The Mule Is Super Messy But Also Has More of a Personality Than Most Late-Period Clint Eastwood Fare

For the last decade, Clint Eastwood has directed movies that have followed a rigid formula. Eastwood has been fascinated by straightforward biopics about normal people doing heroic things while frequently being persecuted by "the man". Chris Kyle, Sully, the trio at the heart of The 15:17 to Paris, Richard Jewell, these have all been Eastwood's central focus in the last ten years. Unfortunately, Eastwood never has much to say about these people. His films don't render famous faces as people but as statues, monuments to ideas of human goodness without a trace of humanity in sight.

Richard Jewell Is Another Empty Modern-Day Clint Eastwood Directorial Effort

What on Earth has happened to Clint Eastwood as a filmmaker this decade? The iconic Western gunslinger turned director has spent his most recent years helming features like American Sniper, The 15:17 to Paris and Sully that are just tedious rehashes of real-world events with nary an interesting perspective or trace of memorable filmmaking to be found. Little in the way of thoughtful exploration of the perspective of human beings caught up in the grand sweep of history can be found, his recent movies have been too bland for that. Even his foray into musical cinema with Jersey Boys used the same shadow-heavy cinematography and lack of thoughtful character work that have plagued Eastwood's recent efforts.

The 15:17 To Paris Goes Off The Rails In Thoroughly Lifeless Ways

On August 21, 2015, an extraordinary event happened on a train departing from Amsterdam and heading to Paris, France. As a man got his gun ready and planned to commit an act of terrorism, three ordinary Americans, Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone leaped into action and took down the man before he could actually execute his plan.  The trio subsequently became heavily publicized heroes with their actions resulting in a book chronicling that fateful day as well as a film adaptation of that fateful day entitled The 15:17 To Paris starring the three men as themselves. While the actions of this trio were incredibly noble and admirable, tragically, the film adaptation of those actions is all around dismal.

Clint Eastwoods Deconstructs The Very Genre That Launched Him To Stardom In Unforgiven

James Mangold and Hugh Jackman have cited many movies that carried a large influence over the creation of their 2017 X-Men feature Logan and it's no surprise to hear that Unforgiven was one particular movie Jackman saw as a guiding light for that final Wolverine movie (The Wrestler was another, similar unsurprising, point of inspiration for Jackman). Both Unforgiven and Logan star actors who play older weary versions of iconic stock characters they became famous for playing inhabiting a more realistic world low on hope and high on danger. Because Logan is dealing with an ex-superhero, the movie is able to end, after an entire film of bleak nastiness, on a note of hopefulness that the heroics Logan once committed will inspire a new generation to rise up and become beacons of hope in their own right. 

Step Into The Ring With An Emotionally Powerful Feature Like Million Dollar Baby

Ever since Rocky delivered knockout box officer numbers over forty years ago, the boxing drama subgenre has been a prominent fixture of cinema all over the world. It's one that's reliable both in terms of drawing a crowd for studio and plucking at the heartstring of audiences. Plenty of duds exist in this cinematic niche (remember Southpaw or Grudge Match?), but when done well, like with Creed, the creative apex of this entire subgenre, there's really nothing quite like it. Clint Eastwood's 2004 directorial effort Million Dollar Baby is no Creed, but few movies are. Positive marks are in order for a movie like this one that rides on traditional storytelling to mask how crafty it is at knowing just when to strategically get the viewer wrapped up in a blanket made of emotions.

Sully Struggles To Land On A Purpose For Being

It was supposed to be just another flight. Just a couple of hours in the air, no biggie. The pilots had done this before, the passengers had done this before, it's just a little air travel. And then dual-engine loss occurred, leaving the folks in charge of this aircraft only a few precious minutes to figure out what just happened and what course of action to take next. Piloting this particular plane was Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks), or Sully, who, after realizing they can't make it to a nearby airport, decided to make the bold move of landing the plane on the Hudson River.

American Sniper Review

Appreciate The Sniper Things In Life

Chris Kyle is a figure well known across America, a man whose life is brought to life in Clint Eastwoods newest feature American Sniper. Here was a fellow who, as a soldier, did so much in his life, which interestingly contrasts with this film that winds up doing very little of actual worth.

Clint Eastwoods Next Movie, Starring Bradley Cooper, And The Point Break Remake Get Release Dates

Warner Bros. just did a bunch of release date announcements, for some big dramas, action flicks and horror movies they have coming out over the next two years.

Jersey Boys Review

The Good, The Bad and The Jersey

Unbenonkwest to the band, the car, a Transformers in
disguise, had pulled up on its own to watch them sing. 

Whenever someone brings up Jersey Boys, they don't talk about the story, or Frankie Valli or the Broadway show from which it's adapted. The one thing everyone chatters about is the fact that Clint Eastwood, The Man With No Name, is directing a musical! How does that work out? Well, if Eastwoods first musical was Little Shop of Horrors or Mamma Mia! or something, yeah, I'd totally see that. But Jersey Boys in its cinematic incarnation (I've never seen the show on stage) isn't truly a musical, not in the "Let It Go" sense. Characters sing, but considering the real life people on which the characters are based on actually did this for a living, it feels natural to have some tunes going around.

Box Office Predictions: The Men Shall Beat The Boys

In Box Office Predictions, I take a look at the forthcoming weekend and see how new releases and holdovers will fare.

Well, as the $134 million gross of Ride Along indicates, Kevin Hart has become a comedic force to be reckoned with. Now, if he can conquer the box office in the very comedy friend summer moviegoing season, the man will join the ranks of Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Melissa McCarthy and the like as comedy titans.