Only a month ago, the biggest entertainment story was the Sony hack. The FBI traced the cyber attack to North Korea, and the hackers threatened 9/11 attacks on any theater showing The Interview. This wasn’t some artsy or substantive film. It was a bro comedy where Seth Rogen and James Franco made dumb jokes and offed Kim Jong-Un. But people were understandably upset because another country was messing with our free speech. The last straw came when Paramount nixed Team America as a replacement in theaters.
Audiences rallied around online streaming of The Interview and made it the top-grossing online film for Sony. I do wonder how many people watched the entire movie, or if they simply paid the fee and checked out after ten minutes. The Interview will quickly hit Blu-Ray as a “Freedom Edition.” Because ‘Murica.
Anyway. The Bradley Cooper “not political” war movie, American Sniper, surprised everyone this weekend by breaking box-office records and scoring a $90.2 million opener. I figured military audiences would show up to watch Chris Kyle’s story, but this number is still impressive. Who didn’t watch the movie? Seth Rogen. He stayed home, watched the trailer, and cracked a joke:
American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that's showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds.
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) January 18, 2015
Seth pops off on Twitter a lot, and what you read is what you get from him. He angered a lot of people who vocally supported The Interview in the name of freedom. Yeah, Seth’s tweet was a little hypocritical.
One part of American Sniper that didn’t go over well with audiences or critics: The fake baby. I haven’t seen the movie yet (Birdman was top priority, but maybe next weekend). There was some awkward Breaking Dawn stuff going down. Pajiba calls it “a laughably fake baby that was distracting to the point of hilarity.” Hitfix says Sienna Miller and BCoop couldn’t cope: “Cooper in particular looks like he’s just plain never held a baby.” All that Navy SEAL training, and Clint Eastwood didn’t make Coop practice holding a baby?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN; movie stills courtesy of Warner Bros.
I laughed SO much at the fake baby in American Sniper which was beyond awkward given the movie. It was worse than baby judith in Walking Dead but at least they only use the bad doll when walking/running or dangerous scenes, this was in a nursery, it made no sense.
Now I HAVE TO go see the fake baby movie.
Puhleeaze, Kiddo. This is obviously a desperate ploy to cover up your love of all things beige booty shorts.
P.S. Yeah and thanks a LOT, Lindy79, now I HAVE TO go see the fake Nazi fake baby movie.
I need to see if their Fake Baby Holding Holds a Candle to My Real Awkward Feverish Panicked This thing is going to poop on me Panicked baby holding of Real Childrenbabies
I’m going to buy you a Fake Baby so you can practice, Quinn Doon.
OMG…this reminds me so much of in How I Met Your Mother when they’re trying to decide the worst thing that Barney’s ever done to a woman and they do it march madness bracket style so they’re all arguing and Ted is like “I was there, trust me…its fake baby.” Lmao
It was funny but bless him, at least he tried to make the stiff baby life like by jiggling its hand up and down. They shouldn’t have shown a close up of the doll’s face though, that raised a number of laughs followed by Bradley Cooper burping a chopping board
B.Coop gets no credit for this fake baby. It was actually a robotic fake baby that was capable of moving it’s own hands up and down. I should make it an imdb page…
Ah, Seth Rogan and his words of deep thinking.
Yes, it could move its fingers in a robotic way (like it was doing with Sienna Miller) but Cooper was jiggling fake baby’s hand up and down. If the baby could robotically move that well it wouldn’t have looked so bad
I have no words for Seth Rogen, so I’ll just let that go.
I saw the film with a friend who is a first responder and lost a lot of very close friends on 9/11. I’m fairly liberal and not a pro-war rah-rah person at all. I was profoundly affected by this film.
I don’t see the movie as a pro-war film. Quite the opposite. I think it’s a film about PTSD. Trauma. The ravages of war. Physical pain. Death. How war tears families (and yes even fake babies) apart, destroys lives.
Bradley Cooper nailed this role and he did the best portrayal of someone suffering from PTSD that I’ve probably ever seen in a film. From the startle reaction to the withdrawal, to the anger and distancing behavior, he really exemplified what victims of trauma go to long after the traumatizing event has ended. Sienna Miller was unrecognizable as herself and really became Taya Kyle – a woman struggling to keep her family and husband together.
I will go to see this film again and I hope it inspires all of us to treat our veterans a little kinder, and helps those that need it get the kind of therapy and help they deserve.
Maxine7 you actually saw the movie and having seen the movie you have an informed opinion. Seth Rogen is an idiot talking out of his *ss.
Thank you DottieDot. My opinion my not be the best and people may not agree with me, but Rogen’s comments are just so off. I can see one having issues with the film for other reasons but it’s definitely not a pro-war propaganda film. It’s really the opposite and makes you think very hard about what we’re doing in some of these areas and what we’re doing to families and children. BUT it does beg us all to support the troops regardless of our political beliefs. Rogen can’t possibly have seen the movie and in all good conscience have made the comment he made.
I totally agree with you. I’m not a huge BCoop fan but I think he did an outstanding job. The film was subtly acted yet you somehow knew what he was thinking. And I didn’t even recognize Sienna Miller.
But the fake baby…they could have made a baby out of jello and paper clips and it would’ve been more realistic. Really distracted from the scene.
Maxine7 yes, I totally agree!: “I don’t see the movie as a pro-war film. Quite the opposite. I think it’s a film about PTSD. Trauma. The ravages of war. Physical pain. Death. How war tears families (and yes even fake babies) apart, destroys lives.” Even the comments by the soldiers that were fearmongering and racist are totally real-to-life opinions I’m sure some hold. I wish this movie was about how to view a war-time enemy with balance, but it wasn’t: it was about an American Sniper and what that role entailed. As a very non-pro-war Democrat, I thought it was excellent and not pro-war.
Babies are scurrrry. Guns, not so much.
But how much do I LOVE THE FAKE BABY angle? HAHA.
Let’s see of mimif gets fake-babied.
Lol you brat, you caught me. 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyr7yjDnqds
OMG I noticed the fake baby! It was so damn fake! ‘American Sniper’ was about war. How it is terrible, tragic, at times shameful and life-changing no matter what! It was not a propaganda movie because it showed how a man missed out on his kids childhoods’ and got severe PTSD from the war. It didn’t glorify Kyle or war, he was shown as a man who was conflicted in his role of being a killer in Iraq and coming home to the community who acted like the war wasn’t going on.
The movie didn’t go into politics or reasons for war. It didn’t try to demonize middle eastern people. It showed the atrocities of war on both sides. The insurgents actually DID and DO instruct their kids and wives to strap bombs to themselves and attack soldiers. The American/European snipers DID and DO have to protect the marines, even if a female insurgent is the one running up to a tank ready to attack… that is their job. You can tell that Kyle was tormented by what he saw and what he had to do. Rogan is just being ignorant.. War isn’t black and white, there are shades of grey to everything.
except in Kyle’s own book, he did not seem all that conflicted about what he did as a sniper.
I agree Lem. Kyle went to his grave claiming that war WAS black and white. And by that I mean “them savages, me hero”. Lmao at the suggestion that he was tormented by that aspect.
I’ll never forget the interview where at the very end he is asked whether he thinks God will hold him to account for the hundreds of lives he took and he says without skipping a beat, “no, those people were evil”. It never occurs to him that they were also just people like him, caught in a situation that spins with or without them. He sounded like one of these religious right dbags who think ‘Muricah is the chosen land or something.
What about all the “bad people” he claimed to have killed, with absolutely no proof that such killings did in fact happen?
‘Eastwood spliced the opening with scenes of the snipers childhood, hunting a deer with his father. LITERALLY comparing Iraqis to animals.’ read this on twitter and sums it up perfectly.
+1000 to what all of you are saying. I particually didn’t appreciate when he talked about ransacking people’s apartments in Iraq, then in another section bragging that he shot Hurricane Katrina looters. This guy was not a “complex hero”. He was a very disturbed individual.
I agree with the above posts. I am the wife of a spec ops soldier, and a mother, who can identify very much with the experience of his wife Taya. The man had a job to do, he did not need to brag about it. No, I do not think he was so conflicted based on the book he put his name on. I am not against the idea of showing people what these wars have done to the soldiers and families. It sounds like this movie did a good job of that, though I have not seen it and I do not want to.
@ lem — exactly.
Kyle was NOT a nuanced, tortured guy who cared about the lives he took. It’s downright dangerous to depict him as such, because it’s way more convenient to assume that our soldiers are good men forced to do bad things than it is to acknowledge the fact that we turn human beings into monsters (and weaponize sociopathy).
I agree that Kyle was not a nuanced man. Frankly I think he was a bit of a sociopath.
The problem some of us are having with this film is that Clint doesnt bother to point out that this mans inability to see the bigger picture of war is a moral deficiency or atleast an intellectual one. I’m not suggesting that Clint beat us over the head with it of course but the way the film is now it does feel like a propaganda film rather than a character study.
@Aurora: the impression that I’m getting from the reviews is that Eastwood has made a good movie. However, he appears to have done this by whitewashing Kyle’s actual history and character. Makes me wonder why he didn’t just do a truly fictional story of a a US soldier/sniper and what hell war is instead of using Kyle’s autobiography.
A big yes to the weaponizing sociopathy comment. The US military turned this man into a useful monster for its own purposes, and he exceeded their expectations with ‘over 160 documented kills’. Then someone he was trying to help killed him.
The whole thing seems kind of disturbing (and potentially criminal with his description of looting people’s apartments) plus it has a strange, creepy, sad ending.
Why this story got turned into a “Murica Yeah!” movie is strange to me.
Thank you. Finally a sane synapsis of an insanely inaccurate film. I do not trust Clint Eastwood who is lodged up the NRA barrel. Why didn’t they choose a man’s story with similar experiences who isn’t a self labeled sociopathic murderer? ??
I wish everyone walked away with that message. Unfortunately some nuts on twitter didn’t get those points. I haven’t seen the film; and probably won’t in a theater..
but the numbers are over the top impressive.
That movie was very hard to watch, mostly because I feel there was a huge lack of compassion for the other side. It was very much a MURICA movie, and I wish they had spent some time humanizing the opposing sniper (I thought that would have been a really interesting angle – Kyle was so hell-bent on killing the other sniper who HAD THE SAME JOB AS HE DID – and that guy was so evil, but Kyle was a hero?). Anyway. The movie did not sit well with me for many reasons, but that was the main one.
@Suzanne: Did you not see the part where the other sniper gets the call to go to work, while sitting in his home with his wife, holding what is presumably, their infant child? Or the picture of the other sniper standing on the podium with a medal around his neck at the Olympics? I think they tried to humanize him. They didn’t try to humanize the Butcher, who cannot be humanized.
Was it pro-USA/Seals? Sure, but to say it was totally one-sided is a little much.
I was forced to see this movie with my husband. I did not want to see it because I assumed it would be over the top patriotic machismo, but when I left that theater, I didn’t feel that way at all. Chris Kyle was not a perfect man, and I actually think that Clint Eastwood did a fine job of showing the disparity between Chris saying that he was okay and the reality that he was not. My grandfather was a good man who happened to fight in the Pacific during WWII and could never let go of the gross demonizing propaganda against the Japanese. I think that’s a mindset you have to acquire to fight “the enemy”. It’s all very sad.
Fake Baby was really pathetic, though.
@Kate, yes I did see both of those parts. While I did feel that he was humanized a bit by including (presumably) his wife and baby, the Olympics photo (to me) only served as a confirmation that he was indeed the sniper everyone had been talking about.
I still feel it was one-sided, and that’s fine – it’s a movie from the perspective of a US soldier. I don’t see many war movies so it was just a bit of a surprise to me. I also play Devil’s Advocate more often than not, so I look for both the good and the bad in both sides of the story.
American Sniper vs a Hollywood Stoner. I guess the box office receipts will decide this one.
except one didn’t make it to the box office….
Box office receipts don’t prove a movie is good, just popular. Like McDonalds or Justin Bieber.
Can this moron go away? I’m not saying the movie is above reproach or anything; I haven’t seen it but I have read some of the criticisms of it but am holding off on forming my own opinion until I do. But comments like this just further reduce the discussion into a screaming fest from the outer edges of the extreme sides of the issue. And everyone stop with the N@zi comparisions.
What’s wrong with saying Nazi? Is it like “He who must not be named?” I watched a fascinating documentary on the rise of Hitler and you know what? It could happen again. Easily. It’s happening on smaller scales in various parts of the world. All you need is an atmosphere of fear, a controlled media, and a “leader” who is equal parts sociopathic and charismatic. Was it an appropriate comparison in this instance? I don’t know. But let’s get the conversation out, and not live in fear of informed discussion.
This.
This, 100% and on permanent repeat.
Why people seem to believe Hitler and Nazis were a one off is beyond me. It’s happening now, it could happen here, it could happen anywhere. People toss around words like “freedom” without fully realizing the costs that come with it.
“Lest we forget” is one of the most powerful statements we will ever hear or say. Say it loudly and say it often people.
+👶 OG kay & Senabar
There’s an insightful interview with Noam Chomsky (it dates back to 2010, but is still quite relevant) that equates modern day America to late-Weimar Germany. Lest We Forget, indeed.
The Nazi’s knew how to use propaganda and it is because of that (and the fact that the German economy was in the toilet during the 1920’s) that Hitler and the Nazi party were able to take control of Germany in 30’s. You can’t argue that the US doesn’t use propaganda.
@ InvaderTak
Agreed, I’ll have to see it too to form an opinion, nor I didn’t have the priveledge of knowing him personally unlike the ilk here. Apparently many of American theater goers disagree with the commenters, so who to believe!? 😉 Seth Rogen, who just made a ridiculous movie about killing the enemy, now dissing another movie about killing the enemy? Sounds like jealousy to me…
@ invaderyak You’re screaming too.
Bc truth is, it IS a little *in theory* like Quentin Tarantinos depiction of a fake nazi propaganda movie.
People are taking a comical tweet and turning it into some kind of larger comment. He wasn’t talking about a legit nazi prop film he was talking bout QTs interpretation (in a comical but grotesque depiction) of a nazi prop film. And he was making a (funny) joke.
Damn. I guess he was brave too bc
All these pro Murica Americans—- yet first thing you wAnna do is silence someone making an observation or joke you don’t like. Now THAT is NOT RIGHT
To be fair, he was probably just trying to make a joke, not make some profound political statement. But the two can co-exist, and that’s the difference between his “war movie” and this one; it was all one big, self-aware joke. It wasn’t the greatest, but I was actually surprised by the heart it showed at the end, and how it still managed to identify and condemn some of North Korea’s grossest violations of human rights. Sometimes, it takes a stupid comedy to get people comfortable enough to talk and learn about something that’s truly horrifying. And in that way, I kind of understand why it was such a threat to North Korea… they may have blamed the “disrespectful” violence, but they also didn’t want a wide audience to start talking about their war crimes instead of assuming their Dear Leader is just an oblivious caricature. He’s evil, plain and simple…. so deliciously, that plan completely backfired.
Basically, I don’t read his tweet as hypocritical at ALL. If anything, he’s exercising the same right everyone was fighting to protect: freedom to say whatever you want. If we treat a film (which glorifies someone who took hundreds of lives) as too sacred to criticize, we’re doing this “freedom” thing wrong.
@brittney b
Yes this
Agree with you Brittney. I don’t like gross Rogen-type humor, but husband and I did go see The Interview, since our sons thought it was so funny. To me, the funniest part was the very beginning, where this cute little girl sings this anti-America song. It was hilarious, the whole movie theater was screaming with laughter. Anyway, you are right, the movie did identify the fakeness, and horror of North Korea. Your comment says it perfectly.
Aren’t most American war movies somewhat propaganda-ish?
Yep, most.
Yep, I was thinking all war films are propaganda….doesn’t matter which country does the producing.
History is a lost subject. Yes to some extent all war films are a bit propaganda, but Nazi propaganda war pictures go way further. Go watch one, and you will see the difference.
Propaganda has become much better. Let’s face it, years of examining what is successful in marketing and what is not, has come a long way.
Can you make a war based movie without it being linked to propaganda at least in the minds of the viewers? Can that work? Won’t people just automatically link their own poliical position to the storyline immediately?
Everything you view is subjective to an extent, but that doesn’t discount when a filmmaker has a very clear voice in the story. There may be one, but I can’t think of a film that truly drives home ‘villainous’ in terms of US soldiers. There is always some nuance and humanity, but that is rarely showcased quite as much for enemies.
i thought recently Brad Pitt’s Fury was hailed as something that truly showed the depravity of American soldiers? but even then, it can be still seen as patriotic, i guess (esp. when it was shown to the military crowd e.g. that tank school)
Not just American films but most war films period.
My grandfather, who fought in WWII right through from 1939-1945 (actually, it was 1946 by the time he got home), refused to watch any war films at all. Any war. He said they were all victor propaganda. Even films billed as anti-war are usually told in terms of “ours were good people made to do bad things” while “theirs were just plain evil”.
There are some honourable exceptions – Das Boot, All Quiet on the Western Front. I don’t think anyone who’s seen Apocalypse Now would think MURICA, would they?!
I just think it is what it is. Watch the film. Praise it or criticise it from your own point of view and do your best to actually hear what others say rather than just shouting them down if they disagree.
I suppose the best thing we can do is to watch films made by the “other side” to see how they see it. And, as someone who strongly opposes “our” interventions in the Middle East, American Sniper is therefore a film I should follow my own advice and go to see. There’s irony for you.
Apocalypse Now is the one and only movie my father says is realistic, based on his experiences in Viet Nam. It blows my mind to think of my dad, who is a very gentle, kind, generous man being part of that. I guess it’s a matter of adapting to whatever environment/situation you are put in. I was too young to remember, but mom says he was paranoid and jumpy for about a year after he got home.
Wait, is this a rational post* from someone who used cat pee and p0rn in the same sentence?? #neverforget Oh, Das Boot was so great. Did you ever read Eye of The Needle?
*In all seriousness, that was a great post. +1 Liam Neeson in a pair of beige booty shorts
Apparently, it’s the perfect elixir for sound mind. And Comet Sophies, as well.
I apologise for the rationality! It must be one too many Comet Sophies.
I’m serious though. I really do think the best thing to do is watch American Sniper (or perhaps one of the even more clear-cut MURICA! ones) and then go and watch the same thing but from the other side. What was that Turkish film about Iraq that caused all the fuss – OMG! How DARE they say we weren’t the good guys?! – a few years back? Um… Valley of the Wolves. Watch that. Then you can make up your own mind.
Thank you for this comment.
My dad is a Vietnam vet and he refuses to watch most war films too. Hates war period. He liked Das Boot, and he found Platoon to be most reflective of his war experiences.
In this instance, how is tweet hypocritical? I’m asking sincerely. He’s expressing an opinion, but not actually banning the movie.
It isn’t really. And don’t spend your energy being perplexed, you’ll have a lot of WTH moments here.
I wondered the same thing.
Aren’t the majority of war movies propaganda. I’ve yet to see a unbiased non glorified major studio war film, and video game, and even some commericals. Manifest destiny y’all, guns guns guns, they’re terrorists- we liberate, blah blah blah.
I can think of a few that portray their own country as the bad guys. Non are American.
Off the top of my head, Platoon, Apocalypse Now, How I learned to Stop Worrying…, all American classics, adding to that a number of documentaries, such as No End in Sight, Taxi to the Dark Side, and others. Could be more, don’t remember them now.
I don’t remember Platoon, but having seen Apocalypse Now a few years ago, it was about deeply flawed and damaged people, not about one dimensional monsters. Marlon Brando is considered ‘insane’ in the film, even though he is the obvious villain.
Agree, I meant to nuance my comment but I got Monday-lazy. My point is that there are movies out there which don’t present us as the saviors of humanity and Western civilization (cause we’re not). A few other just popped in my head, Catch 22 and the Thin Red Line.
EDA, I’m not going to watch Sniper, and I’m miffed Eastwood chose the topic. I think that guy Kyle was disgusting.
Distended, I’m going to have to borrow Catch 22 from the library. Is the film as good as the novel seems to be?
I like the movie much less, but Alan Arkin was dementedly good in it.
The thing about Apocalypse Now, it was actually based on the Heart of Darkness and not so much meant to be an accurate representation The Vietnam War. There was a Vietnam movie with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn whose name I can’t fully remember, that was certainly NOT pro-Americans. It involved a few soldiers raping a Vietnamese girl and pretty much getting away with it. Mike Fox did some excellent acting in it. Also, Full Metal Jacket didn’t romanticize war or American soldiers.
Distended, I know this is OT, but Alan Arkin WAS HILARIOUS in The In-Laws.
“Don’t shoot, I’m a dentist!” *Actually, someone said it was “There’s no reason to shoot at me, I’m a dentist!”.
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2859064832/tt0079336
I’ve seen movies which don’t portraay you as the saviors of humanity, but I can’t think of any which portrayed you as the bad guys, and there were wars where you were the bad guys.
More Arkin OT: I’ll shoot American family into little pieces (The Russians are Coming)
Well, the thing about it is it is pretty much human nature (all humans everywhere) to not want to see themselves as the “bad guys”. Because really, in the end, it is more complex then “good” vs. “evil” imho. I think I heard it best put one time, to paraphrase “One person’s enemy is another person’s hero.”
From what I understand, war is mostly a game of survival for both sides. Even good people can or have to bend their morals to survive, and then you have people who weren’t very moral in the first place that will take the opportunity to do horrible things. Not a justification in the least, just the reality of the f***ed up situation war is.
Granted, I would love to see more movies that gave more even views of both of all the sides fighting, but that doesn’t sell, I’m sure.
@WinterLady….The movie was “Casualties of War.” I agree that Michael J. Fox was excellent…
@Spookyspooks – what about Redacted? The one about the rape and murder of the little girl? Not portraying the West as the bad guys in the Iraq war in toto, but certainly presenting particular American soldiers as particular bad guys (and, let’s face it, those particular guys were particularly bad guys). And, IIRC, the film didn’t show the eventual prosecution and convictions, so couldn’t be accused of whitewashing the incident as a few bad eggs that the heroic country held to account.
It’s taken me all day to even think of one such film, however!
Rachel
That’s a good point although i’m not sure that’s completely true. I think there are many movies with guns and violence set in war times with an agenda. Does that make all of them propaganda? Or just the ones with a stronger message? Like Pearl Harbor. War time movie with lots of violence, but it was a love story. Yet people still tried to call it propaganda.
And then there are many other films that are set in war times, but show little guns or war scenes. More people trying to escape or survive while laying on the politics thick. I wonder if it’s only the violence we remember and not the other films that concentrate more on survival, but are still heavy in propaganda.
Or did I just miss the point entirely?
Seth isn’t all that likable imo. He has his moments and then says something to remind you he’s awful.
He’s like Chris Pratt in this way.
I like him more aftet this comment.
I’m not surprised — Unbroken also over-performed with the flyover states and church crowds. War + patriotism + “regular” Americans = Box Office Gold.
Exactly what I was thinking. That’s a strong market
I’m waiting to hear the “torture p0rn” complaints, as I did with Unbroken.
I can’t wait to hear your review of FSOG!
I’ve never heard the expression, fly-over states. What does that mean and which states are they?
It’s what snobs from the East Coast and L.A. call the rest of America.
Get it…they only visit NYC, L.A., and maybe Chicago. So they “fly over” the rest of the nation.
It’s hideously insulting and very illustrative of a narrow mind.
The guy who created The Interview is degrading American Sniper. A movie he hasn’t seen, but he saw the trailer so like his own movie he thinks he has seen it all. Isn’t that Special.
Well, I wish I could degrade The Interview having not seen it, but I saw it. I blame Kim Jong-Un for this. I would never have seen the drivel that is the Interview if I didn’t feel like I should support freedom of speech. I think that was his true punishment to us all.
I didn’t watch the Interview. I don’t like being manipulated into “the American thing to do”.
Clearly, the entire driven narrative was about ‘freedom of speech’, when there were no such limits placed on Sony.
I’m also seeing comments that seeing American Sniper is the ‘American thing to do’ and way to support our troops. Both narratives are inaccurate and annoying.
Now I haven’t seen American Sniper yet, but I will tell you I won’t be going because it supports our troops theory, because seriously that is ridiculous. The 92 million it made this weekend is going to the studio, just like the money from the Interview and yes I guess I was manipulated by that.
I know I may go see it because of the trailer. I find it interesting some people who have seen see it as he’s a hero piece and we should support our troops, and others see it about the horrors of war. Same as Zero dark thirty to me, and I gravitated toward this is so wrong the way we did this. I think it may be where your point of view starts.
One thing is sure this film unites the right wingers and racists and inspires them to attack anyone who doesn’t support this sh*t fest while at the same time they attack Selma and make the most racist comments all over the internet. Disgusting.
Where were people attacking Selma? If anything all I saw was support for it, especially after the Oscar snubs.
Selma got a lot of heat for the way it portrayed LBJ.
On twitter and film forums. I’m white and embarrassed for these people.
There were lots of people attacking Selma.
You either didn’t see those comments on other websites OR maybe you chose to ignore them.
How exactly does this film unite right wingers and racists?! Your comment is wildly ridiculous. At the heart of it, the film deals with the issues many of our soldiers still struggle with. Not just what they did but also what they saw and what was done to them and how that equates back to “normal” life. I know hand fulls of men that came home shells of themselves. The “disgusting” you refer to is your ignorance and holier than thou nonsensical stance. And while there have been some disgusting comments in regards to Selma, the majority of comments have been supportive and positive.
Because it makes Kyle the poster boy hero. He was a a liar and racist claiming to have picked off Katrina looters, to have killed two car jackers in Texass, to have punched Gov. Ventura and to have donated 80% of his tall tale book to wounded warriots. Oh yeah he also lied about his confirmed kills. Lest you forget how the war was started on a bag of lies. So yeah this movie is disgusting because the subject was pure scum.
@ outstandingworldcitizen
*standing ovation* Perfectly said.
Wow! I agree with Gretchen, outstandingworldcitizen deserves a standing O for that awesome comment! You nailed it, citizen!
I did see Selma, and it is a great movie, and deserved more nominations. Still, I understand the heat for historically portraying LBJ and his position wrong. I have no problem with omission or dramatizing history to make it more exciting in these realistic fiction movies. However, altering history and a central figures known position was not a smart move, and unnecessary. Still Ava and especially David Oyelwo deserved a nomination. David’s category was just so stacked, but I would have liked to have seen him. Ava to me there is no excuse.
Yeah, because movies are always 100% historically accurate. See: Exodus and many, many, MANY other films.
That’s a pretty ugly, sweeping stereotype there. You really think the only racists are on the right? If you do, then you are woefully uneducated on the topic.
she didn’t say all right wingers were racist, just that this film is uniting them. and if you don’t believe her you can just check out all the tweets by racists and militant right wingers talking about how much this film made them want to shoot muslims.
I agree Ann……well said.
Won’t see it, don’t care.
The movie is patriotic. It’s not propaganda. Did he even see it?
No, he mentions that in his tweet.
As for something being patriotic but not propaganda, I’ll just state that that having it a patriotic movie (as opposed to a straightforward ‘war is hell for everyone’ movie’ does probably imply there’s some propaganda involved, even if it’s not blatant.
Eh. Do you know the backstory on Chris Kyle at all?
Yes. But did you see the film? It’s not pro-war. It doesn’t frame Kyle as an infallible hero. It shows the war from Kyle’s perspective but it doesn’t glorify anything.
No I didn’t see the film, and up until I read about the breakout sensation played by Fake Baby, I didn’t plan on seeing it. Because snipers are bad.
“No I didn’t see the film, and up until I read about the breakout sensation played by Fake Baby”
^THIS ^has undone me. Seriously funny. Rating: 5 fake babies out of 5 fake babies
👶👶👶👶👶
*giggles* Extra points for brilliant use of baby emoji!
ETA: Oh hell yes, look what’s on youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLwAcU0bYl0
Oscar noms for THE FAKE BABY. Seriously, that fake baby’s portrayal of the deadening effect of war on children was solid. Its breathless anticipation of warmth not received was stunning. Its unmovable commitment to being an item and not a person was superb!
Oh man, your analysis is spot on, I’m dying over here. There’s so many awesome articles on fake baby already, it’s like my dream come true day, but your commentary takes the Cake. 😀
mimif , I’m impressed that Clint used 👶THE FAKE BABY👶 (wonderful performance) instead of the empty chair. Although a great performance was put in by the empty chair, I doubt it could have carried off the effortless dead weight required while being swaddled. So, excellent casting choice as well.
ETA: The hairy mophead and tablecloth were involved in other projects and unavailable at the time.
You.are.killing.me.today.
*runs off to make a fake baby vs. empty wooden chair meme®*
Just saw your edit. And in one fell swoop, 👶FAKE BABY👶 has reached EVERYTHING status. Happy MLKFB day everybody!
👶FAKE BABY👶 IS EVERYTHING, and I want to take this opportunity to thank Bedhead, not only for BEIGE BOOTIE SHORTS, but also for delivering the goods with fake baby. Thank you, Bedhead.
Further, I can’t wait for the next Clint Eastwood movie, where they budget out the firearms, and everyone runs around with their index fingers out, thumbs up, going, “pew, pew, pew”.
Kiddo and mimif are on fire today! Love the “fake baby” dialogue!
If patriotic is a codeword for glorification of a lying racist killer and warmongering, then yes. There’s a reason why this film inspires the racists to come out in droves and proclaim how much they want to kill Arabs.
+1 fake baby
Did you see it?
And it’s easy to cherry pick a few tweets from racists and then attempt to frame the movie and anyone who went to see it as simple idiots. That’s the height of laziness.
mimif, +1 for fake baby reference.
@Kiddo, that’s how I read it too.
Patriotic = jinogistic. Every single time.
So yes, it is propaganda. And it demonizes Iraqis as savages. Literally.
Even though the Iraqi invasion and occupation was illegal, there were true heroes who fought in it, including my own family members. Chris Kyle was not one of those heroes, and it doesn’t even have much to do with his being a sniper. He was a horrible person.
I can not see any invader as hero.
Seth Rogen is a complete idiot in my opinion.
+1000
Perhaps I’ve missed the true meaning of his tweet, but I thought what he was referring to was the fact that the movies are similar….I.e they both focus on a sniper killing large sums of people. From beginning to end its a movie meant to make the main character a hero, to whatever country they’re from. Be it Germany or America….
That’s how I understood his tweet. I didn’t think he was taking away anybody’s freedom in posting an opinion.
That is what he said and meant. It was hypocritical at all.
Look who is talking? Guy with a shameless so called satire movie “The interview”!! LOL!!
I saw “American Sniper”, couldn’t get up off the seat after the movie ended, felt so proud and sad for him. Chris Kyle is a hero who took care of his brothers in Iraq, went back 4 times to serve, saved many lives and came back home only get shot by another PTSD veteran. Enormous tragedy. Whatever he and his family believed in his personal life is none of my business.
Movie is about his life and service, not about the reason why we went to war in Iraq. Soldiers don’t have the luxury to choose their war, they follow orders. They are there to protect and serve US of A! He did a damn good job of that. It makes me proud that he is American and we are all sitting here peacefully in our homes with our families intact because of heros like Chris Kyle and many others who sacrifice their lives to keep us safe. APPRECIATE it.
Clint Eastwood is unbelievably good director. Bradley Cooper was at his best.
You should read Chris Kyle’s autobiography. It’s positively riddled with awesome stories! Like the one time he shot and killed to armed Texans who tried to steal his truck, and the other time when he shoot 30 bad guy looters from atop of the Superdome. He was a real good shot, that guy.
Awesome stories that he made up 😉 Seriously, why would you make up stories about killing people?
Making up stories to make yourself look more ‘heroic’ aren’t unusual. In this case, his stories involved making up stories about killing people.
The fans of Chris Kyle say he is an American Hero. They say he is the embodiment of all that is good about this country. I actually slightly disagree with that. I think Chris Kyle is not the perfect American, but rather the perfect embodiment of America. He was brave, yet a bully. He was selfless, yet selfish. He was humble, yet a braggart. He was brilliant, yet dense. He was a bullshitter, yet sincere. He was heroic, yet cowardly. He was the perfect embodiment of America in all of it’s manic contradictions and hypocrisies. And as the court case has proven, Chris, in the true American fashion, was more interested in marketing himself than in telling the Truth..
“Seriously, why would you make up stories about killing people?”
cos he was a psychopath?
Well said!
“They are there to protect and serve US of A! He did a damn good job of that. It makes me proud that he is American ”
Well, I guess if you’re proud of a man who had a simplistic view of the war, was racist, and lied about what he did in the US in terms of Katrina and killing car jackers.
from Slate:
But when critics catch a film in a lie, we have to ask it, “Why?” That’s what matters. Take American Sniper, one of the most mendacious movies of 2014. Clint Eastwood was caught in a trap: His subject, murdered Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, lied a lot. In his autobiography, he said he killed two carjackers in Texas, sniped looters during Hurricane Katrina, and punched Jesse Ventura in the face. None of that was true. So Eastwood was stuck. Should he repeat Kyle’s lies as truth? Expose him as a liar? Instead, he pretended Kyle never claimed any of it, but when a film erases the fact that its subject was a fabricator, then that itself is a lie.
Oh I forgot about the Ventura bit. I think Ventura is a known liar tho, like Judi Dench.
she who lies like a rug!
“They are there to protect and serve US of A”
you dont actually believe that, do you? i guess the proves Rogens point.
Good grief, Chris Kyle wasn’t a hero. He was a horrible person and a liar, and I’m not even talking about his being a sniper. There is a reason why Jesse Ventura won a huge settlement against Kyle’s estate.
“American Sniper” the movie is jingoistic swill that calls Iraqis savages and dehumanizes them, literally. “American Sniper” the book is the work of a lying sociopath.
And spare me insults. I support my family members and friends who have served and do serve, including in Iraq, even if I don;t support the mission.
Saw American Sniper this weekend and I wasn’t impressed. Those fake babies were the best part of the film. The whole time I felt like I was watching some NRA produced film.
+1 Fake babies.
+2 Fake Babies. This is the most exciting thing to happen to babies since Cheerios.
+3 for fake baby excitement
How exactly is this hypocritical? There’s a difference between expressing a negative opinion about something on twitter and trying to actually censor it, make it hard for people to see it if they want to.
I think so much of the ‘support the troops’ uttered by the shallow patriots is lip service and wagging the dog to engage in war for the oligarchy and their interests. If the pols wanted to ‘support the troops’, we wouldn’t need Shoe Box and other organizations that mail necessary supplies not provided by government, and other charities that help physically and mentally damaged soldiers. Nor would we have delays in treatment and deaths at VA Hospitals.
So much this times eleventy billion fake babies.
Aww, your fake baby compliments warm my heart. A fake baby right backatcha.
yeah im not american and it always puzzles me how everybody is so “proud” of soldiers and when those soldiers come home they are left to die on the streets, literally, look up the statistics how many veterans are homeless.
that even in the year 2015 some people actually still believe those wars are fought to protect america is mind blowing.
i guess the same people think the rectal feeding their government has indulged it was for “freedom” and other nations that do it are evil.
I saw, the movie and it was a moment of a funny distraction. I can hear Clint Eastwood say to his assistant, “Run over to Toys -R- US and buy me a Lullaby Baby Doll for the next scene.”
I cannot tell you how much I’m enjoying the fake baby discussion. I can’t wait for the #fakebabymemes to make their glorious appearance on the innanet!
They blew the budget with beige bootie shorts.
Lol that and the punkin spice “glo”.
To my shame I watched THE INTERVIEW, but I blame the family because it was no 1 choice for everyone – a christmas tradition.
All of us regretted watching it. What a horrid film. On every level. Not just the objectionable things about North Korea.
I saw it too. It was the worst movie i’ve seen in a long time. This who banned from theatres thing worked out very well for them. I doubt the movie would have broken even in normal circumstances gien just the salaries taken by Rogen and Franco.
Eh, I’m kind of agreeing with Rogan on this one. While “The Interview” is nothing to be proud of and problematic in theif own right, movies like American Sniper do glorify war to some extent by implying those stories are worth telling. The fact that the characters are always white, male, cis/het men only feeds into the cultural narrative of the American soldier as the pinnacle of ideal manhood. The original source material was full of fallacy, as well, which have been picked apart by servicemen who have read it. I sat the movie out, too – regardless of whether it examined the issue of PTSD or not, I’ve had my fill of the white, masculine ideal set against a backdrop of violence.
I didn’t see it, but my husband went to see it by himself (he’s one of the “military audience”). He liked it well enough, but didn’t say anything about a fake baby. I wonder if he even noticed. Unfortunate they couldn’t just use a real baby, it’s not as if they’re hard to come by.
A co-worker (and friend) of mine is from Iraq, so I found this film and its overly simplistic portrayal of Iraqis very uncomfortable to watch. Every time an Iraqi was killed, I thought of him, and what he told me about his experiences living there. I get this movie is for American audiences, but to me it just feels like it deepens the gulf of ignorance: this belief that America is always good, never wrong and totally justified in heavy-handed responses that have enormous repercussions. I also appreciate that this movie wasn’t made to be an examination of the morality of the war, but it just felt like a video game at times, and I think everyone involved in the war, on both sides, deserves better treatment than that.
Grooner, I have the exact same experience. My coworker is Iraqi, and he is the sweetest man you will ever meet. More than anyone, he had a reason to hate Saddam – he spent years in military imprisonment because he refused to fight during the Iran war as it violated his pacifistic Islamic principles. Later, he was forced to flee to Afghanistan and eventually America. He had to leave most of his family behind, except for his wife.
But when you talk about the war, he isn’t angry or vindicated – he’s just heartbroken. He spent his life in a war zone. He knows there’s no honor in it. He knows that for every terrorist killed, there are civilians murdered, children orphaned, and women raped. I can’t watch those films for that reason. Because they’re only telling one part of the story and leaving out all the ugliness inherent to it.
Well said, Veronica. Well said.
@Gooner–this movie was made for a specific type of American audience, and just so you know, not all military/vets are supportive of it.
I have a good friend who spent several years in Iraq and refuses to see the movie simply because Chris Kyle in NO way represented the soldiers worked with there.
Good grief. I just can’t with some of these comments. The self righteous delusions of Intellectual grandeur is staggering.
But what did you think about the fake baby? Pretty good, right?
LMFAO you beat me to it!👶😂
Minus one fake baby for capitalizing intellectual.
*warmly welcomes cr to the ®ighteous Fake Baby Club*
(claps hands in joy) Do I get a bronzed fake baby as a welcoming gift?
Absolutely. One Fake Punkin Spice Fake Baby® coming up for cr, stat!
Shouldn’t you technically be inviting her into your “crib”?
🙋
I CANNOT STAND SETH ROGAN.
He’s juvenile, crass, gross, idiotic, and unfunny.
But that’s just *my* opinion and I’m entitled to it.
He’s lucky I don’t control Hollywood because no one would know his name if I did. He’s NOT a good guy in real life either. Not even a little bit. He has skeletons that would blow.people.away.
Go away Seth…before the REAL truth about you comes out…
Please don’t tell me it’s fake baby trafficking.
+👶
I love you. Please marry me.
not just the truth but the REAL TRUTH??? OH MY GOD!!!
You know it’s real because she typed in all caps, that makes it so. Extra fake baby points for implying insider status.
I can’t even with this thread. GOD BLESS ‘MURICA! 🇩🇪
Look everybody…Scott Rudin is posting on CB!
lol!
Not implying “fake insider stuff”
I am NOT an insider.
I just know him through a friend, and have been around him only twice…and the things he says when he is being himself and is trying to be “funny” are not that funny. And he should not say certain things he has done and said if he is not afraid about it getting out there. But….whatever.
lol
Not implying insider status: but you wrote this:
“He’s NOT a good guy in real life either. Not even a little bit. He has skeletons that would blow.people.away.
Go away Seth…before the REAL truth about you comes out…”
A quick read of your first post would lead the reader to think that you do indeed have ‘insider’ info, that you know him.
You’ve met him twice and didn’t like him, perhaps if you’d started with that your comment would have been less eyeroll inducing.
“Skeletons that would blow.people.away.” I don’t shock easily, so the only things I can think of are, like, pedophilia, elder abuse, underage trafficking ring, etc.
Anything else–drug use, lying, anything to do with sex between consenting adults of either sex, theft, shooting his mouth off, whatever–not so shocking.
It’s like that line from, I think, The 40-Year-Old Virgin: “I touched a guy’s penis once in Hebrew School.” Who cares?
eyeroll
Points taken ladies. *waves white flag* Not trying to get in a battle here, sheesh!
The man has no filter and talked about things that he thinks are cool but just leave mouths agape.
I’m out.
I have read here for years. I have shared some things, and kept more things to myself. Being attacked for my post kinda shocked me. I gave an opinion about him and yes…hinted that his public persona is just that. A public persona that does NOT match when you meet him in person. I have skeletons on my closet as well. No shame. I’m just saying that he has said things in groups of people that he would never want to get out…(and I must concede that booze and celebration can make the mouth run and be embarassing…I’ve been there too.) I have too. But his is beyobd the pale, but…whatever. I won’t post here on CB any more. I don’t need strangers being nasty and mean to me because I chose to share my opinion…..and I know….don’t let the door hit me etc….
**Peace out…. and LOVE to all the Celebitches! Best gossip and best commenters on the Net!**
I’m in agreement. I don’t know how Rogen has a career or will continue to work after the idiocy that is The Interview & I’m not Scott Rudin.
War is a horror and not always necessary, i.e., the Iraq War. The sad part about war now is the injuries are so much more catastrophic and wouldn’t have survived in previous decades and the ability to save them is greater, so many come home a shell of a person. The PTSD and suicide rate is so high because of how many deployments our servicemen and women had to endure due to the length of the war, a backdoor draft, in essence. There are injuries that aren’t even discussed, all of the urethral and penile injuries because of the bomb explosions. One man lost two arms, a leg and his penis. Our VA hospitals are overloaded to the max for the ongoing care of our veterans.
When I go to see a movie like this, I see the horror of war, and all it destroys, for me never a pro-war movie. They are the realities of war movies. I give to organizations to help support these soldiers who have come home because the number of survivors with a lifetime of ongoing injuries and PTSD is too much for our system to ever take care of. The Wounder Warrior Project is fantastic, as is the Gary Sinese Foundation for servicemen and first responders. Gary Sinese does so much with his foundation’s programs.
Did anyone ask him his opinion….don’t bite the hand of the industry that feeds you Seth.
No, no one asked for his opinion. But then, no one asked for the opinions of anyone commenting here. We just give them freely, without asking.
Ask for biting the hand that feeds him, well, he’s criticizing one movie, not the entire industry. I’m sure Seth, and Clint, will be just fine, industry and audience wise.
Well, the movie in Inglorious Basterds WAS about a sniper, I think it was called “A Nation’s Pride.” So he’s right about that.
I can’t assess American Sniper as propaganda because I won’t be seeing it.
well, of course he’d say that…. his movie was a complete flop going straight to PPV and DVD!! And, no. The BS from (supposedly) North Korea had absolutely nothing to do with it!!! what a hack!!!
I agree with Rogen, and others who have criticized American Sniper. We were sent a dvd, but none of us could sit through it. I know this is a rare opinion, but no one in my family is a Clint Eastwood fan, we all think he is pompous and arrogant as a human being, and with the exceptions of a few movies he starred in the 1960s and 70s (like Kelly’s Heroes), just do not like his violent, tedious movies.
He did not write the constitution. We are not citizens of Iraq. There was no reason for our country to invade Iraq. 9/11 attackers were not from Iraq.
The hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 19 men affiliated with al-Qaeda, and 15 of the 19 were citizens of Saudi Arabia, The others were from the United Arab Emirates (2), Egypt and Lebanon. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
You have every right to consider him a hero, but you have no basis in which to conclude that he protected ‘Freedom of Speech’ for all here, during his tour of duty.
x 1,000,000 👶
I’d like to see Rogen direct a quarter decent movie. Perhaps he is upset because The Interview failed on so many levels, it’s worse than The Expendibles 3.
I watched The Interview and laughed my ass off. But then again, I love parody and it’s not for everybody. Nobody sends up douchey white frat boys better than Franco.
Yes, exactly.
I thought Seth was just mocking the movie. He’s not being hypocritical. He compared it to the last act of Inglorious wherein the film being shown was about a German sniper who killed hundreds of Allied forces.
Fake baby aside, it was a solid movie. Coop was really good but Gyllenhall was better in Nightcrawler. Sorry, I have to say that. However, anyone who can act with a straight face holding the plastic baby deserves to be nominated.