The American automobile industry once made vehicles people wanted. There was an aura about their classic cars that were the emblem of the American century. The vehicles had a style and grace that was expected to be exuded on every model that rolled out of Detroit. Clint Eastwood had that same aura. His characters represented a tough masculine ideal. In spaghetti westerns and vigilante dramas Eastwood delivered what the audience expected. In Eastwood’s latest film, Gran Torino, the aura exuding from all those characters continues to flow in all of its reinvented forms.

For almost two decades now, Eastwood has been actively deconstructing the masculine image his films defined. Characters that see the world in black and white cannot exist in a world shaded in grey. Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) embodies the morally centered man with the overly gruff exterior Eastwood has made famous. Walt is a widowed Korean War veteran haunted by the memory of all he killed, though nobody knows his torment. He has secluded himself from the living, keeping his family at bay. Walt is over-the-top cantankerous, leaving no doubt he is ripe for redemption and reinvention.

In deconstructing Walt, Eastwood finds the soul of the man, morally centered as the characters that have come before him. Without the burden of a lifetime of built up walls of regret, Walt is able to understand life, and understand the sacrifice it requires. Eastwood’s classic characters were always emblematic of an American ideal, character that is ill-suited to continue thriving in an ever-changing world. The car that lends its name to Gran Torino, is itself emblematic of a past automobile ideal. Eastwood has shown ideals can change; he can stay relevant in a new world taking a toll on those who cling to an uncompromising past.

Dewey's Pizza

Crust is the key to any pizza. Bad dough makes the rest of the pie virtually unsalvageable. This maxim holds true to sauce as well, though to a lesser extent. At Dewey’s Pizza in Grandview, the crust is wisely nondescript, as is the sauce. On a basic slice of cheese, the shortcomings of each are evident. Fortunately for Dewey’s, their hat is hung on their toppings. The crust and sauce are merely platforms to present the feature event. The topping combinations, though not unique, are well thought out and blend well. Dewey’s Pizza proclaims to be “Taking Pizza to the Next Level”. It is good, no doubt, but with hidden flaws it still has a further distance to ascend.

Watchmen

Superheroes emerged in the early twentieth century, when the modern world was becoming a foreboding place, unrecognizable to traditional ways of life. The superhero’s existence rose as a reaction to forces gaining more and more power on daily life. The common citizen, cowered by the perceived evil of threats they couldn’t comprehend, needed saviors processing unfathomable strengths working for the common good. Director Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, based on the graphic novel of the same name, understands this fear and reaction. It also understands the modern world is comprised of these forces and fears because it is human made. The world if full of humanity’s good intentions, inherently flawed and even evil, as are the superheroes that make up the Watchmen.

To populate this world at the end of the twentieth century, the film becomes a visual feast into the different foreboding era’s that defined the century. Though Watchmen spans decades, this visual homage to bygone years are seamlessly integrated into a singular present, albeit 1985, where the bulk of the story takes place. Time bends to allow Snyder to bathe industrialists in Art Deco inspired skyscrapers while the United States government contemplates nuclear war in a Dr. Strangelove war room as the anti-hero Rorschach keeps a running diary in his head that would make Travis Bickle proud. The deadliest century in history sentimentalized into moments that pushed humanity to the breaking point, where the Watchmen can be found.

The superheroes of Watchmen are saviors no longer capable of summoning the strength needed to protect the common good. The foreboding world has left them ravaged by time, holier than thou, and jaded by evil that knows no end. The few who continue to protect find their efforts make nary a dent in the barrage of forces leaving the world unsalvageable. Unable to stop the inevitable, they are reduced to watching their own flawed good intentions unleashing an evil start to the end of life as we know it.

Watchmen is a bleak film about humanity’s inability to get out of its own way. There are brief moments of hope, where the simple joys of life are able to shine. Those moments of joy underscore how little has changed in the last century. They are moments that would be recognizable to people living during any age, moments that are dwarfed by the world’s inhabitant’s relentless pursuit to destroy themselves. Superheroes rose to cope with the destruction, but like the rest of humanity’s intentions, they too have been twisted to aid the end of civilization.

Columbus Yogurt

A taste of world culture living through the prism of Columbus, Oh