Gran Torino and the movies

While at my family's home last weekend in Newark, Ohio, The Ohio Cosgriffs, we watched a few movies. One of them was Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino. I liked it. Quite a bit.

For me it was a new movie. I know it came out in 2008 but I had always heard good things about it and always intended to see it. Eventually.

The fact is I don't go to the movies. Not counting special events such as Rifftrax, the last new movie I liked which I saw first in a theater was Casino Royale, and that was I believe 2006.

A lot of my decreased interest in films is that most simply aren't worth the time. They tend to be shallow and jammed with pop psychology. I can read a good book, be entertained more cheaply and, what's more, know more. Maybe it is only the old guy in me talking but they just don't seem to make 'em like they used to. To be sure, good movies do get made - Apollo 13 comes to mind - yet even that one's 25 years old.

Of course, you don't have to learn something for a book or movie to be good. They can simply be diversions, and obviously there's nothing wrong with that. To venture from the proverbial sublime to the ridiculous, a recent example for me would be Detective Pikachu, which I watched on demand a few weeks ago and very well liked. I had never thought I would like a film based on a character licensed to sell, but there you have it. I do recommend it if all you want at a given time is recreation.

I really want to say more about Torino but I hate to spoil what is a good, reflective movie for anyone who has not seen it. Suffice it to say that it does make me want to be a bit more serious about investing in new or more recent films. Even if I have to go back a decade for it.