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Well over at JayDee's Movie Musings I've gone a bit Clint Eastwood crazy and he makes up half of the films I'm posting here. Again, if you see a film that interests you I'd be very grateful if you followed the links and went and read the full review.
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Unforgiven
“And there is only one guarantee; none of us will see heaven”
Though a line from the 2002 film Road to Perdition it could so easily apply here. If you're looking for a hero, you've come to the wrong place. Pretty much every character here is guilty, whether it be due to deeds in the present or in their past. The killers are vicious, and the sheriff is even worse! It's certainly not your daddy's western of 'cool' lone wolf anti-heroes, valiant sheriffs and stylistic, righteous killings. There is no romanticizing or mythologising of the Old West to be found here. As an example of how that kind of thinking came to be we have Saul Rubinek's writer who is travelling with English Bob, acting as his biographer. He is ......................
Read the full review here
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Capricorn One
This is a rollicking good yarn. Yes it may be a bit cheesy and flawed in parts but yeah, rollicking good yarn sums it up pretty succinctly.
After the unnerving chills of Magic and the methodical drama of Escape from Alcatraz, this finds me firmly back on classic 70s thriller territory. We've got conspiracies, cover-ups, the ordinary man being squeezed under the thumb of the government, the conspiracy being blown apart by a tenacious journalist. Indeed much of it feels very All the President's Men, right down to the two films sharing Hal Holbrook as a member of their cast. He was Deep Throat in All the President's Men, and here he is the puppet master who ..........................
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The Grifters
This is a film which feels extremely 90s. It just has that 90s sheen to it. It's tremendously cool, sexy and slick; quite Tarantino-esque in fact. While it may look very 90s (to my eyes at least) it's tone commonly feels rooted about half a century previous with its film noir sensibility and vaguely hard boiled dialogue.
I've always enjoyed watching the exploits of con artists, whether it be in film or TV. For the most part it is presented as an exciting and romantic world. And as we are watching con artists who deal in confidence; getting people to like and trust them, we usually end up liking them as well, finding them very likeable and charming. This however is a much darker affair, taking a look behind the scenes if you will at .......................
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Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
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An offbeat little film this. It's a fairly simple little story which is half buddy road movie, and half heist caper movie. It's a highly enjoyable buddy relationship/bromance between Eastwood and Bridges as the film tackles the themes of male bonding and honour among thieves.
Jeff Bridges is just terrific here as Lightfoot; his carefree, swaggering and quipping scoundrel evoking other creations such as Captain Jack Sparrow. The characters enthusiasm is truly infectious and the terrific chemistry he shares with Eastwood feels like it could have inspired many a buddy pic down the road. Eastwood actually gives quite a restrained and quiet performance by his standards, allowing Bridges .......................
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Coogan's Bluff
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It's very hard not to see this film's plot as a metaphor for Eastwood's 'coming out' to mainstream Hollywood. The way that his character, Deputy Sheriff Coogan, leaves the Arizona desert for the big city really feels like a statement from Clint that he is ready to move out of the spaghetti western genre which established him into American productions. The former Man With No Name is now ready to make, and have a name (and yes I just went with a line that corny! 
) It's also quite a safe vehicle for Eastwood as he is able to retain his western persona of a gruff, monosyllabic outlaw/lawman. The film really is like a stepping stone between the western genre that established him, and the cop thriller genre were he arguably would gain even greater recognition and fame. It's only a small step from here to the .....................
) It's also quite a safe vehicle for Eastwood as he is able to retain his western persona of a gruff, monosyllabic outlaw/lawman. The film really is like a stepping stone between the western genre that established him, and the cop thriller genre were he arguably would gain even greater recognition and fame. It's only a small step from here to the .....................Read the full reviewhere
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The Gauntlet
Well my 70s thriller season really is certainly morphing into a Clint Eastwood season! This is a grubby and fairly trashy little flick which also happens to be really quite good fun. From the growing number of films of his I've now seen I'd say this is quite firmly in 'classic' Eastwood territory; it's action packed, fast-paced and darkly and crudely funny. Its story is fairly absurd and ludicrous at points but it's all done with such a gleeful and ferocious energy that it's easy to forgive it, and even enjoy it for those reasons. Though sadly it's nowhere near as awesome as that first movie poster would have you think!
This is a grubby and fairly trashy little flick which also happens to be really quite good fun. From the growing number of films of his I've now seen I'd say this is quite firmly in 'classic' Eastwood territory; it's action packed, fast-paced and darkly and crudely funny. Its story is fairly absurd and ludicrous at points but it's all done with such a gleeful and ferocious energy that it's easy to forgive it, and even enjoy it for those reasons. Though sadly it's nowhere near as awesome as that first movie poster would have you think! This certainly isn't mentally challenging fare. Along with some fairly obvious and telegraphed .......................
Read the full review here
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Spy Game
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A decent, but on the whole uninspired film. There just seems to be an air of laziness lingering around it, as if too many people on the production were content just to reach a level of adequate and leave it at that. While with a bit more effort it could have been a cracking political thriller.
As for the directing it's a bit of a mixed bag. Tony Scott may not be a master craftsman of a director but he proves to be a fairly safe pair of hands for this kind of thing. He keeps the film cracking along at a fair pace, so much so that we cross four decades and a few wars in a mere two hours. It really is quite a lot of information he is able to squeeze into a fairly tight running time. And I appreciated the way ......................
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Green Lantern
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Am I the only one who found this to actually be kinda decent? Well maybe decent isn't the word as it's certainly not a good film but at least it's quite good fun in spurts. And as a result I'd probably give it the slightest of edges over The Incredible Hulk for instance in terms of enjoyment. It really is the absolute epitome of the big dumb summer blockbuster – massive mindless action, loads of effects, a half-hearted romance (though saying it's half-hearted is being very generous to the film) and sadly little intelligence or wit.
While I may be a massive comiic book fan I had absolutely no exposure to the Green Lantern mythos so this was all new to me – Hal Jordan, the ring, the Corp etc. So I had no expectations about .......................
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JayDee's Movie Musings (Reviews - Frailty / Total Recall / Lone Ranger / Nightcrawler / Whiplash / Imitation Game / Birdman / Avengers: Age of Ultron / Mad Max: Fury Road)
