An Exceptional movie...bring on the Oscars

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2009)

This movie is exceptional. Fans of the exceptional performances and directing in Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven are sure to delight.
Gran Torino was an excellent drama that I found to be surprisingly funny throughout; note that the dialog was funny in a very Non-Politically Correct kind of way so those overly sensitive to racial slurs take heed (as a minority myself I was not offended and found much of the crotchety archaic dialog by Clint hilarious). The acting and directing was simply fantastic. Clint was in prime form with a surprisingly funny and emotionally vulnerable side to his well written dialog. The newcomers also put on excellent performances that made them really connect in a touching way with the audience. I also liked that the movie educated the audience a bit about the culture and history of a lesser known ethnic group (the Hmong people of SE Asia).
I imagine we will be hearing a lot about this at the Oscars (writing, directing and acting).