Richard Jewell Is Another Empty Modern-Day Clint Eastwood Directorial Effort

What on Earth has happened to Clint Eastwood as a filmmaker this decade? The iconic Western gunslinger turned director has spent his most recent years helming features like American Sniper, The 15:17 to Paris and Sully that are just tedious rehashes of real-world events with nary an interesting perspective or trace of memorable filmmaking to be found. Little in the way of thoughtful exploration of the perspective of human beings caught up in the grand sweep of history can be found, his recent movies have been too bland for that. Even his foray into musical cinema with Jersey Boys used the same shadow-heavy cinematography and lack of thoughtful character work that have plagued Eastwood's recent efforts.

The Best Years of Our Lives Mostly Works As An Ambitious Contemplation of Post-WWII American Society

Where was American cinema supposed to go in the wake of World War II? In the broader sweep of history, 1950's American filmmaking emphasized grandiose spectacle intent on keeping the masses distracted from reality and those new-fangled television sets, but in the wake of World War II ending in 1945, we did have a handful of movies that offered up reflections on real-world wars instead of pure and simple escapism. These kinds of films would be far more prominent in the 1970s and 1980's when it was time for American cinema to come to terms with the Vietnam War and would struggle to gain much of a foothold in the modern-day American cinema landscape where less challenging reflections on war like Lone Survivor or American Sniper tend to win out over more thoughtful meditations on the subject.

12 Strong Goes to The Front Lines of Forgettable Cinema

It's January, so the massive box office success of both Lone Survivor and American Sniper dictates it's time for another action war movie based on a real-life incident that occurred to U.S. armed forces (or mercenaries in the case of 13 Hours) in the Iraq War. 2018's entry in this subgenre is 12 Strong (the trailers add the sentence The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers to the title), which is all about a group of U.S. soldiers called Task Force Dagger that's led by Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth). Nelson, whose only led the team in training situations, has recently taken a desk job that'll allow him to spend more time with his wife and young kid but those plans take a turn once the World Trade Center attacks occur.

Thank You For Your Service Has Some Meaningful And Well-Realized Things To Say On Post-War Trauma

Soldiers face all kinds of struggles when they return home from war. Adjusting to the calmer intricacies of civilian life after being stuck in combat mode 24/7 is a primary one as are the lingering mental health problems many in wartime situations develop. These are the kind of issues the lead characters, a group of young soldiers returning home from a tour of duty in Iraq circa. 2007, of the Jason Hall-directed motion picture Thank You For Your Service. The soldier that serves as our protagonist of this project is Adam Schumann (Miles Teller), a staff sergeant who now has to come home to his wife, Saskia Schumann (Haley Bennett) a more tranquil family life that he internally struggles to adapt to.

A Look At The Earliest Biggest Box Office Bombs Of 2015

2015, thus far, has been a year of contradictions, at least in terms of what's been going down at the box office. In between box office bonanzas like American Sniper and Fifty Shades of Grey, a number of duds have popped up. Chappie, Project Almanac and Seventh Son have become disappointing ventures, but those ventures at least have either a small budget or solid enough international box office to make up for their massive domestic box office shortcomings. But there are three movies released over the course of the past eight weeks that have become the kind of box office bombs that truly live up to the word legendary.

A Look At The Highest Grossing Movies Of The 21st Century

In the first 14 years of the 21st century, a wide variety of films have come around to arise as champions, in that they became the biggest movies of their respective years of release. Looking over the movies that have managed to achieve such a feat, I was surprised to see high quality features usually (emphasis on usually) top the years box office. The Avengers, Toy Story 3, The Dark Knight, The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King and Avatar (yes, I know I lost respect from many of you right there) are all excellent films that managed to make untold amounts of moolah.

Fifty Shades Of Grey Will Tie Up Victory At The Box Office With Ease This Weekend (Box Office Predictions)

And so, one of the most anticipated features of 2015 arrives this weekend. Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele finally debut in the widest opening weekend theater count for an R-rated movie, an appropriate milestone for a hugely anticipated feature. But how high can it go? And will Kingsman: The Secret Service manage to drum up respectable business as well? Let's take a look at this Valentine's Day weekend, shall we?

Spongebob Vs. Channing Tatum Vs. The Dude Makes For A Huge Box Office Weekend (Box Office Predictions)

Three new nationwide releases are coming out this weekend in an effort to take American Sniper away from the number one spot it's held for three straight weekends. Spongebob should accomplish that task with ease, though the other two new releases of the weekend will face more difficulty in this frame.

Chris Kyle Should Rule Over Time-Travelers And Kevin Costner (Box Office Predictions)

Another weekend, another opportunity for American Sniper to assume victory over your local movie theater. With February due to deliver several potentially huge hits, this last weekend of January seems to be the "calm before the storm", if you will, before some larger titles arrive. This means movie studios are not really releasing anything notable this weekend, but let's get to analyzing it anyway, shall we?

American Snipers Lack Of Depth And Quality Is Reinforced By Its Crude Defenders (Editorial)

Some movies that make big bucks at the box office aren't really surprising in their financial glory. Was there anyone who really didn't think the last Harry Potter movie wouldn't shatter box office records? But then you've got your Avengers, your Frozens, those movies that wind up making way, way, way more money than anyone on the face of this Earth could have predicted. American Sniper is one such film, breaking every box office record in it's path and demolishing all expectations.

American Sniper Will Have No Problem Taking Down Jennifer Lopez And Johnny Depp (Box Office Predictions)

Well now, American Sniper pretty much shattered all expectations didn't it? More than doubling the previous highest grossing January weekend of all-time, the Chris Kyle biopic debuted to over $89 million last frame, an extraordinary result that means it'll have a massive second weekend that'll have no trouble keeping three newcomers out of the number one spot.

Sarah Palin Attempts To Stay Relevant By Praising American Sniper While Spewing Some Insults

Did you see how much American Sniper took in this past weekend? My God, I had a hunch the movie would do well, but $106 million over one four-day weekend? Insane stuff that not only reveals January as an effective place to launch a mega-successful feature, but also has opened the floodgates for praise for the Clint Eastwood directed feature. The film received an A+ Cinemascore grade from audiences this weekend, which means of course plenty of words of praise are on the way from audiences seeing it.

American Sniper Headed For Gargantuan Opening Weekend (Box Office Predictions)

Quite a jam-packed weekend, huh? A 2014 film with tons of hype headed for wide release, and three new releases trying to get as much cash as they possibly can. We got a lot to look at, so let's not waste any more time! Onto predicting this weekends box office winners and losers!

Final 2015 Oscar Nominees Predictions!!!

Two days from now, the nominees for the 87th Academy Awards will be announced, ending months of speculation over who will get into the massively prominent awards ceremony. Right now I'll be attempting to predict the nominees for 13 of the 24 categories at the Oscars. God knows how accurate I'll be, but let's get things started, shall we?

American Sniper Review

Appreciate The Sniper Things In Life

Chris Kyle is a figure well known across America, a man whose life is brought to life in Clint Eastwoods newest feature American Sniper. Here was a fellow who, as a soldier, did so much in his life, which interestingly contrasts with this film that winds up doing very little of actual worth.

My Current Best Picture Nominees Predictions!! (December 28, 2014 Edition)

Well, the nominations for the next Academy Awards ceremony will be released two weeks from this Thursday.So let's take a look at my current predictions for the largest category of the ceremony, Best Picture.

My 12 Favorite Movie Trailers Of 2014

You won't see a ton of "Best of 2014" lists on this site at this time of the year, mainly because a good chunk of notable 2014 movies (Inherent Vice, Selma, American Sniper) won't come to a theater near me until mid-January. Expect lists revolving around my favorite 2014 features around that time, but I'll still toss a few retrospective lists in the next few days, starting with the one, which covers my 12 favorite 2014 trailers.