Ok, so I’m a sucker for Clint Eastwood, growling, scowling, and grimacing his way through another movie. This may not be Clint’s best, but I liked it. As the movie opens, Walt Kowalski (Clint’s character) has just lost his wife. One of her last requests to her young parish priest, was that he get her husband to go to confession. Walt *needs* to go to confession and gradually comes to realize just how badly he needs to do so. He lives next door to a family of Asian (Hmong) immigrants and the story revolves around how he is reluctantly drawn into a relationship with them. Walt becomes the crankiest guardian angel you’ll ever see. Eastwood is great in this (by now) familiar role (in this case, he’s Archie Bunker packing heat). Here’s one of his memorable lines (spoken to a gang of hoodlums who thought they were tough . . . that is, until they met Walt): “Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while that you shouldn’t have messed with? That’s me.”
Yes. it. is.
Oh it’s a tad predictable. You realize early on that Walt is going to end up liking his new neighbors, and, probably, sacrificing himself for them, but still, . . . come on, . . . it’s Clint, it’s the squint, it’s . . . it’s the vibe, man. Make my day.
This one is on my list.
If it weren’t for Frank Langella’s performance in Frost/Nixon, Clint would be a shoo-in for Best Actor. Aw, hell, let’s give him one just for having big brass ones!
I saw the movie.Awesome! It reminds me of Man on Fire. I didn’t expect the ending. This movie has lessons about redemption and self sacrifice.
When the Asian girl tried to invite him to a bbq, he said, “keep your hands off my dog”, the whole theater erupted in laughter.
yeah, it was pretty funny to hear the reaction of the audience in the theater during the movie to Eastwood’s insults. At first there was stunned silence (except for me laughing). Then about 20 minutes in, there were embarrassed giggles (with me laughing louder). Finally about an hour into the film, the laughter was so loud I got drowned out and you would miss the next couple of lines.