Movie Review: 'American Sniper'

 It is a real-life story of Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), the deadliest sniper in the U.S. Military history based on his memoir. A young kid born to hit the bull’s eye is taught to be a “sheepdog” by his father and grows up to be a kickass bronco rodeo rider whose heart beats for his country. He joins the U.S. Navy SEALs. The crack shot gets deployed in Iraq to save the lives of American soldiers by stopping the enemies from ambushing their Marines. He operates mainly from terrace tops with the telescopic vision of his rifle. During his four tours of duty he gets the title of Legend with 160 confirmed kills to his name.

The movie has the potential to transport you to the warzone and gives you some serious moments when your eyes get glued to the screen without a blink while you struggle to hold on to the edge of the seat. The one in which Kyle blows Mustafa’s head from 2100 yards shows a real mettle of the man. Some of the scenes are so fantastically shot that they resemble live footage being run. The best thing about the movie is that it is filled with believable frames. Chris is always on the war, be it on the field or off it, be it struggling to be with his family or regretting over what he could have done. He is lost in the war field even when he is home with his wife (Sienna Miller) frequently calling out to him. Also, his ears reverberate with gun sounds whenever he hears any raucous sound.

A fine film-making presents subtlety with strength and keeps narration at bay. I simply loved that the director Clint Eastwood has done a fabulous job of not letting the words dominate the movie. Emotions and sounds have done better justice and added beautifully to the overall impact of the movie. The characterization of Chris Kyle is so strong that by the end of the movie one can know him well enough and say that he was not only an ace sniper but also a great human being and above all, an extremely proud patriot. To get a look of the Legend, Bradley Cooper packs on 40 pounds and claims a power pack performance. This is a movie made with a heart; needless to say it's really a good watch to know the Legend that lived.

Movie Review: 'The Theory Of Everything'

An ambitious cosmologist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) badly wants to define the equation that could explain everything. He wants to lock Time up with all its mysteries in an equation but before that happens, Time shows its might and pits him against the gruelling motor neuron disease when he is only 21. A doctor tells him he is left with 2 years but his love of life, also his first wife, Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones) looks after him so well that Hawking becomes a world known name in next 30 years but she gets jaded in the process, singlehandedly supporting him and raising their three children. Responsibility-laden Jane then gets further close to the choirmaster Jonathan (Charlie Cox) who offers her support in the beginning, before offering himself in totality.

The movie belongs to Redmayne who portrays a lean, hunched, bespectacled Stephen with an ever-wearing Hawking smile and letting out perfect Hawking gestures, both disease-borne and natural ones. Even though during its early part the movie shows the nerve to carry such loaded biopic with multiple dimensions to balance, the latter part lacks the punch and dilutes into normalcy ranging within obvious and known. The movie exhibits theories on life with opportunities and vulnerabilities, love, patience, determination, and attitude, but floats mainly on the surface without sufficiently allowing us to look into the life of the living legend.

Staying away from Christopher Nolan’s path of testing the intellect of the audience, director James Marsh makes a movie for the masses and lays out the story of Stephen Hawking after filtering out all the heavy scientific theories and other complexities. The theory Of Everything is based on Jane Hawking’s memoir which has more messy things about their marriage breakdown and has also Stephen being painted in not so charitable light. Overall the movie looks like a sanitized version of the selective yet inspiring reality, packaged with undoubtedly brilliant performances, and that makes it certainly watchable.

If you think life sucks then go and see how this tough guy sucks life.