AMERICAN SNIPER (2015)
Clint Eastwood’s biographical movie about Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle is a well made enough film but, never really drew me in. To a degree it’s a by-the-numbers bio-drama, despite some intense action, set during the post 911 Iraqi conflict. The scenes of Kyle’s time in the Middle East, where he racked up an impressive 160 kills, were engaging but, it’s the sporadic scenes at home while he suffers the effects of his time in combat that fall flat and seem very routine, drama-wise. Bradley Cooper is solid though, not overly impressive as Kyle and the film downplays the biggest irony of the war hero’s life, that he was killed at home by another war veteran also suffering from the post-war effects of his time in combat. The most interesting and tragic part of Kyle’s tale is left to a pre-credits footnote in Jason Hall’s script despite being one of the most important events of this true story. Certainly not a bad move, but, also far from the great film hype has proclaimed it to be. I enjoyed the fact based Lone Survivor a lot more. Also stars Sienna Miller in a stereotypical portrayal of the ‘long suffering wife’ as Taya Renae Kyle.
ECHOES (2014)
Nils Timm’s supernatural thriller is a dull film with a plot seen far too often to count. Pretty script writer Anna (Kate French) is suffering from nightmares and goes out to her manager/boyfriend’s (Steven Brand) desert retreat to finish her work. Obviously, strange things start to occur and Anna begins to see things and exhibit some odd behavior. Is it a product of her intense night terrors and emotional troubles or is there something else in the house with her? Gee, I wonder which it is? (insert large amounts of sarcasm). We’ve seen the mentally troubled person in the isolated setting far too many times and Timm does nothing new or inventive with it. This is strictly by-the-numbers stuff and comes to a very predictable conclusion. What little spookiness it tries to evoke is, at times, sunk by some awful CGI. The dog was cute but, we all know what happens to pets in these flicks. Boring and routine.
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