[Insert Racial Slur Here]

There are many scary things in this world. African bees. Nuclear war. Tickle-Me Elmo. But these things pale in comparison to being confronted by a crotchety, angry Clint Eastwood armed with a rifle while you’re trespassing on his lawn.

Such is the situation that a local Asian gang finds themselves in after trying to steal Walt Kowalski’s, played by Eastwood, prized 1972 Gran Torino. Kowalski’s teenage neighbor, Thao, is pressured by the gang to hotwire the car as part of initiation. When he fails, the gang begins to harass Thao, pushing and shoving him and his family around in front of Kowalski’s house. Walt, a Korean War veteran with deep-seated prejudice against Asian people, intervenes mostly just to get the punks off his grass, but his courage makes him a hero to the local Asian community, much to his disgust. But despite his best efforts, Walt’s loneliness after the recent death of his wife and his growing disconnect from his own family gradually lead him to become close with Thao and his family. When the gang begins to harass Thao’s family more and more, Walt must decide how far is too far in a dangerous game of violent one-upsmanship.

If there was one thing that surprised me the most about Gran Torino, it was how humorous it was at some points. It was marketed as a very serious Clint Eastwood flick (like Mystic River: Sean Penn's daughter murdered… not so funny), but many of the scenes center around the odd, but hilarious, differences between Walt and his Asian neighbors, his family and the growing minority groups in the area. The biggest staple of this is race humor. In a world obsessed with political correctness, it was refreshing to see a more realistic portrayal of how people of different races relate to one another. While at times racial slurs were used with the intent to insult or hurt in the movie, most of the time they were used as terms of endearment between the characters. That might not be ‘correct’, but I found myself laughing out loud more than once.

Overall, this was a very good film. There were few missteps- some of the younger Asian actors lacked the chops for certain scenes, and I could really have done without Clint Eastwood singing during the end credits- but this is one I would definitely recommend. The writing, cinematography and acting are all top-notch. Clint Eastwood has once again proven himself to be one of the better directors in Hollywood, and certainly one of the greatest screen legends.

So Many Nazis, So Little Time...

What’s the deal with Nazi-themed movies lately? Much like the slow-motion wreck of sequel fever that has plagued theatres for the past few years (i.e. Step-Up 2: The Streets, otherwise known as new fodder for Guantanamo interrogations), trends often emerge among new film releases. The newest fad in Hollywood seems to be World War II era flicks a la the Third Reich.

The first is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, released November 14th, 2008. What looks to be a tear-jerker of Nicholas Sparks proportions, the story focuses on little Bruno, whose Nazi officer father relocates the family to a nice country estate during World War II. That just happens to be next door to a concentration camp. Bruno soon befriends Leon, a young boy in striped pajamas. Bruno then learns that he cannot be friends with Leon because he is Jewish and awaiting execution on the other side of the prison camp fence. While it looks interesting, I’m not a fan of movies that seem engineered to make you cry, so I might not make the trip for this film.

Next up is The Reader, which was released January 9th, 2009. Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes star in this tale of an illicit affair between an older woman, Hanna (Winslet), and a younger man, Michael. The relationship lasts for several months, during which Michael indulges Hanna’s love of being read to, before ending suddenly when Hanna mysteriously disappears. Nearly a decade later, Michael (played by Fiennes) is a law student observing Nazi war crime trials, and is shocked to see Hanna on the stand for being a guard in a concentration camp. As the trial progresses, Michael realizes he holds information that could prove Hanna’s innocence, but is torn between saving her and revealing her secrets. So far Winslet has snapped up almost every acting award for her role, and the film is also nominated for Oscars in directing, cinematography, screenwriting and best picture of the year. This one is most certainly on my list.

Finally, Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, was released Christmas Day 2008. Cruise portrays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a Germany officer involved in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler during World War II. Together with a network of other underground conspirators, Stauffenberg cooks up a plan to deliver a briefcase bomb to Hitler’s war room and bring about the end of the Nazi regime. Sounds interesting, right? Exciting? Not so much. Through too many characters to keep track of and a convoluted plot, the suspense that should have been present in such a dramatic story was lost. This movie is about trying to assassinate one of the world’s worst military dictators, responsible for some of the greatest atrocities ever known… and I dozed off in the middle. As a diehard movie fan, this is the ultimate seal of doom. While there were some aspects that were well done- the film was shot in the actual German bloc, creating excellent cinematography at times- not even bombs, Hitler and an eye-patch sporting (and mysteriously pirate-like) Tom Cruise were enough to keep me interested. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone except maybe experts on the subject, who might be able to keep everything straight, and certainly wouldn’t ask anyone to pay a steep seven dollars for the privilege of napping. For a more in-depth look at where Valkyrie floundered, I give you this pie chart snagged from New York Magazine Online covering how the whopping $100 million budget for the film was spent: