Gran Torino: A Fried Rice Movie Review

[Because sometimes, four sentences just aren't enough...]


I should begin by saying that I'm glad that Gran Torino didn't turn out to be the movie I thought it would be (or the trailers and commercials might lead you to believe), the same sort of last hurrah/last word for the Dirty Harry archetype that Clint Eastwood's bad-ass cowboys received in Unforgiven. And if this does end up being Eastwood's last role, he gave himself a juicy one in Walt Kowalski, a character full of pathos, just enough complexity to be compelling, and perhaps the best sense of humor since he was hanging out with Clyde the orangutuan.

But in terms of tone, this is an incredibly uneven film, starting out with a commentary on modern-day youth (which is portrayed as irredeemably one-dimensional throughout the film), then turning into a fish-out-of-water/world-has-changed-around-him sort of tale. And that might have been an interesting enough movie in itself, but the screenplay doesn't get very introspective. And Eastwood seems more interested in conveying his dismay with a sneer and a growl, anyway.

The story progresses into a clash-of-cultures kind of buddy comedy, which is probably the most compelling aspect of the film because we see Kowalski develop as a character. But along the way, a lot of cheap laugh shortcuts, loaded with Archie Bunker-esque politically incorrect racial epithets, are taken. I know this is where a lot of people have a problem with the movie, but it didn't really bother me. At least in terms of offending me. it's almost too over-the-top to take seriously.

Finally, it veers into deadly serious, try-and-digest-this-during-the-credits drama, and this provides a great example of how Eastwood the director shines when working with veteran actors like Sean Penn and Hilary Swank, professionals who get what their director is trying to accomplish and can get it done in one or two takes. But when he works with less experienced actors - and I don't think it's an insult to label most of those who play Kowalski's Hmong neighbors "amateur" - this approach doesn't serve him well.

In a pivotal scene building toward the movie's climax, Bee Vang, who plays the boy Kowalski has befriended, has to show emotion, and bring it believably. And he fails so badly that it's almost laughable. I actually felt bad for him because he's so clearly over his head as an actor. And I wonder if Eastwood - as a director or an actor - did the best he could with him or just kind of left him hanging.

When this is released on DVD, I'd like to see it again because I wonder if I cut it a break for filming in Detroit. The script is sprinkled with enough little nuggets (mentions of the Lions, resentment for driving foreign cars, etc.), and the locations look familiar enough to appeal to my inner Michigander. Plus, I think the story fits rather believably in metro Detroit, as several areas and neighborhoods have changed in the way Kowalski's does. But could the film's flaws become even more apparent after the stars in my eyes fade away? I have a feeling they might.

10 Chick Flick Cliches

This could almost be enough to get me to see He's Just Not That Into You.



Almost. Now if this were a British movie, I might feel differently. Sap with an accent is just so much more charming.

But I think my favorite cliche is #6. (But #5 is always good for a laugh.)

Wait - did you say Jennifer Connelly is in this? Um...

(via The Movie Blog)

Metal Health Will Drive You Mad!

"Bang Your Head" likely won't be the song that's in your head after you're finished watching The Wrestler. But two days later, thanks to Randy "The Ram" Robinson (and Darren Aronofsky), Quiet Riot has pounded their way back into my short-term memory.



It's like I'm 10 years old, sitting in front of a cassette player and smacking the edge of my desk with drumsticks all over again. Man, did I want one of those iron masks. (And could you even make a metal video in the 80s without a smoke machine?)

Four-Sentence Movie Review soon to come...

Happy Chinese New Year!

Don't panic if you encounter people running around in elaborate dragon or lion costumes at your Chinese restaurant of choice today. It's Chinese New Year! And 2009 is the Year of the Ox (or Ji Chou).

That has me particularly excited for this year's celebration because the Ox is my sign on the Chinese Zodiac. Big things, baby!

Well, perhaps not without some struggle, as the Year of the Ox "symbolizes strength gathered through unity, harmony, obedience, courage, and hard slog." We Oxen should expect a "dutiful, family-oriented, and dependable year."

Or maybe I'll just get a tattoo. (Although I might be kind of old for that, at this point.)

Here's a description of the Ox which (unfortunately) fits me pretty well. I might opt for this one, however, as it sounds a bit more noble.

And here are the traditional dishes one might eat on Chinese New Year. Fish and dumplings, I think we can do. The other stuff? Well, we'll see.

Congratulations and be prosperous! Oh, and don't buy shoes or books, or talk about death today. Bad luck!

No More Talkin' Tigers on the Radio

I don't know how many of you had streamed or downloaded our appearances over the past two weeks on WTKQ's The Morning Ticket with Pat & Todd, but I'm not going to be talking on the radio again any time soon.

Unfortunately, the powers-that-be at FM Talk 100.5 decided to go in the proverbial different direction, and as of last Friday, pulled the plug on the show. Any disappointment I felt over that is a trifle compared to what two radio hosts who suddenly don't have a show must have experienced. Fans of WDFN in Detroit learned this week just how brutal the radio industry can be. (And though I'm late on it, that's something I'd like to write about in the next couple of days.)

I'm obviously biased, but Pat Johnston and Todd Guerne are two talented, nice guys who deserve better, and will hopefully get it. And if you follow the conversation over at Bless You Boys, you know Todd's suddenly become an active part of the BYB community, and it's great to have a new voice and more participation - especially at this time of year.

So I should probably leave it there, and thank Pat and Todd for a wholly unexpected opportunity, as short-lived as it turned out to be. It's incredibly flattering that they thought enough of what we do here to want to talk about the Tigers on the radio each week. And it was a lot of fun.

'The Superman Exists... and He's American'

Watchmen is going to be just the coolest movie ever, isn't it?



(Love that old, Filmation-style cartoon!)

I mean, comic book geek tingles aside, Zack Snyder and his cast and crew have put some serious work into creating a world for this movie, constructing an era for the story to play in. This isn't just going to be some superhero action flick. And a movie based on Watchmen shouldn't be, either.

Gimme Some Skin, Inauguration Style!

You've probably already seen this on at least three websites today, but I'm not above falling in line with the rest of pop culture. Especially when it means putting up a fresh post. Viva Obama! Viva la inauguration!



But honestly, as a cable news junkie (though my craving has gone down considerably since January 1), I got a big kick out of seeing TV personalities like the "Morning Joe" crew play along. Nice to see they don't take themselves too seriously. (That means you too, Pat Buchanan!)

Trying to Catch Some Oscar Fever

Continuing a four-year tradition here at Fried Rice Thoughts, we post the Academy Award nominations (which I didn't even realize were being announced today, until I saw something on Twitter) for your perusal, along with some thoughts on the nominees.

You can read the complete list here, but for now, these are the major categories (and as a writer, I always have to include the screenwriters):

Best supporting actress:
Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

Best supporting actor:
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Best Actress:
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Best Actor:
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best Director:
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry - The Reader
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant - Milk

Best Original Screenplay:
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Mike Leigh - Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh - In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon - WALL-E

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley - Doubt
Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon
David Hare - The Reader
Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire

Best Picture:
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


Quick thoughts:

▪▪ Okay, let's just get it out of the way: It's a big disappointment not to see The Dark Knight among the Best Picture nominees. I had no delusions that it would actually win the award (Though The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won in 2004, so would it really be that weird?), but I thought Batman would at least get nominated.

Maybe it's the comic book fan in me seeking validation, but this was one of the five best movies of the year. C'mon, Oscar - at least give Christopher Nolan a Best Director nod.

▪▪ Looking at the nominees for Best Supporting Actor, I think Heath Ledger definitely has a shot at a posthumous win.

▪▪ Doubt also got hosed for Best Picture.

So which two movies would I have taken off? Well, I haven't seen The Reader, so that would be an easy choice for me. And though I enjoyed it, and think it's quite a filmmaking achievement for David Fincher, I'd probably kick The Curious Case of Benjamin Button off the list, too.

▪▪ My sit-up-and-clap nominee this year? Richard Jenkins. The Visitor was a fantastic movie, with an ending that I still can't shake, and it's largely because of the arc Jenkins's character follows.

A close second would be Amy Adams, who hasn't been getting nearly enough acclaim for her performance in Doubt. An Oscar nomination takes care of that, I'd say.

▪▪ Robert Downey, Jr. brought me a smile. My love and admiration for the man has not been hidden on this blog, and I'm glad to see him get some recognition for the year he had, but I'd have rather seen him nominated for Iron Man.

However, there's one scene of his in Tropic Thunder that amazes me. If you haven't seen it, I'll try not to spoil it for you, but it involves his disguise as a rice paddy farmer.

▪▪ In place of Downey, I'd have nominated Sam Rockwell for Frost/Nixon or James Franco for Milk.

▪▪ The toughest category is probably Best Actor. You could make a great case for any of the nominees (though maybe I shouldn't comment on Rourke, since I haven't seen The Wrestler yet), but Sean Penn looks like the favorite to me.

▪▪ And I love Clint Eastwood, but I was glad to see he didn't get nominated for basically playing Archie Bunker in Gran Torino.

▪▪ Kate Winslet has to be a lock for Best Actress, right? With the nominations it received, The Reader has to win one award. Here it is. And it's not like she isn't overdue.

So Long, W

Besides the image of Barack Obama taking the oath of office, and a satellite photo of the inauguration ceremonies, this might be my favorite picture from today's festivities:


Off to Texas you go now, W.

(via The New York Times)

Yes, He Is!

If you were fortunate enough to watch today's Inauguration festivities as they happened, you know how impressive the spectacle was. Especially the sea of people flooding the National Mall and the streets of downtown Washington D.C. to witness Barack Obama taking the oath of office.

As I watched, one thought kept reverberating through my mind: I really wish my father had lived to see this. He would've been deeply touched by the moment. And as both a Democrat and a history major, he would've loved President Obama.

Happy Inauguration Day!

I hope no one needs anything important done from, say, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. Our national attention will likely be occupied. (Did anyone reading this call in sick today to watch the inauguration?)

In preparation for today's historic festivities, I picked up some Baracky Road from Zingerman's Creamery.


(I hope the Obama administration is better, if you know what I'm saying. Not that the gelato was bad. It's gelato; how bad could it be? But Zing's Pimento Cheese is more inspirational. Not as cool a label on the container, though.)

Here's to history.

Some Water For Detroit's Football Desert?

I'm late to the party on reading Michael Lombardi's wonderfully insightful writing and reporting at National Football Post - probably because it took me a while to work my sports appetite back up after baseball season (mercifully) ended - but his stuff is a must-read for me these days.

And maybe I just need any little kernel of hope to make me feel good about the Detroit Lions now (thanks to the Arizona Cardinals) being one of five teams (three of which are newer, expansion franchises) never to make it to the Super Bowl, but I was encouraged to read this from Lombardi about the Lions' new head coach, Jim Schwartz:

I know the Lions hired a great young coach in Jim Schwartz, who is someone I believe will do a wonderful job. We hired him in Cleveland in 1992 to work with me in the personnel department. He is extremely smart (third in his class at Georgetown in economics) and hard working. He knows how to build a program, and he understands the Bill Belichick approach as well as anyone. Given enough time, he will restore the roar to the Lions.

So hopefully, The Schwartz is strong with this team. And for a guy who said the Lions were dead to him, I'm suddenly quite a bit more interested than I was at this time a year ago.

Today's Photo - 01/18/09

Does Barnes & Noble think divorce is a popular New Year's Resolution for its customers?


Or maybe getting those divorces finalized is more frequent at tax time?

Talkin' Tigers on the Radio: Any Closer to a Closer?

Where will the Detroit Tigers turn to find a closer? The Quest For Relief (or lack thereof) was the main topic of discussion in my chat with WTKQ's The Morning Ticket with Pat & Todd.

Are we really looking at Fernando Rodney being the man in the ninth inning this summer? Is that a possibility that should terrify Tigers fans? Or is there still a chance a free agent reliever could come to the rescue? If so, are Jason Isringhausen or Brandon Lyon up to the task?

We also talk a little bit about signing Justin Verlander long-term to avoid arbitration, and whether or not trading Magglio Ordonez is really a good idea.

Thanks once again to Pat Johnston and Todd Guerne for having me on, especially before a big football weekend (and in lieu of the Detroit Lions hiring Jim Schwartz as their new head coach).

You can listen to an embedded audio clip below (I think I've installed a better audio player this time) or download the file from the accompanying link.



WTKQ_011609