| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.110.123 |
It's not a horror or anything but is it me or is this film not very good? It's the second of the later Eastwood directed films I've seen - the other being Mystic River - and i had the distinct impression of something akin to a very polished Hallmark tv movie. Mystic River felt the same. People rave about Eastwood's work saying he's now a better director than Scorsese - I even mentally jumped on the bandwagon myself till I saw these films. But now, I'm not so sure. There's a sense of someone turning up to direct a film and having all these great technicians, but not really coming up fully with the goods, like a really swanky, warm and welcoming thrift shop. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I thought it was impressively bleak myself - I'd say he was a classical stylist in (understandly but not derivatively) the Siegel mould. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
"Understandably"! | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Eastwood is nowhere near the same league as Scorsese but he is a very fine director indeed who makes impassioned films about subjects that really matter and few other directors nowadays would touch. He has slowly but surely amassed a solid body of work behind him that anyone would be proud of... imho. I thought 'Changeling' was riveting old-fashioned melodramatic storytelling at its best. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.110.123 |
Hmm...I was sort of unriveted to the point I fast-forwarded to see what happened. I thought it was actually flabby, emotionally. Siegel would have cut more back. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
It's one of those films that does exactly what it says on the tin and does it damn well imo... like all Eastwood directed movies. He is akin to Sidney Lumet or Richard Fleischer or (as Ramsey said) his old mentor Don Siegel in that respect - fine company to be in. | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
I've enjoyed many of Sidney Lumet's films -- Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and more recently the brilliant Before the Devil Knows You're Dead -- all films with unique characters and unpredictable situations. But Eastwood's films have always left me cold. Nearly all his films deal in stereotyped characters, in cliched plots. I used to feel I'd seen his movies before I'd even seen them. These days I don't bother. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.181.17 |
Not seen Changeling. Mystic River kind of washed over me. Million Dollar Baby was good though. And going back to his pre-directing days I finally got round to seeing Hang 'Em High all the way through to the end. Not a classic but still pretty good. Mind you, I normally like Eastwood both in front of the camera and behind it. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
The Eastwood film that always left me cold was THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES. There's no doubt that it's superbly made and shot, and it has some astonishing characters in it, but I never felt there was much of a story to it. It seemed - for large sections - to be nothing more than one excuse after another to have a gunfight (usually between him and other characters you weren't going to see again, so you always knew the outcome). A proficiently made western undoubtedly, but I never understood the classic status it attained. I must admit there is an extenuating factor here. I've always had a slight problem with American Civil War movies in which Union soldiers are portrayed as out-and-out killers while the Confederates are portrayed as good guys. I know full well that atrocities occurred on both sides, but Bloody Bill Anderson, who is depicted as Clint's mentor in this movie, reputedly indulged in some of the worst. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.233.146 |
Clint's best directorial effort? The eerie, unsettling HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, of course.... | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.208.112.226 |
I enjoyed Changeling. I found it quite bleak, although I'm not sure how much artist licence was taken with the story. I thought it was a decent enough - but not groundbreaking - crime drama. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
I've always been an eastwood fan - even when he was unfashionable in the late 1980s/early 1990s - so I'm glad to be able to say so these days without people raising their eyebrows. Of his later directorial work, I'd say Million Dollar Baby is the best: it's a marvellous, heartbreaking film. I also loved Mystic River. I plan to watch The Changeling this week, and saw Gran Torino the other night (another very solid film with a lovely performance by old Clint). I'd agree with Ramsey that he has the classical sese of Don Seigel, who influenced him greatly. Another terrific film is A Perfect World - very underrated, IMHO. His best in the director's seat, though, for me has to be The Beguiled. It's even better than the brilliant The Unforgiven. His next project sounds great: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1212419/ Oh, and I love The Outlaw Josey Wales. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.167.138 |
Um, Zed, Siegel directed 'The Beguiled'... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
Oh, aye. Sleep deprivation: gets me confused. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.168.34 |
Changeling is a true (dramatised) story, which I think is important if you're going to criticise the storyline. I thought it was a very strong film. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.188.182 |
Forgot about Gran Torino. Enjoyed it but it was fairly unsubtle in places e.g. Clint growling like a rottweiler whenever something displeased him just to hammer home the fact that he was a cantankerous old bastard. Paul, I had similar reaction to yours when I first saw The Outlaw Josey Wales but over time I've really come to love it. The plot has a very episodic feel to it but also has a strong thematic spine which helps hold the whole thing together. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.110.123 |
Yes! The Beguiled is my favourite. I have A Perfect World, which I haven't seen but really fancy. Maybe he feels sloppy to me because he's done enough and isn't exploring any more? With changeling i just felt like i knew what was going to happen just before it did. It carried along just as i expected, was 'just as good as I thought it was going to be'. Hence, lost points.  | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.110.123 |
Er, whoever directed Beguiled, it was my favourite.  | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 193.89.189.24 |
'A Perfect World' is still my favourite Eastwood directed picture. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.188.182 |
The Beguiled is great. Will have to watch A Perfect World again at some point, my memory of it is a bit vague. | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 217.171.129.72 |
I like Clint. I've always thought that Unforgiven was the best American film of the 90s. However, I watched Gran Torino recently without realising Clint had directed it and sat throughout thinking it was a lazy, clumsily-scripted film with crude, stereotyped characters. I was suprised to see Eastwood's name come up at the closing credits as director. Speaking of Don Siegal, I saw Uncle Simon last night, the old Twilight Zone episode he directed for Season 4 (I think!). It was really quite excellent, particularly the first half, with some wonderful performances by the two leads and perfectly understated direction. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.188.182 |
Stating the obvious here but Seigel's Invasion of the Bodysnatchers is great. And the new Eastwood flcik that Zed linked to, Hereafter, looks like it could be interesting. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.188.182 |
Btw, has anyone seen Invictus? | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.188.182 |
Huh, while googling to find out how to spell Invictus properly I found that the Coen brothers are remaking True Grit with Matt Damon. So Damon's going from working with one icon of Western genre to remaking a classic by another icon of the Western. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Films directed by Clint Eastwood (more than I realised and quite a few I'd forgotten): Play Misty For Me (1971) - classic psycho thriller High Plains Drifter (1973) - classic supernatural western The Eiger Sanction (1975) - thoroughly entertaining action thriller The Gauntlet (1977) brilliantly OTT chase thriller Bronco Billy (1980) - haven't seen it Firefox (1982) so-so action thriller Honkytonk Man (1982) - haven't seen it Sudden Impact (1983) - watchable but routine 4th Dirty Harry movie Pale Rider (1985) - unnecessary and uninspired remake of High Plains Drifter Heartbreak Ridge (1986) - unintentionally hilarious but really quite bad "life's great in the Marines" nonsense Bird (1988) - brilliant "labour of love" biopic of Charlie Parker that made all the critics sit up and take notice The Rookie (1990) - forgettable by-the-numbers buddy cop movie White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) - haven't seen it but hear it's very good Unforgiven (1992) - stone cold classic western and Eastwood's masterpiece to date imo A Perfect World (1993) - watchable but overly sentimental prison break/chase thriller with a cute kid along for the ride The Bridges Of Madison County (1995) - solid and involving romantic drama Absolute Power (1997) - haven't seen it Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil (1997) - haven't seen it True Crime (1999) - haven't seen it Space Cowboys (2000) - haven't seen it Blood Work (2002) - watchable but routine cop movie Mystic River (2003) - brilliant examination of the psychological and emotional damage caused by paedophilia Million Dollar Baby (2004) - second only to Unforgiven and one of the best "boxing movies" ever made and so much more... Flags Of Our Fathers (2006) - grossly underrated, brilliantly constructed and emotionally powerful second world war and its aftermath movie Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) - companion piece to the above telling the same story from the "enemy" side and even better for it, both pictures mark an immense achievement bettered only by Unforgiven & MDB imo Changeling (2008) - engrossing and brilliantly entertaining old-fashioned melodrama telling a true crime story almost too incredible to believe that changed the US legal system forever Gran Torino (2008) - superbly entertaining tongue-in-cheek star vehicle with ol' man Clint cleaning the streets of punks n hoodlums, Death Wish with heart Invictus (2009) - haven't seen it but mean to before it disappears Hereafter (2010) - a supernatural thriller by all accounts... Where the hell does the man get his energy?! | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.167.138 |
Stephen, incidentally, if you haven't read the novel 'The Eiger Sanction' by Trevanian, then read it. It's excellent- was written as a lampoon on the spy genre and was hailed as a classic of it. In fact, read anything by Trevanian you can lay hands on. The sequel, 'The Loo Sanction', is better still, and 'The Summer Of Katya' is an absolute masterpiece... Sorry to go off-topic, but I just wanted to share... | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Oops, forgot: 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' (1976) - classic western needless to say ...and I dare say there may even be more. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.186.213 |
Still haven't seen half those films. Will have to catch up at some point. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Found another one: Breezy (1973) - haven't seen it but it stars William Holden and Clint ain't in it... |