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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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U2 3D
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Wrestler, The
48
Yonkers Joe
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Class, The
90
Waltz with Bashir
89
Man on Wire
86
Slumdog Millionaire
84
Christmas Tale, A
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
83
Trouble the Water
83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
Secret of the Grain, The
82
Rachel Getting Married
82
Let the Right One In
82
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
81
Wrestler, The
81
Wendy and Lucy
80
Frost/Nixon
79
Of Time and the City
79
I've Loved You So Long
78
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
75
Pool, The
75
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
75
Silent Light
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
72
I Served the King of England
71
What Doesn't Kill You
70
Black Balloon, The
70
Moscow, Belgium
70
Hunger
70
I.O.U.S. A
69
Ashes of Time Redux
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
68
August Evening
68
Timecrimes
68
Theater of War
67
Synecdoche, New York
65
Just Another Love Story
65
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
64
Che
64
JCVD
64
Nothing But the Truth
64
Appaloosa
63
Changeling
63
Eden
62
Duchess, The
61
Where God Left His Shoes
59
We Are Wizards
58
Adam Resurrected
58
Reader, The
58
Defiance
57
Special
57
Last Chance Harvey
56
Cherry Blossoms
56
Religulous
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
55
What Just Happened?
54
Battle in Seattle
54
Good Dick
53
RocknRolla
51
Breakfast with Scot
50
How About You
48
Yonkers Joe
46
Dukes, The
44
Chandni Chowk to China
43
Tru Loved
43
Donkey Punch
43
Gardens of the Night
43
Not Easily Broken
40
While She Was Out
40
Igor
40
Other End of the Line, The
40
Good
38
Dark Streets
36
My Name Is Bruce
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
31
Hounddog
31
Let Them Chirp Awhile
30
Guitar, The
29
Lake City
28
Nobel Son
28
Fireproof
26
Filth and Wisdom
21
House of the Sleeping Beauties
17
Lodger, The
xx
Dostana
xx
Medicine for Melancholy
xx
Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh
xx
Cargo 200
xx
Local Color
xx
Shadows
xx
Luck by Chance
xx
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
xx
Extreme Movie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Gran Torino
Warner Bros. Pictures
 |
|
MPAA RATING: R for language throughout, and some violence
Starring
Clint Eastwood,
Bee Vang,
Ahney Her,
and
Christopher Carley
Retired auto worker Walt Kowalski fills his days with home repair, beer and monthly trips to the barber. The people he once called his neighbors have all moved or passed away, replaced by Hmong immigrants, from Southeast Asia, he despises. Resentful of virtually everything he sees--Walt is just waiting out the rest of his life. Until the night someone tries to steal his `72 Gran Torino. The Gran Torino brings his shy teenaged neighbor Thao into his life when Hmong gangbangers pressure the boy into trying to steal it. But Walt stands in the way of both the heist and the gang, making him the reluctant hero of the neighborhood--especially to Thao's mother and older sister, Sue, who insist that Thao work for Walt as a way to make amends. Though he initially wants nothing to do with these people, Walt eventually gives in and puts the boy to work fixing up the neighborhood, setting into motion an unlikely friendship that will change both their lives. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Drama
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Dave Johannson (story)
Nick Schenk (& story)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Clint Eastwood
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: December 12, 2008
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
91
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
A movie at once understated and radical, deceptively unremarkable in presentation and ballsy in its earnestness. Don't let the star's overly familiar squint fool you: This is subtle, perceptive stuff.
90
Village Voice
Scott Foundas
Above all, it feels like a summation of everything he (Eastwood) represents as a filmmaker and a movie star, and perhaps also a farewell.
90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Perhaps the best thing about Schenk's script is that it enticed Eastwood to end his self-imposed acting hiatus and bring his one-of-a-kind aura back to the screen.
90
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
Mr. Eastwood is also an adept director of his own performances and, perhaps more important, a canny manipulator of his own iconographic presence.
89
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Eastwood finds the humorous aspects of the character as well, no more so than when the appetite of the widower who lives on beef jerky and Pabst Blue Ribbon becomes the center of attention among the Hmong women cooks.
88
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
The movie is supremely entertaining -- and often hilarious.
88
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
A lifetime in movies runs through this prime vintage Eastwood performance. You can't take your eyes off him. The no-frills, no-bull Gran Torino made my day.
88
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
It's also a terrific, career-capping role for Eastwood, who claims he's now retired as an actor. He shows off his comic chops more fully than in any film since "Bronco Billy" more than a quarter-century ago.
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Stars Eastwood as an American icon once again -- this time as a cantankerous, racist, beer-chugging retired Detroit autoworker who keeps his shotgun ready to lock and load. Dirty Harry on a pension, we're thinking, until we realize that only the autoworker retired; Dirty Harry is still on the job.
80
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
It's a meditation, as affecting as it is entertaining, on the limits of violence and the power of unchained empathy.
80
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
If you can survive the F-bombs and the near-constant ethnic invective, Gran Torino is not to be missed, if only as the gutsy, thoroughly unexpected valedictory of an icon fully willing to spend every bit of his considerable capital.
80
The New Yorker
David Denby
The movie was not written for Eastwood, but it still seems to be all about him--his past characters, his myth, his old role as a dispenser of raw justice.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
For those who gripe that America doesn't make cars or movies like it used to, Clint Eastwood has two words for you: Gran Torino.
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
This movie seems even rougher around the edges than much of his past work. Still, it's hard to resist.
75
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Gran Torino amounts to one more elegiac movement in Eastwood's astonishing late-career symphony.
75
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
This is Eastwood's first acting job since "Million Dollar Baby," and his range, like his raspiness, is fairly one-note.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Earnest and understated, Gran Torino is an unflinching examination of themes that have fascinated Eastwood in most of his recent films: family, war, loss, faith and unexpected human connection.
75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
An amazingly over-the-top anti-racism parable but, despite its obvious shortcomings, it is nevertheless effective and affecting.
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Eastwood directs with his usual relaxed pace and bursts of intensity, a style that's pleasing to watch--and which, also as usual, never fully compensates for any shortcomings of the script handed to him.
70
Slate
Dana Stevens
Eastwood's furthest venture yet into the comic possibilities of his flintier-than-thou persona.
70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Highlighted by the star's vastly entertaining performance, this funny, broad but ultimately serious-minded drama about an old-timer driven to put things right in his deteriorating neighborhood looks to be a big audience-pleaser.
70
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
The movie is ludicrous, but Eastwood’s consistency is poignant. He has an agenda and sticks to it.
70
Film Threat
Scott Mendelson
Gran Torino is not a masterpiece. It’s a fun character drama that features a knowing but winning final performance by Clint Eastwood and just enough commentary to make it worth discussing.
70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Until Gran Torino starts rumbling headlong toward its tone-deaf, self-serious ending -- the script is by Nick Schenk -- it's often enjoyable, satisfying and funny.
63
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
An endlessly fascinating movie. If only it were a good one.
60
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
Eastwood has always had the gift for comedy in his acting repertoire, but he indulges in it only rarely. His fans might embrace this return to comedy.
60
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Eastwood's performance is the movie's centerpiece, and as you might expect, it's just tough enough to hold everything together.
50
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Eastwood's foursquare directorial aesthetic tends to heighten, rather than camouflage, a screenplay's shortcomings.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Maybe this mixed-up and weird, awful but awfully likable movie is what Dirty Harry had coming to him, after all.
50
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Eastwood is still a primal force on-screen, but his unusual practice of shooting scripts as written, which served him well on "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby," here leaves him exposed to Nick Schenk's familiar situations and awkward dialogue.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
Gran Torino skids into the narrative ditch. By the time it jolts to an ending, followed by Clint rasping a tune to the closing credits, you're more likely to be rolling your eyes than dabbing them.
50
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Nick Schenk's well-intentioned script employs the creaky old Hollywood device of reversing everything set up in its first half.
38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
It's no compliment to say a movie is "all of a piece" if the piece is all worn out. For all its surface harshness, this movie is a star vehicle at once rickety and cozy.
 The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 154 User Votes
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