Gran Torino

Gran Film



When Clint Eastwood makes a movie, I watch it. When Clint Eastwood is in the movie, it is bonus points. Ever since Mystic River, I have been borderline-obsessed with his films. I have gone back and watched many of his older films, and have many sitting on the shelf that I am trying to get to. So, when I first heard that he was directing and starring in Gran Torino, I couldn’t wait. It finally opened wide this weekend and made it to St. Louis. So, with my two favorite movie watchers* with me, I went.

Gran Torino opens with Walt Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood, standing at his wife’s funeral. He is a sour, scowling old man. His two sons Steve and Mitch are sitting in the pew complaining about how he is disapproving of their children’s dress. One grandson is wearing a Detroit Lions football jersey, and his granddaughter is wearing an outfit not fit for public, let alone a funeral. Next, we meet Father Janovich who gives the service. Father Janovich is also a persistent force in the film. Following the funeral, they all go back to the Kowalski house. Here we see that Walt’s grandchildren are scared of him, as are his children and their spouses. Walt is basically a crotchety old man that scowls and grumbles about everyone and everything.

To get away from it all, Walt and his dog Daisy go outside. This is where the story really begins. His neighbors are a Hmong family. The family consists of Tao and his older sister Sue that live with their mother and grandmother. They are celebrating the birth of a new child in the family. Walt makes his feelings of the foreigners clear. From this point, there are enough racial slurs to tide me over for some time. From this point on, most of the story focuses on Walt and his relationship that forms with the two children next door. Tao tries to steal Walt’s prized possession, his 1972 Gran Torino, to prove to his gang member cousin that he is not a spineless as they think. He fails when Walt catches him. The family is then dishonored by Tao’s actions, and he is sentenced by his family to help Walt for an undisclosed amount of time. In the mean time, Sue is walking home with a white guy, named as Trey, and runs into trouble with a different gang. Walt happens to be driving by, and helps the situation. Later, I found out that the white guy is Clint’s son Scott.

On the drive back home, Walt realizes that Sue is a good girl, and he digs the whole to start burying the hatchet. Also, Tao and Walt bond over tools. This puts the hatchet in the whole. After Tao is released from his punishment, he still helps Walt. This buries that proverbial hatchet. Now, Walt tries to make a man of Tao. He introduces him to talking like a man, via the local barber. He gets him a job working construction.

Finally, Walt realizes that the gang is a problem that Tao and Sue cannot over come themselves, and the neighborhood is not willing to take a stand against them. But, Walt being a Korean War veteran, he will.

Clint Eastwood knows what he is doing behind a camera. His use of light in a few key scenes was great. The score was good, and I thought it was by Clint who has done his own scores for awhile, but it was actually done by his son Kyle. As much as I loved this film, I think most of it had to do with the fact that I appreciate Clint Eastwood’s acting and directing. No other actor could have played Walt. Clint, also, had a rough time carrying the movie, since all the Hmong actors were almost unwatchable. I wonder if they filmed the movie in reverse order, since it seemed that they got worse. During one of the final scenes, I had to choke back a laugh at Tao. It was funny, but the scene was meant to be serious. Verdict: While I loved this film, my wife was only slightly entertained by it. If you like Clint Eastwood movies, you are going to see it anyway. With a running time under the two-hour mark, Gran Torino is worth the watch in theaters.

Bedtime Stories

Well, this past weekend, my younger brother and his girlfriend came to visit his two older siblings. They wanted to go see Bedtime Stories, which I was glad to hear. That allowed me to talk my better half into seeing it. So, the four of us went to a theater that I do not usually attend. This was due to the fact that said brother and girlfriend are not early risers at the rest of us.

Bedtime Stories opens with a quick “fairy tale” about the history of the hotel. This is also the only time that Jonathan Pryce is seen on screen. He is the father of Skeeter and Wendy. He has his own hotel. But apparently he is not a good business man, and he gets bought out by Hilton-esque hotel baron Barry Nottingham, played by Harry Potter Alum Richard Griffiths. We then jump to current times.

Skeeter, played by Adam Sandler, is still working for the hotel chain even though he is still at the bottom of the corporate ladder. While attending the birthday party of his niece Bobbi, he is asked by his sister Wendy, Friends’ Courtney Cox, to watch Bobbi and her younger brother Patrick while she goes to Arizona to seek employment due to her school being shut down. Skeeter is to watch them at night, and Wendy’s friend and co-worker Jill, played by Keri Russell of Felicity fame, will take them to school and bring them home.

That night, Skeeter is asked to tell a story, as his own father used to do. The next day, the ending comes true. So, this gives Skeeter an idea. He tries to rig the stories’ endings. This backfires as he realizes that the children control the ending. It was entertaining to see how each ending was slightly twisted to make it believable. For instance, the first night it rains gumballs. The next day, while stopped under an overpass, it begins to “rain” gumballs. But as the scene backs out, you see that a gumball delivery truck is wrecked into the railing, spilling the gumballs into the rain down below.

In the meantime, his rival Kendall, played by Guy Pearce, is dating Barry’s daughter, Paris wannbe Violet. He is set to take over the newest hotel in the Nottingham chain; a job that Skeeter wants and deserves. After a slight oversight by Kendall, Skeeter and he are in a competition to come up the best them for the new hotel. So, as Skeeter tries to lure his niece and nephew into telling a story where he wins and has a great idea, Kendall and his fellow conspirator Aspen, played by Xena herself Lucy Lawless, find out where the new hotel is going, and exploit that.

Each night the stories grow a little more absurd, but it is Disney. Along the way, Skeeter misinterprets some of the endings and the meanings. This allows for some hilarity to ensue. Again, since it is a Disney movie, Skeeter and Jill have to fall in love. That comes into play at the end.

Most of the budget would have had to go to special effects and sets required for the story sequences. That is too bad. While the concept of the story is not bad, the script was a bit too childish. There was little offered to the parents who were no-doubt in the audience with their children. As far as actual laughter, I laughed a few times. Not as much as I would have expected from an Adam Sandler film, but I did laugh more than my wife. She thought the funniest part in the film was the guy snoring behind us. Apparently, he was really tired; that is what he told the wife. Verdict: A rental is more than enough for this child film. If you choose to avoid it all together, that is also okay.

Seven Pounds

Well, Seven Pounds is by far the worst Will Smith movie I have seen. The wife and I were discussing whether we were even going to see it after the bad reviews and sub-standard box office run it was having. After I looked back and realized that the last two years have started off with Will Smith movies, we decided to go for it. Bad idea. Luckily, we got up early, drove to the closest AMC, paid only $4 a piece, and got free popcorn with our Movie Watcher card. That is where the fun ended. I have strung spoilers throughout the following paragraphs to spare you watching this. If you feel you must see this film without knowing it all, you can go to the last paragraph for the final thoughts.

Spoilers Start:
Will Smith plays Ben Thomas, an IRS worker. It opens with Ben calling 9-1-1 and asking for an ambulance to his location for a suicide….his. Then, we go back. This is getting old. I am tired of this trend. It is no longer fun, thrilling, or surprising. It is boring, expected, and down right unoriginal.

1. Ben is seen calling and verbally abusing poor blind customer service agent Ezra, played by Woody Harrelson. After trying to make him cry, cuss, or hang-up, Ben hangs up.

2. Ben then goes to a hospital to meet Emily Posa, played by Rosario Dawson. She needs a heart transplant. He gets more involved with her. I will expand on this later.

3. While at the hospital, he sees a young boy that needs a bone marrow transplant.

4. Next we meet George, a hockey coach for Latinos. I am not sure what he needs medically, but Ben is able to help.

5. Ben then goes to meet with a social worker that he has a history with, Holly. We find out later, that she needed a kidney, and he donated his.

6. While in her office, he finds a lady that needs to get away from her abusive husband, but she can’t. Ben gives her is house.

7. To round out the seven, his brother, the actual IRS Agent Ben Thomas, needed a lung, and Will Smith’s Ben donated that.

Why would he do this you ask? Well, it turns out that while text messaging and driving, Will Smith’s Ben Thomas, whose actual name is Tim, wrecks into a van that flips and kills seven people, including his life. So why seven pounds? Because of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice! DUH! Who didn’t know that? That is part of the problem with this movie. Not enough people are going to get the reference. I didn’t at first until my wife said it was a Shakespeare reference, after she looked into it. I then remembered the Merchant of Venice. I have not read that play in years.

But, I will get back to the movie now. Emily is a sweet person who is way behind in her taxes and bill paying for her medical expenses. Well, Ben falls in love with her, and because he is an aero engineer, he is able to fix her antique press that no one can. That way, she can get back to making cards and invitations like she did before her heart started to give out.

On a fateful night, after sex, Ben goes to the hospital to ask the chances of Emily’s survival. He is told slim-to-none. He then calls his childhood friend Dan, played by Barry Pepper, and tells him it is time. Ben then goes back to his room and kills himself. We are then supposed to figure out that Dan is a lawyer and that he is in charge of making sure the right people get the right bodyparts. So, now, a man has selflessly sacrificed his life so you can live. Now, he will just be forgotten. The burden of that will never weigh on you. That is not selfless. That is selfish.

Spoilers Over:
This is the second joint venture with director Gabriele Maccino and Will Smith. The Pusuit of Happyness was infinitely better. This was writer Grant Nieport’s first major movie. Other than this, he had done a few episodes of 8 Simple Rules and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. He should stick to television. While it was nice to see Weeds’ Andy Milder in a movie, I would not recommend wasting the two hours on this film. To the wife's disappointment, no bomb went off to kill everybody. Verdict: Just read the spoilers I left up top and be done with it. That is why I do this: To save you money.

Yes Man

Maybe, Man. Maybe

I received two free passes for the press screening of this film. I went in with expectations on par with Fun with Dick and Jane. I was expecting neither the next Dumb & Dumber nor the next Number 23. Well, Yes Man fit in the middle, but fell short of Dick and Jane. Yes Man suffered from a common problem that has begun to plague the comedy genre: a funny joke going on for too long to the point it is no longer funny.

The film opens with Carl Allen, played by Jim Carrey, being a negative person who never tries anything new. He is happy in his boring mundane life. He is also a loan advisor at a bank. An old friend comes across him and tells him about this YES seminar that he attended and tells Carl to do the same. So, Carl makes his way to the seminar. This is the first time a joke goes on too long. Terrence Stamp plays the founder of the YES seminar, named Terrence. Anyway, Terrence makes Carl make a covenant to say “Yes” to everything. This leads to some fun. He meets a homeless guy, then Allison, played by funny Zooey Deschanel. She is a free spirit, and like Carl’s yes attitude. Things start to look up for Carl.

Then he says “No” for the first time after this covenant. This leads to another joke that goes on too long. It involves his elderly neighbor Tillie and her payment for his help hanging shelves. Now, afraid to say “No,” things start to get a little crazy and out of hand. He helps a would-be jumper in yet another joke that goes on past its funniness.

In the end, Carl sees that it is okay to say no sometimes. His life is changed, he has changed people around him, and all is well. There was nothing spectacular to see here. It was based on a book by Danny Wallace, that I am sure is better. Some books are just not meant to be translated into film. Yes Man was the directed by the lackluster director of The Break-Up and Bring It On. If you feel like you have to see this film, look for bit roles by Alias’ Bradley Cooper, That 70’s Show’s Danny Masterson, Las Vegas’ Molly Simms, and Flight of the Conchords’ Rhys Darby. Verdict: Yes Man was not as good as I thought it would be, but it was not as bad as it could have been. I wouldn’t waste the time or money in the theaters, but it might be worth the rent. Or if you need a break from family this holiday season, this could work for you.

THE WRESTLER

MILK

I went to see Milk because the wife and members of her family we going to see it. I really did not know what to expect. I have read only good things about this film and Sean Penn’s acting, so I was a bit curious to see it. I was hesitant to see it because I tend to find bio-pics about people that I do not know boring. I knew the basics, Harvey Milk was an openly gay man who was elected to public office and was murdered. That was it. So, with a running time a hair over the two hour mark, I was worried I would keep looking at my watch.

Now, I consider myself an educated person, but I was completely in the dark about the whole gay-rights fight of the 1970’s. The beginning of the film shows archive footage of police raids on gay bars and nightclubs; something I knew nothing about. Then we get our first glimpse of Sean Penn’s portrayal of Harvey Milk. He is recording a tape only to be played in the event of his assassination. He starts telling his story from the beginning with his meeting of Scott Smith, played by James Franco. Milk confesses that he has done nothing significant with his life. So, Scott and Harvey travel together and end up in San Francisco, California. Here, they set up shop in an area known as the Castro.

From this point, Harvey and Scott help the gay movement in the area and people from all over the country come to this San Francisco haven. Harvey is then convinced to run for public office to get one of their own in power. He is not successful his first outing, or second, or even third for that matter. His adamant mindset keeps him going, but costs him the love of his life. Later, Jack, played by Diego Luna, enters Harvey’s life. Also along the campaign trail, he meets many people that help him finally succeed, including Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg, played by Emile Hirsch and Amanda Pill. Harvey finally figures out how politics work, and that helps his political career.

Newly elected, Harvey then meets his other elected city supervisors. Dan White, played by the busy Josh Brolin, is not fond of Milk or the company he keeps. They start an alliance that is quickly dissolved, and a feud starts instead.

When gay rights are being taken away throughout the country, Milk wants to bring it to California, to his territory. Prop 6 is formed to have all homosexual teachers and those who support them removed from their jobs. It would also repeal their protection from prosecution at work based on sexual orientation, among other things. State Senator Briggs for the state of California is the supporter in the state. Harvey, Mayor Moscone, played by Victor Garber, and their supporters go to war with Briggs on this topic.

One of the movie’s apexes is the vote on this proposition. The other is Dan White not being able to handle his humiliation as a supervisor. The sad ending is already told to you at the beginning with the actual footage of the news report.

Gus Van Zant uses archive footage of actual news reports to heighten the realness of his film. His direction is amazing in the fact that all the major actors are at the top of their games. Penn, Hirsch, and Scott could easily be nominated for their roles in this film, along with Van Zant himself. I also really enjoyed and appreciated the footage before the credits of the actual people and what happened to them.

This is only the second film this year that I feel has any chance at Oscar buzz, the other being The Dark Knight. There are only two other films I am looking forward to seeing this year that have Oscar Buzz. Mickey Rourke’s The Wrestler and Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. Verdict: When I left the theater, I was shocked at how much I not only enjoyed the film, but also by the amount I learned. I would recommend this movie to anyone who was on the fence about seeing it. This was a great movie going experience, and worth the full $9.00 price of admission.

Role Models

I Wish They were My Big's



Well, once again, I waited until the last possible day to use my free ticket from the AMC Movie Watcher card. So, I had to decide what to see on short notice. I went with the crude humor comedy Role Models. I thought I knew what to expect, and well, I was right. While the movie had little to offer in the way of originality, it was still quite hilarious.

Role Models opens with Danny Donahue, played by Paul Rudd, waiting on Wheeler, played by Stiffler, or Sean William Scott if you are not familiar with American Pie. Danny is a motivational speaker for Minotaur, an energy drink similar to Red Bull. Wheeler is his motivational mascot. We see them going from school to school. Finally, they return to the office, and there is a surprise party for Danny’s 10 years with the company. At this moment, he realizes that he is not happy with his boring mundane lifestyle. The next day, everything goes wrong for him, and he brings Wheeler down with him. They end up arrested, but luckily, Danny’s (ex) girlfriend Beth is a lawyer. Elizabeth banks puts in here typical role as Beth. Elizabeth Banks is quite possibly the busiest actress in Hollywood. She has been in 22 movies since being in Spider-Man, plus had a recurring role on TV’s Scrubs.

Anyway, Beth swings them 150 hours of community service instead of 30 days in jail. They are then sent to Sturdy Wings, a Big Brothers Big Sisters-esque program. The founder of the organization is Gayle Sweeny, played by always funny Jane Lynch. She gives them two kids that are not the typical kid because they do not want to go to jail.

Danny is partnered with Augie, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse better known as Superbad’s McLovin. He is a fantasy role player in a live action world called L.A.I.R.E. Wheeler is given Ronnie. He is a stereotypical gangster wannabe. From their meeting, it is obvious that some cliché situations will arise.

As the movie progresses, Danny and Wheeler find the errors of their ways and try to make things right. Along the way, they create a bond with the little kids that at first they cannot wait to get away from. It culminates in the final battle of the L.A.I.R.E. players. Augie is determined to kill King Argotron to be ruler of the game and impress fellow player Esplen. A joke comes full circle at the beginning of the Battle Royale.

So, ninety-five minutes later, Role Models is over. I enjoyed myself, and I kind of wish that it was a bit longer. I found many of the situations funny, but sadly, my wife did not. So, I was quickly reminded of the horrendous decision I made to see Hot Rod. Apparently, I have not served my two movie sentence, yet. Verdict: If you are a fan of crude humor, this is a movie for you. I loved it, but I am a fan of said humor. If you are easily offended, then this is not for you.