Clint Eastwood

Blu-Ray Review: Beloved ‘Gran Torino’ Gets HD Treatment

BrianTT — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:00:00 -0600

CHICAGO – Is it coincidental that Clint Eastwood’s beloved and uber-manly “Gran Torino” is hitting Blu-Ray and DVD just in time for shoppers looking for a great Father’s Day gift? Of course not. No one knows marketing like Warner Brothers and the well-timed and transferred “Gran Torino” should satisfy many a proud pop this season.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0

I’m a huge Clint Eastwood fan as an actor and director. “Mystic River”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Unforgiven,” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” are some of the best films of the last twenty years. But he’s not perfect and when I saw “Gran Torino” in theaters, I thought it fell much closer to missteps like “Space Cowboys” and “Pink Cadillac” than his best.

Gran Torino was released on Blu-Ray on June 9th, 2009.
Photo credit: WB

Watching it again on a very well-transferred Blu-Ray release and after months of near-glowing praise, I realize that I may have been a little hard on “Gran Torino”. I still think the two-dimensionality of Nick Schenk’s script and some dull filmmaking decisions keep it from standing anywhere near Clint’s best, but I see what people liked about it, especially those who read it as a commentary on all of Clint’s career.

The archetypal male that Clint played in so many Westerns and “Dirty Harry” movies has moved from the great plains to a small Detroit neighborhood. Walt Kowalski is a bitter, cranky, racist old man. (And all of you who wrote me regarding my theatrical review to claim that Walt isn’t racist need a reality check. Even the writer and producer of the film refer to him as such in the special features on “Gran Torino”.)

“Gran Torino” opens with the funeral of Walt’s wife and the revelation that this grumpy old man has grown increasingly distant from the rest of his family. A Hmong teenager next door named Thao (Bee Vang) tries and fails to steal the only thing that Walt still loves - his 1972 Gran Torino. Walt wants to be left along during his final days but he’s sucked into a gang war when he saves Thao from an altercation on his front lawn.

Gran Torino was released on Blu-Ray on June 9th, 2009.
Photo credit: WB

Thao basically becomes a servant to Walt, who finds himself getting closer and closer to the immigrants he used to hate. Walt realizes he has one last sacrifice to make and perhaps the changing face of his neighborhood isn’t such a bad thing.

I still can’t get over Schenk’s paper-thin script, one that has not a single subtle moment. Does Walt really need to look at himself in the mirror and say, “I have more in common with these gooks than my spoiled rotten family” for audiences to get it? And “Gran Torino” is Eastwood’s least interesting film visually in years.

Having said that, watching it again with lowered expectations, I see more of what audiences liked about it in theaters. And LIKE they did. “Gran Torino” made an amazing $263 million worldwide and its domestic gross was nearly $50 million higher than any Eastwood film in history. It was a super-smash.

Gran Torino was released on Blu-Ray on June 9th, 2009.
Photo credit: WB

Audiences who loved it in theaters will eagerly pick it up on Blu-Ray and DVD and they’ll find a relatively predictable package for the film. No one should expect a commentary track from Eastwood - he’s not that kind of a filmmaker - but a bit more behind-the-scenes material or examination of the film in light of Clint’s career might have been nice. The special features on “Gran Torino” total just over half an hour of material.

The transfer of “Gran Torino” is typical for Warner Brothers - above-average. The video is crisp and clean with no loss of detail but not an overly polished look and the audio track is what you’d expect.

Special features include the Blu-Ray exclusive “The Eastwood Way” which claims to “Explore the Actor/Director’s Filmmaking Process” but is really just a behind-the-scenes piece about the film specifically not Eastwood’s work overall. The other two special features - “Manning the Wheel” and “Gran Torino: More Than a Car” - are pretty standard stuff except the latter looks at the Woodward Dream Cruise, an annual car event in Detroit. Focusing on something not directly related to the film but to the car culture that inspired it is a good idea and I wish there was more of it than 4 minutes.

‘Gran Torino’ is released by Warner Brothers Home Video and stars Clint Eastwood. It was written by Nick Schenk and directed by Eastwood. The Blu-Ray and DVD were released on June 9th, 2009. It is rated R.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

DVD Review: ‘Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection’ Includes Four Diverse Films

BrianTT — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:00:51 -0700

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – With the $130 million gross and counting for “Gran Torino,” Clint Eastwood has proven that his star power has not diminished in the slightest even with 50 years in show business under his belt. There’s an entire generation new to Clint who have an amazing catalog to explore and they can start with four of his most unforgettable roles, now available in the “Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection”.

Universal probably thought their excellent “American Icon Collection” would be perfectly timed to take full advantage of at least one, maybe two more Oscar nominations for Clint Eastwood. With his direction of “Changeling” and critically acclaimed lead performance in “Gran Torino,” Eastwood seemed a slam dunk to be a part of Oscar night 2009, as he has so many times in recent years.

Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection is released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on February 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Universal

Even though that’s not the case, Clint seems as popular as ever. “Changeling” hits Blu-Ray/DVD this week and “Gran Torino” is still playing in theaters, after shattering expectations of what a septuagenarian lead could do at the box office. It’s the perfect time for a DVD collection.

The latest Eastwood collection highlights four diverse roles from the late-’60s to mid-’70s including two films directed by the icon.

Disc one of the three-disc set contains my favorite film of the quartet, 1971’s “Play Misty For Me,” Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut. Eastwood stars as a radio disc jockey who becomes the victim of psychotic obsession when he tries to end a torrid affair with a fan (Jessica Walter).

With his first film behind the camera, Eastwood proved that he would be a force in Hollywood as a director as he had been as an actor. “Play Misty For Me” is a great thriller that has held up incredibly well in the nearly-four-decades since its release. The digitally remastered “Misty” is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby Digital two-channel mono track.

Disc two includes the second Eastwood-directed pic, 1975’s “The Eiger Sanction”. Less successful than “Misty” but interesting in its own right, Eastwood stars in “Eiger Sanction” as a professional assassin who is forced out of retirement in order to avenge a friend’s murder in the Swiss Alps. “Eiger” co-stars George Kennedy.

The digitally remastered transfer of “The Eiger Sanction” is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track.

Disc three includes two films on one DVD - “Coogan’s Bluff” and “The Beguiled” - both directed by Don Siegel. In the former, Eastwood plays a soft-spoken, straightforward Arizona lawman whose unorthodox methods of capturing an escaped murderer anger a tough NYC police lieutenant. “The Beguiled” is a psychological thriller of love, betrayal and hidden passions, which stars Clint as a wounded soldier who finds shelter in an all-girls academy during the Civil War.

Both “Coogan’s Bluff” and “The Beguiled” are remastered in anamorphic widescreen with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and accompanied by Dolby Digital 2.0 mono tracks.

Bonus features in the “American Icon Collection” include “Play It Again: A Look Back at Play Misty For Me,” “Clint Eastwood on DVD,” “Clint Eastwood Directs and Acts,” “The Beguiled, Misty, Don and Clint,” and much more.

‘Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection’ is released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. It was released on February 10th, 2009.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: Clint Eastwood’s ‘Changeling’ Features Great Performance By Angelina Jolie

BrianTT — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:49:23 -0700

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – I usually don’t agree with suggestions that certain movies need to be seen twice to be appreciated. If a movie doesn’t work on first viewing, then it simply doesn’t work. Having said that, watching Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling” a second time on Blu-Ray made me appreciate the final product significantly more than my disappointed reaction to it in theaters.

What struck me about the first time I saw “Changeling,” starring Oscar-nominee Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore, Amy Ryan, and Jason Butler Harner, was the disjointed storytelling in the film and the way the black and white themes don’t play into Eastwood’s strengths as a director.

Angelina Jolie stars in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling
Photo credit: Anthony Michael Rivetti

Eastwood has always been at his best when his films deal with gray areas of behavior and morality. “Unforgiven,” “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby” - all of these films feature characters caught in complex moral situations. Sometimes good and bad can reside in the same troubled soul and very few filmmakers have captured that in drama like Eastwood.

Angelina Jolie stars in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling
Photo credit: Anthony Michael Rivetti

J. Michael Straczynski’s screenplay for “Changeling” is missing that complexity and subtlety that has marked Eastwood’s best work. In “Changeling,” characters are pure good, pure evil, pure heroism, or pure corruption.

And the film fluctuates wildly in styles, trying to be a drama, women’s rights story, period piece, and thriller all in one. There’s a fine line between making trying to make an unpredictable one and making one that feels disjointed and I think “Changeling” sometimes crosses that line.

Watching it a second time and being able to put those issues aside, I was able to appreciate Eastwood’s film more than I did in theaters. What felt disjointed on the big screen with only one viewing, feels more ambitious on Blu-Ray and it’s easier to get over the lack of gray area when you know not to look for it.

“Changeling” is a brutally dark, upsetting true story of a single mother in 1920s Los Angeles. Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) was living an ordinary life until she came home from work to find her son missing. The LAPD at the time was already knee-deep in bad PR due to increasing corruption and couldn’t handle more bad press. They returned another orphaned child to Ms. Collins and tried to convince her that he was her son.

Collins knew immediately that the boy was not hers - differences in height and circumcision are pretty obvious signs - but Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) and the rest of the police force ignored her until they eventually threw her in a psychiatric hospital to keep her quiet. Only the powerful radio figure Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich) kept her story alive long enough for the shocking truth to come out.

Angelina Jolie gave one of the best performances of 2008 in “Changeling,” taking a part that would have been tragically melodramatic in the wrong hands and making subtle, interesting decisions instead of descending into great hysteria. Jolie is fantastic and she makes the film worth at least a rental on Blu-Ray.

Having said that, I still think “Changeling” is a bit of a missing opportunity. Trying to tell so many stories in the film’s 141 minute running time makes everyone a bit two-dimensional. The police force must have realized at some point that they were doing something wrong, but they are painted as two-dimensional villains, draining the film of believability. There’s a complex, character-driven mini-series in this amazing true story that has been reduced to just the essentials and anchored by one central, riveting performance.

Angelina Jolie stars in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling
Photo credit: Anthony Michael Rivetti

The design of “Changeling” looks great in HD and the precise and detailed costumes and art direction should impress in 1080P, but I do wish the world felt more lived-in than backlot. Everything about “Changeling” looks too good and not quite realistic. The pretty picture of the Blu-Ray release mesmerizes until it dawns on you that admiring the design keeps it and the film as a whole at arms length.

Technically, “Changeling” is good but not one of Universal’s best. The blacks and blues often blend a bit too much in the film’s many darker scenes and, in general, the picture doesn’t pop like you think it would. The audio is similarly right around average with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track.

U-Control is still my favorite studio Blu-Ray function on the market and “Changeling” makes smart use of it, providing interactive cast and crew interviews and behind-the-scenes footage using the Picture in Picture feature. U-Control also allows the viewer to see pictures of “Los Angeles: Then and Now” as the story unfolds to compare the city as it was in the ’20s to the sprawling metropolis today. Archival images and documents are also presented through U-Control allowing the viewer access to the real-life individuals and story portrayed in the film.

Two HD features - “Partners in Crime: Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie” and “The Common Thread: Angelina Jolie Becomes Christine Collins” - round out the Blu-Ray release of “Changeling”.

Ultimately, “Changeling” is a good film that I wanted to be great in theaters but it’s easier to forgive the film’s flaws with a studio as great as Universal producing its Blu-Ray release.

‘Changeling’ is released by Universal Home Entertainment and stars Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Amy Ryan, Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore, and Jason Butler Harner. It was written by J. Michael Straczynski and directed by Clint Eastwood. It will be released on February 17th, 2009.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Clint Eastwood Idles With Caricature Over Character in ‘Gran Torino’

BrianTT — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:54:34 -0700

CHICAGO – With his second film in just a few months, Clint Eastwood makes one of his biggest missteps of his illustrious career as one of the more esteemed American directors in the history of the medium. Eastwood has made some undeniable masterpieces - “Mystic River”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Unforgiven” - but he has been far from perfect, misfiring wildly with films like “Space Cowboys”, “The Rookie”, and “Pink Cadillac”. “Gran Torino” falls much closer to the latter category on Clint’s spectrum than the former.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

Eastwood stars in “Gran Torino” as Walt Kowalski, a bitter, cranky, snarling old man, who is mean to his priest, vicious to his family, and racist to everyone in his increasingly ethnic neighborhood. Walt could be Clint’s iconic ‘Dirty Harry’ character a few years down the road from when we last saw him and a bit more racist. (In fact, there were rumors at one point that “Gran Torino” would be “Dirty Harry 6”. If only.)

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Gran Torino” in our reviews section.

Walt is a Korean War vet who seems to have entered a contest for the most ignorant, racist comments in the span of the running time of a movie. Can the Hmong family next door melt the ice around this grumpy old man’s heart? Can the vet with backbone to spare give some to the weak kid who lives next door? Why should we care again?

In the opening scenes, Walt’s wife has passed away and he’s growing increasingly distant from the rest of his family. The predictable and skin-deep plot doesn’t really get underway until the kindly Hmong teenager next door named Thao (Bee Vang) tries and fails to steal the only thing he loves - his 1972 Gran Torino. Walt just wants to be left alone by a world he hates more every day, but he’s sucked into a horrible written gang war when he saves Thao from an altercation on his neighbor’s front lawn because the poor kid couldn’t steal the car he was ordered to snag. Let’s hope “Get off my lawn” doesn’t take off like “Make my day.”

‘Gran Torino’ stars Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Geraldine Hughes, Brian Haley, and John Carroll Lynch. ‘Gran Torino,’ which was written by Nick Schenk and directed by Clint Eastwood, opened in Chicago on December 19, 2008.

Continuing reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Gran Torino” review.

‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Lead Nominees From Chicago Film Critics Association

BrianTT — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:09:26 -0700

CHICAGO – The Chicago Film Critics Association announced its choices for the best of 2008 on Monday morning. The biggest blockbuster of the year, “The Dark Knight,” and the sleeper hit of the season, “Slumdog Millionaire,” tied for the most nominations and will compete for best picture of the year from Chicago film critics.

The Chicago Film Critics Association

“The Dark Knight”, the massively successful continuation of the Batman franchise, and “Slumdog Millionaire”, the magical tale of a young man forced to prove he didn’t cheat on a game show, scored six nods a piece, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Picture.

Four films nearly matched the big two this year for the CFCA with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Doubt”, “Milk”, and “WALL-E” all landing five nods. Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married” scored four nominations and the Swedish vampire film “Let the Right One In” came away with three.

Major acting nominees for the Chicago Film Critics Association include Clint Eastwood, Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Heath Ledger, Penelope Cruz, and Kate Winslet alongside nominated newcomers like Sally Hawkins, Melissa Leo, Michael Shannon, and Rosemarie DeWitt.

The members of the CFCA, which includes HollywoodChicago.com Publisher Adam Fendelman and Content Director Brian Tallerico, are currently in the midst of their second and final round of voting and the winners will be announced on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 18 on WGN-TV in three chunks at 6:50 AM, 7:50 AM and 8:50 AM with Richard Roeper, Dean Richards and CFCA President Dann Gire. They will be released to the public immediately afterwards.

2008 Chicago Film Critics Association Nominees

Slumdog Millionaire

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL*E

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle—Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan—The Dark Knight
Andrew Stanton—WALL*E
Gus Van Sant—Milk

BEST ACTOR
Clint Eastwood—Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins—The Visitor
Frank Langella—Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn—Milk
Mickey Rourke—The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway—Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins—Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie—Changeling
Melissa Leo—Frozen River
Meryl Streep—Doubt

Milk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Downey Jr.—Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman—Doubt
Bill Irwin—Rachel Getting Married
Heath Ledger—The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon—Revolutionary Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams—Doubt
Penelope Cruz—Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis—Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt—Rachel Getting Married
Kate Winslet—The Reader

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
In Bruges—Martin McDonagh
Milk—Dustin Lance Black
Rachel Getting Married—Jenny Lumet
Synecdoche, N.Y.—Charlie Kaufman
WALL*E—Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—Eric Roth
The Dark Knight—Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
Doubt—John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon—Peter Morgan
Slumdog Millionaire—Simon Beaufoy

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
The Band’s Visit
Che
A Christmas Tale
I’ve Loved You So Long
Let the Right One In

BEST DOCUMENTARY
American Teen
Dear Zachary
IOUSA
Man On Wire
Standard Operating Procedure

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung-Fu Panda
Tale of Desperaux
WALL*E
Waltz with Bashir

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Australia—Mandy Walker
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight—Wally Pfister
The Fall—Colin Watkinson
Slumdog Millionaire—Anthony Dod Mantle

WALL*E

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—Alexandre Desplat
The Dark Knight—Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
Milk—Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire—A.R. Rahman
WALL*E—Thomas Newman

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Russell Brand—Forgetting Sarah Marshall
David Kross—The Reader
Lina Leandersson—Let the Right One In
Dev Patel—Slumdog Millionaire
Brandon Walters—Australia

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Tomas Alfredson—Let the Right One In
Lance Hammer—Ballast
Courtney Hunt—Frozen River
Martin McDonagh—In Bruges
Steve McQueen—Hunger

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

8:54 p.m. update on Dec. 18, 2008: The 2008 awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association are in. Read our coverage here.

Amy Ryan of ‘Gone Baby Gone,’ ‘The Wire’ Signs Onto New Episodes of NBC Hit TV Show ‘The Office’

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:22:52 -0600

CHICAGO – Amy Ryan’s star just keeps rising. The breakout actress from HBO’s “The Wire,” who was nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Award for her role in “Gone Baby Gone,” will be featured in at least five episodes on this coming season of NBC hit TV show “The Office”.

Amy Ryan from “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Wire” and “The Office”.
Photo credit: (source)

In season four’s finale of “The Office” (entitled “Goodbye, Toby”), Amy Ryan’s character (Holly Flax) took over the HR position from Toby Flenderson (played by Paul Lieberstein).

With the 2007 finale being her first episode, Holly was teased as a potential love interest for branch boss Michael Scott (portrayed by Steve Carell). Last week, Carell signed on to do three more seasons of “The Office”. Ryan and Carell appeared together in 2007’s “Dan in Real Life”.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do with the character,” Ryan said in a Sunday Variety report, “but as it was written, there’s certainly a lot of potential. It’s a funny thing to enter a show … you’re a great fan of and it’s nice to tell lighter stories. I love the dark, grittier side of life, but it’s nice to take a break from that, put a skirt on and brush your hair.”

Though the fan-favorite Toby is gone from the screen, Lieberstein – a writer and actor on the show since the first season – will continue on as an executive producer through the fifth season of “The Office”. Lieberstein added in the Variety report: “Amy gave the character of Holly an openness and matured innocence that exposed a new side of Michael. She placed her character right on his level.”

Ryan has more projects set for the big screen including “Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone” and Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling”.

By DUSTIN LEVELL
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
dustin@hollywoodchicago.com