What Do You Think?

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I sat thru AMERICAN SNIPER this week, mostly bored outta my mind. Its not a masterpiece screen play nor state of the art cinematography. That is, my problems belong to Senor Eastwood not Chris Kyle. Eastwood made a pink war movie. Eastwood pretty much agrees with me, or me him.

The movie got me thinking about how directors cut movies and how writers edit stories, I'm using Alfred Hitchcock's definition of CUT, the assembly of scenes into story. AMERICAN SNIPER reminded me of the display case at a WALMART deli....cheese, ham, beef, bologna....NOT a buffet.

And that made me think of plot, rather...total commitment to plot points to tell the story. Eastwood played ham-fisted chords NOT melody.

 

[jomar]

Yeah, I thought it was good, good tension in some scenes, but not super great. Bradley did a good job.

I thought Lone Survivor was better, though the Calvary to the rescue ending was over the top and didn't really happen.

 

[legerdemer]

I enjoyed it but I didn't think it ranked among Eastwood's best.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I enjoyed it but I didn't think it ranked among Eastwood's best.

He's too old to start making chick flicks.

 

[legerdemer]

He's too old to start making chick flicks.

What I was going to say is that I liked both the movie about Turing and the one about Stephen Hawking better. If you call those chick flicks, so be it. I enjoy chick flicks, I guess.

 

[sr71plt]

I think I have no compulsion to see American Sniper.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think I have no compulsion to see American Sniper.

It reminded me of our local SWAT Team. They kinda drift around in a large mob, like a turd in a toilet. Doing nothing much but stink.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I liked the movie. It held my interest, which is saying a lot now a days.

A lot of things in the book were glossed over or left out, but then again somethings were added, for dramatic effect I would assume, that weren't.

All in all a good depiction of what a sniper does and goes through. And no matter what you think of the man, the job - his mission - was accomplished.

 

[sr71plt]

The reason I won't see it (regardless of the controversy it's generated and the stomach-turning--to me--response it's getting from audiences in theaters) is that it raises deep moral quandaries about what to do in wartime situations you are thrown into, where there are no good or "high ground" answers but you have to do something anyway. I had quite enough of that in a twenty-seven-year career not to seek it out in retirement.

 

[CharleyH]

I sat thru AMERICAN SNIPER this week, mostly bored outta my mind. Its not a masterpiece screen play nor state of the art cinematography. That is, my problems belong to Senor Eastwood not Chris Kyle. Eastwood made a pink war movie. Eastwood pretty much agrees with me, or me him.

The movie got me thinking about how directors cut movies and how writers edit stories, I'm using Alfred Hitchcock's definition of CUT, the assembly of scenes into story. AMERICAN SNIPER reminded me of the display case at a WALMART deli....cheese, ham, beef, bologna....NOT a buffet.

And that made me think of plot, rather...total commitment to plot points to tell the story. Eastwood played ham-fisted chords NOT melody.

Why is everyone so afraid of being anti-Kyle? I didn't know him, I've just heard of him, like most people, through a fictional film about his heroism. Killing people isn't heroic. You want a real hero? Try looking up Hyeonseo Lee.

Insofar as story goes? Eastwood has learned how to tell a classic Hollywood narrative. That is all.

 

[lovecraft68]

I liked the movie. It held my interest, which is saying a lot now a days.

A lot of things in the book were glossed over or left out, but then again somethings were added, for dramatic effect I would assume, that weren't.

All in all a good depiction of what a sniper does and goes through. And no matter what you think of the man, the job - his mission - was accomplished.

Its the same situation in a sense as when all the good for nothing flower power hippies maligned the people fighting in Vietnam.

This guy did what he had to to fight for his country to give weak willed internet addicted lemmings something to whine about and think we should apologize for.

 

[lovecraft68]

The reason I won't see it (regardless of the controversy it's generated and the stomach-turning--to me--response it's getting from audiences in theaters) is that it raises deep moral quandaries about what to do in wartime situations you are thrown into, where there are no good or "high ground" answers but you have to do something anyway. I had quite enough of that in a twenty-seven-year career not to seek it out in retirement.

Yes it must have been harrowing deciding what article to write next while sitting at your desk with the name plate "daddy's boy"

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Its the same situation in a sense as when all the good for nothing flower power hippies maligned the people fighting in Vietnam.

This guy did what he had to to fight for his country to give weak willed internet addicted lemmings something to whine about and think we should apologize for.

We're speaking of the movie NOT the man.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes it must have been harrowing deciding what article to write next while sitting at your desk with the name plate "daddy's boy"

You, of course, know nothing about this (sitting at your warehouse job contemplating your failed comic business, failed marriage, perhaps not failed attempts to torture and fuck your sister, your pitiful Lazy-Boy macho man posturing, and your little failed life) other than to initiate sicko nastiness.

I know that homophobia is at the base of your years-long harassment of me, LC, and you've shown it here. Go ahead and drop that pretense. You haven't minced words or covered your big bag of rabid prejudices in any other way. What a sicko.

Although I guess I could add to LC's gnashing of teeth to note that I take the "Daddy's boy" jab as an unintended compliment in the context here--since my daddy was an Army general. (A fact that I can further be amused by that the small-world LC won't be able to allow himself to believe but that doesn't rely on his belief one iota to be true in a large-scope world that LC will never know or be a part of.)

 

[sr71plt]

We're speaking of the movie NOT the man.

You can't really separate the movie from the man, nor has the movie been presented with any sort of separation. You can't have it both ways.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

The reason I won't see it (regardless of the controversy it's generated and the stomach-turning--to me--response it's getting from audiences in theaters) is that it raises deep moral quandaries about what to do in wartime situations you are thrown into, where there are no good or "high ground" answers but you have to do something anyway. I had quite enough of that in a twenty-seven-year career not to seek it out in retirement.

High ground? The high ground is he did his duty. He protected his mates. He did the job he was trained to do. That's the high ground.

 

[sr71plt]

High ground? The high ground is he did his duty. He protected his mates. He did the job he was trained to do. That's the high ground.

There's higher ground to that. The point is that there's no clear right/right or win/win.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

There's higher ground to that. The point is that there's no clear right/right or win/win.

Yeah, that would be hard to see flying around at 100,000+ feet above the battlefield...if that's where you really were.

 

[sr71plt]

Yeah, that would be hard to see flying around at 100,000+ feet above the battlefield...if that's where you really were.

Wasn't flying for twenty-seven years, certainly. Not even twenty-seven months. You sort of are having a hard time deciding how to hate on me about this Zeb. Good luck with that.

As with LC, your hate-driven need to T off on me doesn't change reality at all, so it's only you who gathers bile.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Wasn't flying for twenty-seven years, certainly. Not even twenty-seven months. You sort of are having a hard time deciding how to hate on me about this Zeb. Good luck with that.

As with LC, your hate-driven need to T off on me doesn't change reality at all, so it's only you who gathers bile.

You have the wrong emotion...it's not hate.

I don't hate you. I'm just indifferent toward you.

How can I put this so you'll understand once and for all.

I don't care what you did, what you say you did, what you think you did or what happens to you now or in the future and I sure as hell don't care what you say, now or in the future. And while I might snipe at you, it's all done with a lack of enthusiasm, just because you make yourself such an easy target.

 

[sr71plt]

You have the wrong emotion...it's not hate.

I don't hate you. I'm just indifferent toward you.

How can I put this so you'll understand once and for all.

I don't care what you did, what you say you did, what you think you did or what happens to you now or in the future and I sure as hell don't care what you say, now or in the future. And while I might snipe at you, it's all done with a lack of enthusiasm, just because you make yourself such an easy target.

Oh, you can't be indifferent to me and keep track of my background and bring it up whenever you can, Zeb, and go out of your way to snipe at me on the forum from out of the blue. That duck don't quack.

 

[49greg]

I didn't see the movie, but it was impossible to miss the clips they showed on TV. One scene where he's tracking someone through his scope and he thinks someone has given a kid some kind of explosive. It was set on on TV to make you think he was going to have to shoot the kid.

Reminded me of an old sixties show, one of those programs that showed a new story, new actors every week, Director's playhouse or One Step Beyond type thing, but not sci fi.

It was about two GI's on the DMZ in Korea. They had been briefed that the enemy would be trying to sneak bombs into the South, shoot ANYONE who tries to cross.

They see an old woman running across the DMZ from North Korea to South. They follow her with their machine gun. The gunner trying to make up his mind to let an old woman make it to freedom, or shoot an enemy infiltrator.

In the end he guns her down just before she made it to the South. A later scene has an officer commending him for shooting her, a patrol found explosives, and it was a young enemy soldier in disguise. The officer tells him he made the right decision to shoot the enemy soldier.

The machine gunner replies that he didn't shoot a soldier, he shot an old woman. Good acting because in the short play he showed all the anguish of having to make that terrible decision, and now lived with the knowledge of what he would do if it was really someone's grandma trying to make a break for freedom. All done in black and white and all done in 30 minutes (maybe an hour) less commercials.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Oh, you can't be indifferent to me and keep track of my background and bring it up whenever you can, Zeb, and go out of your way to snipe at me on the forum from out of the blue. That duck don't quack.

It's not a duck. I only had to read your bio once. I'm not a goldfish like you with an 11 second memory, I remember what I read. It's call comprehension and retention, something you lack.

I really don't snipe at you unless you make some statement that you soon forget about and leave yourself open to ridicule.

And I never did believe your bio.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I didn't see the movie, but it was impossible to miss the clips they showed on TV. One scene where he's tracking someone through his scope and he thinks someone has given a kid some kind of explosive. It was set on on TV to make you think he was going to have to shoot the kid.

Reminded me of an old sixties show, one of those programs that showed a new story, new actors every week, Director's playhouse or One Step Beyond type thing, but not sci fi.

It was about two GI's on the DMZ in Korea. They had been briefed that the enemy would be trying to sneak bombs into the South, shoot ANYONE who tries to cross.

They see an old woman running across the DMZ from North Korea to South. They follow her with their machine gun. The gunner trying to make up his mind to let an old woman make it to freedom, or shoot an enemy infiltrator.

In the end he guns her down just before she made it to the South. A later scene has an officer commending him for shooting her, a patrol found explosives, and it was a young enemy soldier in disguise. The officer tells him he made the right decision to shoot the enemy soldier.

The machine gunner replies that he didn't shoot a soldier, he shot an old woman. Good acting because in the short play he showed all the anguish of having to make that terrible decision, and now lived with the knowledge of what he would do if it was really someone's grandma trying to make a break for freedom. All done in black and white and all done in 30 minutes (maybe an hour) less commercials.

Spoiler Alert​

In the movie he did shoot the kid and then his mother when she picked up the grenade and tried to throw it at the Marine column coming up the street.

In the book, he only shot the woman.

 

[sr71plt]

It's not a duck. I only had to read your bio once. I'm not a goldfish like you with an 11 second memory, I remember what I read. It's call comprehension and retention, something you lack.

I really don't snipe at you unless you make some statement that you soon forget about and leave yourself open to ridicule.

And I never did believe your bio.

Gee I'm glad you're indifferent to me. If you were obsessed with me, you'd attack me like Hatecraft68 does.

Read my bio where, by the way? You would have had to go out of your way to find more than a barebones bio for me. I certainly haven't looked for a bio for you (which should tell you what indifference really is. Quack, quack.)