Just about the best of 2014

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2015)

I had two unusual things happen when I caught Clint Eastwood's American SNIPER last night.
Usually, when I go see a movie on Sunday nights, it's not unusual for our group to have the place to ourselves. What happened last night? The 9:30 showing of American SNIPER was SOLD OUT!! We had to attend the 10:00 showing – which was about 90 percent full.
Secondly, and most importantly, when the movie ended and the credits rolled, instead of hearing the usual crumple of paper, murmuring of people and movement to the exit, the theatre was DEAD SILENT with NO MOVEMENT as the credits bathed over us.
Such is the emotional impact of American SNIPER.
Bradley Cooper – rightfully nominated for an Academy Award – stars in the true story of Navy Seal Chris Kyle, the proclaimed "LEGEND" who saved countless lives with his accurate shooting. But this movie is more than a "war" story about an American shooting the enemy from afar – though it could have been and it still would have been a good movie. Director Eastwood, along with screenwriter Jason Hall, crafts a story that is much more than that, switching between Kyle's 4 tours of duty abroad to his acclimation (or lack thereof) back home. It is in this toll on Kyle that the movie finds it's heart. Sienna Miller – far removed from the tabloid headline grabber she was earlier in her career – is sensational as Kyle's wife who tries to bring Kyle back to the real world. Her acting was a revelation to me, I quite simply didn't think she had it in her. Make no mistake, however, this movie is Cooper's and he more than steps up to the plate. Gaining weight (40 lbs!) and a gravitas heretofore not seen on screen from him, Cooper brings the steely eyed determination of "killing the bad guys" with the internal trauma that this job created. This is Cooper's 3rd straight year of being nominated for BEST ACTOR and I hope, this time, he wins it.
I was moved by this story and would rank this right up there with 2 other movies that tell the story of our recent wars overseas – THE HURT LOCKER and ZERO DARK THIRTY – quite possibly, the best of the 3.
9 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)