American Sniper
I had heard quite a bit about the whole American jingoism thing that is supposed to be going on in this movie and indeed it is there but I did not think it was as heavy handed as it was made out to be. I thought this movie was alright. Cast was fine, story was alright and was interesting enough. There are a few silly things like an enemy sniper subplot but the biggest thing I took issue with the most was everyone's motivations, which ranged from noble to terrible. Chris Kyle seems to join the war with somewhat good intentions but ends up staying for pretty bad ones. I guess the movie is supposed to be about how war affects people and you see that but it defiantly draped in an American Flag.
Overall it’s a bit of hard movie to talk about without getting too political. I see the entertainment value of the movie, I see the value in Chris Kyle Achievements and I see what its trying to get at with what returning soldiers have to deal with but as much as Clint Eastwood claims the movie is anti-war it seems like its glorifying a pretty terrible war.
6/10
Imitation Game
I thought this movie was pretty good, The story of Alan Turing, the enigma machine and that whole operation at Bletchley place Is very interesting and defiantly deserving of being told with in a feature film with a good cast and decent budget. While enjoyed the film I feel I would have liked it more if I had not known about the Bletchley place/enigma machine/code breaking thing that went on during WWII from documentary's. The documentaries I have seen did not really touch much on the individuals but the mechanics of the enigma machine , the big "a ha" moment and the aftermath I already knew so those moments did not have as much impact.
Benedict Cumberbatch did a great job as Alan Turing walking the tight rope between crazy and brilliant. Supporting cast was pretty good, Charles Dance was menacing as always, the other code breakers were pretty good and Kiera knightly was good as well even if she looks nothing like the person she was portraying. Its not perfect there are a few too many contrived scenes and there are 1 or 2 subplots that are a bit silly. Overall it’s a solid movie, definitely worth your time.
8/10