UNFORGIVEN is a great film. I have to admit though, I'm a bit bored with Eastwood's latter films.
UNFORGIVEN rocks.
But I do agree, Eastwood's last few films(not including LETTERS, since I haven't seen it) haven't wowed me.
MYSTIC RIVER and MILLION DOLLAR BABY both are nice showcase pieces with great actors but goddamn their scripts are weak. Anyone that tells you that MYSTIC RIVER follows the tradition of CHINATOWN....slit their nose nostril for me.
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS was OK, but Paul Haggis couldn't script out of a melodrama piece if his kids were on fire. He's the sort of hack that is getting the awards and accolades, but he WILL become a subject of total ridicule in the near future. He's set for that trap.
As for Clint Eastwood, I think he's a pretty darn good director...but mostly for his work way before recent years when it became acceptable that Eastwood is both an ACTOR and DIRECTOR seperately...and not simply an ACTOR playing DIRECTOR as a hobby.
I mean THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES. BIRD. HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, PALE RIDER, UNFORGIVEN, the fun crazy-bitch-psycho flick PLAY MISTY FOR ME, the criminally mother f*ckin underrated WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART(and that one is better than MYSTIC RIVER, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, & FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS...combined.)
The problem with Clint is that he directed so many star-vehicle clunkers. Hell, the serial killer-detective flick BLOOD WORK came before MYSTIC RIVER.
I still remember when in the Oscar campaign earlier this year, the serious Scorsese-backers were at a cyberwar with the Eastwood supporters. "Marty's" boys called Eastwood an Oscar-hungry shithead, while "Clint's Guys" called Scorsese a desperate old man trying to win an Oscar out of ego without needing it to validate his career.
It was hilarious.
PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971) - *** HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (1973) - ***1/2 THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976) - **** PALE RIDER (1985) - *** HEARTBREAK RIDGE (1986) - *** BIRD (1988) - ***1/2 WHITE HUNTER BLACK HEART (1990) - ****1/2 UNFORGIVEN (1992) - ****1/2 A PERFECT WORLD (1993) - ***1/2 MYSTIC RIVER (2003) - **1/2 MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004) - *** FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (2006) - ***
