Gran Torino. Weaknesses up front: there’s some lazy writing, some bad acting, and Eastwood’s estranged family seems excessively caricatured. BUT, I thought the overall story arc here (themes: growing old; American confronting the Other; reluctantly becoming a better person) was really interesting and I never thought of switching it off. It had some good food-for-thought staying power after it ended. And Clint Eastwood gets a co-writing credit for the movie’s theme song.
Mark Larson 