Gran Torino

[Axle_Goalie 0]

Can you guys please do an episode on Gran Torino? The worst thing about this movie is people actually think it is good. When I watched it for the first time, I was laughing and cringing so hard I had tears in my eyes. It IS THAT BAD. It is an after school special meets karate kid, seen through the eyes of an old man who clearly has no fucking idea how real people talk or act. Don't believe me? Here is a scene where clint eastwood explains to the main character how to talk and act.

 

 

Please guys. I need this film explained to me with the hilarious insights I can only find here. How Did This Get Made?

[seanotron 2307]

I think there's a lot to talk about - mostly the racism - but I don't think this podcast is really the right place to do it.

[Axle_Goalie 0]

Guuuhhhh. See? Why do people take this movie seriously?

[Lando 2019]

Obligatory "Jason, you're going to hate this movie."

[Maximilian 99]

I don't recall Clint having a love interest in this movie, so that could be why people like it. I can't decide if Clint coming off as both a father figure and a love interest to younger women is funny because it's uncomfortable or just uncomfortable. I'll be damned, I got an image of Clint Eastwood sitting on a bed telling a young lady not to undress just yet because he has to phone his doctor, on a rotary phone, to ask if his heart is healthy enough for sex. Yikes!!!!

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I don't recall Clint having a love interest in this movie, so that could be why people like it. I can't decide if Clint coming off as both a father figure and a love interest to younger women is funny because it's uncomfortable or just uncomfortable. I'll be damned, I got an image of Clint Eastwood sitting on a bed telling a young lady not to undress just yet because he has to phone his doctor, on a rotary phone, to ask if his heart is healthy enough for sex. Yikes!!!!

Could you imagine the hate mail and threats that would come from Eastwood being portrayed as anything BUT a swinging bachelor? I can see it now in their horribly arthritic scribblings: "You harlot! How dare you take him away from us!". This would of course come long after the film's theatrical release though, like three years later after a late Sunday afternoon showing on TNT, or "bed time" as it's known to his key demographic. He's like a member of One Direction to those ladies...

[Lando 2019]

It's always weird when someone starts a thread on a generally well received movie as if they are the arbiter of what is objectively bad and assuming that Jason, Paul and June are on their side.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

Not enough fake babies.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

It's always weird when someone starts a thread on a generally well received movie as if they are the arbiter of what is objectively bad and assuming that Jason, Paul and June are on their side.

 

 

Thats because ratings do not equal a good movie, just as bad ratings dont necessarily denote a bad one. We're also all guilty of assuming the gangs judgement will follow our own on every recommendation we make.

 

But the gang has shown that you can't really guess whether or not they will enjoy a movie. June loved Daredevil, Jason genuinely enjoyed the Odd life of Timothy Green, despite the overwhelming majority of reviews that disliked it.

 

To prove a point, watch Down and Out in Beverly Hills. It got good reviews and was well received financially. Its a fucking terrible movie.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Also this movie shouldnt be done, its fucking weird to be sure. But its a legitimately interesting and well shot and well acted movie. The Hmong actors did (it being their first acting job for alot of them) great with apparently minimal direction from Clint.

 

Although after seeing him yell at an empty chair that was supposed to be Obama, I wonder how autobiographical this movie actually is.

[Lando 2019]

I honestly have no problem with people suggesting movies that are generally well received. Rotten Tomatoes is far from God, popularity is absolutely not a synonym for quality and everyone is entitled to their own opinion on movies. However if you just assume that Paul, June and Jason also share your view on the movie the odds are that you will be wrong in these cases. On top of that it's insulting to those that may like a film to just say things like "can you believe that people actually like this movie?" as people tend to do with better reviewed movies than worse ones.

If you want to suggest a popular movie, that's fine but remember that it is probably going to be an uphill battle and make a case as to why the critics are wrong and it should be mocked. Don't just assume that everyone is already on your side when most signs point in the opposite direction.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

On top of that it's insulting to those that may like a film to just say things like "can you believe that people actually like this movie?"

 

I agree with most of what you said, this however stuck out as being a tad hilarious in terms of what this podcast does every other week, which is pick out a movie, that some people may like and say things like "can you believe that people actually like this movie".

 

I'll just add that I agree that it is silly to assume people are going to have the same negative reaction on a well received movie, however there are some well received movies that are fucking insane.

 

Honestly there are countless movies out there that no matter how great and well made, have endings or stories that in them that intentionally leave their audience split after the credits roll.

[Lando 2019]

I see the irony. I think though the difference is that the show is not mean spirited and it's more like a roast. I think even when Jason calls people "dum dums" and "jerks" it's ultimately not said with malice (which is why I have defended him when people get upset about this in live shows). People regularly come in and defend the movies that they make fun of and their opinions are generally respected and that is the difference.

 

I will say, I think if any of us had a review of ours read as a second opinion we would be pretty excited and not ashamed and that is a pretty good indicator of the tone of the show.

[RyanSz 3140]

This came up a month or so back on this board where a couple people, who I think were just trolling, were suggesting movies that were not only well received by both audiences and critics, but were also not in line with what the show usually lampoons. Yet when called on these things, these people lashed out and said how everyone else was fucking idiots and that WE didn't understand the show, one even went as far to say that if a movie had a good RT score that it should not be considered. When I mentioned that Face/Off would then have to be disqualified because despite being a batshit crazy movie had over 90% on RT, he said yes it should not be included along with the 25% of other HDTGM movies that were rated "fresh."

 

I think the problem in when it comes to the board is the phrasing of the tagline for it,"Which stinking pile of Hollywood bullshit should we talk about next?" It makes it seem like it's just movies that didn't fare well with critics or box office-wise. If it was something more along the lines of what crazy flick should be talked about, or something along those lines, it would probably clear it up for some. It won't stop trolls, but then again they are few and far between on this board and you can usually tell who they are by seeing that they usually create a thread about something that won't be touched with a ten foot pole, leave a couple mean comments, and then just disappear.

 

I've said it a few times before that I am amazed at how in today's society online that this board hasn't been inundated with trolls or straight up assholes, a la the IMDB comment sections, yet those ones we get are pretty bad. Just look at the thread about the changing of the theme song.

 

As for this movie, it doesn't have any real craziness that sticks out like some of the movies that this show has done. Eastwood as a director has always gone above and beyond to make movies that are really grounded in reality, and he makes it work. You can maybe make fun of his singing, but I don't know how you can stretch that into a 80-90 minute show.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

To be fair I can see why people could watch this movie and be put of at first. Eastwood calls his teenage sidekick "gook" for a decent amount of the movie.

 

But as been pointed out how that necessitates an entire episode on an otherwise solid movie is beyond me.

 

 

I will say, I think if any of us had a review of ours read as a second opinion we would be pretty excited and not ashamed and that is a pretty good indicator of the tone of the show.

 

It is somewhat different just because we love the podcast so hearing our second opinions read would of course be a joy. But for the random people who wrote the reviews i'm sure there are a few who'd be mortified to know they're being scrutinized for them in front of a packed audience.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

This came up a month or so back on this board where a couple people, who I think were just trolling, were suggesting movies that were not only well received by both audiences and critics, but were also not in line with what the show usually lampoons. Yet when called on these things, these people lashed out and said how everyone else was fucking idiots and that WE didn't understand the show, one even went as far to say that if a movie had a good RT score that it should not be considered. When I mentioned that Face/Off would then have to be disqualified because despite being a batshit crazy movie had over 90% on RT, he said yes it should not be included along with the 25% of other HDTGM movies that were rated "fresh."

 

I think the problem in when it comes to the board is the phrasing of the tagline for it,"Which stinking pile of Hollywood bullshit should we talk about next?" It makes it seem like it's just movies that didn't fare well with critics or box office-wise. If it was something more along the lines of what crazy flick should be talked about, or something along those lines, it would probably clear it up for some. It won't stop trolls, but then again they are few and far between on this board and you can usually tell who they are by seeing that they usually create a thread about something that won't be touched with a ten foot pole, leave a couple mean comments, and then just disappear.

 

 

 

I agree I think the phrasing makes people think that the only movies that be covered should be 4% on Rotten Tomatoes. I personally enjoy the episodes far more when the june jason paul and the guest are on opposing sides on enjoying the movie. And I'd be much happier them doing a good movie with some crazy shit in it, then to watch movies like Gooby, or the Last Airbender.

[Lando 2019]

Yeah, I really enjoyed the Face/Off and Con Air episodes where Jason defended them as "100% realistic."

I also really enjoyed when somebody tracked down the reviews from one second oppinion reviewer who turned out to be a foreign professor of English or something like that and his other reviews were equally bizarre. I forget what movie he reviewed, I want to say LOL, but that also sounds wrong (it might have been the mini where Paul announced LOL).

 

On the topic of Gran Torino, I think that there's also a phenomenon that when something is really hyped up and a person does not feel the way about something that matches the hype, they over state their dissatisfaction of the movie (and this probably goes for music too). Maybe for example if they had seen GT without knowing anything about it they would have said it was a 6 out of 10 movie, but because it gets a lot of rave reviews and hype they feel compelled to act like it's a 1 out of 10 movie.

[RyanSz 3140]

Yeah I believe it was LOL. As for the expectations being met or not met for a movie, just look back at the summer of 2013 when this board was basically a dumping ground of trolls recommending each big movie that came out that week. It was a bit more murky as they were mostly comic movies (Iron Man 3, Man of Steel) where there will always be polarizing view points, but still each week there was something posted because it didn't meet a person's idea of how the movie should have played out.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

I'll side with OP here: Gran Torino was a legitimately bad movie. It resembled an extremely long "Lifestories: Families in Crisis" episode. I mean, Crash won an Oscar, and it was far more nuanced. That said, Gran Torino was bad in a painful, boring, overwrought way. Not sure it would be too much fun to watch again, even with the aim of savaging it.

 

That said, it would be amazing if one of those after school specials got the HDTGM treatment...

[Lando 2019]

That said, it would be amazing if one of those after school specials got the HDTGM treatment...

 

Definitely agree. Actually I think you could do a whole podcast about after school specials.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I'll side with OP here: Gran Torino was a legitimately bad movie. It resembled an extremely long "Lifestories: Families in Crisis" episode. I mean, Crash won an Oscar, and it was far more nuanced. That said, Gran Torino was bad in a painful, boring, overwrought way. Not sure it would be too much fun to watch again, even with the aim of savaging it.

 

That said, it would be amazing if one of those after school specials got the HDTGM treatment...

I think "Crash" is a far worse offender though, as it follows several groups of people that apparently talk about nothing BUT race the entire time, whether the situation calls for it or not.

 

"Honey, can you pass the salt?"

"Have you told your mother you're sleeping with a Mexican girl?"

 

I'm only half-kidding, but that's generally what becomes of even the most innocent conversations in the movie. I think Sandra Bullock stops being a bigot because her maid was the only one there to help her when she fell or something.

[RyanSz 3140]

If we're doing after school specials we need to do the one with Ben Affleck abusing steroids that was shown on HBO I think.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

I think "Crash" is a far worse offender though, as it follows several groups of people that apparently talk about nothing BUT race the entire time, whether the situation calls for it or not.

 

"Honey, can you pass the salt?"

"Have you told your mother you're sleeping with a Mexican girl?"

Crash is, without a doubt, a very bad movie (also not a good candidate for HDTGM). But at least the acting was passable.