Oscar Night Eve with the Flu and a Snowstorm

It's Oscar Night Eve! Typically on this day I would be rushing out to see as many nominated movies as possible, but today central Ohio is being pelted by a nasty snow storm and I'm just getting over the flu so I'm stuck at home. Instead, I'm going to spend the day watching what movies I can here at home (Begin Again on DVD and Ida on Netflix streaming), watching the Independent Spirit Awards and catching up on some reading about the Oscars (Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, etc.). Considering the weather and the fact that I've been in bed for the past 9 days I thought I'd write a quick post before I finalize my predictions tomorrow.

I wanted to write a bit about American Sniper since I finally saw the movie just before getting sick. I really did not like the movie and don't think it should have been nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, or Best Adapted Screenplay. I know that I am among the minority in this opinion, but I don't want to pretend that American Sniper is some great piece of art. The movie came across to me as a piece of propaganda for a pro=stance on the War in Iraq. I have read that Clint Eastwood meant the film to have an antiwar message, and I will grant that in the last 20 minutes or so of the movie the focus became more about veterans and their struggle coming back home, but that wasn't the lasting message of the movie. Eastwood shows the attacks of 9/11 and then Bradley Cooper's Chris Kyle going off to Iraq. This felt so problematic to me because in hindsight we know that we entered Iraq not because of 9/11 but because of George W. Bush's own agenda. Multiple times in the movie, the Iraqis are called "savages" or "evil" by characters and it made me sick. Eastwood portrayed the War in Iraq as a very black and white thing, where the Americans are good and the Iraqis are evil, when in reality there are always many shades of grey in war. I'm glad the movie is getting people to talk about veterans' issues (check out the roundtable discussion from the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on Youtube for a good dialogue about this--thanks Pam!) but I think there are better films nominated this year that can do that. The Best Documentary Short nominee, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, illustrated the struggles that our veterans are dealing with and the fact that they don't have enough resources at home more succinctly and with less bias. And for a more honest view of the grey aspects of our involvement in a foreign war there is the Best Documentary Feature nominee Last Days in Viet Nam. Yes, these other films are documentaries, but American Sniper touts itself as a true story so I feel the comparison is justified. I will say, that Bradley Cooper gave a somewhat emotional performance portrsying the struggle of having others' lives in his hands, but I still think David Oyelowo should have been nominated for Best Actor over Cooper.

Well, I'm looking forward to the big day tomorrow and might try and run out to see Still Alice in the morning if the roads have cleared. For now though, I'm still recovering and need a nap. Until tomorrow...