Clint Eastwood’s performance is the backbone of Gran Torino, a stellar movie

December 29, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Prior to yesterday, I’d only ever seen one Clint Eastwood movie, Million Dollar Baby. I didn’t know quite what to expect going into Gran Torino, but I shouldn’t have been too surprised that Clint Eastwood once again delivers a stellar lead performance as Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran.

There are plenty of sites out there to give summaries, so I’ll jump into my generally feelings about the film.

Surrounding Clint Eastwood’s rock-solid performance are some unknown Asian actors. They do a good job for the most part, though their inexperience shows through in a number of scenes unfortunately, and they are not always believable in their roles.
Read more

Filed under: Watching
Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Twilight movie stylishly mixes adolescent love with vampires and werewolves

December 14, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

This evening I went out with my roomie to see Twilight at the movie theatre. Twilight is a vampire romance movie based on a novel by Stephanie Meyer. I am a complete novice to the series and have never read any of the books, but I got caught up in the hype and have been eagerly awaiting the movie.

I’m generally not a fan of traditional vampire lore, though I am a super huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its offshoot graphic novel Fray by Joss Whedon. In a lot of ways, I found similarities between the two properties: love stories at the heart of a crazy, vampire-filled world.

I enjoy what Stephanie Meyer has done with some of the old vampire lore mainstays, particularly her twist on why vampires don’t go out during daylight.
Read more

Filed under: Watching
Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,