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Blaise_Tearson
Reviews
Gran Torino (2008)
Get Off My Lawn
Clint Eastwood has done it again. The man is over 70 years old, and yet his skills in cinema never seem to wane. I went into Gran Torino with a full house, most of whom were expecting Dirty Harry to charge onto the screen, plowing people down left and right and showing youngin's what for.
I'm pleased to say that's not what was given. What the audience is given is a look at an aging man's life, and the conflicts he deals with after his wife's death. There's plenty of laughs from Eastwood's character, a bigoted Korean War veteran, and a few rounds of him kicking *expletive*, but Eastwood's character at heart is a misunderstood man who only acts in the way he knows how to. At its core it's a film about not redemption, but about coming to terms and peace with the ghosts and horrors of our lives and-while not dismissing them-not letting them stop us from living.
Eastwood's performance was the best I've seen in a film in a long time (Yes, Heath Ledger as the Joker. Better than you.), and he single handedly carries the movie himself. My only real complaint is with some of the supporting cast, but since the majority of the film revolves around Eastwood's interactions with his hmong neighbors, and since Eastwood hired only hmong actors for those roles, it can be forgiven. None of the supporting cast made me cringe, but a lot of their lines fell flat and didn't feel real.
That aside, it had everything I look for in a movie: It made me laugh, it made me smile, it made me think, and it kept me entertained. It also almost made me shed a tear at one portion. A movie that's actually "heart warming" without being a mushy badly written family fest, it's a definite see for anyone who won't mind the swearing (even I was taken aback for a moment after hearing Clint himself drop the F-bomb), and should be another contender for Clint Eastwood to get himself a few more Academy Awards.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)
Let's see...terrible acting, bad plot, and no storyline at all? It's another musical alright!
Right, one thing to say out of the starting gate that's going to prepare those who are going to dig through this article and wonder why I gave it such a low score with all the dancing and the singing and the so on: I hate musicals. There have been 3 that I can recall at this moment that have proved otherwise, those being The Producers, My Fair Lady (Yes, My Fair Lady), and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.
The problem with most musicals is that, while you can say what ever about how great or amazing the dance numbers are, the acting is atrocious, and so is the plot, the dialogue, and the delivery is awful.
"But...", you might be thinking to yourself, "You don't go to see a musical for any of that! You go for the dancing and the music!" And that's where your mouth is overflowing with so much lie, you could vomit out soap. If I wanted good dancing and music, I'd go to a dance hall. Or watch a dancing competition. I got to the movies to see...oh, wait it's slipped my mind-no, wait! That's right! A movie! I go to be entertained and see a riveting plot, witty and rightly paced dialogue, believable characters, and an all around good show.
"But..." again you retort, finding some vast flaw in my argument, "What about action movies or comedies that also lack the same substance?" They too are terrible. A good movie, no matter its genre, must be adequately stocked in all areas so when consumers come asking to be fed, they don't wind up with only bread, lettuce, and condiments because the stupid tart who runs the place forgot the MEAT for the delicious burger that is a good movie.
So, to wrap this up: If you will willingly swallow anything because it has music and good looking white kids (the black kids in this movie act whiter than me, and I drink earl grey tea and think golf is the bee's knees) dancing like monkeys on crack, then you'll gobble it down quicker than a fat man will a hoagie. If you're looking for a good MOVIE, give this a skip.