warmongery. I tend to think of myself as a moderate conservative, though. I believe in gun control, and don't see why anyone in a civilian capacity would need an automatic weapon ever. I know that we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan on false pretenses; but I also know that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were evil men and I'm not sorry that they are no longer with us, under any circumstances.
I think I sleep peacefully at night because of men like Chris Kyle, who are able to do the things that he did, things that robbed his soul, and stole time from his family, and ultimately took his life. I think more of their stories should be told. And I loved The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, but American Sniper is not the same movie as either of those. After he'd been home for a while, Chris met with a therapist, the one who eventually got him to help other veterans. In one of their sessions depicted in the film, the therapist asks Chris if he has regrets about what he did over there and Chris answers honestly that he's ready to face God for every shot he took, and every person he killed. He goes on to say that what haunts him is all the people he couldn't save. Now, this could certainly, medically, be chalked up to a Messiah complex, but what I got from it is that he understood that fundamentally, what he was able to do, most people are not. Even other soldiers, trained as he was trained, or as many of them were trained FAR LESS than he was, didn't have the ability to do what he did.
I don't know if that makes him a hero or not. I do think it made him extraordinary. And maybe his death was God's way of saying, you've done enough. Or it was to show us that our soldiers need more help when they come home, and we need more people who are equipped to help them.
And aside from all the politics of it, Bradley Cooper has never been better. He is one of the finest character actors of his generation, and he should always wear a beard, because GUH.
Also, the scene that this bottom image is from is INCREDIBLE. I won't tell you what's going on there, but I will say the WHOLE SCREEN is just BCoop's face. And it's amazing. I want him to win the Academy Award SO BAD. SO BAD.
So, in the last three years I have fallen madly in love with Bradley Cooper. I did not get what the big deal was about him in the early days, and movies like The Hangover do not interest me. (I know, I know, IT'S SO FUNNY. But no, I will not enjoy it, it's not my kind of movie, trust me.) I remember watching the Sandra Bullock movie All About Steve, which also stars Bradley Cooper and thinking, that's exactly right. Steve was nothing special in that film and neither, to my mind was Bradley Cooper.
And then I saw Silver Linings Playbook. I am a big fan of David O. Russell as a director and writer, and who doesn't love Jennifer Lawrence? That was enough to make me suppress my what gives attitude about Bradley Cooper. So I saw his first Oscar-nominated performance, and struggled the whole movie with denying that I found him attractive. Because really, that was my biggest problem with him--everyone was like HE'S SO HOT! and I was just like DON'T SEE IT!
And I still don't, not in the aesthetic sense. I get that he's a big tall manly-man, which is attractive to me, despite my recent years of being fixated on skinny little white guys from Louisiana, BCoop's body type is definitely my type. There is this scene in Silver Linings Playbook where he throws himself down on the bed, sexually frustrated by his feelings for Jennifer Lawrence, and that was the scene for me where I like, OKAY I SEE IT. But let's face it, portraying someone who is bi-polar didn't make him like the most attractive he could be. He was kind of crazy in that movie, so there were all kinds of reservations for me as I watched it.
But I couldn't deny what a great actor he is. And that was the selling point: his talent was just really impressive.
Then he did American Hustle...and he had a perm. And again, his character was this quirky weirdo. But I walked out of there unable to deny that it didn't matter how weird he played, he is sexy. He has the X factor, period. So pretty much after that, I was desperately awaiting whatever he would do next.
So, I saw American Sniper yesterday afternoon. It was in the biggest theater at the cine-plex, and it was PACKED. I can't remember the last time I was in a theater with that many people. I get that it was opening weekend and all, but my sister and I were really surprised by the turn out. Come to find out, that's what's happening everywhere, at least here in the States.
Now, for me, BCoop was the biggest draw, but I also love Clint Eastwood, so I had expectations for it to be good even though I didn't care for Clint's last director's effort (that Nelson Mandela movie with Matt Damon...about the World Cup? I can't remember the name of it). I also knew going in that this was a true story and that the man depicted had been murdered after he survived FOUR tours in Iraq.
I also get that I'm conservative, and that my perception of war and country and all that is different than a lot of people's. I'm sure that Clint Eastwood wanted to make this film because he's very conservative and his view falls in line with Chris Kyle's: God, Family, Country. But what was interesting to me, is that Bradley Cooper was also a producer on the film. He wasn't just an actor who got given this fully realized character who was a real human being, but he had a lot to do with getting the whole story up on screen.
It's controversial, for sure. I went to the IMDB page last night and was sort of appalled (I don't know why I can still be shocked at the horrible things said on message boards, but I can) at what I read there. But then I started to see the perception of this man from the other side: murderer. Some people said he deserved the way he was murdered (after he got out of the Navy, he worked with veterans who suffered as he did from PTSD, and one of those people he tried to help shot and killed him and his friend on a gun range in Texas); they said it was "karma" for all the people he killed.
I remember a few years back getting into quite a discussion with some online friends about the way the American government took out bin Laden. I do think, culturally, Americans tend to be warmongery. I tend to think of myself as a moderate conservative, though. I believe in gun control, and don't see why anyone in a civilian capacity would need an automatic weapon ever. I know that we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan on false pretenses; but I also know that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were evil men and I'm not sorry that they are no longer with us, under any circumstances.
I think I sleep peacefully at night because of men like Chris Kyle, who are able to do the things that he did, things that robbed his soul, and stole time from his family, and ultimately took his life. I think more of their stories should be told. And I loved The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, but American Sniper is not the same movie as either of those. After he'd been home for a while, Chris met with a therapist, the one who eventually got him to help other veterans. In one of their sessions depicted in the film, the therapist asks Chris if he has regrets about what he did over there and Chris answers honestly that he's ready to face God for every shot he took, and every person he killed. He goes on to say that what haunts him is all the people he couldn't save. Now, this could certainly, medically, be chalked up to a Messiah complex, but what I got from it is that he understood that fundamentally, what he was able to do, most people are not. Even other soldiers, trained as he was trained, or as many of them were trained FAR LESS than he was, didn't have the ability to do what he did.
I don't know if that makes him a hero or not. I do think it made him extraordinary. And maybe his death was God's way of saying, you've done enough. Or it was to show us that our soldiers need more help when they come home, and we need more people who are equipped to help them.
And aside from all the politics of it, Bradley Cooper has never been better. He is one of the finest character actors of his generation, and he should always wear a beard, because GUH.
Also, the scene that this bottom image is from is INCREDIBLE. I won't tell you what's going on there, but I will say the WHOLE SCREEN is just BCoop's face. And it's amazing. I want him to win the Academy Award SO BAD. SO BAD.