Weekend at the Movies and Monday Movie Meme: Gran Torino

A Novel Menagerie hosts Monday's Movie every week, and invites everyone to "write about any movies, television or big screen, that you’ve seen over the past week." This week, the suggested topic is "Your Favorite Movie of All Time." But if I got started on my fave of all time, we could be here for weeks. So I'll just say a few words about one of the movies I saw this weekend. Well, it did feature one of my favorite movie stars of all time.

The weather was pretty awful around here over the weekend. Messy and cold outside – but inside, that made for perfect movie-watching conditions. Also perfect football-watching conditions, but we won't get into that.

Our Netflix film of the weekend was Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood's film from last year.

Gran Torino

USA, 2008

MPAA Rating: Rated R for language throughout, and some violence.

Written by Nick Schenk and Dave Johannson
Directed by Clint Eastwood

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, John Carroll Lynch

Synopsis (from RottenTomatoes.com):

[T]he story of a grizzled Korean War vet's reluctant friendship with a Hmong teenage boy and his immigrant family. . . . Eastwood stars as Walt Kowalski, an unabashed bigot who never heard a racial insult he didn't love. Bitter, haunted, and full of pride, Walt refuses to abandon the neighborhood he's lived in for decades despite its changing demographics as he clings desperately to a mindset long since out of step with the times. When his Hmong neighbor Thao tries to steal his prized muscle car as part of a gang initiation, Walt is forced to grapple with the world around him. . . . More than simply a racial morality tale, however, GRAN TORINO is about the unlikely bonds that people form to navigate the subtle complexities [of] every day life. . . . GRAN TORINO explores the challenging yet rich new world that can open up when individuals let down their guard, even if for just a moment. Estranged from his family and his church, and without any sense of personal peace, Walt offers all that he has to Thao and his family, namely wisdom and protection. When tragedy strikes the family, Eastwood allows a little classic Harry Callahan to poke through, but the surprising finale posits a hero that Dirty Harry would never have the guts to be. It's a potent symbolic gesture to Eastwood's own growth as a storyteller.

My Thoughts:

I've liked Clint Eastwood ever since I first saw him as Rowdy Yates in the old Rawhide TV show when I was a tot. A lot of his movies are a little more violent and raw than I really like, but I usually enjoy them just because of Eastwood's presence. Even so, I was a little dubious about Gran Torino because of the racial conflict aspect – and these days I tend to shy away from any film or book described as "gritty," "symbolic," or a "morality tale." At my age, I've had just about all the grit, symbols and moralistic preaching I can stand. So I wasn't certain about the movie, but I figured – hey, it's Clint Eastwood after all.

And I wasn't disappointed. Eastwood manages to find an enormous amount of humor and pathos in Walt's bigotry and insularity, without pulling any punches about its crudeness or offensiveness. And the developing relationship between Walt and his new neighbors is very appealing and fascinating to watch. The supporting cast is terrific, and includes quite a few new faces (well, new to me anyway). Both Bee Vang and Ahney Her as the young brother and sister deliver wonderful performances; and I especially loved John Carroll Lynch as Martin, Walt's barber and sparring partner in racial slurs.

I know I'm probably one of the last people on the planet to see this one, but it's definitely got my recommendation.

Did you see any interesting movies last week or over the weekend? If you've got anything to recommend, just leave me a comment or a link to your post.

Weekend at the Movies and Monday Movie Meme

This is the first time I've participated in the Monday Movie Meme hosted by The Bumbles. The topic this week is "all about Dads" and one of the movies I saw over the weekend had a very moving portrait of the relationship between a dad and his son, and the lengths to which a parent will go to ensure his child's safety.

Thanks to Netflix, I'm slowly catching up on the films of Nicolas Cage – for some inexplicable reason, he's one of my favorites. I've been a fan since seeing him in Raising Arizona back in the '80s. Knowing is one of his recent films – released in late 2008, I believe. I missed it when it was in theaters (these days, I miss just about all films when they're in theaters), but after viewing the DVD, I think seeing it on the really big screen, with that too-enveloping surround-sound, might have been just a bit too intense for my fragile nerves.

Knowing

USA, 2008

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.

Written by Ryne Douglas Pearson, Juliet Snowden, and Stiles White

Directed by Alex Proyas

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Rose Byrne, Lara Robinson

Synopsis (from About.com):

In 1958 [actually, I think it was 1959], as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one of the students, a mysterious girl who seems to hear whispered voices, fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fast forward 50 years to the present: A new generation of students examines the contents of the time capsule and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb [played by Chandler Canterbury]. But it is Caleb's father, professor Ted Myles [played by Nicolas Cage], who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As Ted further unravels the document's secrets, he realizes it foretells three additional events – the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve Ted and his son.

My Thoughts:

Very confused and confusing film. I thought the first half or so was excellent – nice texture, interesting story line, well-built suspense with a slightly creepy feel. Reminded me a little (the general feel – not the plot) of The Mothman Prophecies (a much better movie). However, the second half of the show deteriorated into pretty standard apocalyptic sci-fi – not one of my favorite genres. It relied much too heavily on special effects, enigmatic "presences," and unexplained goings-on (I'm still not sure what was up with all those smooth black rocks that kept showing up everywhere). Another one of those movies where you end up hoping Fox Mulder will finally show up out of the shadows and explain everything for you ("Yes, Scully – I've seen this before. It's probably just a manifestation of yada yada yada.")

I think I'd only recommend this one to other Nicolas Cage fans. Probably not for everyone. The movie is rated PG-13, but I have to say if I were the parent of a very young child, I'd be very wary of letting them see this one. A lot of the special effects are disturbingly realistic. And the whole end of the world scenario is scary and depressing, and might very easily inspire nightmares for some more sensitive youngsters – not to mention some more sensitive oldsters such as moi.

Did you see any interesting movies last week or over the weekend? If you've got anything to recommend, just leave me a comment or a link to your post. And if it was about Dads, you might want to head on over to The Bumbles, and leave a comment there.