Unpopular Opinions

[Mars477]

Bradley Cooper has a really punchable face.

[UYI]

I do NOT understand the attraction of Bradley Cooper. He just doesn't do it for me. 

[dusang]

Bradley Cooper has a really punchable face.

 

I absolutely love that the Nick Dunne character from Gone Girl is described repeatedly as having a face you want to punch (even the character himself says it) and they cast Ben Affleck.

[Dandesun]

Anne Hathaway... I don't dislike her. I'm not a fan of a lot of her movies, though. First, there's the trope of 'frumpy/plain girl gets a makeover and LOOK! she's GORGEOUS! yet she's still so down to earth and relatable! She's just like YOU, Average Woman! Except better!' that was in The Princess Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada. That's a personal dislike of mine but it doesn't necessarily bleed over onto the actress. Actually, Anne Hathaway herself I find rather likable and there are two specific instances that kind of solidified it.

 

1. When she was doing the press junkets for The Dark Knight Rises and the one interviewer guy kept asking her about what she did to fit into the outfit (same guy who kept asking Scarlett Johansen what she was able to wear under her Black Widow outfit) and she was just like 'the boring stuff you have to do to get in shape, running, treadmill, working out' and he kept at it and she was finally like 'are you looking for tips or something? Are you trying to lose weight?'

 

2. When she and Franco hosted the Oscars and she wore that beaded gown and did the shimmy in it. See, that was relatable to ME because if I was wearing that gown, I totally would have shimmied my ass off to make the beaded fringe fly and make noise.

 

Sometimes, disliking an actor is simply visceral but too many people out there want to turn it into something more. If guys don't like someone, do people go into this hardcore digging to figure out WHY? If women don't like another woman it gets ridiculous and it's usually dismissed with 'You're just jealous because she's so hot.' Maybe it is that sometimes but who cares? I can't stand Julia Roberts but no one has ever suggested that it's because I'm jealous of her. I think Michelle Pfeiffer is one of the most gorgeous women ever and I freaking LOVE her. I'm not an Angeline Jolie fan and would not, in fact, switch sides for her but it's not because I'm jealous of her, either. Sometimes, I just don't like a person and it has nothing to do with high school or popular girls or being jealous so oftentimes I think when the media or men that people know start in with the "WHY don't you like her? You don't like her because she's fuckin' hot and you're just jealous, right?" it makes one dig their feet in about not liking said actor.

 

Because what's wrong with not liking an actor? Who cares? Why do most women who express an opinion about someone get it turned around on them and get response of "WHY don't you like this actor? We're going to dissect this feeling and make it about your insecurities and let you know that you are WRONG to feel this way!"

 

Do guys get this response? I'm honestly curious.

[harrie]

Given that I qualified the statement by saying that it was the "most prevalent" view I'd heard, and again at the end by saying "for many of them", I'm not sure why you'd assume I was implying the statement covered all women. 

 

DannyFranks, I noted the qualifier; but by the end of the paragraph, the thoughts expressed as a whole started to feel like a blanket statement (to me).  Perhaps it was a hangover effect from reading all the pieces about why women hate Anne Hathaway, or perhaps my reading skills failed me.  In any case, peace.

[spaceytraci1208]

Bradley Cooper has a really punchable face.

That's how I feel about Ryan Phillipe lol

[galax-arena]

I can't let a discussion of punchable faces go without mentioning George Clooney. It's so....smug.

[dusang]

Anne Hathaway... I don't dislike her. I'm not a fan of a lot of her movies, though. First, there's the trope of 'frumpy/plain girl gets a makeover and LOOK! she's GORGEOUS! yet she's still so down to earth and relatable! She's just like YOU, Average Woman! Except better!' that was in The Princess Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada. That's a personal dislike of mine but it doesn't necessarily bleed over onto the actress. Actually, Anne Hathaway herself I find rather likable and there are two specific instances that kind of solidified it.

 

Slightly tangential to your point, I just have to throw in my UO that I despised the book of The Devil Wears Prada and found the movie a vast improvement on it (and I never read it/saw it as a transformation piece similar to Princess Diaries but now that you mention it...).  That book is so terribly written and edited it is a blight on the history of publishing.

[Dandesun]

I don't think I even made it through the book of The Devil Wears Prada and I really don't like the movie at all. Yes, Meryl Streep is great but she's also the villain. The thing is, I cannot stand Andie at all. Or her friends. Or her boyfriend. Or, anyone, really. There are only two characters I like... Emily and whoever it is Stanley Tucci plays and they both wind up getting screwed. So... yeah.

 

And, yes, the big transition of Andie when she wears the clothes Tucci's character pulls from the sample rooms. I'm sorry, she looks fucking smug when she shows up looking awesome and somehow knowing how to do her hair and makeup like a fashion mag overnight. Combine that with the fact that Andie is pretty much fucking smug about everything. GAH! I really dislike that movie. I would much rather watch Julie/Julia to get my Meryl/Stanley fix.

[yourstruly]

 

 

Sometimes, disliking an actor is simply visceral but too many people out there want to turn it into something more. If guys don't like someone, do people go into this hardcore digging to figure out WHY? If women don't like another woman it gets ridiculous and it's usually dismissed with 'You're just jealous because she's so hot.' Maybe it is that sometimes but who cares? I can't stand Julia Roberts but no one has ever suggested that it's because I'm jealous of her. I think Michelle Pfeiffer is one of the most gorgeous women ever and I freaking LOVE her. I'm not an Angeline Jolie fan and would not, in fact, switch sides for her but it's not because I'm jealous of her, either. Sometimes, I just don't like a person and it has nothing to do with high school or popular girls or being jealous so oftentimes I think when the media or men that people know start in with the "WHY don't you like her? You don't like her because she's fuckin' hot and you're just jealous, right?" it makes one dig their feet in about not liking said actor.

Because what's wrong with not liking an actor? Who cares? Why do most women who express an opinion about someone get it turned around on them and get response of "WHY don't you like this actor? We're going to dissect this feeling and make it about your insecurities and let you know that you are WRONG to feel this way!"

Do guys get this response? I'm honestly curious.

 

I'm a guy FWIW...and I don't think women hate Anne Hathaway because they are "jealous" or because she is "hot"-that's subjective anyway. But the women I know that hate Hathaway or Roberts seem so vehement about it and committed to their dislike that it is just strange. Like sure you can dislike an actor, but it seems so strangely personal, like they know her and she did something to them. And honestly, maybe outside of sports, I can't recall men expressing disdain for a public figure (who really has no effect on their lives-they are actors not politicians) to that extent. And women seem to aim the worst of it towards other women-maybe it's because of the whole women's fashion magazine cover industry or something-these actresses really are always in the spotlight.

 

I see that with Kristen Wiig disdain-it gets to the point that whenever I read a post somewhere going off and trashing Kristen Wiig (I think she's talented, YMMV), I pretty much know it's a woman.

 

I just think there are certain famous women that just set women off and it is what it is.

Edited February 4, 2015 by yourstruly

[Dandesun]

I'm a guy FWIW...and I don't think women hate Anne Hathaway because they are "jealous" or because she is "hot"-that's subjective anyway. But the women I know that hate Hathaway or Roberts seem so vehement about it and committed to their dislike that it is just strange. Like sure you can dislike an actor, but it seems so strangely personal, like they know her and she did something to them. And honestly, maybe outside of sports, I can't recall men expressing disdain for a public figure (who really has no effect on their lives-they are actors not politicians) to that extent. And women seem to aim the worst of it towards other women-maybe it's because of the whole women's fashion magazine cover industry or something-these actresses really are always in the spotlight.

 

I see that with Kristen Wiig disdain-it gets to the point that whenever I read a post somewhere going off and trashing Kristen Wiig (I think she's talented, YMMV), I pretty much know it's a woman.

 

I just think there are certain famous women that just set women off and it is what it is.

 

I was wondering if men could express dislike for an actor and get everyone around them dissecting the reason why and ultimately making it about your own personal issues.

 

My despising Julia Roberts is vehement and it's a combination of things: not really liking the treacly movies she was in for what seemed like forever in the early 90s; being dragged to every single one of those treacly movies by the other girls in my dorm; and the media insisting that Julia Roberts was everything I wanted to be, don't you just love her?! the way they do with every IT girl of the moment. IT girls... it's a rough place to get thrust into, no question, and it's not like I've hated every single IT girl that ever was but with Julia Roberts... it was too much, too fast, too everywhere I went... I couldn't escape her or her IT and the insistence of The World that I should be grateful to spend time in her presence even through a magazine cover or a movie.

 

I never had such a visceral reaction to Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock during their "America's Sweetheart!" years probably because I enjoyed their films more and wasn't in college surrounded by girls who needed to see everything they did. Then again, maybe it's just something about Julia Roberts herself that I respond poorly to. That's allowed. It's not like it hurts her. Katie Holmes is another and I even managed to avoid most of the hub-bub around her and her damned 'crooked smile' up until Tom Cruise started jumping around on couches and somehow injected her directly into the vein of popular media.

 

The thing is, if it's simply a case of certain women setting off certain other women... that's all it needs to be. The response to that should simply be 'Okay! Man! You hate her! Got it!' and not 'Why do you hate her so much? Did someone who looked like her pick on you in high school or something?'

 

For myself? My family and friends are immensely entertained by my Julia Roberts hate. I've certainly never tried to convince anyone else to hate her or anything like that and I avoid her whenever possible so when I rant it's usually because one of them decides to poke the bear. They get me warmed up with the Julia Roberts hate and then change the subject to Legends of the Fall and that's like... entertainment for a good half hour or so.

[ribboninthesky1]

Sometimes, disliking an actor is simply visceral but too many people out there want to turn it into something more. If guys don't like someone, do people go into this hardcore digging to figure out WHY?

 

I don't believe they do.  But I agree it can be as simple as a visceral reaction.  I've disliked Matt Damon for YEARS, despite all supposed evidence of him being a nice guy.  He may well be, but I have no personal relationship with him, something about him strikes me as disingenuous, and that's that.   

 

ETA:

I think it's easy to forget that the Internet and social media aren't representative of everyone, or even most people.  I'm fairly certain that people who vehemently hate someone and take the time to post vitriol probably do it in multiple places.  It's really the same as when actors are loved, and the people who do so make it known.  Fandom is fandom, even with the negative.  It's the verbal minority aka squeaky wheel syndrome, and I've learned not to assume it's significantly representative of anyone.

Edited February 4, 2015 by ribboninthesky1

[Betweenyouandme]

Well, my opinion is that most people don't like everyone they meet. It doesn't always take getting to know someone well to decide things won't work out. There are many people I pass by or deal with at shops/restaurants when I leave my house whom I just don't particularly want to have more interaction with. Maybe it's the way they look, their expression, if they don't smile, or if they smile too much. I don't know. I think it's the same way our brain passes over anything else we see or hear. We can't take it all in and deeply reflect. Not that people are things, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect heart to hearts with every stranger :) and, that is sad in a way because there are some really lonely and misunderstood people.

I just try not to personally let any of those thoughts or feelings intensify to where they're really bothering me or I act rude out of nowhere.

So, I try to do the same thing with celebrities. When we decide to watch a movie or TV, we're watching all these people and we don't know how close the character is to how they really are. We also have to give up on the movie if we are to avoid the actor we don't like. We hear them in interviews and paparazzi stories. It's strange. And not only that, but people talk about them. A lot. People get heated sometimes. People often think opinions about celebrities are fair game. This usually doesn't happen with strangers...and yet, really, celebrities are strangers to most people who see them.

But, that's just how I think of it. Not trying to tell anyone else to agree!

Sorry if that's teetering on being existential or too weird.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Jimmy Stewart is great, but my UO is that I thought he was better at playing assholes than nice guys*. I absolutely loved him in Vertigo and The Naked Spur, way more than, say, The Philadelphia Story or It's a Wonderful Life. 

 

 

 

*Please don't misunderstand, I'm not implying that he was bad at playing nice guys (I adore The Shop Around the Corner), he was just more compelling (and, strangely, more at home) as jerks. 

[FozzyBear]

Bradley Cooper has a really punchable face.

That's how I feel about Jude Law!

[Princess Sparkle]

And that's how I feel about Ryan Gosling!  He just gives off a vibe to me like he'd be a smug, self-centered jerk

[Janet Snakehole]

I really really do not get the people thinking Ryan Gosling is hot thing, but to each their own.

[FozzyBear]

That's how I am with Jude Law: douchbag vibe, plus I think he's kind of funky looking. Too...fey for my taste I guess.

[cleo]

Here is my unpopular opinion. I really don’t care at all that American Sniper is not a subtle, accurate portrayal of war showing all the true complexities and horrors and moral ambiguities and whatever else about the war. It is a Clint Eastwood, Hollywood film that yes glorifies violence, racism, and has very little plot. Unfortunately so do a lot of movies.

 

That being said, I feel ashamed of myself, like I should care and be outraged, etc. and typically I’m a big believer in critical analysis of media, and a believer in the fact that media has many subtle messages that support racism, classism, sexism, and have a powerful impact.

 

But I don’t know, maybe I’ve just reached my handwringing limit? Maybe I just feel so inundated with problematic media, the constant perpetuation of a whole host of ills, that I just can’t respond anymore.

 

Or it may be that it’s just such an easy target, it’s easy for everyone to condemn and criticize, and feel good about themselves, while hypocritically consuming or supporting other more problematic media and politics without challenging themselves in any way.

 

So American Sniper- get over it.

 

I will see myself out now. 

[dusang]

But I don’t know, maybe I’ve just reached my handwringing limit? Maybe I just feel so inundated with problematic media, the constant perpetuation of a whole host of ills, that I just can’t respond anymore.

 

I feel like that sometimes.  I have a friend with endless social media outrage for a wide variety of issues and I just can't.  I had to unfollow her.  The world sucks but sometimes you just have to look away rather than respond.

 

(Unrelated side note: I am amused that spell-check does not approve of "unfollow".)

Edited February 5, 2015 by dusang

[Cobalt Stargazer]

So American Sniper- get over it.

 

I will see myself out now. 

 

No, no, come back!

 

I also saw American Sniper, and I've been a little wary of posting in the movie's thread because I wasn't clutching my pearls over the portrayal of Chris Kyle as a hero. I was a baby when the Vietnam War was happening, and in many ways the war in the Middle East is unpopular for the same reasons, but the people fighting that war are neither devils nor saints as far as I'm concerned. Is war a terrible business? Of course it is, and I'm glad I've never had to fight in one, but as you say, its very easy (not to mention trendy) to excoriate those who do go off to fight.

[FozzyBear]

No, no, come back!

I also saw American Sniper, and I've been a little wary of posting in the movie's thread because I wasn't clutching my pearls over the portrayal of Chris Kyle as a hero. I was a baby when the Vietnam War was happening, and in many ways the war in the Middle East is unpopular for the same reasons, but the people fighting that war are neither devils nor saints as far as I'm concerned. Is war a terrible business? Of course it is, and I'm glad I've never had to fight in one, but as you say, its very easy (not to mention trendy) to excoriate those who do go off to fight.

I haven't sceen American Sniper yet and probably won't make a big effort since I don't care for Clint Eastwood as a director (I find him to be a terminally dull director with a horrible tendency to drain the life out of any story and present a cold bit of calculated nothing. Sort of like if Thomas Kincaid was a movie director who really liked westerns and thrillers), but that's just me and most people seem to like what he does. I have to say though that the critique around this movie has been odd. While I am now pretty sure how everybody on earth feels about Eastwood's politics, I can't say for sure if anyone liked the movie or not. It's like we've become so polarized in our politics and so intolerant of other views point that we can't watch a movie if we don't agree with the point of view and conversely we feel obligated to like a movie if we do agree with the point of view. No one on either end of this seems to have an actual opinion about the film.

[galax-arena]

With Chris Kyle, though, it's not even about whether I agree with the war or not, or whether I hate all soldiers/vets everywhere (I don't). I just think that Chris Kyle himself was an awful person. I'm comfortable excoriating someone who describes killing as fun and something he loved, and how he hated "the damn savages." He also made up some bullshit story about going to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and killing 30 bad guys there. So, yeah, I do have a problem with a movie that paints Chris Kyle specifically out to be some complicated/tortured (anti-)hero. If it had been some other soldier, I wouldn't have cared as much.

 

I get that we all have our limits though, and I don't expect everyone to care about everything under the sun because that'd be a freakin' exhausting way to live. There are some things that I can't be bothered to muster up outrage about either. But that doesn't mean that the people who do care don't have a point. 

Edited February 5, 2015 by galax-arena

[ruby24]

Yeah, well, I did see the movie, and to me the reason that the controversy sprang up was because of how the right wing has embraced it, due to all the money it's made. In response to that, it seems like liberals felt they had to position themselves against something related to the Iraq War that conservatives have liked.

 

Because the movie's really not that political at all- Clint Eastwood made it purposely ambiguous so that people could see what ever they wanted to in it. And knowing that Clint Eastwood himself is a Republican (I guess- he showed up and talked to the chair at the RNC, but really his ideology is all over the place), allows people to assume that the movie is for people on the right wing side (and because Chris Kyle himself was obviously a Republican).

 

But all that stuff is outside the actual film, which is not overtly political in any sense. It purposely ignores politics, it really is just about that guy. It may not be a good thing they gloss over the context of the war, but all that is in the service of being able to avoid the politics of it.

 

As a movie, I just didn't think it was all that great. The script was weak, the wife character was terrible (a really thankless, one-dimensional role), and the ultimate message that war is hell is one we've seen a thousand times over again in much better films. But Bradley Cooper was very good in it, he was the best thing about it to me.

[Rick Kitchen]

My UO is that I refuse to see American Sniper because Chris Kyle was scum.

[Janet Snakehole]

I see way more people in my life saying that if you don't like American Sniper, you are a godless commie who hates Merica and the troops and should get out now. But I haven't seen it so I shouldn't comment.

My UO is that I wish we had more media that showed the military as real people, not heroes or killers. Most people join as a career or a way to go to school, and some even have non-combat positions. I feel like it is always black or white, when that usually is not the case.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I see way more people in my life saying that if you don't like American Sniper, you are a godless commie who hates Merica and the troops and should get out now. But I haven't seen it so I shouldn't comment.

 

 I would certainly not go that far with it, and I'm sorry that people have reacted that way about it.

 

However, I swear I can recall Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July drawing a fair amount of controversy back in the day, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Had Chris Kyle been robbed of the use of his legs as Ron Kovic was, been "punished" for his actions during the war, would that have made a movie about him more palatable? I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious. The fact that he was murdered because he was trying to help another veteran who was suffering from PTSD seems like punishment enough, but mileage will vary.

 

As for the movie itself, it was not the best thing I've ever seen. I think Eastwood is a serviceable director, but not a spectacular one. A Perfect World was a better movie than American Sniper, perhaps because it lacked an overtly political slant. But I'm just not overly exercised about the slant in this case.

[Rick Kitchen]

Chris Kyle, by his own admission, is a murderer of US citizens.  He claims (but probably lied about it) that he sat on the roof of the Superdome in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and killed, by his own count, 30 people.  US citizens, who had not been even accused of any crime or brought to trial, but murdered in cold blood by this self-appointed vigilante.

So whether he is a hero for his actions in wartime is beside the point.

[lampshades]

Chris Kyle, by his own admission, is a murderer of US citizens.  He claims (but probably lied about it) that he sat on the roof of the Superdome in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and killed, by his own count, 30 people.  US citizens, who had not been even accused of any crime or brought to trial, but murdered in cold blood by this self-appointed vigilante.

So whether he is a hero for his actions in wartime is beside the point.

 

I don't mean to hijack this thread but I've seen this all over the place and was wondering if there is a source where Kyle actually claimed this. Everything that I've read is of other people claiming that he said this; did he ever come out and actually verify this one? I know he completely made up the Ventura thing and definitely lied about a number of other things.

 

To add an actual UO: I loathe Rose from Titanic. I know her mother wasn't the greatest but I don't know how you can let your own mother think you died in a horrible tragedy when you're still alive.

Edited February 6, 2015 by lampshades

[Amethyst]

And, yes, the big transition of Andie when she wears the clothes Tucci's character pulls from the sample rooms. I'm sorry, she looks fucking smug when she shows up looking awesome and somehow knowing how to do her hair and makeup like a fashion mag overnight. Combine that with the fact that Andie is pretty much fucking smug about everything. 

 

I love TDWP, but that part bothered me as well.  Learning how to do hair, makeup, and pairing clothes together professionally takes a lot of practice.  Andy going from fashion novice to glamazon overnight was hard to believe. Too Cinderella. Was Nigel (Tucci) getting her those clothes?  I always wondered if she got to keep them.

 

Another UO about a movie I love: Practical Magic is one of my favorite rom-coms, but I think the treatment of Sally's (Sandra Bullock) dead husband Michael in the movie is really crass.  They were married almost a decade and had two kids together, yet he's immediately forgotten once Gary (Aidan Quinn) shows up.  Michael had been dead what, a few months at the most?  He gets mentioned briefly after he dies, but for the most part, he was a non-factor in the rest of the film.  Not even his kids bring him up, they're too busy playing matchmaker for their mom!

 

Sally wasn't even upset about hooking up with Gary because she was a recent widow, she was upset because she was afraid she'd get arrested for something else.  Michael just seemed like an unfortunate stepping stone on Sally and Gary's relationship, and an easy way to have the lives of Sally's children parallel what happened to their mother and grandmother years ago.

[bosawks]

As far as I'm concerned Anne Hathaway can do no wrong after her "sad off" with Samuel L. Jackson on Funny or Die.

Edited February 9, 2015 by bosawks

[Rick Kitchen]

I don't mean to hijack this thread but I've seen this all over the place and was wondering if there is a source where Kyle actually claimed this. Everything that I've read is of other people claiming that he said this; did he ever come out and actually verify this one? I know he completely made up the Ventura thing and definitely lied about a number of other things.

 

 

http://mpmacting.com/blog/2014/7/19/truth-justice-and-the-curious-case-of-chris-kyle

[Brandi Maxxxx]

All this talk of punchable leading men and no one mentions Channing Tatum?

[lampshades]

http://mpmacting.com/blog/2014/7/19/truth-justice-and-the-curious-case-of-chris-kyle

 

Those are still all hearsay sources. Not that he didn't say it but no where in any of those articles is there a direct quote or confirmation from Kyle.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Judy Garland was not a great actress.  She was not a masterful singer.  {ducking}

 

OK.  She was adept at playing the girl next door.  She did have a way of garnering sympathy from an audience.  But, when she went outside of that realm, she was not believable.  Well, unless she played the drunken addict she tragically became in real life.  That wasn't acting, though.

 

She did have excellent tonality in her voice.  No doubt.  I take no issue with anyone who adored her style.  My point is that she was technically not a truly great singing artist.  

 

I also have been at a complete loss as to the outrageous and universal regard for her daughter Liza.  

[Julia]

Those are still all hearsay sources. Not that he didn't say it but no where in any of those articles is there a direct quote or confirmation from Kyle.

That's not true. The New Yorker article cites specific sources, and the New Orleans conversation was taped.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/06/03/in-the-crosshairs

Me, I think the man had a drinking problem and what was most likely untreated PTSD, and that he was most likely a victim of the national frenzy for "supporting the troops" by putting them in harm's way and then having other priorities for our money (tax cuts, say) when they came home broken. He was tragically far from alone in that.

Leaving aside that it's a horrible thing to accuse people who opposed this war of, I also think that it's a huge disservice to men and women who served honorably to suggest that people who have a problem with glorifying this one man don't support the troops. It's lazy agitprop, and I'd genuinely like to see the cynical use of that trope stop.

Although get over it works too.

ETA There's first person confirmation of the gas station story too

http://blogs.star-telegram.com/crime_time/2013/02/did-slain-american-sniper-fatally-shoot-two-armed-robbers-in-2009.html

Edited February 6, 2015 by Julia

[lampshades]

That's not true. The New Yorker article cites specific sources, and the New Orleans conversation was taped.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/06/03/in-the-crosshairs

Me, I think the man had a drinking problem and what was most likely untreated PTSD, and that he was most likely a victim of the national frenzy for "supporting the troops" by putting them in harm's way and then having other priorities for our money (tax cuts, say) when they came home broken. He was tragically far from alone in that.

Leaving aside that it's a horrible thing to accuse people who opposed this war of, I also think that it's a huge disservice to men and women who served honorably to suggest that people who have a problem with glorifying this one man don't support the troops. It's lazy agitprop, and I'd genuinely to see the cynical use of that trope stop.

Although get over it works too.

 

I could be missing something but the New Yorker articles says "Three people shared with me varied recollections of that evening: the first said that Kyle claimed to have shot thirty men on his own; according to the second, the story was that Kyle and the other sniper had shot thirty men between them; the third said that she couldn’t recall specific details" which doesn't confirm that Kyle actually claimed that he killed 30 people in New Orleans. I agree that the man had a number of demons and shouldn't  be glorified but I don't think it's fair to him to attack his reputation with something that is based on what other people claimed he said while they were all getting drunk.

Edited February 6, 2015 by lampshades

[Julia]

WADR, if you're determined to believe that it never happened, you're not going to be convinced. Enjoy the movie.

[KatWay]

He very probably lied about his kill count at the least. Honestly, I'm gonna side eye anyone who claims he killed more people than he actualy did - like that's something to be proud of. It's also telling he didn't brag about the people he saved, he bragged about the people he killed (and even enhanced the numbers).

 

I do wish there were more movies who showed the military in a realistic manner, but American Sniper isn't it. It's another "war hero who suffers from the traumas he endured" movie. A movie about the real Chris Kyle might actually have been more interesting and would been a far more complex subject matter to explore. Like the miliatry (and law enforcement) being an important and necessary job, but one that does tend to attract some people whose inclinations might lean towards violence and who find an outlet for it there.

[proserpina65]

All this talk of punchable leading men and no one mentions Channing Tatum?

I don't want to punch Channing Tatum.  I just don't find him at all attractive.  He just looks like a big lunkhead to me.  (Albeit a nice enough person, according to things I've read.)  Where I work, this is definitely an extremely unpopular opinion.

[dusang]

I don't want to punch Channing Tatum.  I just don't find him at all attractive.  He just looks like a big lunkhead to me.  (Albeit a nice enough person, according to things I've read.)  Where I work, this is definitely an extremely unpopular opinion.

 

I know many people who agree with your "lunkhead" assessment.  Personally, I've loved him since She's the Man, the Amanda Bynes vehicle where he plays the love interest.  So, throwing down the almost insane opinion, I really liked Amanda Bynes movies including She's the Man and Sydney White.  She was a solid supporting player in Easy A, too.  Poor Amanda Bynes.  (Opinions vary but I think that her spiral was the onset of schizophrenia not (exclusively) drug use.)

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

Channing Tatum always looks to me like he's just been asked to solve a difficult math problem. Perpetual confusion does not a hottie make.

[ribboninthesky1]

Unless he's popping and locking, Channing Tatum holds no appeal for me.  I've never thought he was dumb, though. Even with the privilege of being white and male, he's managed to carve out quite the career.  I don't think that's happened by accident.      

 

Off-topic: I just learned what WADR stands for. Had no idea.  

[Wiendish Fitch]

Channing Tatum always looks to me like he's just been asked to solve a difficult math problem. Perpetual confusion does not a hottie make.

 

I completely agree. This is also why I never got Warren Beatty's appeal. There was always something so dim about him. The vacant-eyed, slightly slack-jawed look isn't the least bit attractive. He was good at playing dummies, but when he had to play intelligent people, he was totally unconvincing. 

 

I think the most attractive men are the ones who seem like they read for pleasure. Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, and Eddie Redmayne are  a few who give off this vibe to me.

[Bruinsfan]

I see that with Kristen Wiig disdain-it gets to the point that whenever I read a post somewhere going off and trashing Kristen Wiig (I think she's talented, YMMV), I pretty much know it's a woman.

I must be the exception that proves the rule, because every time she comes back on SNL yet again I wish it had a hook to yank her offstage like The Gong Show did. I did think she did some pretty great impressions, but if it was an original character of hers, I loathed it.

[harrie]

dusang, I like Amanda Bynes too.  She's my second favorite Penny Pingleton, but probably my favorite person in the Hairspray remake.  

[Vixenstud]

 

All this talk of punchable leading men and no one mentions Channing Tatum?

 

FINALLY!  Body aside, I just don't find him attractive.  He has a simian face with a 'DUHHHH!' demeanor.  I saw the Magic Mike XXL trailer the other day and could not...stop...laughing.  No sex appeal at all, sorry.

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

I don't think Channing Tatum IS dumb, he just looks like he is and it's a personal turnoff. Show me a man who looks like whatever time he isn't reading is spent applying what he reads? Hot damn! I'm talking to you, Tom Hiddleston and your pal Benedict Cumberbatch.

[Julia]

I don't think Channing Tatum IS dumb, he just looks like he is and it's a personal turnoff. Show me a man who looks like whatever time he isn't reading is spent applying what he reads? Hot damn! I'm talking to you, Tom Hiddleston and your pal Benedict Cumberbatch.

Jeremy Northam and Colin Firth

[dusang]

FINALLY!  Body aside, I just don't find him attractive.  He has a simian face with a 'DUHHHH!' demeanor.  I saw the Magic Mike XXL trailer the other day and could not...stop...laughing.  No sex appeal at all, sorry.

See, what I find attractive about Channing is his willingness to be goofy and mock himself. So, the fact that I was laughing during the trailer was the appeal. And the redonk quantity of abdominal definition on display. That was also appealing.