42/50x2: Mystic River

I may have stated this before, but I was never drawn to Clint Eastwood as an actor. Maybe it was because I just never enjoyed westerns (until recently), but I can barely recall many Eastwood films that I have seen.

Now, I have finally seen three Eastwood films - directed by at least. The first two starred Eastwood himself - in Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby. I have been meaning to see Mystic River forever, and I was finally able to.

The film follows a trio of friends in Boston. We start with them as kids, playing hockey on the streets when one of them decides to have all of them write their names in some wet cement to not only 'be bad' but leave their legacy in the cement.

They are caught, however, by what appears to be a cop and one of the boys is told to get into the backseat - and he goes missing for four days.

Fast forward to today, the boys are no longer friends - mostly because of what happened so many years ago. Sean (Kevin Bacon), who was once the leader and rebel of the trio, has since become a cop; Jimmy (Sean Penn), who followed what Sean did as a kid is now a store owner, but also a former (and possibly current) criminal; Dave (Tim Robbins) was the poor kid who went with the police who turned out to be pedophiles.

Dave has a young child and wife, Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden), but has a lot of demons inside of him because of what happened to him. Jimmy has a wife, Annabeth (Laura Linney) and a handful of children, including his oldest, Katie (Emmy Rossum). Sean is also married, but his wife has run out on him and he has no idea where she is - he is also partners on the police department with Whitey (Laurence Fishburne).

The guys, who were once inseparable, are now nothing more than acquaintances. Sean is the one mos distant as Jimmy and Dave are now 'related' by marriage.

One night, Jimmy's daughter Katie goes out with some friends and doesn't come home. She also doesn't show up the next day for work - or to her sister's communion that afternoon.

Sean and Whitey are called to a crime scene where it is discovered that the car belongs to Katie, and they end up finding her body in the park a little away from the car.

The rest of the film is Sean and Whitey trying to figure out who murdered this poor girl, while Jimmy and his gang, the Savages, are searching for the killer in their own way. Dave, meanwhile, continues to spiral out and he soon because a suspect in the case - and Jimmy begins to believe that he did it.

This was by far the best of the three Eastwood directed films that I have seen, and that says a lot since I enjoyed the other two as well.

The acting in this film is superb. Robbins and Bacon were amazing, and though I don't always enjoy him, Penn was outstanding.

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39/50x2: Million Dollar Baby

I am beginning to get the Clint Eastwood treatment. There weren't many films of his I have seen, whether it be acting or directing. And, as I said before, despite my lack of love for the sport of boxing, films about them are always pretty darn interesting.

So, here we have a mixture of both. Eastwood both directed and starred in Million Dollar Baby. He takes on the role of Frankie Dunn, a boxing trainer who is very talented at what he does, but lacks the champions that a successful trainer should have.

Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is a waitress who has aspirations of making it as a boxer. But, Dunn tosses her aside because he doesn't train girls. She is persistent, though, and Dunn's co-trainer Eddie Dupris (Morgan Freeman) allows her to train in the gym and gives her an old speed bag to work with until she can afford her own.

Eventually, she begins to show some promise and, despite her age, Dunn finally agrees to take her on and train her. As things progress, she is actually a very talented boxer - or just really good at the initial charge and is able to knock out her opponent rather quickly.

There is also the fact that Maggie's family is a bunch of hillbilly freeloaders. As Maggie gets better she begins to make more money and buys a house for her mother - but instead of being thankful, she complains that now she won't get enough welfare.

I can't really talk about the film much more because it would spoil a rather large plot point, but that was also one of the least convincing things I have seen in film.

Despite that, the film was still pretty entertaining. I still don't really enjoy Eastwood as an actor, I think it's mostly his voice and delivery. And despite how annoying I usually find her, I enjoyed Swank here. And of course, Freeman was excellent as always.

Grade:

Gran Torino

When this first came out I really had no interest in seeing it. Even when it was getting rave reviews from people I still wanted nothing to do with it. But, it came through on my sister's netflix and we decided to watch it.

I am not sure what kept me away - perhaps it's the fact that I don't feel Clint Eastwood is a really good actor, in fact he is pretty horrible in my opinion. I have been running through his movies that I have seen in my head and I cannot come up with a single one that I have enjoyed. That could have been the driving factor of me not wanting to see this film.

But, I did anyway. And, Eastwood was again not that great of an actor - but the film around him was good enough and I was able to not let his overacting and horrible, horrible voice keep me from enjoying it.

Gran Torino is the title of the movie and a symbol to a bond that is formed throughout the film between Walt (Eastwood) and Thao (Bee Vang), a Hmong teenager who lives next door.

Walt is a Korean Wat veteran who hates pretty much all races - including his own offspring. He is basically an old crumudgeon, which is kicked into a high gear after his wife passes away.

Thao and his family move in next door to Walt, and he does his best to stay away from them and not interact. Thao's cousin is in a gang in the neighborhood and feels that Thao should join the gang as well - as a part of his initiation he must steal Walts' Gran Torino. Walt catches him, however, and Thao's family insists that Walt use him as a laborer to help repay and regain respect to their name.

Thao's sister, Sue (Ahney Her), also befriends Walt and puts up with all of his racist comments and horrible attitude. Walt even begins to enjoy her company - although I doubt he'd admit that. Sue was a standout character for me and I really enjoyed the acting job by Ahney Her.

Anyway, the rest of the story is about the bonding between a racist old man and his Hmong teenage neighbor. There are definitely a lot of subplots that occur throughout the film that are all pretty interesting, but that is the main one.

I would say this is a pretty enjoyable film and I can definitely relate - I know a ton of older gentlemen that act about the same as Walt does in this film. It's good to see that a leopard can change its spots.

Probably my favorite Eastwood film - acting wise. I have still not seen (but I will) his other films that he has directed.

Grade: