Clint Eastwood

Every Which Way But Loose

Clint Eastwood has been directing too many dramas recently, so I thought I’d dig out something from the years long gone, something where he acted one of his superman roles. “Every Which Way But Loose” is one of those films.

Now, I don’t have much to compare this film to, because it’s from the year 1978, and I was only born in 1978. But it has more packed into it than most of the action films I’ve seen during my childhood – fist fights, biker gangs, corrupt police, exotic animals, car chases, and a true friendship and a true love with a broken heart.

Of course, now this film looks way aged and most of the special effects cause no reaction but a smile. But if I saw this in the 80’s, I guess I’d be all over this film. And even in these modern days, I’ll give it a 4 stars rating. Not bad at all.

Changeling

I deliberately avoided going to the cinema to see “Changeling“. Why? Because, I probably knew too much about it and whatever I didn’t know, I assumed. What I knew was that this film was a drama about missing children, directed by one of the most dramatic directors ever – Clint Eastwood, and starring Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich. While I do appreciate drama, it’s had for me sometimes to take all the sadness in the film, especially when there is a beautiful woman who is sad.

With missing children somewhere in the story, I thought, it was almost guaranteed that Angelina Jolie would be sad for a significant chunk of the screen time. That’s hard to watch on its own. Multiply that by Clint Eastwood’s directing, and add to that John Malkovich, who is a sort of actor that can multiply anything happening on the screen ten-folds, and the result would be something so sad that it would border with depressing. That’s why I was trying to avoid this film a bit. But I knew that I’d watch it anyway. And so I did.

This film is a beautiful piece of art. It is an interesting, slowly unfolding, story. It’s an authentic look back at Los Angeles during 1920-1930’s. It’s an excellent cast, with some really talented actors. And its an excellent directorship.

It is a sad movie, yes. But not as sad as I thought it would be. It is in sad in a very sensible way. Plus, it gives a lot to think about. The film brings topics of family, humanity, social responsibility and bureaucracy.

Overall, highly recommended. My rating: 5 stars.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) Lev must be the only one (except me and Google) who is still checking my list of movies to see. It can’t b e a coincidence that he brought me “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (aka “Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo”) DVD. Yes, the classic western from 1966 with Clint Eastwood that was on my list for more than a year now.

Directed by: Sergio Leone
Genres: Action, Drama, Western
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Petito, Claudio Scarchilli, John Bartha, Livio Lorenzon, Antonio Casale, Sandro Scarchilli, Benito Stefanelli, Angelo Novi, Antonio Casas
IMDB raintg: 8.8
My rating: 9.0 [rate 9.0]

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