Just saw Gran Torino (spoilers)

Cafe Society
101

No, that was Million Dollar Baby, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2005 (for movies released in 2004). It also won Oscars for Best Director (Eastwood), Best Actress (Hilary Swank, her 2nd Best Actress Oscar-the first was for Boys Don’t Cry), and Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman). It didn’t have a whole lot of competition. The other nominees were Ray, Finding Neverland, Sideways and The Aviator, all good movies, but none OHMYGOD great, IMO. Not nominated were my favorites of the year, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Incredibles, Dogville, Kill Bill Vol. 2, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Other movies from that year that I liked in varying degrees: Born Into Brothels, In the Realms of the Unreal, Collateral, Vera Drake, Fahrenheit 9/11, Bad Education, A Home at the End of the World, The Motorcycle Diaries, Before Sunset, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Hotel Rwanda, The Life Aquatic, Shaun of the Dead, Saved!, Kinsey, Mar Adentro, Birth, Maria Full of Grace, Mean Girls, Control Room, House of Flying Daggers, De-Lovely, I Heart Huckabees, Spanglish, 13 Going on 30, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (sigh, could been brilliant, and it wasn’t, but I still liked it), Team America, Van Helsing (shut up!), The Village (shut up!), The Ladykillers (shut up!), Spider-Man 2, The Terminal, The Woodsman, Being Julia, Man On Fire and I’m sure there are a few more I’m forgetting. There are certainly many more I’m not mentioning on purpose (Napoleon Dynamite, Dodgeball, Phantom of the Opera come to mind immediately).

And there’s my attempt to not join in on the Gran Torino bashing (which I liked), stalling on an important project I should be working on, AND avoiding going to bed.

102

After the girl was raped they pointed out that the Hmong never talked to the police. Why are we to believe they would talk about the murder at the end? Eastwood is a one dimensional actor and at his age is not believable as a total badass.

103

I really don’t see a need for more than one thread on this movie – and included the original thread, which had been bumped within the last month or so. (The posts linking to “the original thread” will now link back to the thread you’re already in, hope that’s not too confusing.)

twickster, Cafe Society moderator

104

ETA: Already posted this comment. Nevermind, nothing to see here…

105

I left after hour because there was a couple in front of me talking, and I just didn’t want to keep listening to all the slurs.

106

That was the movie.

107

Regarding the acting…

Eastwood is known for being a particular kind of director. He is a “get it done” kind of guy, not going for nuance and repeating scenes till people get it right.

Consider the Star Wars movies, episodes 1 - 3. The acting is frequently derided, despite the actors themselves being pretty good in other movies. This lies directly at the feet of the director.

Some actors can pull the scene and the character out of themselves, and don’t need much direction, don’t need much to get it going. But some actors need to do a scene a few times to work in to the character and the moment. A good director can help them.

I was really put off by the priest. Certainly at the beginning, he is an absolute ass. Okay, he promised the wife he’d talk to Walt, but when he calls him by his first name a Walt makes an issue of it, a reasonable person, someone trying to be respectful and polite, is going to refer to him the way he requested. Continuing to call him Walt is bone-headed.

So was that the actor’s fault? Or was it the director and the script being too deliberate?

Same thing for Theo and Sue. They were non-trained actors being directed by a “Get it done” director.

108

:stuck_out_tongue:

109

I just saw this film after borrowing it from my daughter, and am truly astounded when I read the rave comments in this thread. Thank god I didn’t spend any money on this piece of shit. Gran Torino was hands-down the worst movie Eastwood has ever made. Bad writing, bad directing, poor editing, lack of character development, you name it: this film had none of the things that make a film good. That whole scene in the barber shop was contrived, stupid and unbelievable. I hope that this is not his swan song film, as I would hate to see him go out on a such a poorly crafted note.

110

Saw it this week, thought it was pretty good. I saw elements of my own dad in Walt, with the mild racism and grudge against people buying foreign-made cars.

Surprised there was so much confusion expressed earlier in this thread about the filming locations (or at least where the movie is supposed to have been set). The most obvious clue? When the priest is at the gangbangers’ house, the squad car says “Highland Park” on the side. Someone mentioned seeing a California address on Walt’s hospital forms, but I’m sure I saw “Detroit” written/typed on the form; maybe this was corrected for the home video release?

111

Woof. I am really glad to see realistic reviews on this turd. We finally saw it yesterday, and I could not square what I was watching with the raves it’s gotten. To tell the truth, I also came here to find out how it ended, since neither of us made it to the end. Thank Og we were spared what must’ve been a real doozy of a song…

112

Here you go.

You’re welcome.

113

That reminds of Wanderin’ Star, Clint’s long ago co-star Lee Marvin’s hit from Paint Your Wagon. Does Eastwood actually think he can sing?

114

I thought it was entertaining but predictable.

The comments about people coming out with racist stuff but then being civil to people of other races, I think a lot if not most people of any age do this. YMMV.

The song at the end sounds like some of Tom Wait’s schmaltzier work.

115

I saw this for the first time a few days ago and was mostly astounded by the awful dialogue. No one talks even vaguely like the characters in this movie.

The priest was laughable, and the young Hmong (Thao and Sue?) were well-intentioned but badly directed. I don’t understand how this movie won any praise (or box-office receipts, for that matter).

116

Yes, the voice acting reminded me of the Dreamcast game Shenmue. Excellent game, but really weird dialog.

117

Holy shit this movie was bad. I know most of the cast was made up of non-actors, but could any of them read? Or watch other movies or TV shows with realistic dialogue? And Eastwood… for shame, man. For shame. The patriotic drumbeat? The ridiculously predictable ending? I felt like I was watching a made-for-TV, million-dollar movie adaptation of a fourth grader’s Social Studies project on ‘Why Racism is Bad.’

And while I normally give zero respect to anything written on IMDb, most of the nasty comments about the priest’s acting abilities are spot on. I feel bad for the guy, but it looked like they patched him in from a soap opera or after school special.

118

I actually really liked Gran Torino, but this was my exact reaction when I saw Crash.

119

I know I’m late to the party but I just finally saw this last night.

First of all, the acting was absolutely awful. And not just the non-actor Hmongs. The priest and, yes, even Eastwood were awful, too. What was up with that terribly fake growly voice he put on? Very unnecessary. Clint’s physical presence was masterful by my god that voice sucked. The best actor was probably the barber, and he was barely featured.

And - to credit the actors - part of the reason the acting was so bad was because the dialogue was written to be unspeakable. It was amateur to the extreme.

Walt was a little too over-the-top, almost to the point of being a caricature instead of a character. They really should’ve toned down his bitchiness and racism and added a little bit more “old fashioned values” to make the character believable. Someone that angry and racist isn’t going to do a complete flip flop in their 80s. During the first act I thought the movie was going to turn into an American History X-style killfest with Clint basically murdering a bunch of people.

Despite all that, though, I can’t say I hated the movie. There were a lot of really funny and really touching moments. I laughed outloud at the reading of the will. I became very sad at Walt’s death. I smiled when he told Thao he could take the car on his date.

It wasn’t anywhere near as ham-handed in its message as Crash, but it was a little too ham-handed for me to be able to call it great. A movie does not get to be great by default just because it deals with racism, and I think that’s where a lot of Gran Torino’s accolades came from. It was good.

120

Heh yeah, those were some good parts.

I just knew that eventually Walt was going to let someone drive his car and it still managed to make me smile when he did.

And the will, best will ever! When I die, if I have anything worth giving away, my will is going to be exactly like Walt’s.

“I leave my bad ass 1940s hotrod to my brother, but only if he agrees not to disgrace it and me by doing a bunch of pussy shit to it.” :smiley: