Gran Torino

Talk about an Oscar snub. Gran Torino is all about Clint Eastwood. He gives a great performance as an old curmudgeonly racist who comes to befriend his Hmong neighbors. He's kickass, tough, and bitter, though maybe the character is too much of a cliche. I mean at some point you know exactly which racial epithet he's going to throw out and how much of a curmudgeon he's going to be. But he's still central to the film, and to be honest some of those Asian actors are crap so they really make him look good.

Something odd bothered me - he never uses the n-word. I mean, he uses every name in the book except that - it's conspicuous in its absence, as if they clearly set out NOT to use it. I've heard complaints about the ending, but I guessed what would happen so it didn't bother me. I suppose there could have been some more violent ass-kicking to make it truly satisfying. It's a bit of a politically correct ending, which is saying a lot for a film where every other word out of the main character's mouth is racist.