Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Director: Ang Lee
Year Released: 2016
Rating: 0.5
Lynn (Joe Alwyn), along with his fellow soldiers back from fighting in Iraq, are invited to participate in the half-time show (featuring Destiny's Child!) at a Dallas Cowboys football game, with Steve Martin essentially playing the controversial owner of the team, Jerry Jones (it's a very good impersonation). Lee doesn't appear at ease with this movie, as the dialogue is clunky and the flashbacks from life-in-Texas to life-in-the-Middle-East don't carry much emotional weight (the thin characters are haunted by death of their buddy, played by Vin Diesel) - one could argue the most empathetic figure in it is Lynn's sister Kathryn (Kristen Stewart), who sports some nasty physical (and psychological) scars (Garrett Hedlund's Dime acts like he watched Full Metal Jacket one too many times). It's so hollow it borders on insulting - even Eastwood's American Sniper is more earnest.
