Clint Eastwood

Hang ‘Em High

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Hang ‘Em High
  • IMDb: link

Hang 'Em High

Flashback Friday takes us back to the Old West. Set in the middle of Clint Eastwood‘s cowboy phase, Hang ‘Em High starred Eastwood as a rancher who becomes a hanging victim, then a criminal, then a marshal, then a vigilante, and then back to a marshal again. A few years after completing the Man with No Name Trilogy and before High Plains Drifter and The Outlaw Josey Wales, the film doesn’t rank among the best of Eastwood’s time in the genre taking a little too long to get the lynched man, wrongly assumed guilty by a posse and left for dead, back on the road of vengeance and revenge.

…

Hang ‘Em HighRead More »

Hang ‘Em High Read More »

Cry Macho

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Cry Macho
  • IMDb: link

Clint Eastwood, who also directs, stars as an old cowboy sent to find the son (Eduardo Minett) of a rancher (Dwight Yoakam) in Mexico and bring him to the United States. Cry Macho is a slow-paced stalled road trip movie with Mike (Eastwood) and Rafo (Minett) getting stuck in a Mexican town for most of the film while hiding from authorities and the boy’s mother (Fernanda Urrejola) who doesn’t want him to leave Mexico.

Knocking around Hollywood for the better part of 50 years, the script offers some minimal commentary on machismo while the title of the movie comes from Rafo’s prize cock-fighting rooster. The story unfolds as expected with no stand-out scenes or surprises. Of course, Mike keeps a secret from Rafo leading to inevitable conflict in the final act before Cry Macho eventually limps to the finish line. It’s not a bad film, but there’s little of interest other than some nice cinematography of Mexico.

…

Cry MachoRead More »

Cry Macho Read More »

Richard Jewell

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Richard Jewell
  • IMDb: link

Richard Jewell movie reviewDirector Clint Eastwood‘s latest film examines Richard Jewell and the rise and fall of the security guard in the media from the hero who discovered a bomb during the 1996 Summer Olympics at Centennial Park to the FBI’s prime suspect in the bombing. An indictment on both media and the tendency of local and federal agencies to decide on a narrative and attempt to fit the facts to it rather than the other way around, the film focuses on how the lack of any evidence didn’t prevent either the FBI or the media at large from determining Jewell was guilty (despite the fact he was never charged with a crime).

Paul Walter Hauser is the stand-out as the naive Jewell who, even while being accused by the FBI, can’t help but try and help due to his hero worship of the police. Sam Rockwell and Kathy Bates are strong as the few supporters believing in Jewell’s innocence while the other side of the investigation features far more one-note characters with Jon Hamm is stuck in a cliched cop role as the man leading the investigation, and other actors as forgettable nameless support, and Olivia Wilde is a slutty reporter whose need to break the story costs Jewell everything.

…

Richard JewellRead More »

Richard Jewell Read More »

Firefox

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Firefox
  • IMDb: link

Firefox movie reviewBased on the novel Craig Thomas, and set during the Cold War, 1982’s Firefox stars Clint Eastwood as a former Air Force pilot tasked with an impossible mission to steal a prototype aircraft in Bilyarsk. Despite his post-traumatic stress, Mitchell Gant (Eastwood) is chosen for his unique qualifications: his piloting ability, his similar size to the Russian pilot (Kai Wulff) the Firefox is designed for, and his ability to speak and think in Russian (as the plane’s weapon systems are controlled by thought).

Sent to Moscow undercover as a heroin dealer, who needs to be shadowed by the KGB initially for the cover to hold, it becomes obvious to Gant fairly early in his adventure that he is in far over his head long before he makes it to the secret base where the Firefox is kept. Half Cold War spy film and half action-thriller, Firefox holds up pretty well 35 years later as Gant’s journey keeps him one-step ahead of the KGB thanks to a group of Jewish dissidents and sympathizers that will give their lives to get Gant to the plane and allow him to do the rest.

…

FirefoxRead More »

Firefox Read More »

Sully

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Sully
  • IMDb: link

SullyAnointed by the media as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” Sully offers the story of pilot Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) whose miraculous water landing of a full-sized passenger plane in the Hudson River was celebrated by the world as a near-impossible feat but questioned heavily by the airline industry. Remarkably, every passenger and crew member survived Sully ditching the plane, but that’s really just where this story gets started.

More analytical than I expected, the screenplay by Todd Komarnicki spends much of its screentime on findings, data, trial strategy, simulations, discussions, and bureaucratic infighting. While this allows director Clint Eastwood to steer well-clear of the film venturing anywhere near the realm of sappy or schmaltzy, it also means much of the movie lacks the emotional impact one would expect. Other than watching his struggle to deal with reluctantly being pulled into the limelight, we don’t learn much about our title character. Although deeper family and drinking issues and are hinted at, the movie’s focus is completely on Sully being the right man in the right spot at right moment and how those few seconds effected the flight and Sully in particular.

…

SullyRead More »

Sully Read More »