Gran Torino

From the first time we saw the trailer for Gran Torino, Sid and I agreed that it looked like an amazing film we would both love to see. We were not in such agreement about WHEN to see the film, however. As I mentioned in a previous post or two, I have been feeling the blues. What kind of blues, you ask? You name it - post vacation, post holiday, post stuffing-my-face-for-two-weeks, post off-my-exercise-routine, and finally, the my-neighbor-got-drums-for-Christmas-that-he-bangs-on-all-day blues. I was pretty sure that a movie about a grumpy old veteran who's wife dies and leaves him alone in a big house in a rough neighborhood where he is not welcome would not do much for my down-in-the-dumps spell. Oh, and I have a theory about movies with dogs in them - they're depressing. Think Old Yeller, I am Legend, Air Bud (don't tell me you didn't cry when the boy hollers at that poor dog to go home), Homeward Bound just to name a few examples.

I agreed to see the movie anyway and it was so incredibly worth it. We got to the Angelika an hour early so I suggested we go to a bookstore nearby to kill some time because, "surely the 5 o'clock showing won't be crowded." Ha! I have never seen the Angelika so full, folks in line were buzzing with excitement, and as people from the showing before us exited the theater, they were commenting to us about how good the film was (one woman looked at me and said, "SO GOOD!" and an old man I had been chatting with in line got all bothered and said to me, "Did she just say the movie was NO good?? He was ready to throw down!)

In summary, it's Clint Eastwood, people! Supposedly it's his last acting role, which makes you kind of sad, doesn't it? Go see it.