2004 · Clint Eastwood · 132 min · Drama
Million Dollar Baby uses boxing as a vehicle for something far more devastating and human, delivering performances from Eastwood, Swank, and Freeman that hit harder than any fight in the ring.
2006 · Clint Eastwood · 141 min · War / Drama
Letters from Iwo Jima is a quiet act of empathy disguised as a war film, Clint Eastwood's decision to tell the Battle of Iwo Jima entirely from the Japanese perspective resulting in something far more powerful than its companion piece. Ken Watanabe's General Kuribayashi anchors the film with a performance of dignified resignation, and Eastwood's restrained direction lets the horror of fighting a battle you know you'll lose accumulate through small moments rather than spectacle. The desaturated visuals can feel oppressive over two and a half hours, and some of the supporting characters blur together. But the film's central achievement, making an American audience feel the humanity of men they were raised to see as enemies, remains remarkable and rare.
2008 · Clint Eastwood · 116 min · Drama
Gran Torino is a raw, sometimes uncomfortable character study that works because Eastwood commits fully to a deeply flawed man's transformation, even when the film around him stumbles.