The Big Picture: American Sniper Sucks (And It's Okay To Admit That)

[Ukomba]

The fact that this bother Bob enough to not only try to pillory it in his normal movie review, but feels it necessary to to do a big picture on it gives me no end of glee. I haven't seen the movie, but his reaction alone makes me hope it does hit #1 for 2014.

 

[Hawki]

Watches video...

...okay Bob, there's no way "The King's Speech" is a bad movie. Just sayin'

 

[IceForce]

If you're not a veteran, then this movie wasn't for you and your opinion of it doesn't matter. Enjoy the freedom of speech for which you've done nothing to earn.

Now this is some high class bullshit right here.

War veterans didn't fight for only their own freedoms, but for the freedoms of everyone, including future generations.
That was kinda the whole point.

Besides, if you really want to go down this route, then we can dismiss YOUR opinions on Bob's video, because you're not a creator of a web video series. And if you're not a creator of a web video series, then your opinions of web video series don't matter.

 

[Nixou]

I was inordinately amused by Sarah Palin spouting off about the "Hollywood Left" not valuing veterans. I wonder what she had to say about Michele Bachmann's plan to freeze VA health care spending and cut veterans' benefits?

She doesn't give a shit: fetichizing the army as an abstraction is a way to hide one's callousness about the actual human beings who are part of it.

 

[McElroy]

I'd much rather see a movie about the deadliest sniper in all history: Simo Hayha. He was a Finnish farmer who enlisted during the Winter War and made at least 505 confirmed sniper kills over less than 100 days, all using an old bolt-action hunting rifle without a scope. The Soviet Union nicknamed him "The White Death" and launched entire missions just to kill this one man, up to and including artillery bombardments of areas where they thought he might be. Eventually, a Soviet sniper shot him in the lower jaw and took off half of his face. Simo responded by giving the Soviet sniper a first-hand demonstration of proper headshot technique. He then managed to return to base before succumbing to unconsciousness. Simo recovered and woke up a few days later, and the Soviets surrendered on that same day.

Seriously, this already sounds more like an action movie than real life.

While I agree with you and would like to see a movie about Häyhä (whether or not his kill count has been padded a bit), I must correct you on one thing: nobody surrendered at the end of Winter War. Häyhä woke up on the day the truce was declared.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's about how war affects a particular soldier, and how he copes with it.
It's NOT about the justification of military presence here, there or anywhere.

 

[Macsen Wledig]

American Sniper? More like Triumph of the Will.

If you're not a veteran, then this movie wasn't for you and your opinion of it doesn't matter. Enjoy the freedom of speech for which you've done nothing to earn.

Now this is some high class bullshit right here.

War veterans didn't fight for only their own freedoms, but for the freedoms of everyone, including future generations.
That was kinda the whole point.

Let's not beat around the bush. Soldiers don't fight for freedom they fight to kill people.

 

[XDSkyFreak]

Wow ... just wow. How in the seven hells did this end up happening? I mean ... I'm not american, but I just fail to see how people can take a movie (especially one that was so ... bland and poorly done as American Sniper) and turn it into some cultural icon. Go back and watch Inglorious Bastards, because the parts about that nazi propaganda flick with the sniper is exactly what te sheep worshiping this brain-dead movie remind me of.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

This is a movie with a heavy and politically biased narrative....

...which is why I haven't watched it.

Uh, you should probably watch the movie before making an opinion about it. The movie actually aims to largely be politically neutral, the focus is on Kyle. His opinion(s) of Iraqis being "savages", or the war's justification, are just that: his opinions. It's never presented as being the gospel truth or not, it's just a story of a guy who was a really, really good Sniper, and what he went through and the effects his multiple deployments had on him and his family.

Bob's biggest anger towards the film seems to be that it DOESN'T try and have a political point. It just presents Kyle as a Soldier doing his job, but doesn't really delve into whether the job he's doing is part of a justified or unjustified action by the Government he serves.

This is, of course, completely disingenuous on Bob's part. What he's really saying is that he just wants it to have a point...so long as it's a point he agrees with, otherwise it's just jingoistic Military propaganda for Hillbillies and right-wing nutjobs and is terrible.

 

[walsfeo]

Bob, good episode. Heck, just based on the number of comments you received I probably could have figured that out without even watching it. I'm glad you covered more than "it is just a bad movie" though, or I'd have gotten bored.

-

As for the folks who seem to think people doing job x, y, or z, are above reproach, or that people are only able to evaluate something if they've actually been subjected to it, then you obviously don't understand the benefits of civilization. part of civilization is learning from other peoples triumphs and mistakes. I get to know words, math, and history, not because I created them but because I've studied them. Have you ever complained about a politician or referee without actually doing those jobs? It's the same thing.

Holding anything above reproach, above inspection, is the kind of nonsense that at best stifles progress or more realistically allows corruption to settle in.

Sure we have a military class, I'm thankful we do and that they exist. I tend more towards the "hooray soldiery, yay cop" mentality than the bashing thereof but all institutions perform more consistently, and with fewer atrocities, when they aren't existing exclusively in an echo chamber.

 

[Logience]

Sorry to interrupt, but I felt it necessary to say this:

FIFTY SHADES IS TWILIGHT FANFICTION.

TWILIGHT FANFICTION THAT'S GETTING ITS OWN MOVIE.

TWILIGHT FANFICTION WITH THE SAME NAME AS THE OLD HE-MAN MOVIE.

Next thing you know they'll end up turning the Draco Trilogy into movies.

 

[Traun]

the best thing about American Sniper is the butthurt it caused first by it's sheer existence and then the even bigger one by it's record breaking success

Seriously, it was extremely satisfying seeing Bob cram Palin in there, his sheer butthurt was the sole reason I watched this review.

 

[Cyberstrike_v1legacy]

the best thing about American Sniper is the butthurt it caused first by it's sheer existence and then the even bigger one by it's record breaking success

Seriously, it was extremely satisfying seeing Bob cram Palin in there, his sheer butthurt was the sole reason I watched this review.

If turning a lying racist into a hero is your idea of good time.

 

[Abyss]

There a few users here and there who complain about leftist-propaganda, but what difference does Bob's views make? Don't some of you dislike it when shows or movies you like are accused of being rightist-propaganda? This video barely even constitutes as propaganda: propaganda usually doesn't isn't concerned with painting the big picture of an issue.

Anyway, even though Bob is opposed to the wars and recent Republican-Conservative politics, that's not his complaint. From Bob's point of view, the film would have benefited by being more daring and insightful about the subject on which it is about. Personally, I think that after all these years, there hasn't been a definitive film or movie which stands as an effective commentary upon the post-9/11 period and the two wars. When are we going to see our modern equivalent of Paths of Glory or Dr. Strangelove?

I want to see a film which gets right into the heart of darkness of the period we live in, but not a strictly serious and idealized melodrama. I want to see everyone covered: the nationalists, the soldiers, the innocent bystanders, the not-so innocent bystanders, the demagogues, the fanatics, the practitioners of total warfare, the leaders, and the few people who try to make things better. I want to see Full Metal Jacket crossed with the morality fables of Arabian Nights and Kipling, and combined with the archetypes of Gilgamesh. An existentialist and naturalist response to Lawrence of Arabia whose goals or ethics or not clear.

I want to something based on the wars that unlike any other before, and it still has yet to be made

P.S. I'm rather confused why Bob thinks that the King's Speech is a bad movie. It came out of nowhere, but I guess this goes to show that I can get confused by some of Bob's opinions too.

 

[medv4380]

Eat too many Sour Grapes?

By Bobs logic we should Idealize Norman Osborn and Lex Luther as American Presidents above and beyond Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

Bobs critic would only be valid if American Sniper was a complete fiction. However, it is a non fiction, and a biography. By those two qualifiers it is limited in what it can do. But then because it contradicts Bobs world view, and he wants to lead a mob to burn it to the ground Bobs gotten a little offended that the Mob doesn't agree with him, and would rather defend it from his Witch Hunt.

Then this begs the question.
Why waste an entire episode sobbing about it, failing to add anything substantive beyond the first review, and adding a level of idiocy with Captain America that I can only equate it to Anti Vaxers, 911 Truthers, and Birther nonsense. Really, Bob wouldn't be happy unless every decent human being on the planet was painted as a depraved sociopath unless they're fictional and then it would be fine to paint them as a hero.

 

[Kuredan]

I respect everyone's right to disagree, but I don't think it was a bad movie. As I have said in other posts, it resonates with me. I found something familiar in it and it was something I knew that many people wouldn't understand. I'm not saying you can't have an opinion on it, but you don't understand that life. I will never be a mother, so while I can appreciate art that depicts motherhood, I'll never understand that art in the way a mother would. I'm not at fault but if I wanted to truly understand, I'd have to ask a mother to explain it to me. I wonder how many of you talk to veterans or deal with them on a regular basis. God knows we need the attention and you might learn something you didn't know before. It's very easy put distance between yourself and a soldier, to "be glad that they exist" as though they were a disgusting, but necessary underclass and feel superior about it. Veterans are people: we've done amazing and terrible things, or done nothing of note at all, really. As long as we remain (conveniently) forgotten, as long as you keep us at arm's length, we're disposable and our stories, our experiences, are invalidated. So while I think it's fine to say "This wasn't a good movie because of [film reason]" I take issue at a criticism of the experience itself, especially from those who haven't lived that life and have no interest in trying to understand it.

 

[Gorrath]

I respect everyone's right to disagree, but I don't think it was a bad movie. As I have said in other posts, it resonates with me. I found something familiar in it and it was something I knew that many people wouldn't understand. I'm not saying you can't have an opinion on it, but you don't understand that life. I will never be a mother, so while I can appreciate art that depicts motherhood, I'll never understand that art in the way a mother would. I'm not at fault but if I wanted to truly understand, I'd have to ask a mother to explain it to me. I wonder how many of you talk to veterans or deal with them on a regular basis. God knows we need the attention and you might learn something you didn't know before. It's very easy put distance between yourself and a soldier, to "be glad that they exist" as though they were a disgusting, but necessary underclass and feel superior about it. Veterans are people: we've done amazing and terrible things, or done nothing of note at all, really. As long as we remain (conveniently) forgotten, as long as you keep us at arm's length, we're disposable and our stories, our experiences, are invalidated. So while I think it's fine to say "This wasn't a good movie because of [film reason]" I take issue at a criticism of the experience itself, especially from those who haven't lived that life and have no interest in trying to understand it.

I think what irks me about Bob's expression on that point is that he understands this concept you're talking about perfectly. I know he does because he's made a point of talking about how his view of a movie has been altered in the past when seeing how people who are not like him, with different experiences than him, reacted to the movie. He said this about both "Friday" (a movie that resonates with me because I grew up in similar circumstances and despite the fact I'm not black) and "Maleficent" when he saw the reactions of some of the women who were watching the film when he went to see it a second time.

The thing is, he's happy to reconsider his opinion of those films, I would guess, because both tie into his own political beliefs. If women are empowered by a movie he thought was bad, there must be more to it than he thought, right? If people connected with "Friday" there must have been something redeeming in it that he couldn't see because he didn't grow up that way. But toss out a movie who's narrative connects with people who's politics he doesn't already have a vested interest in supporting and that consideration seems to vanish. This is one of the myriad reasons I take Bob less and less seriously; he seems far too wrapped up in his preferred ideology to even be fair in his own assessments.

 

[Gorrath]

the best thing about American Sniper is the butthurt it caused first by it's sheer existence and then the even bigger one by it's record breaking success

Seriously, it was extremely satisfying seeing Bob cram Palin in there, his sheer butthurt was the sole reason I watched this review.

If turning a lying racist into a hero is your idea of good time.

One can be a lying racist and a hero. Personally, I couldn't stand Chris Kyle but that doesn't mean he wasn't valorous.

There a few users here and there who complain about leftist-propaganda, but what difference does Bob's views make? Don't some of you dislike it when shows or movies you like are accused of being rightist-propaganda? This video barely even constitutes as propaganda: propaganda usually doesn't isn't concerned with painting the big picture of an issue.

Anyway, even though Bob is opposed to the wars and recent Republican-Conservative politics, that's not his complaint. From Bob's point of view, the film would have benefited by being more daring and insightful about the subject on which it is about. Personally, I think that after all these years, there hasn't been a definitive film or movie which stands as an effective commentary upon the post-9/11 period and the two wars. When are we going to see our modern equivalent of Paths of Glory or Dr. Strangelove?

I want to see a film which gets right into the heart of darkness of the period we live in, but not a strictly serious and idealized melodrama. I want to see everyone covered: the nationalists, the soldiers, the innocent bystanders, the not-so innocent bystanders, the demagogues, the fanatics, the practitioners of total warfare, the leaders, and the few people who try to make things better. I want to see Full Metal Jacket crossed with the morality fables of Arabian Nights and Kipling, and combined with the archetypes of Gilgamesh. An existentialist and naturalist response to Lawrence of Arabia whose goals or ethics or not clear.

I want to something based on the wars that unlike any other before, and it still has yet to be made

P.S. I'm rather confused why Bob thinks that the King's Speech is a bad movie. It came out of nowhere, but I guess this goes to show that I can get confused by some of Bob's opinions too.

I'd watch the hell out of what you describe. Have a script on my desk by Friday and see if you can't get Scorsese to direct. If it's a hit I'll put you on the next Fast and Furious project.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

If you're not a veteran, then this movie wasn't for you and your opinion of it doesn't matter. Enjoy the freedom of speech for which you've done nothing to earn.

What a fucking wonderful sentiment. One of the reason why societies who see the army as something other than a tool in the broader array of government institutions bother me is because when you enshrine something, you make respect to it mandatory, meaning it's going to devolve into a corrupted mess, and you make of its members a clergy whose undue respect makes them lose the sense of their actual mission. The military becomes less the defence of the nation and more a class that it outwardly respected but silently shunned because nobody deals with it as it is, rather as they wish it was. And that's how we get people like you.

Enjoy your freedom of speech. Hopefully your piece of paper and its force field prevents anyone from punching you in the mouth for anything you say that may be offensive

It's always ironic that veterans that claim that they fight for our rights get hostile when we choose to exercise those rights.

 

[Macsen Wledig]

the best thing about American Sniper is the butthurt it caused first by it's sheer existence and then the even bigger one by it's record breaking success

Seriously, it was extremely satisfying seeing Bob cram Palin in there, his sheer butthurt was the sole reason I watched this review.

If turning a lying racist into a hero is your idea of good time.

One can be a lying racist and a hero. Personally, I couldn't stand Chris Kyle but that doesn't mean he wasn't valorous.

No, it's the hiding on roofs and shooting people in the back that would disqualify him from being valorous.