perfect summary...

No Bradley... I already said Zings was the perfect summary... This is the less perfect summary!

I liked it.

Ok, so Clint is clearly losing his mind. He may be in the final stages. Parts of this racist-old-white-man-wish-fulfillment-film are so howlingly awful, they produce a sort of out-of-body experience where you're watching the faces of the rest of the audience instead of the movie.

But the movie's a blast. For one, its remarkably funny- intentionally, for the most part. And there's such pleasure to be had in watching Clint up there, doing his thing, without any kind of filter. It's like seeing an old friend you forgot you had. Plus, buried somewhere deep inside all the insanity of this film, is a touching, sincere look at a lonely man at the end of his life.

Eastwood the filmmaker deserves some credit for not dragging this into self-parody, even when the material is screaming for it. He's too much of a straight-shooter for that. He chooses, instead, to respect this world and Walt, to leave them with their dignity intact, and the movie is all the better for it.

But can we officially put to rest the "Eastwood is good with actors" myth? The acting isn't even community theater level in here; oh, God, that priest.

Million Dollar Baby was an exception; Mystic River, Flags of Our Fathers and Changeling were all filled with awful, awful performances.

Unforgiven?

The Outlaw Josey Wales? (ok ok I'll give you Sandra Locke)

Unforgiven is certainly very well-acted. Did you expect me to go through the whole filmography?!?

But most of the work since he's become THE WORLD'S MOST CELEBRATED AUTEUR has not been so well performed.

haha Sondra Locke

In the immortal words of Dr. Emilio Lizardo: "Laugh while you can, monkey boy!"...

Letters from Iwo Jima (okay, I haven't seen it, but I'm wondering).

As for Flags, it's no big surprise. C'mon, you can only get this much out of Jesse Bradford and Ryan Philippe, heh.

And Tim Robbins is pretty excellent in Mystic River.

Gran Torino is the funniest film I have ever seen. Seeing Clint kick all kinds of ass was priceless. His character is one tough SOB that you don't want to mess with. My favorite line occured when Clint talking to the fat gangbanger "In Korea we would stack you fat fucks 5 high and use you as sandbags!" I don't think I will ever forget that one. Most of this movie had he laughing in tears as Clint showed everyone who the boss was. If he doesn't win Best Actor it will be a travesty.

Also his banter with the barber is priceless.

Simply put, Clint Eastwood is THE MAN.

A

The enjoyment of Gran Torino rests solely on Eastwood's shoulders. In what is believed to be his last on screen role Eastwood puts all his past characters to rest, literally and figuratively. While the supporting cast is mediocre at best and the script ranges from laughably bad to comedic gold. Eastwood delivers a performance most actors would dream of. Taking a film that would otherwise be one of the worst films ever made and elevates it into a hilarious and sweet send off.


Grade B+

All of those awards are imaginary, as are all of the actors and actresses who praise Eastwood's skill with actors. None of it exists!

Maybe it's time that we officially put to rest the "yoshue is a film expert" myth instead? I long since buried that notion, but maybe you fooled a member or two.

Oooh, cuts like a knife. Made out of jelly.

There's no real way to sort out our disagreement on this issue, but let me just say in regards to Tim Robbins (an actor I normally like) in Mystic River: ewwwwwwwwwwwww

The acting in Iwo Jima is fine.

Yuck Mav is questioning Yos, I must now side with him. To help I'll re watch Gauntlet ARRRGGHH THE PAIN!!

I'm assuming I'm the pronoun in that sentence?

I think I shall watch Space Cowboys. Not to prove any point; I just really, really like Space Cowboys.

Of course.

I find Space Cowboy's quite fun, I wanted the nukes to launch thou just for the hell of it.

Eastwood is mediocre, and of this rule there is but one exception: The Outlaw Josey Wales, a gutsy and independent western unlike many before and afterwards.

A person who likes Outlaw Josey Wales I approve!

Gulli, I'm pretty sure everybody likes Outlaw Josey Wales...

No No we can get a hater err.....................DP?

It's not really a disagreement. I don't he he's a genius at getting great performances out of actors, but he certainly ain't bad either.

Even in your own theory you've still got Milion Dollar Baby, Iwo Jima, Unforgiven vs. Mystic River, Flags of Our Fathers (which had mostly sucky actors) and Gran Torino (which stars amateurs).

I would say we need to use the full Eastwood CV Doc.