Gran Torino | ★★★★★★★★

7/25/09: I finally got around to watching this one on DVD with my friends Scott and Dan. I thought that the message of the movie surpassed the man. Eastwood plays a strongly written wounded man who: has just lost his wife; is alienated from his sons and their families; and is at odds with his priest, neighbors and just about everyone else. His journey is such a sweet, albeit cantankerous, one as he walks through grief and begins to live again with the help of his neighbors. On a scale of 10 I give this movie ★★★★★★★★

---

1/10/09: I am definitely a Clint Eastwood fan and, generally speaking, like his work.. of course I have avoided some of it (like Mystic River) because of content. So I was interested in this Christianity Today review of his latest movie. Here are a few excerpts from it.

Gran Torino is a Clint Eastwood film in the strictest sense. Unlike his less successful (but no slouch) 2008 effort, Changeling, this is a film that feels utterly personal—a movie that might actually be as much about Clint Eastwood the man/myth/icon as it is about the fictional story he is telling. And if it is indeed his last acting performance on film, it is quite the note to go out on. Eastwood's performance is a blood-spitting, mournful tour-de-force. In the wrinkles, the stilted gait, the dubious eyes of Eastwood, there is so much life lived, so much baggage and regret. As in so many of his movies (especially recently), Eastwood plays a man at odds with himself, his own failures, weighed down by his belligerent refusal to be forgiven his sins.
...
Gran Torino is not a perfect film, and sometimes feels a tad overwritten and wordy (freshman screenwriter Nick Schenk's extreme, racially-charged language occasionally borders on parody), but it is a film that fits our current cultural milieu like a glove. I'd hesitate to say that the film is a metaphor for the death of the American auto industry, but it's certainly a metaphor for a changed America.
...
Gran Torino is about pressing on, living life with resolve, and making sure there is some continuity. As Walt discovers, we can lament change all we want, but ultimately what's gone is gone. What's important is what we leave behind—our successes, failures, and '72 Detroit-made muscle cars.

Not sure if I will catch it before it hits video.. I probably won't.. but it looks like an okay flick if you are looking for something serious and don't mind the darkness and language.