Trailer for 'Trouble With the Curve'

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First Image from Clint Eastwood's 'Trouble With The Curve'

From EW

Okay. Try to remember. When you first saw Clint Eastwood in this shot what did you think? Was it, "I'm going to see this one?"

That's what I thought. Knew. I knew I was going to see 'Trouble With The Curve', and probably in theaters, despite that I hate theaters. (It's the only way to watch an Eastwood movie). And, I knew it the second I saw the picture. That's all it takes -- a still of Clint -- and I'm there.

He looks great. Drinking and smoking. Just great. Look at that guy. How old is he, again? Hell yeah. If I'm that sharp at that age...

With Amy Adams as Eastwood's daughter. Also with John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, and Robert Patrick.

Directing his first feature is Robert Lorenz, who's been Eastwood's 1st AD on gobs of stuff -- Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Space Cowboys, etc.

Clint Eastwood could read the phone book and I'd buy a ticket.

Due September 28, 2012

'Hereafter'

If it's as good as the trailer looks we'll be asking how Clint Eastwood does it. I'm impressed by how quickly disbelief is suspended, or in this case tossed out the window. Matt Damon looks good in this role.

Compelling, excellent.

Gran Torino

What can you say? Eastwood still has a commanding presence. Poster is very good. Have no idea what the plot details are (and will not look into it in advance), but something tells me this movie will deliver.

ps - Oh. One more thing. If I look that freaking good at 78 (holding a crutch let alone a rifle) I'll be happy.

Eastwood At 76

I wonder what I'll be doing when I'm 76 years old. Simultaneously directing two war movies? Possibly not.

That is, however, exactly what Clint Eastwood has done with "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima". Other directors have produced fine work at an advanced age. Certainly, Robert Altman was sharp even through the production of "A Prairie Home Companion", and he was at the top of his form when he made "The Player" and "Short Cuts" at an age when most people have long since retired. Hitchcock was 73 when he made what is my favorite of his films, "Frenzy".

I can't help but admire these guys and hope I'm lucky enough to be productive that late in life. David Thomson takes a look the movies made by directors after age 70, including Renoir, Zinnemann, Kurosawa, and Bresson.

Letters From Iwo Jima

LAT covers "Letters From Iwo Jima" the companion to "Flags of Our Fathers" which tells the story of the Japanese defense of Iwo Jima during the U.S. invasion of that island.

Directed by a 76 year old Clint Eastwood, the pair of films are unique in that they compete against each other for an Oscar, and are distributed by different studios -- and are in two different languages. "I'm now a Japanese director who does not speak Japanese," Mr. Eastwood says.

This picture recreates the conditions the Japanese fought under -- living and dying in underground tunnels -- and the heroic effort of Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi to hold the island against an overwhelming invasion. Eastwood says, "The great futility of war is explored in this picture." And, he goes on to say, "I just think you can say to a younger generation, here or anywhere, that there must be a better way to live than to send 18-year-olds to go die somewhere."

Eastwood doesn't hide his anger about war, calling the Bush administration 'naive' for 'traipsing' into Iraq thinking they could hand-deliver democracy to a country that may not have been ready to live with that system of government. He doesn't stop there; In regard to how the audience will react to 'Letters' he says, "And if they don't like it, what can they do to me? Call me an idiot? I just made it the way I thought. All I can do is put it on the screen. And if they don't like it, they can walk out and go across the hall to see 'Borat 2' or whatever."

"Flags of Our Fathers" won critical praise but did not do well at the box office. I believe this is because it was perceived as a 40s- or 50s-style Hollywood cheerleading exercise -- and some critics felt it was a bit melodramatic. "Letters From Iwo Jima" will probably not have that misinterpretation to deal with and should do better business. No matter what though, the importance of these films can't be denied. Eastwood's objectivity, especially coming so late in his career and considering his feelings about war in general, should make these two movies, taken together, one of best examinations of combat produced by Hollywood. Eastwood is just not the kind of director that utilizes cutesy dialogue or sanitized character arcs like those found in most movies, especially war movies from decades past.

When seeking permission to film on Iwo Jima, now a closed military base, Eastwood told Japanese officials and veterans what kind of movie he wanted to make. LAT reports:

"He told us he would not make a simple war movie," says Yoshitaka Shindo, Kuribayashi's grandson, who met with Eastwood to hear what Hollywood had in mind. "He said he would make a human drama about those who fought to protect their loved ones."

These two movies may be overdue. After the war the Japanese did not linger on their defeat, or review it for their children in school. The result is a blind spot in their history and a generation of Japanese who know little of their country's experience at Iwo Jima. According to LAT there has never been a Japanese movie about this battle. Of this Eastwood says, "None of my Japanese actors knew anything about Iwo Jima. You lose 21,000 people! To just ignore them. What would happen if we did that?"

"Letters From Iwo Jima" is doing great business in Japan in limited release and critics are praising this companion to "Flags of Our Fathers".

"I felt I had met my grandfather for the first time," Shindo said after watching the movie.

Complete story at LAT