True Crime (1999)

4 / 5
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Written by: Andrew Klavan, Larry Gross
Actors include: Clint Eastwood, Isaiah Washington, James Woods
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Length: 127 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Journalist Steve Everett (Clint Eastwood who also directed this) has personal demons, he loves women and booze but his problems increase when his co-worker Michelle dies in a car accident. When he is given a human interest story about a Man set to be executed for murdering a pregnant woman for $96 he owes her he starts to learn things aren't as clear as they once seemed. See he figures out that one of the witnesses lied about what they saw so he believes this man is innocent. From there he has about 12 hours to try to prove the prisoner's innocence in a race against time that is actually rather exciting. The thing is, because of his past issues people aren't exactly jumping to help him or believe him so it's a rather tricky path to the truth. One of the better little crime thrillers that is rarely mentioned, I remember when I rented this I watched it twice in the same day I liked it so much...but I haven't seen it in years!

Availability:  On DVD

In The Line Of Fire (1993)

4 / 5 Jun '10
Tagline: An assassin on the loose. A president in danger. Only one man stands between them...
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Written by: Jeff MacGuire
Actors include: Clint Eastwood, Rene Russo, John Malkovich
Genre: Thriller, Action, Drama
Length: 128 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Although this does offer a ton of action packed excitement and some violence, it's not as awesome as it could have been. See it really didn't need to go over 2 hours in length and the romance thrown in seemed just that. Clint Eastwood plays secret service agent Frank Horrington who lives with regret because he didn't jump in front of the bullet that killed JFK but he could have. Now he's much older of course and despite everyone telling him to retire he's determined to help catch a killer who taunts him. The killer (John Malkovich) is rather cunning, a great shot and also is completely insane. The killer and Frank play cat and mouse for most of the movie until of course an exciting showdown involving rooftop jumping occurs. Frank of course has to battle the force and deal with hunches and adversity blah blah blah. It's honestly pretty fun and quite high budget, but trying to make it so "Hollywood" and throwing in that romantic junk with fellow agent Rene Russo was irritating. Definitely still worth watching, the good parts are high octane, and Eastwood is still really fun to watch, it just could have been so much more.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

Magnum Force (1973)

3.5 / 5 Aug '10
Tagline: Clint Eastwood is Dirty Harry in Magnum Force
Directed by: Ted Post
Written by: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, John Milius
Actors include: Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitch Ryan
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Length: 124 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I really enjoyed Dirty Harry, and I'd heard that most of the sequels were a lot of fun too, so it was easy to want to watch this one. Of course it's the second release in the series but unfortunately it feels like it's missing something. This does have many violent shoot outs and Harry moving from one situation to the next using his unique brand of justice. The main plot is about a bunch of bad guys who are being brutally killed...by cops! Will Harry sympathize or will he uphold justice if he can even tell what that is any more. It was honestly not bad but it just seemed like a string of events loosely bound together by the fact that Harry was there. It had it's exciting moments but for the most part it failed to impress and it was way too long. I do hope that the other sequels have a little more oomph and personality.

Availability:  On Blu-Ray & DVD

Dirty Harry (1971)

4.5 / 5
Tagline: You don't assign him to murder cases, You just turn him loose.
Directed by: Don Siegel
Written by: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink
Actors include: Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Length: 102 minutes
Banned: Finland

Review:
I wasn't sure that I'd ever get into cop thrillers, I hate to say that I'd always considered them "boy" movies and so I've avoided. Once again I was wrong to do so for this was one action packed stylish thrilling flick! Firstly it's impossible not to love Clint Eastwood, especially as this Dirty Harry character who plays by his own rules. He says what he likes (iconic sayings of course), shoots first and asks questions later plus he's a bonafied hero that is afraid of nothing! In this story his major foe is a serial killer (very similar to the real live Zodiac killings) who happens to be an all around bad guy in every sense of the word (he's even freaky looking). He has to deal with a new partner, the force which is trying to make him play by the rules while stopping at nothing to try to nab the crook. It's purely awesome in nearly every way, and I can't wait to see the sequels if they are half as great as this film!

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray