Ember is a dark horse

City of Ember

MovieHook Rating... B

Why do people go to see movies? Why is it when a family has a little free time, they pack into the van and go to the theatre. We all live in the real world, and to be honest sometimes it loses it's luster. That is why we see fantasy films, it is a way for us to experience an alternate reality even if it is just for 90 minutes. And in this case, I've found a movie that will lighten up your day.

City of Ember only made eight million at the box office, but don't let that fool you, Ember has more to offer than just a rare appearance from a now aging Bill Murray. It has a fascinating story about a city that was built underground after tragedy hit in the world we know, but this is no ordinary city. A generator powers the entire cities energy supply, and was built by a group rightly called The Builders, hundreds of years ago. But this city was not meant to last forever, as a timer locked silver case was left with the mayor of the city, and was to be passed down from mayor to mayor until it was ready to be opened to reveal a plan for the future population. This was until the seventh mayor died unexpectedly, and the case of secrets was lost.

City of Ember follows two children by the names of a Doon (Harry Treadaway) and Lina (Saoirse Ronan). Doon is a boy who wants to rescue a failing city by putting it on his shoulders alone, but doesn't know if he will ever get his chance to help. While Lina is just a young girl taking care of her little sister looking for some meaning in her life.

It is an important day in their lives, this is the day they are given the jobs they will work for the rest of their lives. Doon is looking to work near the generator, which is he is convinced he can fix. Lina on the other hand just wants a job she will enjoy. Doon draws the messenger which is not to his liking, and Lina draws the pipe worker which isn't an easy job for a female. Doon approaches Lina for a trade after the ceremony, and when she accepts they are both satisfied with their new occupations. 

Their satisfaction is not long-lasting as the city begins to have more elongated blackouts. The residents of the city seem to be nervous about the blackouts along with the daily decline of the food. Everyone of course except the current mayor (Bill Murray) who seems to be carefree, and rapidly gaining weight. But when Lina finds the famous forgotten case in her grandmother's house, her priorities change. It contains a message left from the builders that she believes may help to save the city. With the Doon at her side, Lina goes on a quest to make sense of the message in the case, while trying to keep it's contents secret from people she may not be able to trust. But as Lina continues her search around the city, she finds the answers she has been longing for may have been right in front of her the entire time.

Ember is definitely not an ideal movie made for success, but that is what makes it a better film. The story reaches every ounce of it's potential, and I wouldn't change anything about the way it was put together. It is definitely a sleeper that will hopefully be resurrected when it hits the video store.

Ronan who has already been nominated for an Oscar, once again shows signs of future success. She is like a younger version of Cate Blanchett, who I'm sure she wouldn't mind being compared to. Murray is as silly as he is evil, but even in a serious movie, he finds the comedy. My favorite part of this movie was it's pulse, it's heart, or otherwise known as the score arranged by Andrew Lockington. It kept you intrigued and played into the suspense of each scene very nicely. With Tim Robbins as Doon's father, and a number of other recognizable faces this movie deserves way more acclaim than it recieved, and I advise you to see it if you ever get the chance. Oh, and of course if that is not enough for you, take a glance at the credits, one of the producers may surprise you.

Rent it for the grown ups or rent it for the kids, it doesn't make a difference...

Reader will make your balls bounce back inside your body

The Reader

MovieHook Rating... C

Kate Winslet finally found the formula to cure her Golden Globe woes. Walking around naked on screen for half an hour, and refusing to put on makeup. I don't know why it worked, but somehow it did. 

The real winner from The Reader is 18 year old David Cross, who was picked to pleasure Kate Winslet seven or eight times in the film. He also caused filming to stall, so he could become of legal age. Cross plays the 16 year old Michael Berg, who stumbles upon Hanna Schmitz's (Winslet) apartment one day while he was ill and disoriented. Hanna cleans up his puke and nurses him back to health. He is sent home, wondering if he will ever see Hanna again. 

Berg's mother is so grateful, she sends him back over to Hanna's apartment with flowers. Their second meeting is more awkward than the first, the sexual tension in the room is surprisingly heated considering Hanna is more than double his age. Berg once again can't find any words to say, and they leave both feeling awkward. 

Berg now seems obsessed with her, he creeps around staring at her where she cannot see, like a obsessive stalker. After days of this he returns to her apartment, and she tells him to go down to the basement and fill two buckets with coal. When he returns his clothes are smeared with in black. Hanna believes it would be disrespectful for him to go home under these circumstances, so she runs him an innocent bath, or maybe not so innocent. (I feel like I'm writing about a cheap porno). When his bath is finished he climbs out of the tub, to Hanna holding a towel in her birthday suit. They proceed to do something that is most certainly illegal, but the real crime is we have to watch it half a dozen times.

Berg comes to Hanna's apartment from school everyday, along with a bag full of books he is reading. Seeing this Hanna asks him to read to her everyday, which makes their relationship more unusual. A high school kid reading to a middle aged woman. It becomes absolutely clear that Hanna is illiterate, but Berg is blind to this.

As three months is along time to spend everyday with one person, Berg begins to notice girls his age. But he cannot soy his wild oats when he is spending every waking second at Hanna's, but right around this time Hanna is offered a new job. Without telling the kid, as she calls him, she packs up and leaves. Berg once again comes, but is met by an empty apartment. He waits for her, but she never returns. 

By this time in the movie you still have not been given any background information on these characters, and wonder what could possibly be next after a grim hour of Winslet earning a one way ticket to prison. But through this affair, an older man who appears to be a grown up version of Berg (Ralph Fiennes) is shown in the future. He is going through a divorce, and trying to bond with his daughter. Not enough is revealed to really where that is going on, but you are left with questions that will be explained later.

We once again flash back to a heavy eyed chain smoking Berg now in law school. Berg is having trouble finding pleasure in anything in college, he doesn't participate in parties, and also wont go for a girl who has been flirting with him for weeks. But when his law class visits a trial where 6 women are convicted for a conspiracy in which 300 Jews were killed, he is thrown a curve ball. One of the women convicted in Hanna Smitz. Berg can hardly watch as his former love is in line for an almost guaranteed jail sentence. We also wait to see what the scenes with the middle aged Berg will bring. Along with the question, will he ever talk to Hanna again?

My biggest problem this movie, is during one of the final scenes in the trial. Hanna is accused by the other conspirators to have led the slaughter of the Jews, and to have signed the official document giving them permission to perform the murders. But you know this is false because she can not read or write, but when the judge asks for a handwriting sample to compare to the file, she admits to signing the document. You know why she did this, so they wouldn't find out she was illiterate. She takes LIFE IN PRISON just because she is a little self-conscious. What the crap, this is insane, nobody cares if you can't read. I don't think anybody would make that trade, but that's the story I guess, see it if you want to.

On a better note, if you have a crush on Kate Winslet, you may like this movie, as she is without clothes for a greater part of the movie. She looks pretty authentic as an women on the back stretch of her life, especially after doing 7 hours of makeup everyday to look so old. Fiennes does a great job playing the older Berg, he captures the emotion of everything that was going on so well. Kross needs some work, he is young, but I didn't understand his character at all. Every time I saw him, he had a goofy expression, it looked like he had the stomach flew the entire movie.

The Reader is not suitable for children, and has an old naked lady with no makeup on basically for the first 45 minutes, so beware.

Slumdog sets the bar that only the greatest of all time can be compared to...

Slumdog Millionaire

MovieHook Rating... A

It has been said so many times before that movies have been the greatest of the year or the greatest of all time. While this movie may be neither of those, it is a film that everyone should watch in your lifetime. See this movie and you will walk out the theatre with goosebumps, still entangled in Danny Boyle's coming of age, rags to riches story, about a character who has to beat the odds in a way that has never been told on screen before. Slumdog Millionaire is the type of movie that insures a feeling of money well spent, which is hard to find in movies today.

Do you ever feel like you walk into movie already making judgements? On the stars of the movie or plots you can probably yank out of a myriad of movies in your Netflix account. With Slumdog Millionaire this is not problem because the cast in almost undoubtedly unknown in the eyes of an American. It is strictly an Indian cast (at least ancestry wise), and be expecting a few subtitles used in of the film.

Slumdog follows an orphan named Jamal, who we find one question away from a 20 million rupees on the popular Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. But before Jamal can answer his final question, we must realize that there are many unknown factors going on outside of the studio that could still play into his final decision. We must also ask how did he get there, and more importantly how could a mildly educated orphan succeed where doctors and lawyers could not.

Going back to one day prior to the opening scene, we find Jamal being tortured by the police. They are wondering how he cheated on the show, but Jamal has no answer for them. An inspector sits him down in front of a television, and turns on a tape of the Millionaire show that featured Jamal. They proceed to go through each question one by one, and Jamal tells the officer in flashbacks how he stumbled upon each answer throughout his life.

As a kid in slums of Mumbai, Jamal and his older brother Salim are both just looking to cause trouble, as many children do. They skip school only to play on airport runways, and in a comical sense charge people to use outdoor lavatories. But one day as the Indian sun beats down on them, a group of anti-Muslim's riot through the streets, flailing weapons at anyone in their reach. Salim and Jamal flee the scene, and hide in a construction site, but their mother is not as lucky. They are left homeless and motherless without any money or food. 

As they duo looks for a place to sleep they run into Latika, an also newly orphaned child. Salim as the older brother emerges as the decider between them, and he does not care for Latika at all it seems. But they stick together looking for scraps of food, until one a day a smiling man takes them away to a singing school for homeless children, now you may be wondering if this is an indian version of Oliver Twist, I assure you it is not. The man notices right from the beginning Salim is a born leader, but it begins to come apparent that Salim is showing qualities of a future villain. He puts the kids on the streets acting as beggars, and gives them fake crutches, and eye patches that make them look terribly sad. But as Salim begins to spend more time with this man, he sees that he would do whatever it takes to make money, even actually cut out a child's eyes. So he grabs Jamal and Latika, and they escape the school, but as they chase down the getaway train, Salim lets go of Latika's hand, and she is left behind. Jamal fights Salim, but he makes him stay on the train, and refuses to let him go back for her. 

As the story continues to unfold, and the Millionaire answers are frequently revealed. We begin to see why a kid with no desire to win money is on a show that most people can only dream off. But this Slumdog is not alone in his hunt for the 20 million rupees, cheering in his corner, is the entire city of Mumbai, flocking to televisions waiting to see if this local boys fairy tale will come true.

Slumdog Millionaire does not just show the changes in the life of Jamal, but it follows the destiny of the city of Mumbai. Slumdog gives you a look at the changes in India in the past two decades, along with an intoxicating storyline based off the novel written by Vikas Swarup. 

Slumdog is a complete movie, filled to the brim with themes of love, greed, retribution, and honesty. It will leave you questioning your own way of life, and the best part is the whole family can see it. It is fit for all ages, and educational as well, there is no reason why you should not drive to any theatre you can find to see this golden globe and oscar winning masterpiece. 

Superbad had a retarded baby it's called....

College 

MovieHook rating... C-

It looks like somebody else is trying to capitalize on the success of Superbad, and from the looks of it College is using the exact same formula. First is the regular kid that is going to a good college, Kevin (Drake Bell), next the fat kid who is always pissed off because of his fatness or Carter (Andrew Caldwell), and of course the nerdy kid that people are laughing at throughout the movie AKA Morris (Kevin Covais), but in this case the nerdy kid wasn't Mclovin, and he wasn't funny.

College begins at the high school of Kevin, Carter, and Morris. They are eating lunch when their buddy Fletcher (Ryan Pinkston) walks over, and tells them he visited his brother in college over the weekend. The trio kind of shrugs it off saying who cares it's just college, and then Fletcher begins to tell them all these crazy things he did there. Lunch concludes and they are walking down the hall talking about a college trip they had planned for that weekend. Kevin's girlfriend walks over and tells kevin she wants to break it off because he is no fun anymore. Kevin's friends tell him that it is good for him, and he decides the best thing to do is to try and prove her wrong, and have some fun on their college visit. 

They arrive at Fairfield college and decide to try to stay in a Frat, but the leader of the Frat

Teague (Nick Zano) doesn't take a liking to them. Throughout the weekend they get drunk every night, and the Frat guys continue to mess with them. Kevin, Carter, and Morris go around telling people they are in college, and from doing this they meet three girls lead by Kendall (Haley Bennet). Throughout the weekend they have to deal with the Frat guys getting them in to trouble, and trying to make sure no one finds out they are in high school.

I don't really know how the makers of this movie thought it was going to make money, but i'm sure they will have a lot of time to figure it out when they are sitting at home looking for a new job. It is rated R, which takes out the only audience it could be targeted too, young teenagers. And it stars a Nickelodeon favorite Drake Bell, who gets drunk and says the F word maybe a hundred times. On the flip side there was bad acting, and the most obnoxious fat kid I have every seen in a movie, Andrew Caldwell. My favorite part was when the three high schoolers drank beer out of a Frat guy's harry butt, but i missed most of it because I had to run to the bathroom to puke. On the bright side, I laughed maybe twice, so there was not much of a bright side.

I wouldn't recommend anybody see this movie unless you enjoy college kids drinking beer out of each others buttholes.

"When the President does it, that means it's not illegal"

Frost Nixon

MovieHook Rating... B

There have been some amazing movies released in 2008 looking to make it big during the awards season. Frost/Nixon is considered to be one of those movies, but will it be able to compete with the likes of Slumdog Millionare and Gran Torino? There is only so much you can do with certain historical topics. There is only so much of a story you can tell before you are just wasting time. The question is, can Frost/Nixon be a compelling movie for it's entire two hours, or will people lose interest before the credits roll?

 

Frost/Nixon centers around an Englishman named David Frost (Michael Sheen) who was a former noteworthy talk show host in the United States. His show was canceled after a few successful seasons, and now he has a show in a few shows in Australia. The movie starts on the day Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) resigns from his post as president. Frost is watching his farewell speech on TV in Australia, when his producer Jon Birt (Matthew Macfadyen) approaches him. Frost seems to have some sort of epiphany while staring at the television, and he declares to Birt that he would like a one on one interview with Richard Nixon. Frost and Birt call up Nixon's offices, and send an invitation for Nixon to meet with him, and they wait for an answer. Weeks later, Nixon's advisors are looking for any way to help his image, and they do not trust any of the big networks to give him a fair interview. While considering their options, they remember David Frost offered money for an interview. They don’t see frost as much of a threat, and believe Nixon can come out of the interview with some sympathy in his favor, but Nixon wants to make sure he comes out wealthy. Frost is asked to pay 600 grand. Frost accepts the offer even though he doesn't know if he can raise the change.

 

Frost and Birt find a crack team to help them prepare for the interviews, it consists of a Nixon specialized author named James Reston Jr. (Sam Rockwell) and a seasoned journalist named Bob Zelnick (Oliver Pratt), along with Frost's latest flame, Caroline Cushing (Rebecca Hall). Everyone knows that Nixon will not be easy to break down, but Frost is more worried about raising the money for the interview, and he seems to blow of his team every time they ask for his opinion. When the day of the first interview finally arrives, Frost is psychically tired and mentally not ready. The interview begins like a boxing match they go back and forth trading blows, and every time there is a break, advisors from each side give their party a pep talk. But Nixon is taking up the time babbling about past stories, and Frost is starting to lose face. On Nixon's side, his head advisor Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon) is there to protect Nixon if anything goes wrong. On Frost's side, his advisors don't think he is taking these interviews serious enough, and all along in the back of their minds they are thinking this fiasco could initially ruin their careers.

 

Frost/Nixon is two hours long, but the only parts needed in the movie are the initial scenes that set up the interview, and of course the interview itself. The scenes in the few days leading to the interview lack any suspenseful qualities, and to be honest if I was watching these parts on TV, I might have changed the channel. The second hour of the movie is much of an improvement. The last interview with Langella and Douglas will literally make your heart skip a beat, it is definitely what you come to see this movie for.

 

Ron Howard continues to get the best scripts for movies, and as always does a good job directing. Nixon is portrayed as a very regretful man who likes to listen to himself talk, but who wouldn't be regretful if they had to resign their presidency. Frost starts out overconfident, and continually takes on more than he can handle. It's takes him the entire movie to realize that Nixon is too much for him to handle, and he needs all the help he can find to take him on. Frost and Nixon are different in many ways, but they have one thing in common, each have both been reduced to ridicule and fallen from the top. They are looking for anyway to win their ever-longing fight for the limelight, but in the end only one can win.

Frost/Nixon uses some bad language, but overall it is very appropriate. I recommend it from to teenagers to adults.

Rainn Wilson Just Wont Grow Up...

The Rocker

MovieHook Rating... C+

Rainn Wilson is very successful on TV every week, but I never really thought of him as a leading man. The last movie I remember seeing him in was Juno, where he plays the wise cracking convenience store clerk in the first scene. But other than that I never really saw any signs of him starring in a movie. So can Rainn Wilson carry a movie?

The Rocker opens with a band called Vesuvius playing a show, and following the show the manager of the band tells them they are going to be signed. But the catch is the record company wants to replace the drummer Robert "Fish" Fishman (Rainn Wilson) with some one else. The band has to be talked into it, but eventually they agree. Fish doesn't this well, and quits playing the drums all together. 20 years later Fish is unemployed and living with his sister. His nephew Matt (Josh Gad) asks him to play in his band A.D.D. because they have a gig at the prom. After some heckling, Fish Agrees. After the prom, the band doesn't want to play with Fish anymore because of his over the top performing, but Fish sees potential in the singer Curtis (Teddy Geiger) and the bassist Amelia (Emma Stone). They decide to let fish in the band again, and they begin to practice. 

When Matt's sister intercepts a video of Fish playing the drums in the nude, she leaks it on to the internet. The video is seen by millions of people, but they are just as impressed with the music the band is playing. A.D.D becomes an overnight success, and they land a record deal. They begin laying down music, and are set to go on tour. Fish is less than trustworthy, so Curtis's mom decides to join them on tour. With Fish being in his forties, he wonders if he can keep up his rock star persona, keep the kids interested in the band, and try to convince Curtis's mom Kim (Christina Applegate) that he is more grown up than she thinks.

Rainn Wilson is a riot on NBC's The Office, and he brings that over the top humor to The Rocker. But even though he creates a few laugh out loud moments, these types of movies have been made before. The group catches a break, they have a falling out, and either fix it or move on. I actually did like the ending of the movie, and I was generally interested during throughout the film. But this movie was definitely forgetable, so I would say maybe rent it if you have nothing else to do. But The Rocker will not change your life.

The Rocker is filled with a naked Rainn Wilson throughout the movie, but he never shows anything more than his bum. I would recommend this movie for any teenager, or younger children with parental consent.

Marley is a Treat

Marley and Me
MovieHook Rating... (B)

"A dog doesn't care if your rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he will give you his."

I don't have very many memories of my grade school days, but some things are just hard to forget. When I was nine years old my family had a dog named Dolly, and one day Dolly ran away before I got on the bus for school. I cried all day long, and I wanted to leave school, and go look for her. And when I came home she was sitting right in front of the door waiting for me. If I think back to my childhood, Dolly was one constant thing i can remember through the good times and the bad, and watching Marley and Me brings back all of those wonderful memories. Marley and Me may be a good movie for anyone, but if you grew up with a dog of your own, Marley and Me will speak directly too you.

Marley and Me opens in a snowstorm on the wedding night of John (Owen Wilson) and Jennifer (Jennifer Aniston) Grogan. The Grogans are both reporters who move out to Miami after their wedding to get away from the cold weather. In a plight to keep his wifes mind off of having kids. John takes the advice of his rowdy college buddy Sebastian (Eric Dane) and surprises Jenn with a dog. During their first day together John hears a song by Bob Marley, and decides to name the dog Marley. And so it begins, the Grogans try everything to whip their dog into shape, but nothing seems to work. Even so, they still love Marley more than anything in the world.

John has always dreamt of becoming a real reporter, but his boss (Alan Arkin) doesn't see it that way. He convinces John to write columns, but John doesn't have the slighest idea what to write about. After doing some soul searching, John decides to write about Marley, and his boss tells him to keep writing the funny stories. John is finally seeing a little success, but Jenn goes another route. She quits her job and starts having kids. This starts a trend of fighting between the couple, as Jenn is overwhelmed with her mother roll. John starts to wonder if he enjoys his life at all anymore, and the only constant thing he can look to is Marley, but Marley isn't making Jenn happy when he tears up the house. John sees his friend Sebastian and all his success at the New York Times, and the single life he leads, and wonders if that should be him. But he remembers all the good times he had with Jenn before they had kids, and he knows that they can peice things back together.

Marley and me is based on the book by the real life John Grogan, and was actually about Grogan's real life dog. The casting for this movie was questionable, and the kids don't really seem lifelike until the end of the movie. They don't really have any lines or scenes until the end. But I believe Owen Wilson is underrated as an actor. The scenes he has with Marley are touching, and you can't help but see a friendliness between them. Jennifer Aniston only acts in one genre of movies (Recycled Romantic Comedy), and it looks like she is finally making progress in life after Rachel Green (Friends). Overall the story is good, and the dog is a lot of fun to watch. I wouldn't drop everything and see this movie, but I would say that everyone should rent it when it hits Dvd.

Marley and Me is for all ages, and I wouldn't hesitate to bring the whole family to go see it.

Mickey Rourke Was Made for This!

The Wrestler
MovieHook Rating... (A-)

Mickey Rourke does not just give you a glimpse at the life of a professional wrestler. He gives you an in depth depiction of what most wrestlers deal with once they have to give it up. He captures the desperation of this way of life, and the profound love of the sport. The Wrestler depends heavily on Rourke's performance, and it's hard to believe anyone else could have pulled it off like he did. Nicholas Cage was originally supposed to star, but he dropped out due to creative differences. Could anyone really see Cage playing a professional wrestler? I know I couldn't, and I also know Mickey Rourke was born to play this part.

The Wrestler centers around a former professional wrestling legend Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke), who is working on his comeback in the independent wrestling circuit. Randy has wrestled for decades, and his body has payed the price. He takes any kind of drug that will keep him on his feet. When Randy is told he is scheduled for get a rematch with "The Ayatollah"(Ernest Miller), his most famous nemesis. He begins trying to whip his body back into shape, but it leads him to a heart attack. When he wakes up in the hospital, the doctor tells him that he can never wrestle again, for his heart may fail.

Randy goes home not sure if he should take the doctor's advice, so he goes for a jog. Maybe five minutes in, he almost collapses. This was a perfect scene to show how serious his heart problem was. Randy is forced to retire, and without wrestling his loneliness hits an all time high. First he goes to a strip club to a see Cassidy (Marisa Tomei). Cassidy is a stripper who is beggining to worry about her age, and Randy has fallen for her. But when Randy asks for more from Cassidy, she declines, and recommends he should patch things up with his daughter.

Randy takes Cassidy's advice and goes to see his daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood). Randy walked out on Stephanie when she was younger, and she refuses to hear him out. Stephanie doesn't want anything to do with him, but he is persistent, and she gives him a chance. Randy begins to see life after wrestling might not be so bad, but once he thinks things are moving forward with Cassidy. She completly turns on him, and so begins Randy's downward spiral.

I haven't seen such a complete movie in a long time. The director Darren Aronofsky really captures both sides of Rourke's character in every shot, even though the shoot was only 35 days. Robert Siegel wrote an amazing script, especially, Rourke's monologue asking for his daughter Stephanie's forgiveness, "I'm an old broken down peice of meat and I deserve to be all alone, I just don't want you to hate me."

The wrestler is two hours long, but it felt like it was much longer, and yet, I never wanted it to end. Evan Rachel Wood is an amazing actress, and Marisa Tomei was a perfect choice as Cassidy. This is by far the best movie I have seen this year, and Rourke easily deserved the Golden Globe. And I marvel whether any other actor could beat out Rourke for the Oscar.

The Wrestler has scenes of Sexuality and Nudity. It also contains curse words and drug and alcohal use. I would recommend that everyone see this movie, and cover the younger ones eyes when the naughty parts come up.

Eastwood hangs up the acting boots...

Gran Torino

MovieHook Rating... B+

Over the last two decades, one of the Hollywood's most legendary actors, Clint Eastwood, has been slowly bowing out of the acting limelight. Ever since the millenuim hit, Eastwood has only acted in four movies, and in each of them he also directed. And now Eastwood says that Gran Torino will be his last stint in acting, but don't fret because he is still planning on doing some directing. His forthcoming film The Human Factor is based on Nelson Mandela's plea to bring the the Rugby World Cup to South Africa back in 1995. But as it looks

 now, Eastwood is still on top with his latest movie, Gran Torino.

Gran Torino follows a retired factory worker named Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), who had recently lost his wife. Walt finds himself at a new crossroads in his life. He has trouble maintaining a house too big for a single person, but wont let his sons find him a retirement home to move on to. Walt spends most of his days sitting on the front porch thinking about the years he served in the Korean War, and the worst part is his neighborhood has been overun by masses of immigrants. Walt can't cope with the decisions he has made in his life, and wont except the help his Church's priest is trying to give.

Walt really becomes uneasy when he finds one of the neighbor boys trying to steal his nicely kept Gran Torino. Walt begins to watch the neighbors more carefully, and noticebly the grandma next door who doesn't seem to like him much either. One night Walt scares off a gang that is heckling the boy next door Thao, and the neigborhood begins to see Walt as a hero. He is invited to a traditional Hmong party at his neighbor's, The Lors, and he befriends the children of the house Thao (Bee Vang) and Sue (Ahney Her). Walt soon finds out that Thao was the one who tryed to steal his car, and Thao offers himself to work for Walt in a plea for forgiveness. Walt doesn't go easy on Thao; he puts him to work whether it is rain or shine. But at the end of the week Thao has gained Walt's respect, and Walt quietly decides to mentor Thao, especially once he finds out the gang made him try to steal the Gran Torino.

Walt wants to give these kids a chance at having a succesful life, but as long as they are bothered by the local gang, they will always be held back. He finds that he is given a second chance to help these kids, unlike he ever did with his own. Walt is faced with the regret of the bad decisions of his life, he must deal with the loss of his wife, and try to respect her wishes by asking for god's forgiveness.

Eastwood does a great job playing a comically racist old man, who is looking for someone to help him deal with his old age. It almost makes you wonder if this script is loosely based on Eastwood's own life and his retiremnt from acting. The Hmongs in this film were newcomers to the screen, and at times it showed. But Eastwood likes to film scenes in one take if possible, so it doesn't leave them as much time to improve. You could see potential in them, but anyone playing in a movie opposite Clint Eastwood is going to look amateur at times.

Gran Torino has a tremendous amount of crude humor and cursing. Eastwood also mentions some very racist remarks, so I would not advise anyone under 17 to see this movie.

Pineapple Express shines through Franco

Pineapple Express
Moviehook Rating... (B)

First he was a Navy Seal in Annapolis, and then he starred as Peter Parker's nemesis in the Spiderman trilogy, and in his latest movie James Franco plays a lovable drug dealer named Saul Silver. Who knew James Franco was such a comedian? Franco first saw comedic success in a small part in the movie Knocked up who his co-star in Pineapple Express Seth Rogen starred in. Rogen has been on fire in the last year, and with all this success, Rogen got the green light on his script for Pineapple Express which he wrote back in 2001. In the original draft of the script, Rogen wrote the part of Saul for himself, but he later found that Franco would be the perfect fit for the part.

Pineapple Express tells the story of a dead-end slacker named Dale Denton (Rogen), who spends his days getting stoned in his car, and dressing up in disguises serving people for missing there court dates. He listens to talk radio constantly hoping to someday break into the radio industry. Dale also dates an eighteen year old high school girl named Angie (Amber Heard), who wants him to take there relationship more seriously by meeting her parents. But Dale has trouble taking anything seriously in his life.

When Dale finds that he has run out of weed, he must call his dealer Saul Silver (Franco). Saul is an optimistic about life burnout who is selling drugs in hope of putting his bubby in a good retirement home someday. Dale starts out thinking Saul could never be his friend, but as the movie progresses and the duo finds themselves in the middle of a drug war between Saul's provider Tedd Jones (Gary Cole) and the Asians. They begin to bond, and see they are not so different from each other.

Franco and Rogen have amazing chemistry on screen, but they are also surrounded by the always hysterical Danny Mcbride as Red, and the wacky and sometimes homosexual Mathison played by Craig Robinson. Even if you are offended by risky antics of the Pineapple Express cast, it is still hard not to laugh at the hundred of punch lines delivered to perfection in every scene. This is definitely one that no one should miss, and it is now available on DVD.

Pineapple Express was one of the funniest movies of 2008, but it is not for young children, the F word is used 180 times throughout the movie. it is also filled with tons of action sequences, and gun fights.