Gran Torino and Assorted Notes

So this morning I braved the elements to head down to the South Side Works to see the new Eastwood movie, Gran Torino. I've been looking forward to this movie for a couple of weeks; without further ado, my review:

It was astounding.

More? OK. Fantastic. Marvelous. Magnificent. Get the picture? Maybe the best movie I've seen in the theaters since The Last King of Scotland.

Clint Eastwood stars as a Korean War vet who's racist, anti-religion, old and stubborn, and he's just lost his wife, and you can see throughout the movie that she was really his world. He's a retired laborer in the Detroit Ford plant, and he lives in a neighborhood of Detroit that is becoming "overrun" with minorities in his opinion. His sons and their families are spoiled and embarrassing to him. He rejects the attempts of the local priest to discuss the death of his wife. He's alone in the world except for his dog Daisy and his '72 Gran Torino.

Living in this section of the city, he is confronted by his racist tendencies every day, sometimes often. What transpires through the movie is a changing of attitudes through a series of events. I think that this movie is what the stupid movie Crash was trying to be four years ago. You may recall Crash, the movie that Sandra Bullock told you determined whether you were racist yourself. It took a bunch of people of differing colors and ethnicities and made them interract with each other in insipid ways, and forced you to believe that this was possible, and said "racism is bad." Well, Gran Torino is a much more believable and relatable discussion of prejudices and self-exploration. It was just very well done. I would say that you need to see this movie right away.

A couple of other notes from the weekend:

1. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the #1 basketball team in the land, my Pitt Panthers! Sure, they'll lose a few games, probably won't win the National Championship this season, but it's a big step for us (it's the first time in school history). I can't wait to watch them take on the Johnnies tomorrow at noon as the top team in the land.

2. I have found out a few times recently the perils of living on Mt. Washington when it snows...

I think that's it. Go Steelers!