american sniper

Friday, January 8th, 2016

There are moments that define a nation. Moments that show us the kind of Americans we really are. Today, we’ve brought shame on our great nation: Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper has surpassed The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy as the highest-grossing film of 2014. How did we let this happen? How did we let a robot baby with an uncanny valley where its face should be defeat Katniss Everdeen and Baby Groot? How?

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — Jurors in Texas have rejected the insanity defense of a former Marine in the shooting deaths of famed "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and another man.

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — Eddie Ray Routh spoke of insanity, anarchy and the apocalypse when police tried to arrest him after the shooting deaths of "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and his friend.

In most years, January tends to be the most boring month of the year for the box office. This is where Hollywood typically sends the movies in which it has the least faith. This is the dumping ground, the place where movies go to die so the studios can concentrate on their Oscar campaigns. However, thanks to ‘American Sniper,’ this January has bucked every trend. It may technically be a 2014 release, but Clint Eastwood’s war film has made the first chunk of 2015 interesting, shattering expectations and threatening to become the highest grossing film of last year in only a few weeks.

Like many of us, 'Tonight Show' host Jimmy Fallon appears to believe that Hollywood superstar Bradley Cooper can do anything -- and, based on his impressive resume of stage and screen roles and accolades, the guy can't be too off the mark. But there is one that Cooper isn't so great at: music. It's sort of surprising, really, and even the overly solicitous Fallon was a little dumbstruck when Cooper admitted that his musical talents are minimal on last night's show.

‘American Sniper’ had a record-shattering weekend at the box office, grossing an astounding $105 million from Friday to Monday. It’s already the second biggest earner of Clint Eastwood’s entire career after ‘Gran Torino,’ and with six Academy Award nominations (and great word-of-mouth) behind it, it’s posed to become his biggest hit ever.

A lot of people are going to act like they didn’t see the enormous success of ‘American Sniper’ coming, but the signs were all there. On top of the promising limited release numbers, there was the awards buzz. On top of that, there were the names of director Clint Eastwood and star Bradley Cooper. On top of that, the subject matter of the film is inherently attractive to the same category of moviegoer that makes Christian-themed films into massive hits. ‘American Sniper’ had one doozy of a weekend, but it’s not that surprising.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Closing arguments are set in former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's defamation lawsuit against the estate of "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle.