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Gran Torino [Blu-ray] [2008] Directed by Clint Eastwood List Price: £26.99 Price: £12.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £5. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 10 new or used available from £9.90 Average customer review:

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Editorial Reviews

Special Features
• Manning the Wheel: The meaning of manhood as reflected in American car culture
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• Gran Torino: More than a Car: Visit Detroit and the Woodward Dream Cruise, an annual vintage car event where buffs describe the unique bond between men and vehicle.
• Exclusive to Blu-ray: Gran Torino BD-Live:
Warner Bros. BD-Live, which is accessible through internet-connected Blu-ray players (including PlayStation® 3), invites users to experience a variety of exclusive interactive features, such as additional featurettes unique to Warner Bros. BD-Live, sneak peeks and trailers of upcoming Warner Bros. films.

“BD-Live takes the ultimate Hi-Def movie watching experience to a whole new level of exclusivity and interactivity” says Kris Brown, VP Worldwide High Definition. “With BD-Live, content is constantly updated in order to provide the consumer with additional product features beyond the point of sale.” Warner Home Video plans to include BD-Live on several upcoming titles in 2009, which will include expanded interactive and social networking capabilities such as:

• My WB Commentary: Lets you record Picture-in-Picture commentaries over the film using a personal webcam and post them to share with friends and other BD-Live community members.
• Live Community Screening (LCS): Allows users to send invitations and have a virtual screening with friends and family while chatting online together through the BD-Live platform.

BD-Live is only accessible through a Blu-ray Disc™ played on an Internet-connected or Blu-ray player (including PlayStation®3) with BD-Live capabilities and sufficient data storage.

Warner Home Video successfully launched BD-Live in the United States with The Dark Knight in 2008 and has seen continued success with many 2009 titles including Body of Lies and Yes Man. With the release of Gran Torino, the UK, France, Germany and Japan will be the first territories outside of the U.S. to have access to Warner Bros. BD-Live.

Synopsis
For his fourth directorial feature in the span of two years, Clint Eastwood tells the story of a grizzled Korean War vet's reluctant friendship with a Hmong teenage boy and his immigrant family. Set in contemporary Detroit, GRAN TORINO tackles the shifting cultural and economic landscape of not only the Motor City, but America as well. Eastwood stars as Walt Kowalski, an unabashed bigot who never heard a racial insult he didn't love. Bitter, haunted, and full of pride, Walt refuses to abandon the neighbourhood he's lived in for decades despite its changing demographics as he clings desperately to a mindset long since out of step with the times. When his Hmong neighbour Thao tries to steal his prized muscle car as part of a gang initiation, Walt is forced to grapple with the world around him.
GRAN TORINO's approach to the complicated issue of race relations is equal parts Archie Bunker and CRASH. That is to say, there is nothing subtle about Walt's bigotry, yet his misanthropy knows no bounds, and Eastwood does a remarkable job of finding the humour in Walt's equal opportunity racism. More than simply a racial morality tale, however, GRAN TORINO is about the unlikely bonds that people form to navigate the subtle complexities of everyday life. Like MILLION DOLLAR BABY, GRAN TORINO explores the challenging yet rich new world that can open up when individuals let down their guard, even if for just a moment. Estranged from his family and his church, and without any sense of personal peace, Walt offers all that he has to Thao and his family, namely wisdom and protection. When tragedy strikes the family, Eastwood allows a little classic Harry Callahan to poke through, but the surprising finale posits a hero that Dirty Harry would never have the guts to be. It's a potent symbolic gesture to Eastwood's own growth as a storyteller.

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Customer Reviews

Amazing!!!
I went to see this film at the cinema and when it ended i would have happily have sat through it again. For a couple of minutes after it finished nobody moved and all I could think was wow!. It really is a good film and I have heard some reviewers say that some of the performances of the minor charactors were not great but I felt that I was watching real people in a real situation. Clint Eastwood is not a young man any more but I had no trouble believing that he was a hard man who could still instill the fear of God. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so that I can watch it again. It's just what we need, a real modern day hero.

Gran Torino - Blu-ray Info
Version: AUS, Japan, UK, EU / Warner / Region Free
VC-1 BD-50 / AACS / Advanced Profile 3
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Running time: 1:56:34
Movie size: 31,51 GB
Disc size: 35,35 GB
Total bit rate: 36.04 Mbps
Average video bit rate: 26.99 Mbps

Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1344 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1344 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)
Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio German 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Italian 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Japanese 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / Dolby Surround

Subtitles: English, English SDH, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish
Number of chapters: 29

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Version: U.S.A / Warner / Region Free
Disc size: 33,45 GB
Movie size: 29,70 GB
Average video bit rate: 26.99 Mbps
Total bit rate: 33.98 Mbps

Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1344 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1344 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)
Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Portuguese 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps

Subtitles: English (SDH), English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

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#Manning the Wheel (HD - 9m:23s)
#Gran Torino: More Than a Car (HD - 3m:57s)
#DVD Digital Copy
#The Eastwood Way (HD - 19m:17s)
#BD-Live enabled

Clint Eastwood was born to play Walt Kowalski in his last role as an actor and one of his best!
Gran Torino is a hard hitting film in which Clint Eastwood learns to like his Hmong immigrants neighbours from Southwest Asia by defending them from a local gang. I found this to be both touching and moving because at the start of the film he hated his neighbours. The role of Walt Kowalski is very much in the same vain as his Dirty Harry character. Gran Torino is extremely well acted by all and the directing by Mr Eastwood is to his normal very high standards. I found the story really gripped me and also shocked me at times especially the ending. I feel a little sad that this is Clint Eastwoods last film as an actor and I am glad that it is a most excellent film too because at least he goes out on a high. If you are a fan of Clint Eastwood then Gran Torino really is a must buy film on blu-ray in which it looks great too.