Watchmen: Movie Review
I decided to wait to post this review of “Watchmen” because I am a moviegoer in favor of more realistic, gritty and less-campy superhero films. With that, you can probably already guess that this review is not 100% positive.
Here is how the movie-business works (keeping in mind that it’s a business): If people do not go to see a film, less films of that particular type will be given a greenlight, not to mention a budget. I’m hoping studios are realizing that PG-13 superhero films are fine, so long as they push the limits to the very edge of PG-13, a la “The Dark Knight,” but that more R-rated superhero films are necessary, based on the caliber of material currently out there. Campy superhero stories were the norm 30-40 years ago, but nowadays, writers of comics and graphic novels are pushing the envelope, so why not the films based on them?
Ok, now here we go. … Continue Reading
Review: Gran Torino
Gran Torino was shot in only 27 days and is Clint Eastwood’s second film this year. Not bad for nearly eighty years old. It also might be, according to the man himself, his last acting role. And what a role to go out on.
Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a recently widowed Korean War veteran who essentially has…well, brass balls. Clenched teeth, canine grimace, cigarette and a Pabst, Walt maintains a strong hatred of “pussies” and foreigners, meaning anyone that doesn’t look or act like him. He lives in a decaying Detroit suburb taken over long ago by ethnic groups and flooded with gangs. He sees what’s happened to the neighborhood and doesn’t like it, but he keeps to himself and expects everyone else to do the same. … Continue Reading