Sigh: 'American Sniper' steals thunder from 'Selma'

I should preface everything I'm about to write by saying I have yet to see American Sniper. I plan to -- but I've come to realize that some people feel very strongly that you can't weigh in on a movie until you've seen it. I will say this: I've heard mixed, but mostly good things. Despite my disapproval of his politics, I am a Clint Eastwood fan and admire the fact that he has proven to be commercially viable in his mid-80s.

His films are not effects-driven and are usually earnest in their attempts to tackle human themes and emotions. I haven't admired many of his recent films; I thought Gran Torino would have been a great send-off, but it appears that American Sniper is something of a late career comeback for him.

Still, I can't help feel that its success, at least in part, is at the expense of Selma. Instead of David Oyelowo, Bradley Cooper was nominated for Best Actor by the Academy Awards last week. And instead of the civil rights movement biopic Selma capitalizing on a wave of post-nomination buzz and acclaim over the MLK holiday weekend, it was American Sniper, which had a historically huge performance for not just January, but any month of the year,

The Clint Eastwood movie got an A+ from Cinemascore, which means people like it. Selma also got an A+ but seems to be sinking like a stone. It now appears that American Sniper is the "movie of the moment," earning free publicity because of its huge earnings and star turn from Cooper.

While it likely won't beat Boyhood for Best Picture, American Sniper is already on pace to be one of the highest grossing movies of the new year and has clearly been a triumph of marketing and timing.

Tom Wilkinson and David Oyelowo in Selma

I can't help but make comparisons. Eastwood is at least perceived as a red state filmmaker, and while his movie is clearly not some jingoistic Rambo fantasy it does appear to portray some measure of American heroism. Most importantly though, it is about an individual, not a conflict. Audiences aren't being asked to contemplate Afghanistan or Iraq -- why we went or should we have.

So, to a certain extent audiences can have a healthy distance from the the subject matter. Selma doesn't let audiences off the hook as easily which may account for why it is struggling at the box office. It is a small budget movie so it should turn a profit and I suspect it will have a much longer shelf life on DVD. But in the short term it faces a challenge that many black-themed history films face -- white audiences are by-and-large not willing to see it.

Black folks hear these excuses all the time -- "I know I should see Selma, but..."

Audiences have no problem sitting through white historic epics and even ethnic ones that have been whitewashed,but black-centered stories apparently make some filmgoers feel guilty or sad or somehow historically complicit, and that's not how they want to spend their hard earned money.

But hey, the fact is Bradley Cooper and Clint Eastwood are huge names and Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo aren't -- yet. Those of us who loved Selma, who think it needs to be seen, should be working overtime to make sure the word is out that the most relevant movie of the year remains a biopic about a certain slain civil rights leader who died fighting for the acknowledgment of the basic humanity of people.