On pourrait penser que ma femme, Jade, et je suis seulement comme French Toast, French Fries et French Kissing. Eh bien, de temps en temps, nous nous plaisons à regarder un film français.

Nous avons récemment vu Kristen Scott Thomas dans “Il ya longtemps que je t’aime” écrit et réalisé par Philippe Claudel. J’ai été très impressionné par son travail, à l’exception de Random Hearts, mais qui a été le plus souvent parce que Han Solo est sans Chewbacca. Je sais, impardonnable. Dans ce film, elle se transforme en une puissante performance comme un ex-taulard qui vivent en dehors de la prison pour la première fois en 15 ans. A travers le film que vous découvrez dans ce qu’elle a été et pourquoi. Une véritable histoire déchirante. Elle a dû porter le poids de l’histoire dans ses yeux et elle l’a fait si bien.

J’ai eu une famille en prison et j’ai toujours été curieux de ce que ce serait de sortir de prison et d’essayer de recommencer dans la vie. Ce n’est pas quelque chose que je veux apprendre de première main. Bien que, j’ai une idée, après la séance par le biais de Random Hearts. LOL! C’est un appel à ma référence à ce film! Non? Eh bien, je suis très drôle en France.

Je n’ai pas hate it!

There are a few actors out there that get to a point in their career where you can just trust that what ever they make will be worth watching.  Clint Eastwood has been in that zone for a while now.  Either directing or acting or both.  Of course there is the occasional doozy.  All the greats have them.  Eastwood did The Rookie.
DeNiro did Rocky & Bullwinkle.
Dane Cook did Employee of the Month

In the Eastwood directed Gran Torino, Clint stars as Korean War vet Walt Kowalski.  He is a man set in his ways, good or bad.  He has problems with everybody.  His sons, his grand kids, his wife’s priest, his neighbors.  His neighbors are mostly Hmong and he ain’t happy about it.  He has a derogatory name for every ethnic group.  He’s pretty racist.  Sidebar:  I can’t say the word racist without saying it like Ricky Gervais’ character, David Brent, from the original UK version of  The Office.  In this politically correct (some say sensitive) time, it’s refreshing to see a flawed character like Walt.  He’s like a taller, tougher Archie Bunker.  No George and Weezy in this one, unfortunately.

I’ve always liked Clint Eastwood.  I remember when I was  7 or 8, I saw Every Which Way But Loose.  My mom and step-dad weren’t the most attentive in the whole “Should a 7 year old be watching this?” department.  I loved it!  There was Bikers and fisticuffs and an orangutan named Clyde.  In the biker scenes the bikers drink Wild Turkey.  So my step-dad thought it wise to join in kind.  “Boy, get me my Wild Turkey!” he’d gently request.  So, I’d go pour him a drink quick as Tom Cruise in Kokomo so I didn’t miss the funny fight scenes.  Oh, the memories.

Back to Gran Torino!  What could have been a pretty predictable story was actually pretty funny and moving.  Eastwood is the  Grumpiest Old Man and you really feel for him and his poor neighbors.   Tôi đã không ghét nó!
What?  You don’t speak Vietnamese?

A while back I got to go to a special early screening of Last Chance Harvey for the SAG Nominating Committee thanks to David Malloy!  There was a sweet Q&A afterward with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson and everything.   It was a lovely experience including a wonderful parking spot across the street!
Last Chance Harvey is about Harvey Shine (Hoffman), a man who’s off to London to see his daughter married.  Harvey isn’t close with his daughter after he split with her mom years before.  He’s not very relevant at work anymore either.   He’s kind of a man with out a country in London.   He meets a local woman (Thompson) in a sort of Before Sunrise situation for the older set.  The strength of the film is in the chemistry between Hoffman and Thompson.

While the Q&A was awesome with Hoffman wonderfully rambling on with terrific stories and Emma Thompson being her charming self, my absolute favorite part of the evening was when we sat down in the crowded theater full of actors.  This older guy sitting in front of us regaled us with lame story after lame story after lame story blafter same stormy laughter game bore me…  David hit his critical listening mass about 5 minutes in and “went to the washroom”.  Another 10 minutes of Hollywood war story complaints and I get a call on my iPhone.  It’s David in the lobby, “Is he still going?”  LOL!!!  Thankfully, the lights went down and we had a real treat in the film and the Q&A.  I didn’t HATE it!

I was so jazzed to see Frost/Nixon when I saw the title.  It had to be some sweet Sci-Fi flick about cryogenically freezing Richard Nixon only to thaw him in the future to do battle with his also recently unfrozen nemesi, Unfrozen Woodward and Bernstein!  It would be a cross between Austin Powers and All The Presidents Men only without the little person.  I’m talking about Mini-Me, not Dustin Hoffman.  I saw Mr. Hoffman in Hook tonight on TV.  He’s delightful.

So, it turns out, I was WAY off.  Frost/Nixon is simply a film about a series of interviews that took place after Nixon left the White House.  There are a host of great actors being directed by Ron Howard.  He’s such a solid director.  My favorite game to play watching his movies is Spot Clint Howard.  Ron’s brother, Clint, is in a lot of his films.  You remember Clint as a child actor in Gentle Ben, playing opposite a gnarly grizzly bear.  That freaked me out as a kid.  I thought he could go anywhere and if anyone tried to stop him he could just command the bear to tear off an arm.  In Frost/Nixon, Clint didn’t play a Mauling Bear Commanding Child, he settled on the roll of the guy directing the interviews.  Also he was in Austin Powers, so I wasn’t TOTALLY off before.

This film was well made and the documentary style interviews really helped it feel fresh.  That’s saying a lot since the subject matter is pretty much a known quantity and the interviews themselves can be seen.  I left feeling like I really wanted to see those original interviews.  I’m too lazy to go find them.  Maybe I can have some of my henchmen break in somewhere and get them for me?  I will, of course, deny any wrongdoing as I AM NOT A CROOK!  And I did NOT hate this movie!

I started this post on 12/7/2008.  I guess I can scratch “Stop procrastinating” off my resolutions list…

I’ve been dwelling on my aging body and thinning hair lately. Vain? Probably.
One thing that helps me feel better about my fat, balding self is going to a movie WAY before it hits theaters (Opens on XMas)! My one-of-5-best-friends, Jeff Hatfield, joined me this time. He makes the movie posters for me. We got to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button! It’s based on a short story I haven’t read. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. I don’t read tons of stuff. The film follows the life of Benjamin Button who is born a wrinkled, aged infant. As he lives, his body gets younger. It makes for some interesting seasons of life. It’s kind of like a more melancholy Forrest Gump in that the story spans a lifetime and Benjamin gets younger as they get older.
The movie is almost 3 hours long and that’s, like, a total turn-off for some people. But, I tend to like the longer movies. Maybe it’s the extended escape from reality. Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes I almost pee myself.
TCCOBB has quite a pedigree. Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and director, David Fincher. I was most impressed with Fincher’s work. It was a technical marvel. What he accomplished with having actors in several decades was pretty sweet. I hope the folks making The Hobbit see this and hire Ian Holm to play Bilbo again!! What? I can’t geek out for a second? Fine.
I like Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. They were awesome in Babel. They are terrific in this too. If you can buy into the whole aging in reverse thing, it’s a pretty sweet ride. Jeff and I did buy into it. It really made me rethink my own self image issues. At least for the drive home. Then Jeff dropped my fat, balding butt off.

I didn’t hate it!  The movie, not my butt.

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