American Sniper

[The Annoyed Man]

Excellent movie. His death is a tragedy.

Bill Maher has joined the ranks of Michael Moore. I'm glad those two are allowed to voice disagreement. Those two will always look to others to keep them safe and criticize their actions when they do. Better men left them that ability. Men like them will never be able to keep it. It must be a terrible feeling to ones self worth being kept free by better men.

If you hadn't mentioned Maher, I'd have never known of it. One is a fat pig, the other an irrelevant pig. Both are pigs. Neither will ever change his stripes because being a pig is too eay and too profitable. They both tear down everything around them, and neither ever builds up anything. Like any wild hog, all they do is destroy land and infrastructure. However intelligent (like a pig) they both might be, they are both small-minded men.......and I use the term "men" loosely. Without the controversy they each create, both would fade into obscurity—the worst kind of death that either could imagine. Ignoring them is the best revenge.

[treadlightly]

American Sniper is very moving, and the theater in Corsicana was silent at the end, too.

I don't think it's a movie for small children, though, and there were a number of kids, down to elementary school age, in the audience. Not that it's my place to tell anyone what to do, just saying my kids at age eight would not have gone.

One thing I will never understand is why we are so hated. America is the safest place on God's earth to be a Muslim. Or a Scientologist, or an atheist, or any number of mutually incompatible things.

Here's health to you and your Corps, which anyone would be proud to serve. I wish I could say that in the first person, but I'm one of too many who let their betters keep them secure.

[Jumping Frog]

I had the privilege or honor of meeting Chris Kyle.

However, I had the good fortune (and honor) to attend a speech that his widow, Taya Kyle, gave at the NRA Annual Meeting in Houston in May of 2013, just 3 months after his murder. She was awesomely impressive in real life, and the video of her talk is absolutely well worth watching:

http://home.nra.org/home/video/2013-nra ... l-meetings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Meanwhile, my wife and I will be going to the 1:30 showing today at the Silverado/Tomball.

[rbwhatever1]

Excellent movie. His death is a tragedy.

Bill Maher has joined the ranks of Michael Moore. I'm glad those two are allowed to voice disagreement. Those two will always look to others to keep them safe and criticize their actions when they do. Better men left them that ability. Men like them will never be able to keep it. It must be a terrible feeling to ones self worth being kept free by better men.

If you hadn't mentioned Maher, I'd have never known of it. One is a fat pig, the other an irrelevant pig. Both are pigs. Neither will ever change his stripes because being a pig is too eay and too profitable. They both tear down everything around them, and neither ever builds up anything. Like any wild hog, all they do is destroy land and infrastructure. However intelligent (like a pig) they both might be, they are both small-minded men.......and I use the term "men" loosely. Without the controversy they each create, both would fade into obscurity—the worst kind of death that either could imagine. Ignoring them is the best revenge.

Spot on...

[SRH78]

This is a MUST see. I will +1 the silence with one exception. There was a lot of sniffling as people wiped tears from their eyes.

[philip964]

http://news.yahoo.com/ventura-wont-see- ... 39865.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jesse Ventura isn't going to see the movie, doesn't think Chris Kyle is a hero.

Someone commented that Jesse has opened up a new lawsuit to try and get more money since the movie has been so successful. Does any one know about this or is this just what we would expect.

BTW this is from Yahoo, they are a very liberal news source. They don't even seem to like Jesse.

[fickman]

I have mixed reviews of the film.

I love the story. I love what it stands for. I thought Bradley Cooper nailed his role and delivered a great performance. I also thought the editing and directing were great, and I really appreciated the lack of soundtrack (they could have easily ruined a few signature moments by blaring "Born in the USA" in the background).

Still, I found the script to be very trite and elementary. There was no subtlety, and it exchanged performance, innuendo, and metaphor for surface-level spoon feeding of very cliche concepts - even if they were genuinely a part of this story, the script would summarize a point in two lines of dialogue instead of letting the audience experience it for themselves. I wonder if they didn't try to bite off too much by telling the entire life story. . . they had to move the story so fast that it never developed the depths of the characters.

I was touched by the ending, but it hit me that my emotions were relating to the real Chris Kyle story and my memories of the time around his funeral. The real footage impacted me. My emotional / inspirational response was not connected to the characters from the film; they were mostly two dimensional.

I'm not knocking the film. I enjoyed it and it's worthy of discussion, but it could have been so much more.

[psijac]

I have mixed reviews of the film.

I love the story. I love what it stands for. I thought Bradley Cooper nailed his role and delivered a great performance. I also thought the editing and directing were great, and I really appreciated the lack of soundtrack (they could have easily ruined a few signature moments by blaring "Born in the USA" in the background).

Still, I found the script to be very trite and elementary. There was no subtlety, and it exchanged performance, innuendo, and metaphor for surface-level spoon feeding of very cliche concepts - even if they were genuinely a part of this story, the script would summarize a point in two lines of dialogue instead of letting the audience experience it for themselves. I wonder if they didn't try to bite off too much by telling the entire life story. . . they had to move the story so fast that it never developed the depths of the characters.

I was touched by the ending, but it hit me that my emotions were relating to the real Chris Kyle story and my memories of the time around his funeral. The real footage impacted me. My emotional / inspirational response was not connected to the characters from the film; they were mostly two dimensional.

I'm not knocking the film. I enjoyed it and it's worthy of discussion, but it could have been so much more.

There was exactly one layered moment in the entire movie. It's when he drops his rifle.

Everything elese seems pretty one dimensional. From the sheepdog speech to the recruiters office and buds training.

I hated the fake bullet holes added in post. And the internet went a little crazy over the fake baby.

I loved the scenes where Trash talking happens, they felt real.

Action scenes were excellent. Overall I liked the movie.

[fickman]

they were mostly two dimensional.

Everything elese seems pretty one dimensional.

I gave them too much credit. One dimensional is actually the phrase I meant to use.

Well written review. . . I think we're on the same page.

[ScooterSissy]

...Our veterans should be able to walk into any doctor in America, go to the front of the line, and not pay one cent for the best healthcare...

You nailed it on that one. I've never seen it said better.

[ghostrider]

Our veterans should be able to walk into any doctor in America, go to the front of the line, and not pay one cent for the best healthcare.

oh, I like that idea.

[C-dub]

I did see the movie in the theater, but since it came out on Bluray on Tuesday I also picked it up at Walmart. What caught me by surprise was what the woman at the register said to me. She asked if I'd seen the movie and mentioned that she did and it made her cry. That didn't surprise me. What she said next did. She said she had moved to Texas just weeks before the movie came out in the theaters and had never heard of Chris Kyle before then. I was so shocked I didn't think to ask where she had moved from.

[VMI77]

...Our veterans should be able to walk into any doctor in America, go to the front of the line, and not pay one cent for the best healthcare...

You nailed it on that one. I've never seen it said better.

Should be, never will be. The oligarchs who own the country and their political puppets couldn't care less about veterans, and it's been a very long time since they did, if they ever have. They love to pay it lip service but they never actually back any of their rhetoric up with action. This has become easier since WW2. The scale of the war and the number of veterans and their families made them hard to ignore back then, though they did a pretty good job of hosing the veterans of WW1. The most you'll get from the current crop of traitors in the White House and Congress is some flag pins on the lapels of their tailored Italian suits and some speeches.

[The Annoyed Man]

...Our veterans should be able to walk into any doctor in America, go to the front of the line, and not pay one cent for the best healthcare...

You nailed it on that one. I've never seen it said better.

Should be, never will be. The oligarchs who own the country and their political puppets couldn't care less about veterans, and it's been a very long time since they did, if they ever have. They love to pay it lip service but they never actually back any of their rhetoric up with action. This has become easier since WW2. The scale of the war and the number of veterans and their families made them hard to ignore back then, though they did a pretty good job of hosing the veterans of WW1. The most you'll get from the current crop of traitors in the White House and Congress is some flag pins on the lapels of their tailored Italian suits and some speeches.

I share and understand the sentiment, but I am philosophically opposed to requiring any citizen to perform work for another citizen, by law, and without compensation. In that light, if it is a public healthcare facility, then yeah..... straight to the head of the line, no payment required.

But if it is a private doctor in a private practice, that doctor has overhead that comes out of his own pocket, AND he himself may be a veteran too; so I don't think it is right to force that doctor to give free healthcare to anybody - even a veteran. If a private practice doctor wants to do it as a kindness, or even out of gratitude, that's fine. But it shouldn't be an entitlement UNLESS the taxpayer is on the hook for it. And I'm pretty sure I know how we all feel about entitlements around here.

I realize that this may not be a popular sentiment, but I hope you guys can understand where I'm coming from. I'm just trying to be consistent in my standards.