the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This time, Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino.

Korean War Veteran Walt Kowalski lives out his life in the deteriorating suburbs of Detroit, disconnected from his family and whiling away his days drinking beer on his porch. Initially aggressive and belligerent towards the Hmong family who moved in next door, Kowalski finds himself drawn into the lives of the two youngest children, forming an unlikely bond and forcing him to reassess his opinion of the community.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 157th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show notes:

• Recorded 17th December 2017.
• Gran Torino at The Internet Movie Database.
• The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
• Clint and Scott Eastwood talk to Esquire about the “pussy generation”, August 2016.
• Brogan Morris at Paste Magazine on the complicated political views of Clint Eastwood, August 2016.
• Clint Eastwood pulls back from his perceived endorsement of Donald Trump, September 2016.
• Clint Eastwood discusses his infamous “empty chair” speech with The Hollywood Reporter, November 2012.
• Sheila Marikar in The New Yorker discusses Hollywood’s quiet conservatives, May 2016.
• S. James Snyder at Time discusses the strange Oscar lock-out of Gran Torino, January 2009.
• Ryan Vlastelica at The A.V. Club and the difficulty reading politics in art, September 2016.
• Laura Yuen at MPR News covers the moving of Gran Torino from Minnesota to Detroit, January 2009.
• David Thomson at The Guardian on old-age directors, December 2006.
• Bilge Ebiri at Rolling Stone on the differences between Eastwood as an actor and director, June 2014.
• The staff at The Dissolve discuss Clint Eastwood’s evolution as a director, November 2013.
• Eric Kohn at IndieWire on Clint Eastwood as an elder statesman of American cinema, June 2014.
• Manohla Dargis in The Los Angeles Times on Clint Eastwood’s ambivalent attitude towards violence, October 2003.
• Bee Vang talks to The Bottom Line about racism behind the scenes on Gran Torino, January 2011.
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• Saoirse Ronan. Name.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: america, Clint Eastwood, conservatism, Detroit, directors, Gran Torino, racism |