…written and directed by Frank Miller; starring Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, and Eva Mendes.
The Spirit is a lot like that girl you never should’ve dated but did anyway: the one that was a little too crazy, a little too vapid, but too damned good to look at it to leave alone. The movie kind of bounces around all over within the confines of an overly familiar boilerplate superhero script. Here’s The Spirit (not Will Eisner’s version, let’s be clear), an amalgamation of Wolverine, Dick Tracy, and Batman playing the boyscout/rake in the dark bleak city. Here are vintage 40s and 50s autos along with cellphones and super guns. There’s crazy-ass Sam Jackson playing the villainous Octopus with over-the-type Jim Carrey-ish glee. And there goes Eva Mendes as Sand Seraf, the Spirit’s old flame, in yet another ridiculously hot ensemble. Story? You want to complain about story?!?
Gran Torino – Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. This one has Clint playing a stubborn and grouchy old veteran who finds himself drawn into the familial ties of his Chinese immigrant neighbors when one of them tries to steal his car to placate a local gang. Much like Unforgiven was a coda to his many great westerns, I see this movie in the same light for Dirty Harry. Could be wrong, but we’ll go see it nonetheless. 
