New on DVD: Clint Eastwood's 'American Sniper' is a marvel of you-are-there ...

After the underrated musical Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood returns with American Sniper (2014, Warner, PG-13, $30) a deeply involving biopic about Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), a Navy SEAL who survived four tours of duty in Iraq and was credited with 160 kills.

Even though Cooper isnt totally convincing as a Texas ranchhand-turned-killing machine, Sniper is a marvel of you-are-there filmmaking. Eastwood does such a good job of putting you in Kyles shoes that when Kyle attempts to protect his fellow SEALs from a Syrian sniper, youll feel as if youre on the rooftop alongside him, experiencing the terror and triumph of playing guardian angel to your best friends. Extras: featurettes.

Also New This Week

Black Or White: (2015, Fox, PG-13, $30) After his wife (Jennifer Ehle) dies in an accident, boozy attorney Elliot (Kevin Costner) assumes custody of his mixed-race granddaughter Eloise (Jillian Estell) at least until Eloises other grandmother (Octavia Spencer) decides the youngster belongs with her. If the set-up sounds sudsy, hold on. Writer/director Mike Binder (The Upside of Anger) rarely defaults to heart-tugging goop, preferring instead to probe issues of race, addiction and forgiveness. Even though Black Or White stumbles a bit at the end, Binder directs with skill and compassion while managing to elicit a career-best turn from Costner. Extras: featurettes.

Leviathan: (2014, Sony, R, $30) An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this compelling but heavy-handed Russian drama pivots on the battle between car mechanic Kolya (Aleksey Serebryakov) and Vadim (Roman Madyanov), a politician hellbent on taking away Kolyas ancestral home. Kolya calls in a lawyer pal (Vladimir Vdovichenkov) from Moscow to help with the case but Kolya seems to have a black cloud hanging over him. Practically soaked in vodka and sea mist, Leviathan offers up a chilling portrait of life in modern-day Russia. Extras: featurettes and commentary by director Andrey Zvyagintsev.

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Lost River: (2015, Warner, R, $30) Ryan Goslings directorial debut might be a mess but its an ambitious mess. Set in an abandoned neighborhood of Detroit, the dark drama follows a family (Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker) struggling to hold on to their ramshackle home. As De Caestecker runs afoul of a gangster , Hendricks finds work at a nightclub where women pretend to mutilate themselves. From scene to scene, the suspense never builds but Gosling does manages to draw sympathetic performances from his cast while unleashing incendiary images that wouldnt be out of place in a David Lynch film. Extras: none.

Little Accidents: (2015, Amplify, unrated, $22) When a teenage boy goes missing in a small West Virginia town already reeling from a mining accident, three strangers are drawn together in unexpected ways. The boys mother (Elizabeth Banks) rejects her husband (Josh Lucas) and finds comfort in the arms of a miner (Boyd Holbrook.) At the same time, a young boy (Jacob Lofland) who lost his father in the disaster finds a friend in Banks. The lushly photographed film occasionally feels tentative but, in the end, writer/director Sara Colangelo offers a moving look at three lost souls haunted by tragedy. Extras: none.

Accidental Love: (2015, Millennium, PG-13, $20) After watching this botched 2008 satire about healthcare reform, you instantly know why director David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) took his name off the credits. Jessica Biel stars as a waitress with a nail in her head dont ask - who goes to Washington to convince her congressman (Jake Gyllenhaal) to pass a bill providing insurance coverage for all Americans. Standing in the way is a politician (Catherine Keener) angling to open a military base on the moon. None of the performers rise above the dismal script, which is a cringe-worthy disaster. Extras: none.

Before I Disappear: (2015, IFC, unrated, $25) Writer/director Shawn Christensen expands his Oscar-winning 2013 short film Curfew into a feature film with mostly dismal results. Christensen stars as a suicidal janitor whos tasked with caring for his niece (Fatima Ptacek) after his estranged sister (Emmy Rossum) is hauled off to prison. Over the course of a long night, the pair takes a tour through some of Manhattans seedier neighborhoods and comes out the other end as best buddies. Unbelievable from start to finish, Before I Disappear deserves to vanish without a trace. Extras: none.

Maya - The Bee Movie: (2014, Shout Factory, G, $25) In this sweet-as-honey cartoon, a freshly hatched bee named Maya (Coco Jack Gilles) cant help befriending a bevy of bugs, including a violin-playing grasshopper, a dung beetle and a young hornet named Sting. When the Royal Jelly is stolen, Maya is blamed. Can Maya and pals prove their innocence and locate the missing sweets supply? While adults might long for more adult humor, Maya is sure to leave the pre-teen crowd feeling buzzed. Extras: blooper reel, TV episodes featuring Maya and featurettes.

U-Turn: (1997, Twilight Time, R, $30) On the run from gangsters, compulsive gambler Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) takes a detour into h**l when he pulls into Superior, Arizona, a sweaty hick town populated by an overwhelming number of lowlifes. Almost immediately he finds himself tangled up with the treacherous Mr. and Mrs. McKenna (Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte) who each want Bobby to kill the other. Critics eviscerated this desert noir now on Blu-ray - when it hit theaters in 2007 but nearly a decade later, it feels like an elemental tour de force. The incest angle belongs in a different movie. But that flaw aside, U Turn makes for a compelling head trip of a thriller. Extras: commentaries and Stone intro.

The Adventures Of Marco Polo: (1938, Warner Archive, unrated, $20) If youre in the mood for a good, old-fashioned adventure, check out this tribute to Marco Polo (Gary Cooper), the first European explorer to visit China. Set in the 13th Century, the action begins with the medieval daredevil battling raging seas, sandstorms and avalanches in search of Oriental treasures. Once in Peking, Marco finds himself drawn into a romantic triangle with the princess (Sigrid Gurie) and the Emperors scheming minister of state (Basil Rathbone). Unlike a lot of modern epics, Marco Polo doesnt take itself too seriously so expect plenty of romance and comedy in between the duels, stand-offs and calvary charges. Extras: none.

Miami Blues - Collectors Edition: (1989, Shout Factory, R, $25) Long before Quentin Tarantino mastered the art of blending humor and bloodshed, there was this darkly funny crime thriller about a murderous ex-con named Junior (Alec Baldwin) who steals the badge of a homicide detective (Fred Ward) and uses it to wreck havoc all over town. Baldwin makes Junior so charismatic you cant take your eyes off of him. But its Jennifer Jason Leigh who gives this slick little thriller its heart and soul. As a former prostitute eager to settle down in the suburbs, she strikes the truest chords. Extras: new interviews with cast members.

Remember The Day: (1941, Fox, unrated, $38) Need proof that Claudette Colbert was among the most underrated actresses in Hollywood? Consider this slice of Americana, which is enlivened by Colberts turn as an eighth-grade schoolteacher who inspires one of her students to become a presidential hopeful. It doesnt completely skirt sentimentality but you can still bask in the glory of an actress working at the top of her game. Extras: two additional Fox dramas A Life In The Balance and Tonight We Sing.

Orange Is The New Black - Season Two: (2015, Lionsgate, unrated, $40) Yes, the tempestuous affair between Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Laura Prepon) is on the backburner thanks to Alexs exit from Litchfield but theres more than enough juicy drama to go around, most of it generated by new inmate Vee (Lorraine Toussaint), a shameless schemer whos on a collision course with Red (Kate Mulgrew.) Theres also some great flashbacks, including a lollapalooza explaining how Morello (Yael Stone) wound up behind bars. Orange just keeping better, smarter and more outrageous. Extras: featurettes and commentaries.

Broadchurch - The Complete Second Season: (2014, E1, unrated, $40) Instead of trying to replicate the haunting first season, this show wisely goes for something fresh. The main action involves the prosecution of 11-year-old Daniel Lattimers killer while a subplot deals with the re-opening of the botched Sandbrook case, the investigation which derailed Hardys (David Tennant) career. The Sandbrook subplot gets a bit convoluted but the courtroom drama crackles thanks to the addition of Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Charlotte Rampling as opposing counsel. Extras: featurettes and deleted scenes.

Source: http://www.thereporteronline.com/arts-and-entertainment/20150521/new-on-dvd-clint-eastwoods-american-sniper-is-a-marvel-of-you-are-there-filmmaking

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Bill Passed: Texas Highway to be Named in Honor of 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle

The Texas Senate passed House Bill 1187 designating a segment of U.S. Hwy 287 in Midlothian, as the Chris Kyle Memorial Highway. The Texas House passed the bill earlier this month. The bill will now go to Governor Greg Abbott for signing and making the bill law.

Midlothian is 25 miles southwest of Dallas, Texas.

Chris Kyle, was a Navy SEAL and author of the New York Times bestseller American Sniper.

On February 2, 2013, Kyle was shot at point-blank range and killed at a Texas gun range. He and a friend where attempting to help a fellow veteran who was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. His friend, Chad Littlefield, was also shot and killed.

The veteran who shot them, Eddie Ray Routh, was found guilty of capital murder in February of this year.

Funeral procession for Chris Kyle in Midlothian, Texas. YouTube Video Kevin Kelly

Kyle is reported to have achieved 150 kills as a Navy SEAL sniper, the most of any sniper in U.S. military history.

The movie American Sniper has been a block-buster success but it has not been without controversy.

Breitbart Texas reported that the slain hero and the movie honoring him, has been attacked by left-of-center celebrities. They have called him a coward who went on killing sprees despite his having saved countless numbers of U.S. soldiers.

SEAL Team 3 Chief Chris Kyle served four combat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom and elsewhere.

Following his combat deployments, he became chief instructor for training Naval Special Warfare Sniper and Counter-Sniper teams, and he authored the Naval Special Warfare Sniper Doctrine, the first Navy SEAL sniper manual.

Kyle was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation.

He also received the Grateful Nation Award, given by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

Thousands attended Kyles memorial service held in Dallas at Cowboys Stadium. The crowd was estimated to have been between 6,500 and 7,000 attendees.

Governor Greg Abbott declared it Chris Kyle Day in Texas on February 2, 2015.

Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst at Breitbart Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/05/21/bill-passed-texas-highway-to-be-named-in-honor-of-american-sniper-chris-kyle/

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'Into the Woods,' 'Selma,' 'American Sniper,' 'Unbroken': Editors on This Week ...

Some high-profile Oscar contenders have Christmas releases this year, including director Rob Marshall's musical Into the Woods;Ava DuVernay'shistorical drama,Selma;Clint Eastwood's biographical film American Sniper; and Angelina Jolie's Unbroken. Here, the editors of these movies describe their work. (Warning: Some spoilers follow.)

For Unbroken, editors Tim Squyres and William Goldenberg said they had to find a balance while telling the heroic true story of WWII vet and Olympian Louie Zamperini. That included balancing epic and quiet moments, and in the case of a tricky scene during which Zamperini is lost at sea on a raft for more than a month, conveying "tedium and boredom without being tedious and boring."

"There was a lot more stuff on the raft. You have to hit the action beats and suggest the stuff in between," says Squyres, who brought experience trimming a film about someone lost at sea he earned his second Oscar nomination in 2012 for Life of Pi.

Read more Oscars: 'Boyhood,' 'Whiplash' Editors Reveal Their Secrets

Squyres added that the pace of the scene also had to fit into the overall structure of the film, which includes scenes of Zamperini with his family, buddies on the base and at various POW camps. "[The raft scene had to] give you time to get one feeling, or the transition to another feeling wouldn't be meaningful."

The editors also had to calibrate scenes that take place at Japanese prison camps, which needed "enough brutality shown or implied so that you understand he's overcoming it but not so much that the experience of watching the film becomes brutal," Squyres explains, adding, "We took some away; we played some off camera."

Goldenberg added that the editing was also about letting the audience experience the story from Zamperini's point of view, which benefited from the performance of Jack O'Connell. "There was so much story depth [in the performance]," said Goldenberg, an Oscar winner for Argo. "He's a super talented guy."

Wyatt Smith, who cut Rob Marshall's adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods, explained that "the challenge of editing anything musical is it's very unnatural to be singing. Rob tries to work with the actors to make it most natural. The hardest is entering the song, finding the moment. You have to pace it so it comes naturally. Also, the dialogue should never double up on what's in the song."

Read more 'Into the Woods': How Disney Tiptoed Around Johnny Depp's Creepy, Sexualized Song

Into the Woods features various fairy-tale characters in interweaving storylines, something Smith said was a "blessing and a curse" when it came to the editing. "The first song is a 15-minute musical number," he said. "All of the storylines and characters come at you incredibly quickly, almost at an action pace.

"The movie naturally moves so quickly, and you reach what you would think is the end, happily ever after," he continued. "Then it gets very slow and very dark, so pacing was tricky. [If the change is too abrupt,] it could feel like you were watching a different movie and take you out of the film."

"We went to dark visually and with the performances," Smith said, adding that multiple departments contributed to the transition. "We reordered some scenes and added narrative, and musically there were some [new] arrangements. And visual effects did a transition shot."

Selma centers on Martin Luther King Jr. and the voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.

"If you pick it apart, it's a real human story within this historical drama," says editor Spencer Averick. "It's a story about a man and his inner conflicts and his fight for human rights. It was important to balance personal, intimate filmmaking in this epic story."

To do this, the big "action" sequences maintain a lot of close-ups. "Specifically on the bridge scene, on b****y Sunday, getting inside the characters as they are running for their lives," Averick said.

See more Making 'Into the Woods' With Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt

This sequence was filmed on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the police attacked demonstrators during the 1965 march, but Averick and DuVernay strayed from the script when editing to give it added emotion. "Originally, we had b****y Sunday, and then after [the scene was] finished, we showed people watching on their TVs at home," Averick explained. "It was good, but there was something missing. Ava and I are constantly rewriting in the editing room. We decided to see how we feel if we intercut the scenes sort of time jump around with people watching it and their reaction to each club and hit. Once we juxtaposed a few images together, it was evident quickly that this was the way to do it."

American Sniper opens with the subject of the film, Navy SEALChris Kyle whose skills as a sniper made him a hero by saving countless lives in Iraq at his post when he observes a woman and children walking, then notices the woman is concealing something, then sees her hand a grenade to a 10-year-old boy, presumably intended for use to attack nearby American troops.

His struggle to make a quick decision as to whether he should pull his trigger provides plenty of character development as well as tension in the film's first minutes. "It's built by the performance of the actors and the length of the cuts. The tension really picks up when you see the women hand the boy the grenade and then cuts back to a close-up of Kyle (Bradley Cooper) watching," said Oscar-winner Joel c*x (Unforgiven), who edited the film with Gary Roach, an Oscar nominee and fellow longtime Eastwood collaborator.

Added Roach: "Kyle's checking with his superior people, asking if they see what going on. They say its up to him [whether to fire]. In the story of Chris Kyle, this is maybe going to be his first kill and he is looking at a 10-year-old boy and [presumably] his mother. And he is struggling, trying to balance his emotions with what he is trained to do."

Email: Carolyn.Giardina@THR.comTwitter: @CGinLA

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNFHO_PXqBIloHae05C5FA6h0PP6tw&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52778693112217&ei=GB6eVLjzC-v48QHtoIHYAw&url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/woods-selma-american-sniper-unbroken-759438

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American Sniper Movie Review

AMERICAN SNIPER

Warner Bros.

Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes.

Grade: B+

Director: Clint Eastwood

Screenwriter: Jason Dean Hall, from Chris Kyles book

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Max Charles, Jake McDorman

Screened at: Warner Bros, NYC, 11/21/14

Opens: December 25, 2014

When you go to a war movie, you want to root wholeheartedly for the Americans. Fighting Hitler? USA! USA! But when youre dealing with controversial fights such as our role in Vietnam, you cant be blamed for being conflicted. Remember that our armed forces are in a foreign land and are being resisted by the local people. Wed do the same if the enemy were on our shores. So when you see American Seals shooting women and children, and even when taking aim at Iraqi fighters (who undoubtedly consider themselves The Resistance), you might be some squirms coming on in your theater seat. At least, thats the feeling I got in watching Clint Eastwoods American Sniper. Recall that George W. Bushs decision to go to war in that Middle Eastern country because of Saddams alleged but nonexistent weapons of mass destruction may have been more responsible than any other factor for the Democrats capturing the White House in 2008.

Nonetheless, because of Bradley Coopers superlative acting and Eastwoods flawless direction, American Sniper is an entertaining piece of work if not necessary one that will leave you with a black-and-white feeling that were the good guys and theyreas the SEALs called themsavages. The Arabs come across, maybe, as sinister, because thats the way our side portrays those who join groups like Al Queda. But to them, no doubt the Americans are strange creatures as well.

If you read the book American Sniper by Chris Kyle, youre aware that the war in Iraq is told from Kyles point of view. Portrayed by Bradley Cooper, who bulked up with an additional forty pounds to give him a look of chunky good health, Kyle is shown knocking off the enemy without missing a shot, ultimately responsible for 165 credited kills, though his real numbers could be one hundred higher. Though the men in his SEALs platoon are not particularly differentiated from one anotherafter all we see only Kyle at home in Californiadirector Eastwood is able to evoke the psychological dimensions of the war. As we all know, when soldiers go into battle, they dont necessarily think of how theyre doing it for their country but are actually fighting for one another. (Nonetheless, Kyle at one point believes that if the Iraqi enemy is not eradicated six thousand miles away, they will somehow take the fight to San Diego.)

Kyle, who is nicknamed Legend because of his phenomenal success behind the big guns, is shown first as a child, whose father teaches him the manly art of hunting, praising him for an exceptional shot that brings down an animal. Whatever it takes to be a successful sniperwhether a steady arm, a more focused eye, a psychological makeup that dismisses fearKyle had it as no-one else among our fighters had.

In the opening scene, one that for cinematic purposes does not take us immediately to his childhood, perches on a rooftop with the heavy responsibility of deciding whether a woman and her small boy are fighters. He determines that the kid is about to toss a grenade at the Marines, at which point Eastwood flashes back to Kyles Texas boyhood where among his macho achievements is participating in the rodeo.

While some may wonder why so much time is spent on his marriage to Taya (Sienna Miller), such exposure is needed to delve into Kyles psyche, to see the difference between his initial flirtations in a bar where Taya at first notes that she would never date a SEAL (arrogant) through the segments in which Taya complains that her husband, who chooses four tours of duty, is not at home even when he is with her and their two children.

You might dismiss the contact battle scenes as depicting either a shooting gallery or a video game, but they are effective, particularly given the pauses between each kill, the horror at the loss of some American soldiers, and the threat of having your head shot off at any instant. Tensions peak while we in the audience watch Kyle making the decision whether to fire at someone on the ground who appears innocent but may be ready to pick up a grenade or a bazooka.

Kyle is a gung-ho guy who could have remained relatively safe just behind the lines, hiding on rooftops but who soon enough volunteers to join the men in kicking open doors and threatening inhabitants, some of whom are secretly fighting the Americans. The most satisfying scenes find the men taking down top Al Queda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his right-hand man, the Butcher. We are introduced to Mustafa (Sammy Sheik), himself a sniper but one fighting for the enemy side.

Technologically bizarre are the phone calls that Kyle makes to his wife Taya while in the midst of battle, allowing her to hear every boom of a grenade and every crack of a rifle, though they are six thousand miles from each other. In the old days, a wife might have to wait weeks for an article of postal mail to reach home from the front. In the storys great irony, Kyle, having killed 165+ of the enemy, is felled himself by a fellow Marine, not by friendly fire but by an emotionally disturbed PTSD Marine whom Kyle is trying to help.

Rated R. 132 minutes. Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online

Story B+

Acting B

Technical A-

Overall B+

Source: http://www.shockya.com/news/2014/12/20/american-sniper-movie-review/

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