GRAN TORINO!!! 2 Thumbs up! 5 stars!

[Sugar Beats]

I can't believe nobody has made mention of this movie? Has no one else seen it yet?!

I saw it last night and it was fantastic! :thumbsup:
Now, I admit, I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan & feel this is "Clint" in one of his best! (especially at his age! ~ Does anyone know his real age?)

He was amazing! It was funny and he made me laugh & cry (a little).

It was great! Very entertaining! Then again, I am from the mid-west (the film takes place there + my dad is a huge car "buff" and let's just say that my dad's mouth is pretty similiar to "Walt" in the movie, so I can relate just a little!)

I'm still so surprised no one has said anything regarding this film...

Go see it! You guys are missing out!

[canuckle]

He's 78 and I truly loathe the man's attempts at acting so I won't be going near it. Watching him Dirty Harry his way through the commercials is all the cinematic pain that I need in a day! ;)

[kexodusc]

I can't believe nobody has made mention of this movie? Has no one else seen it yet?!

I saw it last night and it was fantastic! :thumbsup:
Now, I admit, I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan & feel this is "Clint" in one of his best! (especially at his age! ~ Does anyone know his real age?)

He was amazing! It was funny and he made me laugh & cry (a little).

It was great! Very entertaining! Then again, I am from the mid-west (the film takes place there + my dad is a huge car "buff" and let's just say that my dad's mouth is pretty similiar to "Walt" in the movie, so I can relate just a little!)

I'm still so surprised no one has said anything regarding this film...

Go see it! You guys are missing out!
Looks a bit different, and I was on the fence about seeing it in theater, but you're enthusiasm suggests it can't be as bad as some I've seen lately so we'll probably check it out now. Thanks for the 2 cents.
:thumbsup:

[3-LockBox]

The problem with movies like this, is when the PR machine starts heaping praise and declaring it one of his finest performances - does it have to be the 'finest performance ever' in order for me to want to see it? The best movies (of this type) for me, are the ones that fly in under the radar. But when they hype a movie like this, it raises expectations beyond reason. But I'll bet it a good flick, as long as you go in with the proper mindset and fair expectations. I'd go see it, but more likely than not, I'll wait until it hits the PPV, because I don't really need to see this on a big screen. However, it is nice to have this kinda movie "in the bank" so to speak, just incase my wife gets the urge to go to the movies, and something really dumb looking is out at the same time (Mall Cop, Bride Wars, Last Chance Harvey), then I can play the 'Clint' card. I may have to play Clint card soon cuz my wife wants to see that dumb movie with Jennifer Aniston and that stupid mutt...oh, and the dog too.

As far as Clint's attempts at acting...can't everybody be Hoffman, Pacino or DeNiro. Many actors got by on personality. James Stewart, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Tommy Lee Jones, Harrison Ford...the list is endless. All those guys were the same person in every movie they've been in and Clint is no different. Hollywood is a money making business and they'll always fill roles with these personality actors (a term coined by Charles Nelson Riley).

[Gerald Cooperberg]

Yeah, I liked it. Eastwood sorta gently spoofs his tough-guy persona and he gets to growl his way through some great scenes. I'm a little surprised at all the Best Picture buzz... I found it charming but minor. 3LB, you're right that it coasts quite a bit on his personality, and there's nothing wrong with that... but it was also pretty broad and if you'd stuck anyone else in the lead role (I heard that James Garner was originally attached) it would've been a little more apparent that there's nothing really revelatory in the script. All that said, not a bad investment of a couple of hours.

-Coop

[Mr Peabody]

I just saw Gran Torino, obviously, I waited for the disc. Well more like my daughter gave it to me for Father's Day early. I thought the movie was great. It sounds like maybe people are focusing too much on the vidgulanti aspect and missed the strained family relations and the bond that formed between Walt and his neighbors or how the relation with him and the priest developed. To criticize it's sort of Clint's western formula put to modern times but it works. The movie has very good acting and a good cast. I totally bought it. I've been a fan of Eastwood since cutting my teeth on his spaghetti westerns but I have actually gained more respect for him in his latter movies. Million Dollar Baby, Line of Fire and now Gran Torino. I think the way they tried to sell this movie, the commercials, was a disservice. How Walt relates to people in his life is what makes this movie not the action. Maybe it's because Eastwood was who I saw in the movie but I have a hard time imagining any one else doing the role justice.

[LeRoy]

I've always enjoyed the sarcasm and antagonistic characters played by Eastwood regardless of the genre he appears in...he's always getting underneath somebody's skin for one reason or another. In this movie...just when I thought there was no way he could get any more insulting or mean spirited, his character Walt, surprised me with just how much more pi$$ and vinegar he could summon up and unleash it on whomever he happened to be addressing at the moment. It's like Walt was doing his own version of taking a walk on life on everyone.

I think it's one of his best movies and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I agree with Mr. Peabody that the movie really is more about Walt's relating and not relating to people in his life and not his threats of vigilante action.

This is one movie that I will be adding to my collection for sure.

LeRoy

[Hyfi]

I'm late! I just watched this one over the weekend and loved it. I love the way he calls Toad every slang name in the book. (reminds me of Sawyer and Hurley) All the good stuff has already been said about this movie but it does send some good messages about life, family and tolerance. It would have been nice to know what the test results were but it's obvious that he was on his way out anyway.

The only problem I had with this movie is what seems to be happening to me a lot lately. I can't hear the dialog through all the background noise when I watch in Dolby 5.1 or my HK Logic 7 modes. I have to set it to Dolby 3channel or 5 channel stereo in order to hear the dialog. Anyone else noticing this in movies or is my setup just hosed?

[Auricauricle]

I was hoping that someone would open this thread back up....Watched it this past Sunday and enjoyed it, despite the punks, bad-guys, good-guys, Clint thing hovering over it. I went in thinking this would be "another Clint film", and in some ways it was. At one point I was ready for him to rattle off a few lines from Dirty Harry....

Found it strange that nearly every ethnic group is trotted out: while they fly their banners and hurl their epithets, there's Clint the Great Moderator who hates every one of them. The American flag flaps behind him, a shadow that is denied even as he denies redemption. This is Walter Kowalski's habit: to turn his back to what he sees as the hypocricy of it all. Just as he keeps his Bronze Star locked up, unable to bear the irony, he keeps his conniving family and the rest away, protected by meticulously pruned yard and painstakingly polished and maintained Grand Torino.

I was tempted to think of Walter as a latter day Archie Bunker, who epitomised the Great American Bigot, but Walter is no such soldier. He he tired, sick and tired, of the BS, and is not afraid of saying so, in words, attitude and spit. He is mean and sometimes cruel, but is an old lion who has learned the code of survival: Kill or be Killed.

All in all I liked Grand Torino, and after awhile found my self laughing aloud after I recovered from the embarrassing ugliness of it. Maybe that was it, then: Hate, scorn, whatever: It's all pretty freaking ludicrous.

[Feanor]

3.5 out of 5. Solid Eastwood -- or is that a problem for you? :rolleyes:

No, it ain't Unforgiven on the other hand.

[willie garvin]

Hi,

I have grown up with Clint Eastwood & enjoyed watching him in Rawhide as Rowdy Yates.

But Clint is not a De Niro, Pacino, Hoffman, etc.

Clint is a good actor, but in my opinion not a great one.

Of all his films & I have watched them all, only four stand out at showing Clint at his best in an unusual role, they are:

Play Misty For Me, The Bridges Of Madison County & Escape From Alcatraz, Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, in these films Clint excelled as an actor.

I would like to say that from the TV clips that I have seen of the actor in 'real life' I like the man, Hollywood has not gone to this man's head, unlike some others!!

Anyway Gran Torino was disappointing for me, not Clint at his best & the plot & story, a mishmash of several films that have been done before.

It was only the film that didn't do it for me, Clint Eastwood is & always will be one of my Hollywood 'good guys'.

willie

A list of his films, to jog your memory!!

* 2008 - Gran Torino
* 2004 - Million Dollar Baby
* 2002 - Blood Work
* 2000 - Space Cowboys
* 1999 - True Crime
* 1996 - Absolute Power
* 1995 - The Bridges of Madison County
* 1995 - Wild Bill: A Hollywood Maverick
* 1993 - A Perfect World
* 1993 - In the Line of Fire
* 1992 - Unforgiven
* 1990 - The Rookie
* 1990 - White Hunter, Black Heart
* 1988 - The Dead Pool
* 1986 - Heartbreak Ridge
* 1985 - Pale Rider
* 1984 - Tightrope
* 1984 - City Heat
* 1983 - Sudden Impact
* 1982 - Honkytonk Man
* 1982 - Firefox
* 1980 - Bronco Billy
* 1980 - Any Which Way You Can
* 1979 - Escape from Alcatraz
* 1978 - Every Which Way But Loose
* 1977 - The Gauntlet
* 1976 - The Outlaw Josey Wales
* 1976 - The Enforcer
* 1975 - The Eiger Sanction
* 1974 - Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
* 1973 - Magnum Force
* 1972 - Joe Kidd
* 1972 - High Plains Drifter
* 1971 - Play Misty for Me
* 1971 - Dirty Harry
* 1970 - Kelly's Heroes
* 1970 - The Beguiled
* 1969 - Paint Your Wagon
* 1969 - Two Mules for Sister Sara
* 1968 - Coogan's Bluff
* 1968 - Where Eagles Dare
* 1968 - Hang 'em High
* 1966 - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
* 1965 - For a Few Dollars More
* 1964 - A Fistful of Dollars
* 1956 - Away All Boats
* 1955 - Tarantula
* 1955 - Revenge of the Creature

[Mr Peabody]

There's a few on that list in my collection.

[Mr Peabody]

Hyfi, I believe you may have a set up issue, maybe with the level settings or delay. I haven't noticed anything with recent movies where dialog is lower. Now, sometimes when dialog is at a comfortable listening level some sound effects may tend to blow you away but I guess that's what they call dynamic range. That's something you may try as well, look into the receiver's settings for "night mode" or some type of dynamic compression that takes some of the dynamic range out and makes it easier to hear dialog at lower volumes.