Back from a great weekend, and ready to roll into what should be a busy week. I'm counting down - not just to 2009 but to my upcoming trip to Israel in early January courtesy of Birthright. That's right, after years of never having visited the holy land, this former Hebrew School teacher, Solomon Schechter grad, and distinguished Camp Shalom counsellor will finally be touring the Old City, taking a dip in the Dead Sea, and getting down Jew-style in Tel Aviv. In facr, coming up soon is actually my group orientation, which should be exciting, and then throughout the next couple of weeks I'll be focused on making sure I'm well-equipped for the trip, and nailing down all the details of what is sure to be a memorable adventure.
Anyways, aside from planning for Israel, as always I'm trying to see all the big movies I can to close out the year, all the while, of course, mentally adjusting my Best of '08 list while I weigh one film over the other. As has been the case the last few years, so many of the big releases are jam-packed into the last few weeks and even days of the year, with many of those only even out in limited release. But I think the trend that's starting to emerge is that, in the absence of many truly classic prestige films this year (on the level of, say, No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood), critics and fans are really starting to fill up their Best-Of Lists with the big summer blockbusters - from The Dark Knight to Wall-E to Iron Man. And in some cases, I find myself leaning in that direction as well. Still, I can't freakin' wait to see THE WRESTLER, and I'm intrigued by several yet-to-be-released '08 movies including Seven Pounds, Benjamin Button, and Valkyrie. Now, this past weekend I did get the chance to see what had been one of my most-anticipated movies of the year, that being GRAN TORINO. So stay tuned for the review in a bit.
- First, I do have to mention that this weekend I had the good fortune to get tickets to see a STELLA comedy show, which was freaking amazing. As has been well-documented here on the blog, I was completely obsessed with The State when it ran on MTV back in the day - my friends and I made videos inspired by the show's hilarious comedy sketches, and we endlessly quoted the show - and I still remember it fondly to this day. In fact, if there's one show that I would kill to see on DVD, it's The State, which somehow has still yet to see the light of day on the home video market. But anyways, I've continued to follow and enjoy projects from ex-State members, from the sublime Wet Hot American Summer to Reno 911 to The Ten and most recently Role Models. But the members of the State splinter-group, Stella, have been the trio that has perhaps done the most to carry on the spirit of random humor and subversive stylings of The State. I think I was a little slow to pick up on the fact that Stella even existed, but I loved their short-lived Comedy Central series, and, suffice it to say, I was psyched when I heard they'd be doing a show in LA.
The show, held at the Orpheum theater in downtown LA, was awesome. Despite being in a terrible area of the city, the theater, from the inside, had the look of a grand, old-fashioned opera house. The energy level inside was huge, as tons of excited comedy fans had come from all over to see the show. It was clear that as big a fan of Stella and The State as I am, there were plenty of hardcore devotees present who made me look like a casual fan by comparison. The show opened with special guest Thomas Lennon (a State alum and best known as Lt. Dangle on Reno 911) doing a short stand-up routine that was a bit rough around the edges but ultimately pretty hilarious. Then, we got to the main event - Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain - aka Stella. For those who don't know, the absurdist comedy of Stella revolves around random banter between the group's three members, who riff on various topics, with conversation that just keeps spiralling deeper and deeper into a strange, surreal world of crazy humor. There's wordplay, word associations, and tons of twists, tangents, and moments that are just plain weird. But all I can really say is that these guys are comedic geniuses - they have a style of humor that is all their own, and that is just twistedly brilliant. During the show, they even had another special guest in former State member Joe Lo Truglio (recently of Role Models fame), who came in and did an energetic bit of so-bad-it's-awesome stand-up, in character as a washed-up New York Post humor columnist.
Overall, the show was completely hilarious - these guys are truly originals, and I don't know if there are any other comedians out there who are so proficient in this style of random, absurdist humor. It was truly awesome to see a group of guys who are some of my all-time comedy idols live and in person - definitely an evening for the record books.
Now, for the love of Zots and Crambles, get THE STATE out on DVD, already -- dammit all.
- Anyways, onto one of the biggest guns (sort of literally ...) of the 2008 holiday-movie season ...
GRAN TORINO Review:
- For the past several years, Clint Eastwood has been associated with a certain pedigree of movie; methodically-paced, serious-minded, Oscar-baiting affairs that are typically bleak, humorless, and solid-but-rigid productions. We saw the latest example of this just recently with CHANGELING, which to me ended up being somewhat underwhelming. Like many, I was more than ready for a movie that harkened back to the Clint Eastwood of old - Clint Eastwood: the director who made one of the most badass Westerns of all time in Unforgiven. Clint Eastwood: the screen icon who personified the idea of the man's man. Clint Eastwood: the screen legend who brought to life the likes of the Man With No Name and "Dirty" Harry Calahan ... the pulp icon who is as quick with a one-liner as he is with a .45 magnum. Well hold on to your hats, kiddies, because with GRAN TURINO, that Clint Eastwood is back with a vengeance.
Because really, this is a B-movie posing as a prestige pic. This one is rough around the edges. It has some shoddy acting, some stilted dialogue, and a hefty dose of comic book characterization. But you know what? It's the best, most badass, most entertaining and stand-up-and-cheer-worthy Eastwood flick in a long, long time. This is the classic tale of the old man who can still unleash some whupass and whip young punks into shape. This is Eastwood as your 80-year-old grandfather if he were crossed with one part Batman, one part Stone Cold Steve Austin, and yeah, one part Dirty Harry. And also, Clint's character happens to be a foul-mouthed, racist, stubborn, and bitter sonofabitch. But don't worry, by movie's end you'll be rooting for the old man, because this is Clint Eastwood, dammit, and you know that underneath that ugly exterior beats the heart of a real American hero.
Like I said, this is Eastwood at his most over-the-top. And it's awesome. Old Man Clint punctuates his sentances with snarls and growls. He squints his eyes and stares through people with a steely gaze that reaches in, grabs your heart, chews it up, and stomps on it. He points his fingers and gestures as if he's shooting a gun, and pulls a make-believe trigger in a gesture so stone-cold that it could kill a man in and of itself. When he's pissed off, Old Man Clint unleashes gravelly threats, punctuated just right with venemous curse-words that would make the Devil himself get wobbly-kneed. When he drops an f-bomb, it's with a seething fury, as if he just stuck a knife in your gut and twisted. This is Clint f'n Eastwood at the height of his powers - it's not Oscar-baiting acting, it's not prestige picture fare, but it is the stuff of cinematic legend - an aging icon who only got badder and meaner and tougher the closer he got to the end of the line.
So, yeah, put Gran Torino's Walt Kowalski up there with the other Eastwood icons. If this is in fact Clint's final performance, then it's a great capper on a legendary career. And it's great to see Clint in one last role that is both a summation of and reflection on his body of work. Because Walt is a character who knows violence, who is inclined to pick a fight, who isn't prone to friendship or personal connections. His wife has died and he's left with children and grandkids who are spoiled rotten and are practically foaming at the mouth for him to kick the bucket too so the can get their inheritance. Walt finds himself essentially alone, still living in his old neighborhood, which is now filled with Asians, African-Americans, and Latinos, and rampant with gang violence. Really, aside from his dog, the one thing he loves in life is his old '72 Gran Torino car, which he keeps in mint condition but never drives. Yeah, it's a metaphor, and sometimes a heavy-handed one at that. But it's effective, and appropriate, and mostly, it works.
Of course, not only is Walt bitter with his yuppie family, but at first, he's equally weary of his culturally-diverse neighbors. But, when a shy local kid is dared by gang members to try to steal Walt's car, Walt foils the robbery and eventually takes the misguided kid under his wing. Before long, Korean War vet Walt befriends his once-hated Hmong neighbors, and finds he has more in common with some of them than he does his own family. Soon, the still-tough SOB takes up their cause, and not only does he teach his young charge Thao a thing or two about being a man, but the octogenerian vows to put a permanent dent in the neighborhood's gang violence problem, armed with nothing more than a shotgun and a scowl.
The story takes a number of interesting turns from there, even if a lot of the tropes are well-worn. But there are plenty of kickass moments and quotable lines - it's all a bit over-the-top and comic book-ish at times - but that's part of what makes the movie so fun.
But, where things falter is in the fact that while Eastwood chews up the scenery like the old pro that he is, most of the rest of the cast is not quite up to snuff. When they're interacting with Eastwood, it's not as noticeable, but when asked to carry the weight of the script on their own, the mostly non-professional cast of younger actors and actresses tends to drop the ball, delivering some truly cringe-worthy line readings that make some of the trying-too-hard gangsta' dialogue sound ultra-lame. Also, the actor who plays the young priest who tries to comfort Walt after his wife's death is just sort of weaksauce. It's a key part, so I wish they had gotten someone better for it. I'm not saying they should have cast name actors who might oversahdow Clint, but some solid character actors sprinkled throughout the film wouldn't have hurt. Again - when it's Eastwood interacting with some of the more mediocre actors, the movie maintains its entertaining B-movie feel. But when Eastwood is off-camera, things tend to devolve from cheesy awesomeness to just plain cheesy.
In general, the movie walks a fine line in that regard. Most of the time, the broadness of the drama works well and makes for some great, badass moments. But sometime, things do go a little too far. I mean, without spoiling anything, I will say I mostly loved the movie's interesting and gripping ending ... but, my appreciation for it was then ALMOST ruined by the ridiculous closing-credits theme-song, titled "Gran Torino," which actually has a husky-voiced Eastwood SINGING the opening lines. I'm sorry, as entertainingly campy as it was, it was just too much.
I think there are a few other instances where the movie is too heavy-handed. I think Walt's family was so irredeemably, cartoonishly obnoxious that it hurt the movie's credibility a bit. I would have liked them to be a LITTLE more fleshed out by movie's end. Also, Walt's racism is mostly handled in a funny, complex manner - we clearly see that for him it's a defense mechanism and a shield - since he doesn't really know how to interact with others he communicates the only way he knows how - with insults and put-downs. But I thought it was weird that a couple other characters in the movie, who are all portayed as essentially good, on-the-level guys, use equally racist language. I don't know, it just rubbed me the wrong way - it felt like the movie was saying that it was okay for these guys to use bigoted language because they used it to everyone equally. I think that kind of missed the point of why Walt resorted to racism in the first place. It would have been cool, for example, for Walt to try to use some racist jabs with one of his "buddies" only to get shot down.
Few complaints aside, this was one hell of a movie-going experience. The story arc is the stuff of classic movie drama, and the iconography of an aging Eastwood out to pick one last fight is enough to send any film fan into fits of cheering, smiling, and shouts of approval. Again, in many respects this isn't technically a great movie. But like Rambo, Rocky, Dirty Harry, and the like, it's a movie that pushes the right buttons, that makes you smile, that makes you look up at the man on the screen and wonder how you can be half as badass as he is. Gran Torino is surely one of the biggest movie "events" of the holiday movie season - it's Clint Eastwood: old, grizzled, and mean - teaching some punk kids a lesson and kicking some ass - one more time. In a lot of ways, it doesn't get much better than that.
My Grade: A-
- Alright - made it through Monday! Back soon. So go ahead, punk: make my day!
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