2016 Oscar Nominations Predictions

The Oscar nominations are going to be announced tomorrow and it's certainly been an interesting year. While things seem to be nearing a sort of consensus at this point, there are still many potential wildcards who could shake this race up.

Best Actor

1. Leonardo DiCaprio- The Revenant
DiCaprio has already received many raves for his performance in The Revenant, including winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor, Drama. At this point, it seems pretty obvious that he's going to win so there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be nominated.

2. Michael Fassbender- Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs suffered from a poor box office performance in spite of strong reviews. Nonetheless, it's come back strong with Fassbender scoring all the major precursors. With co-star Winslet and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin winning Golden Globes, it's likely they'll carry Fassbender along to the Oscars, if there was ever any doubt.

3. Matt Damon- The Martian

Although Matt Damon missed the key SAG nomination, the amount of hype this film has built up makes his nomination a near lock. The Martian is presumed to be a Best Picture (winning the Golden Globe in the comedy category) and Best Director contender so it's unlikely that the Academy wouldn't bring the film's star to the table as well. The Golden Globe win and National Board of Review win also helps solidify him.

4. Eddie Redmayne- The Danish Girl

On paper, Redmayne should be safe. Baity role with a baity director (Tom Hooper), fresh off an Oscar win last year and with plenty of praise this year. He's scored the 4 major precursors (Critic's Choice, SAG, BAFTA, Golden globes) so a nomination seems probable. But as Jake Gyllenhaal taught us last year, even that isn't a guarantee for an Oscar nomination.

5. Bryan Cranston- Trumbo
A contender who kinda came out of nowhere after scoring nominations at SAG and the Golden Globes. His film is little seen and has only received decent reviews, but the precursors may go in his favor. I'm playing things safe and predicting he'll make it in, especially since he's in a movie about movies, which the Academy loves to go for.

6. Johnny Depp- Black Mass
Someone I really want to get in, but am uncertain about. Depp's performance was acclaimed, but the film seems largely forgotten now and although he did score a nomination at SAG and Critic's Choice, he's missing out almost everywhere else. Still, it's more than possible that he could use his star power to squeeze in.

7. Steve Carell- The Big Short

Carell is another possible wildcard, largely thanks to the fact that his film is a major Best Picture contender. However, while I consider Carell to be the heart of the film, most of the accolades are focusing on Bale's performance and the screenplay. Don't count him out yet though.

8. Will Smith- Concussion

Smith has received some raves for Concussion including a Golden Globe nomination, but he's been largely absent from the precursors, the film underperformed at the box office, and unlike Steve Jobs, there's no screenplay or other actors to keep his performance afloat.

9. Michael B. Jordan- Creed

Michael B. Jordan has received some nominations from smaller award shows, but was ignored by the big 4. With co-star Sylvester Stallone being a near-lock, perhaps Jordan could still squeeze himself in,but it's unlikely.

10. Michael Caine- Youth
A film with a lot of early hype that quickly died down as Youth was largely ignored aside from a couple European award shows. Still, with the film receiving two Golden Globe nominations (for Jane Fonda and Best Original Song), the film itself still seems to be in the running, so it might find a way to keep Caine in the running as well. He is liked in the industry after all.

11. Ian McKellen- Mr. Holmes
Ian McKellen is only getting a handful of raves from small award shows for Mr. Holmes, but he is campaigning hard. Still, with lack of any other categories for the film that could push him towards a nomination, his nomination would be a huge surprise.

Best Actress

1. Brie Larson- Room

Speculation over who's the Best Actress frontrunner is slowly being put to rest thanks to Brie Larson's golden globe win.

2. Cate Blanchett- Carol
Blanchett is an obvious lock on the basis of being Blanchett in a critically acclaimed film.

3. Saorise Ronan- Brooklyn
The final actress in this category who could be considered a lock. She may end up as the film's sole nominee, but she's gotten enough precursor's everywhere to guarantee her slot.

4. Alicia Vikander- The Danish Girl

Vikander is hard to predict since the studio has attempted to promote her as a supporting actress. Nonetheless, neither BAFTA nor the Golden Globes agreed with that category placement and nominated her as a leading actress. There's probably just enough hype for her to score a nomination and if she misses, she'll hopefully have another film to fall back on (See below).

5. Charlotte Rampling- 45 Years
This one is incredibly borderline. She missed all 4 precursors, but her film is receiving such raves, it's hard to ignore her. Marion Cotillard was able to score a nomination in spite of missing all 4 precursors so perhaps Rampling can as well.

6. Jennifer Lawrence- Joy
Jennifer Lawrence is the biggest threat to Rampling, especially since she just scored a Golden Globe win (though one might argue her win was kinda by default considering who the competition was). However, Lawrence also could be detracted from being in a film with mixed reviews. While actresses have received Oscar nominations in films with mixed reviews before, they usually score the major precursors which Lawrence has not.

7. Helen Mirren- The Woman in Gold
Mirren is loved in the industry and received a surprise SAG nomination so I say anything is possible.

Best Supporting Actor
Unlike last year, where Best Supporting Actor was quickly narrowed down to 6 people, this year is much more in the open and could take any number of directions.

1. Mark Rylance- Bridge of Spies
Not a clear frontrunner as evidenced by the Golden Globes, but he has received nominations nearly everywhere so it's safe to say Rylance is getting in.

2. Sylvester Stallone- Creed
Although the Golden Globes aired after Oscar voting, Stallone's Globe win still works in his favor. It's been 40 years since someone won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and wasn't nominated for the Oscar, so it's hard to imagine Stallone changing the pattern, in spite of his SAG snub.

3. Christian Bale- The Big Short

A performance I liked, but didn't love. My personal opinions aside, his scores at SAG, BAFTA, and the Golden Globes (as a leading actor) should help him, especially since he's in a Best Picture contender. Though he's missed out at several critics awards, leading to a tiny bit of ambiguity.

4. Idris Elba- Beasts of No Nation
He's scored the major precursors, but he's likely to be the film's sole nomination. And as Daniel Bruhl will tell you, those major precursors are never a guarantee. Elba's film being a Netflix guarantee might not help him either. Still, I think he's got a good shot.

5. Benicio Del Toro- Sicario
Filling in this 5th slot was hard, but I'm going with Benicio Del Toro in Sicario. He gave his best performance in years and although the film's hype seemed to have largely died down, it's recently picked up scoring nominations at the Writer's Guild and Producer's Guild along with a BAFTA nomination for Del Toro himself. He's only one of many wildcards so no guarantees.

6. Mark Ruffalo- Spotlight
When Spotlight came out, both Ruffalo and Keaton were seen as Best Supporting Actor contenders, with some even speculating that both could get nominated. This quickly proved to be wrong as they were both snubbed from SAG and Golden globes in spite of the film's Best Picture status. I personally suspect that they ended up cancelling each other out. Ultimately, Ruffalo ended up emerging as the frontrunner of the two, scoring a BAFTA nomination and several smaller critic nominations. It's still unclear if he'll get in or not, but Spotlight's possible position as a Best Picture frontrunner can't hurt.

7. Michael Shannon- 99 Homes
Yet another wildcard, Michael Shannon would likely be the film's sole nomination if he made the cut. He benefits from scoring surprise SAG and Golden Globe nods for his performance. Unfortunately, the film's low box office isn't great, but he scored a surprise nomination 7 years ago for Revolutionary Road, so I think this is possible.

8. Tom Hardy- The Revenant
Tom Hardy received very positive reviews for his work in The Revenant, even if his performance has largely been overshadowed by DiCaprio's. He's only received a nomination at Critic's Choice of the major precursors, but as Jonah Hill was able to get a surprise, precursorless Oscar nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street (another DiCaprio movie), maybe the same could happen for Hardy, especially in such a big Best Picture contender.

9. Jacob Tremblay- Room
A definite wildcard. Tremblay's category placement is the first place of confusion as he is considered a leading actor by many who have seen the film but is being promoted as a supporting actor. He did grab a SAG nomination and his raves make him a major wildcard to look out for, so we'll see.

10. Paul Dano- Love and Mercy
A performance that would be a frontrunner in a perfect world. Dano is phenomenal as Brian Wilson in Love and Mercy and even scored a Golden Globe nomination and has received much love from critics' award shows. If there's any wildcard, I want to get in, it's him, but I'm just not expecting it.

11. Oscar Isaac- Ex Machina
He missed the 4 precursors, but is getting a lot of love from critics' award shows in a film that's getting more hype every day. Issac's day will come someday, that's for sure.

12. Michael Keaton- Spotlight
The guy who's ultimately being ignored thanks to Ruffalo, still Keaton's understated performance (and a desire to makeup for Birdman) could MAYBE get him a surprise nod. But I really doubt it.

Best Supporting Actress

1. Rooney Mara- Carol
A major case of category confusion. Rooney Mara is considered the lead by many viewers, but unlike Vikander, most award shows have seemingly bought into their category placement. With this category, apparently set in stone, I think it's safe to say she's a probable winner in this category.

2. Kate Winslet- Steve Jobs
Even though, it's incredibly doubtful she'll win, Winslet did surprise everyone by winning a Golden Globe, solidifying herself in the race and proving anything is possible.

3. Alicia Vikander- Ex Machina
Alicia Vikander's second Oscar contender. Thanks to her Danish Girl performance being largely seen as leading, she can make room for her Ex Machina performance. Getting raves from critics award shows (considerably more than any other actress in this category) and a golden globe and BAFTA nomination, I'm really crossing my fingers that Vikander makes it in.

4. Jennifer Jason Leigh- The Hateful Eight

Jennifer Jason Leigh has received much praise for her work in The Hateful Eight, including scoring a Golden Globe and BAFTA nomination. I feel like I can't quite call her a lock, but my fingers are crossed.

5. Rachel McAdams- Spotlight
McAdams received a SAG nomination in Spotlight and while her performance hasn't been acclaimed as Keaton or Ruffalo, she does benefit from being in a much weaker category this year.

6. Helen Mirren- Trumbo
Mirren scored nominations at SAG, Bafta, and Critic's Choice. Yet the film's lack of acclaim could be damaging. Could go either way. Still, it's a movie about movies.

7. Jane Fonda- Youth

She received a Golden globe nomination so that's something, but I just don't think the Academy will take to Youth enough.

Best Director

1. Alejandro G. Iñárritu- The Revenant

I'm not sure if he'll win yet, but The Revenant's hype is so great, I have no doubt he's getting nominated.

2. Tom McCarthy- Spotlight

Long thought to be a frontrunner, Spotlight's lack of wins at the Golden globes might hurt a little bit, but McCarthy's getting in. That's clear.

3. Ridley Scott- The Martian

In what can be described as a redemption film, Ridley Scott is scoring nominations everywhere for The Martian. The hype is still very much here and the PGA, DGA, and golden globe for Best Picture (comedy) win definitely helps.

4. Adam McKay- The Big Short

Adam McKay (Anchorman, The Other Guys) never seemed like the kind of guy to get a Best Director nomination, but The Big Short was a shocking hit, which I think has just enough hype for him to make the cut.

5. George Miller- Mad Max: Fury Road

Nobody expected George Miller to be an Oscar contender for this movie, but it's awesome that he is. I fear he'll be the odd one out from the DGA nominations, but occasionally the DGA nominations are identical to the Oscars, so maybe that'll be the exception this time, especially since the only real threats have a lot going against them.

6. Todd Haynes- Carol

This one's hard to say. Haynes didn't get the DGA nomination, but the nominations usually only get 4/5 right. On the other hand, he did get a best director golden globe nomination, but the Best Director golden globes are virtually never 5/5 accurate to the oscar nominations, so I suspect he'll be the odd one out and we'll have a 5/5 DGA nomination/Oscar nomination match this year.

7. Steven Spielberg- Bridge of Spies
Spielberg is definitely loved in the industry, having already been nominated for Best Director 7 times and Bridge of Spies has certainly been acclaimed. Yet the accolades have focused mostly on Rylance. If Eastwood, also beloved in the industry, couldn't get a directing nomination for American Sniper (even with a DGA nomination), I don't think Spielberg will either.

Best Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Spotlight

Alternate: Inside Out

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Carol
The Martian
Room
Steve Jobs

Alternate: Brooklyn

Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Yes, I'm still predicting Force Awakens to happen. It won't, but I hope the Academy will be nostalgic enough to nominate it.

Top films to see Fall/December 2015

So the fall season has begun and as usual, there are a lot of movies i wanna see. In hopes of having a shorter list than last year, I only included films I was positive were being released in 2015. Turns out the list was even longer. Oh well. Enjoy.

41. Captive

Based on a true story, Captive stars David Oyelowo (Selma) as Brian Nichols, a man who escapes from a courthouse while on trial for rape. He kills several people and holds a reformed former drug addict (Kate Mara) hostage which causes them both to reflect on mistakes and search for redemption. I was a bit hesitant over the film's portrayal of Brian Nichols since he was a real person who actually killed people, but I saw an interview with David Oyelowo where he acknowledged that he didn't want his portrayal to excuse the deaths Nichols was responsible for and disrespect the victims' families. But the best part, Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire, Chalky from Boardwalk Empire) co-stars as a detective and it's a well known fact that everything Omar touches turns to gold.

40. Trash

Stephen Daldry's Trash tells the story of three boys who find themselves on the run from a brutal police force after finding a leather bag while looking through the trash. It co-stars Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen.

39. I Saw The Light

Tom Hiddleston (Thor) plays country singer Hank Williams while Elizabeth Olsen plays Hank's manager, wife and duet partner.

38. The Walk

Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays Philippe Petit, the Frenchman famous for his high-wire walk between the twin towers in New York City. Directed by Robert Zemeckis.

37. Everest

Everest is based on the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster. It stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, and Jake Gyllenhaal as climbers fighting for survival. The rest of the cast includes John Hawkes (Winter's bone, The Sessions), Sam Worthington (Avatar), Robin Wright and Michael Kelly (Game of Thrones), Keira Knightley and Emily Watson.

36. Life

Life is directed by Anton Corbijn (Control) and stars Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle), portraying the friendship between Life photographer Dennis Stock and Hollywood actor James Dean.

35. The Night Before

Directed by Jonathan Levine (50/50), The Night Before stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie having a final night out on Christmas Eve together before ending their annual tradition.

34. Secret in Their Eyes

A remake of the critically acclaimed Argentinian film, Secret in Their Eyes tells the story of a team of FBI investigators who must deal with the daughter of one of their own (Julia Roberts) being murdered and the lengthy efforts to bring her killer to justice. Also starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman.

33. By the Sea

10 years after their infamous appearance in Mr. and Mrs. Smith together, Angelina and Brad Pitt finally reunite onscreen telling the story of...a struggling couple who travel to France.  Angelina Jolie (now credited as Angelina Jolie Pitt) also wrote and directed the film.

32. Freeheld

Freeheld stars Julianne Moore as a lesbian police officer dying of lung cancer who fights to get her benefits passed on to her domestic partner (Ellen Page). Steve Carell and Michael Shannon co-star.

31. The Good Dinosaur

For the first time, Pixar is releasing two movies in one year. The Good Dinosaur is set in an alternate timeline where dinosaurs never went extinct and co-exist with humans.

30. Crimson Peak

The newest Guillermo Del Toro film stars Mia Wasikowska as a woman who moves into a mansion with her new husband (Tom Hiddleston) and discovers that he may not be what he appears to be. Jessica Chastain co-stars. I enjoy Del Toro's blockbuster action films but I'm really excited to see him make an old fashioned R-rated horror film again.

29. The Peanuts Movie

This better not suck.

28. Suffragette

I posted about this last year when I thought the movie was actually going to come up. Well, it's coming out this year. I'll just copy and paste what I posted last year. "It's kinda surprising that there aren't more movies about this. I mean there's Iron Jawed Angels and that's basically it. Suffragette is about the women's suffrage movement in Great Britain. It stars Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter, Carey Mulligan, and Brendan Gleeson. The historical topic is the type that the Academy Awards are usually attracted to, so if the film ends up successful, it's likely that Oscar buzz could be headed this way."

27. The Danish Girl

Fresh off of his Oscar win for The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne portrays one of the first people to ever get a gender reassignment surgery. Alicia Vikander co-stars as Redmayne's wife. Directed by Tom Hooper (The King's Speech, Les Miserables).

26. Our Brand is Crisis

Our Brand is Crisis stars Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thorton as American campaigners on opposing ends of a Presidential election in Bolivia. It's a dramatization of a critically acclaimed documentary of the same name.

25. Joy

Joy is the latest film from David O. Russell (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle). He reunites with Jennifer Lawrence who plays Joy Mangano, a single mother who builds her business empire after inventing the Miracle Mop. Fellow O. Russell recurring collaborators Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper co-star.

24. Burnt

Burnt is Bradley Cooper's latest drama that he probably hopes to add on to his Academy award nomination streak of three years and counting. Cooper plays a chef attempting try to rebuild his life after losing his restaurant due to drug use. Directed by John Wells (August: Osage County), the film also stars Sienna Miller (American Sniper), Omar Sy (The Intouchables), Daniel Brühl (Rush) and Matthew Rhys (The Americans).

23. Pawn Sacrifice

Pawn Sacrifice is the newest film from the underrated Edward Zwick (Glory, Last Samurai, Blood Diamond). It stars Tobey Maguire as chess prodigy Bobby Fischer and Liev Schrieber as fellow prodigy Boris Spassky.

22. Macbeth

Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard star in this latest adaptation of Macbeth as the title characters.

21. Trumbo

Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) makes his first major transition to a leading man in film in Trumbo. He plays Dalton Trumbo, a controversial Communist Hollywood screenwriter who is blacklisted.

20. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

It's the final Hunger Games movie. All I have to say is I'm pretty excited.

19. Bridge of Spies

Bridge of Spies is the latest Steven Spielberg-Tom Hanks collaboration. The film tells the true story of a Brooklyn lawyer who is thrust into the Cold War when he has to negotiate the release of an American pilot whose plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Amy Ryan and Alan Alda co-star. Perhaps it could get Hanks a long-awaited 6th Oscar nomination following his surprising snub for Captain Phillips.

18. In the Heart of the Sea

Academy Award Winner Ron Howard reunites with Chris Hemsworth following Rush. Based on a true story that would later inspire Herman Mellville's classic, Moby Dick, the film is about a ship that is capsized by a large sperm whale and the crew's fight for survival. Cillian Murphy co-stars.

17. Creed

Director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) reunites with Michael B. Jordan for the boxing film Creed. That's all I'm saying. Just watch the trailer.

16. The Martian

Based on a critically acclaimed novel, The Martian stars Matt Damon as an astronaut abandoned on Mars and assumed to be dead after a space mission goes wrong. Directed by Ridley Scott, it's being called his best film in years after a series of critical flops. It co-stars Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Donald Glover, and Jeff Daniels.

15. Spectre

I'm a big fan of Daniel Craig's performance as James Bond and think Casino Royale is arguably the best Bond film of all time. I'm especially excited for Spectre because SPECTRE was the main antagonist organization in the Sean Connery films so seeing the modern day interpretation of SPECTRE has lots of potential. And Christoph Waltz as the villain? What more do you want?

14. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I'm a big J.J. Abrams fan and I truly believe this could be Star Wars returning to form. It also has a great cast including John Boyega (who gave a great performance in Attack the Block), Lupita N'Yongo (12 Years a Slave), and one of the best actors of his generation, Oscar Issac (Drive, Inside Llewyn Davis, Show me a Hero). And let's not forget the cast from the original trilogy. I personally can't wait.

13. Beasts of No Nation

Directed by Cary Fukunaga (True Detective Season 1), Beasts of No Nation is about a young boy in a West African country who is forced to join a unit of mercenary fighters after a civil war breaks out. Idris Elba co-stars. In an unusual move, Beasts of No Nation is being distributed by Netflix so Netflix users will be able to watch it the day it gets released.

12. The Program

Ben Foster, one of the most underrated actors of his generation, plays Lance Armstrong as the film deals with scandal of using performance enhancing drugs. Chris O'Dowd portrays David Walsh, the journalist trying to expose him. Foster actually took performance enhancing drugs as a form of method acting. Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace, and Dustin Hoffman co-star. It does not yet have a U.S. release date.

11. Legend

I'm a huge fan of Tom Hardy and I'm also a fan of True Crime. This film is not only based on a true story, it features TWO Tom Hardys. Tom Hardy plays Ronnie and Reggie Kray, twin brothers and gangsters involved in organized crime in London. It's written and directed by Brian Helgeland who also wrote L.A. Confidential for which he won an Academy Award.

10. Brooklyn

Brooklyn tells the story of a young Irish immigrant (Saoirse Ronan) navigating her way through 1950s New York. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim.

9. Youth

Michael Caine is one of only two actors (the other being Jack Nicholson) to be nominated at least once every decade since the 1960s to the 2000s. Perhaps he can get another nomination for the 2010s. The film tells the story of "A retired orchestra conductor (Caine) who is on holiday with his daughter and film director best friend (Harvey Keitel) in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday."

8. Concussion

Concussion looks like Will Smith's big return to dramatic acting. Based on a true story,  Smith plays a forensic neuropathologist who discovers Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in football players and must fight the NFL's attempts to cover it up.

7. Carol

The other, presumably higher quality "Older woman-younger woman" relationship movie after Freeheld, Carol stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara telling the story of the relationship a young woman (Mara) falling for an older woman (Blanchett) in 1950s New York. It received critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival with Rooney Mara winning Best Actress.

6. Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs stars Michael Fassbender as the title character in a screenplay written by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network) and directed by Danny Boyle. The film is said to only contain 3 scenes. It co-stars Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels. As a big fan of both the actors and Sorkin and Boyle, I think this'll be a huge improvement over the Ashton Kutcher version.

5. The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight is the newest film by Quentin Tarantino. Set in post civil-war Wyoming, the film follows eight people seeking refuge in a cabin during a blizzard. The eight in the title are played by Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Bruce Dern.

4. Spotlight

Directed by the very underrated Tom McCarthy, Spotlight is based on the true story of the Boston Globe journalists and their coverage of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McCadams, John Slattery, Liev Schrieber, and Stanley Tucci and has already received much Oscar buzz.

3. Sicario

Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) directs this crime thriller starring Emily Blunt as an idealistic FBI Agent who's recruited to join a shadowy government task force, traveling back and forth across the U.S.-Mexican border. Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin co-star as members of the task force.

2. Black Mass

As mentioned before, I'm a big fan of True Crime and the Whitey Bulger story is one of my favorites so I'm really happy to see it get fully captured on the big screen. Johnny Depp stars as Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, who forms an alliance with FBI Agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) to take down the Patriarca Crime Family while allowing Bulger to get away with a variety of crimes. Benedict Cumberbatch co-stars as Bulger's politician brother. Much praise has been centered on Johnny Depp's performance who could be a major Oscar contender.

1. The Revenant

Alejandro González Iñárritu's much anticipated follow-up to Birdman stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a fur trapper who is attacked by a bear in the American wilderness where he's robbed by his friends and left to die. He survives and goes on a 200 mile trek to get revenge. The film is notable for being a pain to film and going $30 million over budget. Hopefully it'll be worth it.

Entourage- The End (8x08) Series Finale Review

What better thing to do than to finish the Entourage series the day that the movie comes out? I'm just gonna get straight to the point. The finale wasn't very good, though season 8 as a whole wasn't anything special.

Let's start with what worked. Although I would have preferred it if Ari really had to move on from his wife, it was obvious that he was going to win her back. Since the show had to go that route, the way the executed it was quite touching and the fact that he quit his job for her showed his development as a character.

So what didn't work?

-In regards to the whole season, it just wasn't very interesting. Entourage has always suffered from never having high stakes but it felt especially low this season besides Drama going on strike with Andrew Dice Clay but naturally that resolved pretty naturally. Besides that, Vince wants to fuck some girl because she didn't try to fuck him the first time they met, Turtle fears he might not become a millionaire with his investment, and E wants to win back Sloan...again.

-Alright, so let's talk about Sloan first. In an end move that surprised nobody, E wins back Sloan thanks to Drama, Turtle, and Vince all going to Sloan and LYING to her by insisting that E never slept with Sloan's former stepmother. So they got back together based on a lie. Yay! Also, Sloan's father Alex DeLarge (I'm still calling him that) threatened to kill Eric, but nobody seems particularly concerned about that.

-Oh and Vince gets E his own jet at the end. I get it, Vince, you have money, but seriously, wouldn't it be more environmentally friendly to just let E and Sloan chill in your jet? There should be room. But apparently E and Sloan aren't even going to Paris where Vince is getting married...which is confusing because isn't he getting married that day. I think I care about this more than the writers.

-Vince gets engaged to the British reporter whose name I don't remember and don't care to find out. Besides the fact that Vince hardly knows her, we the audience hardly know her as a character because she's barely on the show. Apparently she's really smart. We know this because Vince says she is. How did these two fall in love so quickly? Nobody knows because we don't get to see the 24-hour date they spend together either. It's just a boring, uninteresting storyline and a horrible way for the show to conclude Vince's story arc. I felt like the show was usually the most interesting when Vince was working but this season he does nothing but quickly write a script.

-Yeah, for a show about the movie business, there really wasn't much movie stuff at all this season. We had Vince writing a script for a tv movie and Drama's animated tv show, but no actually hollywood films or anything related to the bigger film business. I thought the episodes with things like Cannes, Sundance, and Comic Con were fun, showing an insider look into places most of us don't get to see, but the show just didn't seem to care about that stuff anymore.

-Oh by the way, did anyone else just not care about Scott Lavin at all? At least when he was first introduced there was some conflict with him and E, but did he do anything at all this season? It seemed like the show wanted to make him part of the gang, but he was so uninteresting and didn't have anything to do. At least he doesn't come on the plane with the other guys at the end. I like to think it's the show's way of acknowledging how unnecessary his character ended up being.


Oh and that post-credits scene definitely felt like a setup for the Entourage movie. Though I'm sure Doug Ellin and Mark Wahlberg assumed it wouldn't take 4 years before the movie came out.

Overall grade:
D+

2015 final Oscar Predictions

So the Oscars are tomorrow and through some statistical analysis, here are my predictions with the order of likelihood for the win. As a reminder, these aren't necessarily my preferences.

Best Actor
1. Eddie Redmayne- The Theory of Everything
2. Michael Keaton- Birdman
3. Benedict Cumberbatch- The Imitation Game
4. Steve Carell- Foxcatcher
5. Bradley Cooper- American Sniper

For the first time in a few years, I'm not entirely sure as to who will win Best Actor. It's clearly between Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne. Of course in a perfect world, the race would be between Michael Keaton and Jake Gyllenhaal but this isn't a perfect world. For a while, Michael Keaton was the clear frontrunner, winning all of the early precursors, but then Eddie Redmayne won the Golden Globe (for Drama while Keaton won the Golden Globe for comedy), BAFTA, and most importantly, the Screen Actors guild. The last time someone won the Best Actor Screen Actors Guild but didn't win the Oscar was 11 years ago when Johnny Depp won the SAG for Pirates of the Caribbean while Sean Penn won the Oscar for Mystic River. I feel that Michael Keaton deserves the win, but I feel like it'll be going to Eddie Redmayne. There's also the fact that Eddie Rdmayne just had his most recent movie Jupiter Ascending release and its been heavily panned with his performance receiving particular criticism. This might seem irrelevant but Eddie Murphy was the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor 8 years ago, winning at both SAG and the Golden Globes for Dreamgirls. Then his new movie Norbit came out a couple weeks before the Oscars and was arguably the worst film of his career. Next thing we knew, Alan Arkin won the Oscar instead. We'll see.

Best Actress

1. Julianne Moore- Still Alice

2. Reese Witherspoon- Wild

3. Felicity Jones- The Theory of Everything

4. Rosamund Pike- Gone Girl

5. Marion Cotillard- Two Days, One Night

It's going to Julianne Moore. This isn't a surprise. It's essentially a lifetime achievement award and no one else really stands a chance. Cotillard and Witherspoon are previous Oscar winners, Felicity Jones is an excellent young actress but her performance doesn't stand out enough because of the performance by Eddie Redmayne, and Rosamund Pike, as deserving as that would be, is ultimately in a movie that's just too dark to appease Academy voters. There's no competition. The others are lucky to be nominated.

Best Supporting Actor

1. J.K. Simmons- Whiplash

2. Edward Norton- Birdman

3. Ethan Hawke- Boyhood

4. Mark Ruffalo- Foxcatcher

5. Robert Duvall- The Judge

Once again, an easy lock. J.K. Simmons is going to win. He's winning everywhere. Edward Norton has a very small chance of squeezing in a win if the Academy wanted to make up for not giving him an Oscar for Primal Fear or American History X (and not nominating him for Fight Club), but I'd be very surprised if I didn't hear J.K. Simmons' name called tomorrow night.

Best Supporting Actress

1. Patricia Arquette- Boyhood

2. Emma Stone- Birdman

3. Keira Knightley- The Imitation Game

4. Meryl Streep- Into the Woods

5. Laura Dern- Wild

Patricia Arquette is also a clear lock. It's very hard to picture anyone else winning. Laura Dern barely made the cut, Meryl Streep will always get nominated but will only win on occasion, Keira Knightley is great in The Imitation Game but not that great. Emma Stone is the only potential spoiler but I'm not counting on it. Now if Renee Russo had been nominated for Nightcrawler, which she wasn't, well then maybe we'd be having an interesting competition. 

Best Original Screenplay

1. Birdman- Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. Armando Bo

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel- Wes Anderson and Hugh Guiness

3. Boyhood- Richard Linklater

4. Foxcatcher- E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman

5. Nightcrawler- Dan Gilroy

It could go a few ways at this point. I could definitely see Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, or Boyhood walking away with the win. I feel like Birdman may have a slight edge here but it's definitely not a lock so we'll see. Always nice when there's not a clear lock.

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. The Imitation Game- Graham Moore

2. Theory of Everything- Anthony McCarten

3. American Sniper- Jason Hall

4. Whiplash- Damien Chazelle

5. Inherent Vice- Paul Thomas Anderson

If Gone Girl got nominated, we'd have a competition. Since it wasn't, it's pretty likely it'll go to Graham Moore. I wouldn't mind seeing Damien Chazelle win but I'm honestly just relieved that he got nominated.

Best Director

1. Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu- Birdman

2. Richard Linklater- Boyhood

3. Wes Anderson- The Grand Budapest Hotel

4. Morten Tyldum- The Imitation Game

5. Bennett Miller- Foxcatcher

If Linklater wins, then Boyhood will win Best Picture but if Gonzalez Inarritu wins, well, we'll see. However, I'm still putting my money on Gonzalez Innaritu because he won at the Director's Guild of America. Of its previous 66 ceremonies, only 7 of its winners didn't go on to win the Academy Award for Best Director, one of those was Ben Affleck who was infamously snubbed in 2012 for Argo in spite of being a frontrunner so that hardly counts. So Gonzalez Innaritu has an 89.3% chance of winning and I like those odds. Fun Fact: If he wins, that'll make two Mexican directors winning in a row as Alfonso Cuaron won last year for Gravity.

Best Picture

1. Boyhood

2. Birdman

3. The Grand Budapest Hotel

4. Imitation Game

5. American Sniper

6. Whiplash

7. Theory of Everything

8. Selma

Last year 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture and Gravity won Best Director. 2 years ago Argo won Best Picture while Life of Pi won Best Director. Could there be another split for the 3rd year in a row? I think it's very possible with the close competition this year but it could definitely go either way. The reason I'm predicting Boyhood is because Birdman wasn't nominated for Best Editing. That may seem irrelevant but the last time a film WON Best Picture without being nominated for Best Editing was 34 years ago when Ordinary People won. Boyhood was nominated for Best Editing. On the other hand, Birdman won both the PGA (Producer's Guild of America, a notable predictor for Best Picture) and the SAG for Outstanding cast and only 2 movies have won both of those awards and NOT won Best Picture (Apollo 13 and Little Miss Sunshine). It could seriously go either way but since the Oscar for Film Editing has been around far longer than the SAG and PGA, I'm giving Boyhood a very slight edge, although I'd personally rather see Birdman win. This is honestly one of the closest Best Picture races in years. Hell, Boyhood and Birdman could even cancel each other out and make room for Grand Budapest Hotel. I'm excited to see how things play out.

So yeah, go fill out those Oscar ballots and scream in anger when the films you want to win don't win. It'll be a fun night.

Why 50 Shades of Grey is shit

Warning: Strong profanity, graphic sexual dialogue, yadda yadda. Shouldn't be a shock.

50 Shades of Grey is a shitty book and now a shitty movie.

It's easy for me to laugh at 50 Shades of Grey with all of those lines about Ana's inner goddess, Christian cocking his head to one side, Ana biting her lip, oh and of course her anthropomorphic subconscious. Yeah, it's all pretty laughably bad stuff and we should all enjoy laughing at it together. I initially thought it was nothing more than a poorly written book read by horny housewives

Also, it would have been a better story if it was more like what the title implied

You all probably knew that. But what you probably didn't know is that it's more than just poorly written garbage. It's dangerous garbage. It's garbage that glorifies abusive relationships.

Now before anyone freaks out and assumes I'm judging alternative lifestyles, I'm not. People who know me well know that I'm a very strong believer in individual freedom. Secretary (more on that later) is one of my favorite movies and hell, I personally think being dominant is pretty damn fun, plus I've got several good friends in the lifestyle (all who agree the book is horrible). There's nothing wrong with BDSM and what consenting partners want to do to each other behind closed doors is their business. Emphasis on the word consenting which the book seems to be more than a bit iffy on. Hell, lots of the creepy and abusive stuff isn't even related to BDSM.

There are too many creepy moments to name them all so I'll start off with when Ana graduates college in Chapter 4 and parties with friends. She ends up drunk-dialing Christian, who at this point she's had a single coffee date with. He demands to know where she is but she refuses to specify beyond being at bar in Portland (he was looking for an exact location) and hangs up. He then calls her back, says he's coming to get her and goes from Seattle to fucking Portland to pick her up from this bar. How did he find her? He traced her fucking cell phone. Then he takes her back to his fucking hotel room instead of taking her home, even though they barely know each other at this point. But we're supposed to think he's a gentleman because he didn't try to have sex with her. Raise your expectations, people.

Christian seems to care about nobody but himself. And this goes beyond their sexual relationship. We've got such wonderful lines as "You need to learn to manage my expectations. I am not a patient man." The idea that it takes two shouldn't be far fetched but Christian seems to think that his needs and wants come above Ana's.

A lot of people have defended the relationship, explaining that Ana consented to everything because she signed a contract. First off, relationships, BDSM or otherwise, do not and should not require a goddamn contract. That's the stupidest shit I've ever heard. Secondly, that contract is garbage. People have insisted that she could walk away at any time if she really wanted to. Not true.

"The Dominant reserves the right to dismiss the submissive from his service at any time and for any reason. The submissive may request her release at any time, such request to be granted at the discretion of the dominant." 

So even if Ana wanted to leave, apparently all Christian has to do is say "no" and she's stuck with him. Yeah, in BDSM, the dominant is supposed to have the ILLUSION of control. The whole point is that the submissive has the actual control and can leave and stop whenever they goddamn well please. They don't need anyone's permission. Of course, Ana is completely uneducated on all of this but rather than educate her himself, Christian decides to direct her to a Wikipedia page. I'm not joking.

At one point, Christian spanks Ana hard after she rolls her eyes at him.

"How did you feel while I was hitting you and after?"
"I didn't like it. I'd rather you didn't do it again."
"You weren't meant to like it."

Once again, not accurate BDSM. First of all, the only reason you should spank your sub is because the two of you want to engage in some kinky fun, not because she rolled her eyes at you. Secondly, actually the sub is meant to like it. It's supposed to be a mutually enjoyable experience. The dom enjoys spanking the sub's ass, the sub enjoys having her ass spanked. Not a radical concept. Now if they were going to engage in a roleplay where she pretended she didn't like it but they both knew that she actually did, that'd be one thing. But this isn't a roleplay. Christian doesn't want Ana to enjoy it.

At one point, Christian takes Ana to his parents' house for dinner and Ana mentions going to Georgia for a few days to see her mother. Christian is very angry upon hearing this because he's a controlling asshole and apparently his S.O. seeing her mother is a huge deal to him. Okay, maybe she could have mentioned it earlier as a courtesy, but she certainly doesn't need his approval and he has no right to respond the way he does:

He narrows his eyes, and then seems to remember himself. Releasing my hand, he takes my elbow and leads me out of the room.
"This conversation is not over," he whispers threateningly as we enter the dining room."

Threateningly? Charming fellow.

During dinner, Christian discreetly caresses Ana's thigh from under the table but she responds by abruptly shifting her legs away from him. Certainly a normal response since his family is right there. But it makes him angry. After they go outside, he says he's going to spank her and then fuck her and this is how she responds.

"Please don't hit me," I whisper, pleading.
His brows furrows, his eyes widening. He blinks twice.
"I don't want you to spank me, not here, not now. Please don't."

A spanking in a BDSM relationship should not bring pleading and fear. If it does, then you have failed as a dom. Your sub should not be scared of you.

"This is mine, he whispers aggressively. "All mine. Do you understand?" He eases his fingers in and out as he gazes down at me, gauging my reaction, his eyes burning.
"Yes, yours," I breathe as my desire, hot and heavy, surges through my bloodstream, affecting... everything.

While it is common for the dominant to play games with the submissive, i.e. "Your pussy belongs to me now", it's all in the context of a roleplay. It's acting. The dominant knows that he doesn't actually own her pussy because the actual concept of owning someone else's body is fucking ridiculous. Yet good ol' Christian Grey doesn't seem to think of these concepts in the context of pretend roleplays. He thinks he actually owns Ana's body, which is both offensive and absurd. He doesn't respect her as a person.

He then proceeds to have rough sex with Ana (I'm not sure if I should call it sex), once again going through the abusive motions

“We don’t have long. This will be quick, and it’s for me, not you. Do you understand? Don’t come or I will spank you,” he says through clenched teeth.

Okay, so I understand that orgasm denial is a thing in BDSM and there are submissives that actually enjoy it. But it's a thing that occurs through clear communication. If Christian wanted to do some orgasm denial with Ana, he should have talked to her beforehand, be sure that she was cool with it, and then proceeded to do some kinky and rough orgasm denial sex. And in any kind of BDSM games, the submissive might pretend whatever is happening is a punishment, but it's not. As mentioned before, if a dominant is doing rough stuff with the submissive, the submissive should be just as turned on as the dominant. Christian doesn't seem to care about mutual enjoyment. But the context makes the scene even worse. It isn't even about BDSM. He's doing this to her because he's angry....because he's angry she's going to see her mom. He's punishing her for wanting to see her fucking mom. That's not kinky sex. That's abuse.

Oh and if that doesn't cross the line for you, maybe the part where Christian proves that he doesn't give any shit about consent will, also known as rape.

Okay, so Ana sends Christian an email saying she's not interested in furthering a relationship with him ("It's been nice knowing you") which apparently she sends as a joke, but Christian thinks it's serious. Unlike a normal person, who would either send a reply back or simply forget the whole thing, Christian decides to show up at her apartment uninvited (apparently the roommate let him in) and tries to talk her into rethinking what she said.

I glance around it, plotting an escape route, no – there’s still only the door or window. My room is functional but cozy – sparse white wicker furniture and a white iron double bed with a patchwork quilt, made by my mother when she was in her folksy American quilting phase. It’s all pale blue and cream.

Remember what I said about how your sub shouldn't be afraid of you. Here it is again. In any relationship, whether it have BDSM or not, your partner should never think about plotting a fucking escape route.

Christian does one decent thing in the novel at this point. Before tying Ana up, he asks her if she trusts him and doesn't tie her hands up until after she confirms that she does. But then he turns into an absolute creep. He starts undoing her sneakers and she freaks out because her feet smell bad.

"No", I protest, trying to kick him off.
He stops.
"If you struggle, I'll tie your feet too. If you make a noise, Anastasia, I will gag you. Keep quiet. Katherine is probably outside listening now."

And yeah, that's rape. I've heard people defend the scene saying that Ana wasn't trying to kick him off because she was opposed to having sex, she kicked him off because her feet smelled bad from running. And yes, that's true, but Christian doesn't know that. All he sees is a woman he's trying to have sex with protesting and saying "No" and he thinks the proper response is to threaten her. That's fucked up. And a "no" is a "no" regardless of the reason. If Ana doesn't want to take her shoes off because her feet smell bad, then he has no right to take her fucking shoes off. And it's not like they discussed safewords or anything so his immediate response to her saying "no" should have been to stop doing what he was doing and ensure that she felt okay. That's not rocket science.

So basically, instead of creating a relationship built on trust, mutual enjoyment, aftercare, and maybe some kinky sex roleplays, we're left with a story about a creep who stalks and abuses a naive young woman with low self-esteem which he attempts to justify by pretending he's just kinky. And those examples of Christian's creepiness I mention in this post, well those aren't even all of them. There are plenty more. There actually could have been an interesting story there. Like a story about a woman who achieves some kind of a sexual awakening through her kinky sex relationship and how these two awkward people who have been unable to open up are able to find something in each other. Oh wait this was already done in Secretary with Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. The dominant guy is even named E. Edward GREY. I initially had some problems with the third act of the film but upon rewatching it and hearing some thoughts from others, I realized I may have been interpreting it incorrectly (save that for another blog post). Anyways, Secretary was a good film.

I can't speak on whether or not the movie is less creepy than the book so I won't say anything there, but considering the source material, I'm sure you can understand why I'm hesitant and have no intention of spending any money on it. All I'm saying is that the novel sucks and not just because it's poorly written but because of what it represents (abuse) and what it misrepresents (BDSM). It's not something I can just laugh off as a dumb story and move on.

Written by Alex Bauman

American Sniper Review

American Sniper has been dealing with controversies from its alleged glorification of Chris Kyle to its portrayal of babies as fake. I'm going to leave politics at the door and simply review this as a film.

The fake baby did give a good performance though

With the exception of the fake baby, American Sniper is a well done film. At 84 years old, Clint Eastwood is still an excellent director. The action scenes are very well shot and the acting is good. Bradley Cooper just received his 3rd Oscar nomination in a row for this film and while I personally wouldn't have nominated him (I wanted Jake Gyllenhaal to be nominated for Nightcrawler), I won't deny the fact that he continues to prove himself as a very strong actor who can do both comedy and drama effectively. His performance carries the film. His Texan accent is surprisingly believable which is a relief because a bad Texan accent can veer into unintentional hilarity and there are a couple nice subtle moments in particular when his acting stands out (particularly a scene set in a bar). I also liked the way his version of Chris Kyle did not embrace his legendary status, and seemed uncomfortable with people cheering him on for kills. Unfortunately, my praise mostly ends there. The film has so many story issues that really bring it down. It's hard to know where to begin.

Bradley Cooper in American Sniper

I guess I'll start off with the beginning of the movie. We've got a flashback to Chris as a kid. His father tells him that there are three kinds of people in this world: Wolves (the evil people), Sheep (the stupid people who need to be protected), and sheepdogs (the people who protect the sheep). It's a set up for one of the most blatantly obvious metaphors I've ever seen. I don't mind metaphors in film, I enjoy them, but I don't like them being spelled out to the audience.

The one thing that surprised me was that I figured the sheep were either Iraqi or American civilians, but they're actually U.S. Marines. I'm not a Marine and I don't have any Marine family members but I feel like this movie would upset Marines. Most of the film seems to involve Chris Kyle, the Navy Seal, protecting the Marines who seemingly can't do anything themselves. This gets especially ridiculous when Chris literally abandons his sniper post (which is apparently allowed because he doesn't get in trouble for it) to help teach the marines how to properly raid a house, because Chris Kyle, the Navy Seal, even has to do the Marines' jobs for them.

Then there's the character of Mustafa, a Syrian sniper and arguably the main antagonist of the film. Mustafa is not a completely fictional creation as he's mentioned in a single paragraph in Chris Kyle's book as a rumor, but I still feel his character served no purpose. He has no lines and no physical presence so he's not an interesting antagonist. He literally serves as a parallel to Chris Kyle, the evil Chris Kyle, I guess you could say and those parallels sure do get heavyhanded at one point. Having scenes from Mustafa's viewpoint honestly really took me out of it. The Hurt Locker was so effective to me because we saw things only from the soldiers' point of view. The insurgents were mysterious figures in the shadows so we were just as in the dark as the main characters were. By including Mustafa's viewpoint, there's no shock for the viewer when a U.S. soldier is killed by an enemy sniper because we literally just saw the sniper's scope seconds earlier. I do think showing both points of view in a conflict can be effective in some films, but since Mustafa is such a boring character, it doesn't work at all here. And the parkour scenes are just laughable and feel like something out of a cheesy action film, not a gritty war drama.

Sammy Sheik's one-note performance as Mustafa

Perhaps the most irritating thing was the way the film squeezes 9/11 into the plot. There's a scene where Chris and his wife are watching the news and see the 9/11 attacks on TV. This scene serves no purpose as Chris goes to war in Iraq, not Afghanistan. I've heard people defend the scene because it explains why Chris became a Navy Seal in the first place which makes me question if they were paying attention to the film. Chris joined the Navy Seals in 1999, not 2001, and the film shows that Chris Kyle joined the Seals in reaction to the 1998 United States Embassy Bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, so it made sense to show his reaction to those terrorist attacks. Showing 9/11 was just cheap. I've heard people accuse the film of trying to make it seem like the Iraq war was in response to 9/11 but I don't think it was intentional deceit. However, I do think the film used 9/11 as a cheap plot device to emotionally charge the audience which isn't much better.

Several people have criticized the film for not discussing America's reasons for being in Iraq (there's a really quick scene where Chris justifies it), but that wasn't an issue for me. The Hurt Locker doesn't go into the politics of the Iraq war either. The difference is that The Hurt Locker made up for that with three really interesting characters and thrillingly staged tension throughout while American Sniper seemed stuck in mediocrity.

Other small issues are present throughout which aren't huge problems on their own but feel like a lot when combined with everything else. We've got Kyle's brother who we learn joins the military (which seems to concern Chris initially) except it doesn't matter because the movie promptly drops his character who is never even mentioned again. There's a kill scene that's done in ridiculously cheesy slow motion. I'm generally not a big fan of slow motion but it can work if done effectively (it worked in The Hurt Locker). It didn't work here. There's also an unintentionally hilarious scene where the wife of a terrorist Chris Kyle shot claims he was carrying a Koran. Chris Kyle responds by saying (paraphrased) "I don't know what a Koran looks like but that was a gun." I get that there aren't a lot of Muslims in Texas but you don't have to ever see a Koran to know that it's a book...and he should know what books look like. Why couldn't he have just said "That man wasn't carrying a Koran. That was a gun." It would send the same message without making Chris sound like an idiot.

Besides that, Sienna Miller (the only other actor in the film with more than 10 minutes of screentime) doesn't have a lot to do, but she does decent enough as Chris Kyle's wife. I thought the PTSD portrayal was also solid, particularly a scene involving a dog, but the PTSD scenes are such a small portion of the film and it felt simplified by the end.

Sienna Miller in American Sniper

As for the ending, well I wasn't a fan of it. I won't explain it for those who don't know the actual story (though I imagine most people do at this point). I'm guessing Eastwood and co. thought it would be exploitative to show what could have been the film's climatic scene, but I feel it would have been a lot less exploitative than showing 9/11, because at least the unseen climax has to do with the main plot. I'll admit this is entirely subjective and some would feel that my ideal ending would be exploitative, but to me resorting to captions to explain the rest of the film is a cop out. In contrast, Foxcatcher (a film which also features Sienna Miller as a wife who gets upset on the phone) does show the climax and has a far more memorable ending in my opinion. I can respect the film's decision to end it how they did, but I don't agree with it.

Unless a film is aggressively bad, I never tell people to not see a movie because I'm always eager to hear someone else's thoughts, whether they be similar or different to mine. So if you wanna see American Sniper, go ahead and see it. I didn't care for it, but 73% of critics saw something in it that I didn't. To me, it lacked the emotional resonance of Eastwood's excellent war films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, but it could've been worse.

Rating: 2/5