Juror #2 (Clint Eastwood, 2024)

[pistolwink]

But "cultist" I didn't mean anything disparaging. To me it implies, among other things a dedication to a filmmaker such that you'll go the extra mile in trying to appreciate even works you didn't care for at first, maybe even reassessing as virtues things that others would see as defects. As in: anyone can appreciate Rebel without a Cause or Rear Window, but true cultists will vigorously defend, even love Topaz and Wind Across the Everglades.

I'm definitely a cultist when it comes to some directors, just not Eastwood. I like some of his films, dislike others, am indifferent to others. I admit that w/r/t to his last 15 or so years of work, stuff Eastwood cultists seem to take as evidence of a purified Late Style I am more likely to see as slapdash. And I have a hard time following some kind of stylistic or thematic thread through stuff like J. Edgar, Jersey Boys, and The 15:17 to Paris. But that's pne reason taste is interesting--because we all have our own.

Glad to see some love for Sudden Impact, which is a really great and ambitious noir.

[Walter Kurtz]

Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby are both very effective dramas, the first a better Dennis Lehane adaptation than Scorsese managed, and the second an un-selfconscious throwback to traditional Hollywood melodrama.

I agree. I thought Million Dollar Baby was an excellent 'Hollywood" version of Fat City.

[domino harvey]

Eastwood's output is inconsistent, and work like Absolute Power, True Crime, and Blood Work probably merit Roscoe's lable.

And, of course, I’d say Absolute Power is one of his best films. Which doesn’t disprove anything you’re really arguing

[Mr Sausage]

Didn’t mean to step on other people’s favourites. Just wanted to show my praise of Eastwood wasn’t uncritical. I’d love to hear people’s defenses of the four I criticized.

[domino harvey]

Absolute Power (Clint Eastwood 1997) Rewatching this again revealed it unexpectedly to be one of Eastwood's greatest films as director. It's telling that Eastwood's thief opines how younger thieves show no patience and therefore can't pull off the really big and impressive jobs, as the film his character is in is itself blessed with the virtue of patience. The film's pace is deliberate, not slow, and information is only slowly meted out-- this is a film that functions better outside of advertisement or advance reviews, as even the central, box office boosting high concept at the center of the film is not even fully revealed to the audience until over forty minutes have passed. But this low-key but no less menacing conspiracy thriller involving Eastwood's thief witnessing a brutal rape and murder committed by an important political figure is blessed with a great cast (Many of whom are always wonderful additions to any film's lineup just by themselves: Gene Hackman, Laura Linney, Judy Davis, Ed Harris) and a smart script that sharply uses its pacing to its advantage. This is a smart, adult film done well-- Eastwood's calling card. Highly recommended.

[Mr Sausage]

Now that I think about it, I saw American Sniper based in your rec, domino, and I liked what you had to say about it being a good example of a successful conservative war film.

[therewillbeblus]

American Sniper has the worst, most in-your-face-manipulative ending I can think of offhand. Whatever merits the film had prior were soiled for me by it

[John Cope]

Count me firmly among the cultists who admire and would enthusiastically defend virtually all Clint's directorial output (including the really maligned and neglected like Cry Macho and The 15:17). Absolute Power, True Crime and Blood Work were actually the ones it took me the longest to come around on and embrace. I adore Flags and probably prefer it to Iwo Jima. J. Edgar remains for me the one I have the hardest time with.

[The Curious Sofa]

From what I've seen, when it comes to Eastwood's directorial efforts, I like his Westerns, the rest not so much.

[therewillbeblus]

I totally forgot he directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Woof.

For this millennium, my favorites are probably Sully and Richard Jewell, but he still manages to insert some arc that detracts from the strengths with cliché

[Maladroit Aggregator]

His best film, and the greatest character he ever played, is without a doubt Grandpa Torino. Love that guy.

Unforgiven is a crowd-pleaser, sure, but loaded with problems. First of all, the cut up whore is still the hottest chick West of the Mississippi even after getting the knife, so that's an easy audience manipulation. Hey, why not do it to one of the fat ugly broads? Think the whole town would care then? You know, introduce some complexities into the formula. And teh arc of "the kid" from blustery virgin to whimpering shell after the outhouse killing is pathetic and heavyhanded, not to mention poorly acted. And teh ending, what a dishonest mess. The bad guys still are clearly defined, the clearly defined bad guys all die at the hand of the righteous man, and teh righteous man walks away. I read so many reviews that say this film denies both the character and the audience the satisfaction of easy justice, blah blah blah, but that's patent bullshit. Mann's Man of the West, just one example of many, has a climactic shootout, in the ghost town, that is much more disturbing than the one in Unforgiven.

All I remember about American Snipe is Bradley Cooper sniffing like a coke addict every 15 seconds, a very cheap actorial "tic," ugh. Oh, and teh fact that eastwood didn't have the balls to show him getting his head blown off at the end, leaving him an even more mythical, unreal figure for armchair weekend warriors than he already was. C'mon, Clint, drop the animatronic infant and spend that $1500 instead on a nice headshot, maybe an American flag waving in the background, you know, the good stuff.