I love Clint Eastwood. Loved all those Dirty Harry movies and all those awesome spaghetti westerns he did. And Unforgiven is my favorite western ever! Incredible movie. Love the guy!

Million Dollar Baby? That movie was ridiculously bad. I have NO idea how it won and academy award. There's an old saying referring to movies that I like to roll out on occasion--"It's easier to make people believe the impossible than the improbable." MDB was LOADED with improbability. The whole sliding the stool out as she fell from the sucker punch knockout from the wickedly evil opponent and then she lands right on the aforementioned stool and breaks her neck and becomes paralyzed and then her beyond loser family only cares about what money they're gonna get????!!!!....This movie was BEYOND ridiculous. BEYOND over-the-top. It was a caricature of a caricature and I was embarrassed for Clint.

Then I saw the trailers for Gran Torino last year and all the fantastic reviews and couldn't wait to see it. Looked like Clint was back!

So we rented it last weekend and eagerly dived in...

53 seconds in Sandy and I looked at each other and I said, "MIllion Dollar Baby II." God help me, it was even worse. Trite? Cliched? Improbable? Caricature? Nope...SuperTrite, SuperCliched, SuperImprobable and yes, SuperCaricatured. I can't believe anyone liked this awful movie. It was so predictable that I was actually calling out lines before they were said-- The part where the pre-pubescent Priest who always called Clint's character by his first name Walt instead of Mr. Whatever like he always reminded the boyish Priest to call him until, suddely, halfway through the film when, all of a sudden like, the Priest starts calling Walt Mr. Whatever like he always insisted and then Walt begins to "open up and reveal his soul" (even though he's the meanest, most racist, hateful prick you've ever seen before in ANY movie--he actually growled and scowled like a bad anime character) I knew, saw it coming from a MILE away, that Walt was going to all of a sudden say, "Call me Walt." It was the worst, most predictable writing I've ever witnessed in a film.

The supporting characters were also awful, predictable, and acted terribly. The family scenes were painful to watch--yeah, we get it, the daughter's a shallow little tramp who only cares about Gramp's cool car and we get it that she ain't gettin' it that that punky little gook zipperhead (Walt's words not mine) is gonna get the car instead. Yep, knew that 78 seconds into the movie than you very much.

And the Hmung actors were terrible! T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E! Stiff and stilted when they delivered their awful dialogue. I really can't believe there weren't ANY asian/Hmung actors out there in Hollywood who could act. They must've used the same talent pool that George Lucas used to find Anakin Skywalker actors.

So, in case any of you lack the powers to predict like I have and haven't figured out my grade yet for this movie, here it is..."F."

Now, on the other hand FROST/NIXON was very good. Not quite great but very good, very well acted and very well directed. Frank Langella was brilliant as Nixon. His performance alone is worth the price of the rental. Mesmerizing! And the supporting cast was excellent as well. Michael Sheen was equally brilliant as David Frost. He played the "playboy, in over his head, out of his league yet able to summon up something more than himself and get the job done" role to perfection.

Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt--they all delivered fine performances in this well-balanced, well-directed look at a part of our political history that I think too many of us have forgotten or previously knew little about.

And I like that it focused more on the characters emotional states than the factual aspects of what happened. As I'm likely to believe that that was the more fascinating part of the story.

It was an examination of two souls, two fighters facing off, exchanging punches until only one would rise and one would fall. Seeing the battle of wills and wits was riveting. Not all of the bloodiest battles are fought with bullets, bombs and knives. Some of the bloodiest are fought with words.

And these were bloody good words! Grade: "B+."

Have a happy Independence Day!

R

Alright, I guess I'll go ahead and chime in on the death of Michael Jackson...While never a huge fan of his music I did enjoy many of his songs. Particularly the old Jackson 5 hits and more recently I thought Man In The Mirror was fantastic. And, yeah, like 20 kazillion other people I had a copy of Thriller--and I loved it.

And I did actually have a face-to-face (so to speak) with Michael Jackson once! Bizarre but true story here folks...I was at the Mall Of America up in Minnesota doing a book signing at a children's bookstore, signing copies of the "Milo" books I illustrated, when in walks this person with the surgical mask, scarf over their head and some very ornate clothing. At first I think "be discreet, it's obviously a burn victim." And then they get three feet away and we make eye contact. It's frikkin' Michael Jackson! The eyes! It's his eyes! I quickly look around the store as the possibility of it being him races through my mind at light speed! Then I see them!--The bodyguards standing at the entrance of the store and I know that I'm right! I must have reacted because he immediately recognized that I recognized and he picked up his pace, did a quick browse through the store and headed out before he thought I'd blurt out his name or something. I wouldn't have, but I'm guessing it happened to the guy a lot. So I quickly babble to my partner, Craig Ploetz, that I just saw Michael Jackson and we slyly shuffle off behind him and watch as he and his small entourage move away through the crowd.

Was kinda cool.

So when I heard that Michael died suddenly last Thursday I, like may others, was stunned. Not shocked, mind you, but stunned. I mean, honestly, did any of us expect Michael to die of old age-- a comfortable, peaceful passing at the age of 97? I don't think you'll find too many people who'll honestly say, yes to that. This is a sad, tragic, expected outcome in a very sad, tragic life.

Did I know the guy? How can I say that he was sad? I think that's a fairly obvious statement. Obviously Michael had issues. Insecurities. And I'm one of the many who doesn't buy that he molested any kids. I mean he may have, I don't know for sure, but I think he was more likely just an easy target because of his weirdness and a few greedy golddiggers went after him. Yep, he was kooky, he was a bit crazy, and he definitely made his share of mistakes--the baby dangling makes me cringe every time I see it--THAT was his coup de grace as far as the mistakes the guy made.

But he was also a genius. I think his body of work makes that statement undeniable.

Like Elvis, his death will only make him an even bigger pop icon. Bigger in death than in life. No doubt about it.

And we're only 6 days in folks...the circus surrounding his death is just getting started. Wait'll the vultures start descending on the estate. And those poor kids. Yeesh, it's going to get U-G-L-Y!!!

Farrah Fawcett's death was sadly overshadowed when MJ passed away mere hours later. Again, never a huge fan but I did watch Charlie's Angles as a young lad and every time I went to K-Mart I'd go over and flip through those posters and take a good long pause looking at that one of Farrah! Yeah...you know what I'm talking about. Shazam!

A sexy lady. No doubt. And I admire the way she held her dignity while all the tabloids and "comedians" made their insensitive comments. The lady deserved a better send off that's for sure.

Billy Mays. Sheesh. A bad week for entertainers. Poor guy apparently had heart disease. Although he was also apparently hit on the head earlier that day when a plane he was traveling on had a somewhat rough landing and one of the overhead doors struck him on the head. Don't know if that's related to his passing but don't mess around with head injuries folks. Take it from a dude who's had several concussions--go see your doctor asap.

Any time...it can grab you at any time. Death. So the lesson I take from all of this is to hug my daughter extra each day and take even more time to play with her than I usually do--and trust me, she wasn't getting cheated before. Problem is i get so verklemfpt every time something like this happens pretty soon I'm not gonna get ANY work done at all.

Eh, money or Stella time? Easy decision, folks...I guess there won't be any vultures descending on my estate.

Word.

R