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Jack Webb (Dragnet) plays a Rod Serling-like role as he introduces us to Jerry Donovan -- an average guy who shrugs off his inconvenient, civic responsibilities. Jerry "wakes up" in a communist-controlled town, where he's the only American left. This film was produced for the Defense Department by studio mogul Jack L Warner and stars many Warner Brothers stock actors -- including Jack Kelly (Maverick), Robert Conrad (Wild Wild West) and Andrew Duggan. At the time, Jack L. Warner was very staunch anti-Communist, even though he released a pro-Communist feature film, Mission to Moscow, in 1943. Producer: Department of Defense...

The top film of last Friday (and quite obviously the weekend) was again Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. The Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc. release earned another $18.325 million yesterday, which was a Friday-to-Friday drop of just 40%. It has now earned $154m domestic, including $14.5m in IMAX alone. That’s also the biggest non-debut-weekend Friday in history for an R-rated film, easily besting the $13m second Friday of The Passion of the Christ as well the over/under $10m second Fridays of The Matrix Reloaded, The Hangover part II, and 300. Among R-rated films that didn’t open on a Friday per-se, it comes...

Seth Rogen took quite a bit of heat for this tweet about “American Sniper”: Seth RogenVerified account ‏@Sethrogen American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that's showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds. 11:05 AM - 18 Jan 2015 Apparently, he finally started feeling the burn. This afternoon, he’s trying to walk it back: Seth RogenVerified account ‏@Sethrogen I just said something "kinda reminded" me of something else. I actually liked American Sniper. It just reminded me of the Tarantino scene. 2:55 PM - 19 Jan 2015 Seth RogenVerified account ‏@Sethrogen I wasn't comparing the two. Big...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The ABC daytime talk show host comes back feisty from a two-week hiatus and dominates the first portion of “Hot Topics” “The View” host Whoopi Goldberg wasted no time firing back Tuesday at Seth Rogen and director Michael Moore for their comments about film “American Sniper,” which surpassed $105 million in a record-breaking MLK-weekend box office. Rogen had tweeted that the Oscar-nominated film reminded him of a scene in “Inglourious Basterds.” Moore, meanwhile, tweeted that his father taught him “snipers are cowards.” “We stood behind you Seth with your movie, and we said you had the right to make...

The left-wing criticism of American Sniper was to be expected. Frankly, it’s not worth responding to the vast majority of these criticisms. Yet, if you have a piece from a left-leaning publication, like the New Republic, where the author admits to not even seeing the film, and then ends it with an analysis about the Iraq War; mockery is justified, albeit for a brief time. Recently, Dennis Jett wrote a piece about American Sniper for the Republic. There’s just one problem; He didn’t see the movie: I have not seen American Sniper. But if the trailer is any indication, Eastwood’s film,...

and i don't say that lightly. Patton, Gettysburgh, Das Boot, Run Silent Run Deep, Fury, and on and on. But Sniper is absolutely riveting in its portrayal of combat and the people in combat, i can't say more, except that when the movie ended in a packed theatre, a few people, me included, were drying eyes, but the theatre was absolutely silent and stayed that way. no one moved for a while then the whole theatre silently filed out.

The Hollywood Reporter calls it a “shocker” that a patriotic movie by one of the best directors working today, about an American hero who kills jihadists, is really, really popular. To me, that sounds like a formula for success, but Hollywood still thinks tender stories about gay males coming of age are what the public demands, along with cartoonish special effects-laden, nine-figure-budget mind candy.

By now, the story of Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle is familiar. He holds the record for the most confirmed kills, he wrote a book which led to a movie, and he was killed on a shooting range by a PTSD ex-Marine. There is also the troubling business regarding comments he made about Jesse Ventura. No doubt, he was a skillful killer. By all accounts, he displayed little emotion—possibly facilitated by the extreme distance from his targets. OK. Skillful killer, shows little emotion, and kills only the bad guys. But for the fact that these deaths are sanctioned by the...

Clint Eastwood's record-breaking film, scoring six Oscar nominations, is galvanizing moviegoers in both red and blue states.... Clint Eastwood's American Sniper is smashing records at the North American box office, where it topped Friday's chart with $30.5 million from 3,555 theaters for a debut in the $75 million-$80 million range over the long Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, well ahead of expectations. That would mark the largest opening of all time for the month of January, as well as one of the top grosses ever for a non-tentpole, much less an R-rated, modern-day war film.

The Clint Eastwood-directed “American Sniper” raked in $30.5 million in its wide-release debut Friday, putting it on track to earn up to $80 million over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, the Hollywood Reporter trumpeted Saturday. That could put the war movie on track for the biggest January opening ever. Over at Forbes, Scott Mendelson offered some context: Going into yesterday, the biggest opening weekend for a movie Clint Eastwood directed and/or starred in is Gran Torino, which opened in wide release in January 2009 with $29.5 million. The biggest January debut weekend was Ride Along, which earned $48m over...

LOS ANGELES – In November, the Hollywood Reporter quoted an anonymous industry insider predicting that the “lefty crowd isn’t going to gather around a Navy SEAL best known for killing people” when it comes Oscar time. The insider was talking about "American Sniper," which walked away with six Academy Award nominations on Thursday, including Best Picture. Which means the insider was wrong. “Big surprise of #Oscarnoms was Clint Eastwood’s ‘American Sniper,’” wrote the Wall Street Journal. “I was very surprised and pleasantly so,” said James Williamson, retired U.S. Special Forces colonel and co-founder of OPSEC, a non-profit organization that seeks...

Clint Eastwood’s latest film “American Sniper,” based on the autobiography of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, is set to rake in more money in one day that any Eastwood-directed film. Late night industry estimates show the film bringing down $29.1 million in its first expanded release day on Friday, Deadline Hollywood reported Saturday.

I’ve seen just about every film about the Iraq War ever made. I’ve produced and associate produced a few. I even appeared in one (for about a millisecond). And without a doubt, “American Sniper” is the single best work of film about the Iraq War ever made. Now, it’s not the most complex film. Not the deepest film. Not even the most provocative. But in terms of storytelling, action, emotion, production and performance, attention to detail and especially the frighteningly accurate soundscape, there’s been nothing else close that’s been made since my platoon entered the war in Iraq in 2003....

War movies often focus on battles over personalities. In great films like Lone Survivor (2013) and Saving Private Ryan (1998), some of the battle sequences are so real and devastating that it’s easy to get lost in them and lose focus on the individual soldiers trying to survive. Those films often attempt to show viewers what it must be like to be in the midst of an intense and devastating battle. American Sniper, which only yesterday was nominated for six Academy Awards,is different. It’s more of a character study than a war film with the main character being a Texan...

In director Clint Eastwood’s best films (“Gran Torino,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Unforgiven,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales”), the multiple Oscar-winner is able to make us feel both the righteousness of justified violence and the heavy emotional price paid by those committing it. “American Sniper,” which is undoubtedly Eastwood’s best picture since “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), and might just be his best since “Unforgiven” (1992), faithfully constructs and respectfully deconstructs “The Legend”: Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in the history of the U.S. Military. “American Sniper” opens during the worst days of Fallujah in Iraq. Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is the eye in...

Chris Kyle was Derek's teammate through 10 years of training and battle. They both suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent and took great care of each other because of it. 2006 in Ramadi was horrible for young men that never had any more aggressive physical contact with another human than on a Texas football field. They lost many friends. Chris became the armed services number #1 sniper of all time. Not something he was happy about, other than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of American lives. Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to...

At this point in George W. Bush's presidency, Hollywood uncorked a barrel of anti-Iraq-war movies, all of them in their varying styles trashing the American military or intelligence agencies as vicious murderers, rapists and all-around freedom-tramplers. Most were duds because the public wanted nothing to do with those messages. But oh, did the critics love 'em. In Obama's "fourth quarter," as he calls it, Clint Eastwood has released his movie "American Sniper," starring Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, a NAVY Seal who survived four tours of duty in Iraq and was credited with an astonishing 160 confirmed kills. The story...

IÂ’ve watched the film depiction of the life of the late Chris Kyle, AmericaÂ’s deadliest sniper, Navy SEAL, and veterans advocate, twice. It is a gripping portrayal, but it is a portrayal nonetheless. While the screenplay perhaps lacks nuance, it is also a product of Hollywood and should be considered a truncated and dramatized version of one manÂ’s life story. The complexities of biography often elude filmmakers who are charged with creating dense and intricate portraits of a human being in 120 minutes. Nevertheless, the movie is quite enjoyable. The performances are stirring and the wartime themes, difficult as...

Chris Kyle’s story is one I believe absolutely should be told, and although I have my concerns regarding how accurately the movie will relay the events of his service as a SEAL, I wouldn’t miss it. Unfortunately it’s looking as though the naysayers are working overtime on this one, though, because the movie has yet to come out and the mud slinging has already begun.

Clint Eastwood returns to form with “American Sniper,” his best directorial effort since his one-two shot hits “Mystic River” (2003) and “Million Dollar Baby.” (2004) Based on Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s autobiography, “American Sniper” is an introspective – yet incredibly intense – look at Kyle (Bradley Cooper), the SEAL’s most lethal sniper, throughout his four tours of duty in Iraq. Kyle quickly became famous as America’s most deadly sniper, becoming a legend among fellow American soldiers as well as an infamous target by the Iraqi insurgents. Eastwood’s film shifts between the mutual manhunt between Kyle and a savage insurgent leader...