Clint’s #1 ‘Gran Torino’ Revs Box Office; Wkd’s ‘Bride Wars’ #2, ‘The Unborn’ #3

COMMENTS (189)

• I saw Valkrie yesterday and thought it was a very powerful movie. Of course, no movie caan catch the detail and sweep of an event like the July 20th Plot, but it sure caught the drama. For me, good movie are the ones that make me think about them, for the next day or so, and this one did. There were some historical glitches (use of P-51s in early ’43), but it was an ovarall good flick.

  Comment by Wally Lind — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 10:27am PST  Reply to this post

• Clint Eastwood, An M-1 & 1911, Gran Torino has to be
  good!

  Comment by bob — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 10:28am PST  Reply to this post

• Just saw Grand Toreno. Best movie I’ve seen in a long time. Complex and enjoyable plot on several levels. Also, it is not a politically correct movie which even made it so much better. I’m buying the DVD on this one.

  Comment by DennyPat — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 10:46am PST  Reply to this post

• Nikki,
  Not that your opinion doesn’t matter, but it doesn’t.

  Comment by Scott — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 10:49am PST  Reply to this post

• Bride Wars, Confessions of Shopaholic – already relics of empty, vicious, consumerist Bush-era bullshit.
  It’s like watching the results of a roto-rooter unclogging of the last days of pre-meltdown, pre-wake up call America.
  Of course Hollywood should be ashamed, but it never is. That sleazy beast will wake up when people decide to quit paying for this entertainment-free programming. Who exactly is laying out fourteen dollars to watch a Kate Hudson production?
  Here’s to 09 and much uplift

  Comment by GeorgeStevensJr — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 11:15am PST  Reply to this post

• I don’t think Bride Wars is sexist. That kind of stuff is always happening on shows like Bridezilla, which document how some women get so obsessed with their wedding that they go insane. But I agree Fox should be ashamed of making it just because it looks like trash.

  Comment by DylanG — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 11:31am PST  Reply to this post

• Why is Bride Wars sexist…cuz it’s true? Another clueless lib-bot

  Comment by Daniel O — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 11:32am PST  Reply to this post

• Is it just me, or could you give the tag line for “The Unborn” to “Bride Wars” and it wouldn’t make much difference?

  The only movie more sexist than “Bride Wars” is “Not Easily Broken”. I can’t wait for the day when African American films can get out of the early seventies concerning subject matter.

  I’m starting to miss the “gangster” hip-hop AA movies now. Oh wait, they’re back. “Notorious” is coming out. Can you imagine some little old lady wandering into this thinking it’s a re-relase of Hitchcocks film?

  Comment by peggy — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 11:35am PST  Reply to this post

• Glad to see Gran Turino doing well… maybe now some of the other Oscar buzzers will get wide releases.

  As for Nikki referring to Bride Wars as a horror film… love it. I knew there was a reason I get my industry news here.

  Comment by College Student — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 11:51am PST  Reply to this post

• Gran Torino is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years.

  Comment by Cathy S. — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 12:16pm PST  Reply to this post

• Re: Bride Wars. What can you say to an arrogant, humorless, uppity “critic”, but…get a life and another job…if that’s possible for you.

  Inklin

  Comment by Inkling — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 12:16pm PST  Reply to this post

• Gran Torino is one of the biggest crowd-pleasers I’ve seen in a while. There was an unsual blend of young and old in my showing, with the ethnicity spectrum also covered, and the roof was blown off the auditorium by a laughter eruption whenever there was a racially hurtful utterance. I think it just goes to show that the agendas of the finger waggers in the media to indoctrinate us into having a hypersensitive PC mindset have failed. Maybe nothing bridges the gaps of ethnical division like choosing not to react with funeral solemnity towards fun being poked at our trifling differences. Aside from the humor aspect of the film, it’s a rewarding journey the Eastwood character undergoes as he befriends the diverse neighbors next door who initially represent everything in the world that has fueled his misanthropic bigotry. I especially liked how he took the directionless male youth of the family under his wing to show him the ways of being a real man in a neutered world. Also, I’m calling it right now: Clint is taking home Best Actor this year. This is one of his most memorable roles ever.

  Comment by Gerald — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 12:40pm PST  Reply to this post

• I just saw Gran Torino and loved it. It reminded me of Clints great spaghetti westerns he did in the late 60′s. It is the best movie I have seen in a long time. It takes a lot for me to put the money out for a movie. The next movie on my list is Defiance.

  Comment by DDB — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 12:52pm PST  Reply to this post

• I am not surprised at Clint’s success because the Gran Torino was such a great car (just kiddin’). Actually it is a tribute to Clint as a storyteller and movie maker that he can get people out to watch his movies when they are notably absent nudity and gore.

  Comment by libertasdon — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 1:29pm PST  Reply to this post

• If Clint stars in a movie with a gun, people will attend.

  Comment by khru — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 1:43pm PST  Reply to this post

• Tell Nikki to take a hike. If the movie company wants to spend the money and the folks want to see the movie, then let them. The brides flik is just for fun not for sustainable whirled peas.

  Comment by johnnymarin — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 1:44pm PST  Reply to this post

• Who’s the idiot that approved the making of “Bride Wars”? And where’s the artistic pride from writers, directors, actors, producers? How can any of the people involved be proud of that crap they just released?

  Comment by tbonestk — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 1:50pm PST  Reply to this post

• The best line in Gran Torino is when Clint says, “I have more in common with these gooks than my own family,” and he means it.

  Comment by Windfall — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 2:02pm PST  Reply to this post

• I just saw Gran Torino,,,,

  Great movie! I cannot wait to buy it.

  Chris

  Comment by Average movie guy — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 2:10pm PST  Reply to this post

• Wouldn’t see Hathaway in anything after the stupid remark about Rick Warren giving the prayer at O’Bama’s bash. Shame on her.

  Comment by M. Summer — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 2:12pm PST  Reply to this post

• Clint Eastwood; not famous, not a celebrity, not a star for the sake of being a star. A movie actor, a leading man, a great actor, a true movie star, so few left these days. He could go down as America’s greatest actor, or director, ever. Certainly he is the best ever, to do both.

  Comment by phil — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 2:13pm PST  Reply to this post

• BRIDE WARS was one of the worst movies ever made. Ever. Fox shamelessly promoted so much so that every time I saw yet another advertisement with a horrible looking Candice Bergen I got angry enough to turn off TV. They’re trying to emulate some of the better Romantic Comedies (like My Best Friend’s Wedding, or Four Weddings and A Funeral) with a pat, badly acted, non-story.

  Shame on you Elizabeth Gabler!

  Comment by jay — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 2:17pm PST  Reply to this post

• Wally Lind – I too checked out Valkyrie yesterday and really enjoyed myself. I wonder what all the fuss was about, because it flowed nicely, looked great and the performances were fine. That’s all I can ask for when I pay almost twelve bucks to see a film. (too much money IMO)

  Comment by johnny — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 2:20pm PST  Reply to this post

• Clint Eastwood is the MAN. Even at 78 years old, he is still the FUCKING MAN. I could only hope to aspire to even a fraction of his manliness.

  Comment by firebrand — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 2:23pm PST  Reply to this post

• I love a good feud movie, but if the best Bride Wars can offer is a retread of the ol’ “bad tan” gag and a hair dye set piece, sexism is the least of it’s worries.

  Comment by Bride Warrior — Saturday January 10, 2009 @ 2:34pm PST  Reply to this post