Spielberg, Eastwood: It's the second one that counts

Steven Spielberg had two films he directed released in 1993. The first, "Jurassic Park," was a real crowd-pleaser; the second, "Schindler's List," won the all the awards. Same thing in 2005 when he released "War of the Worlds" and then "Munich."

A couple of years ago, Clint Eastwood"s "Flags of Our Fathers" was expected to carry his recent tradition of Oscar-worthy fare, but it didn't turn out that way. In fact, it was considered somewhat of a disappointment. So he rushed to release "Letters from Iwo Jima," at the very end of that year and, whaddya know, it was that second film that wound up getting Eastwood more Oscar nominations.

Could the same thing happen this year? Judging from this trailer for "Gran Torino," it just might. Eastwood's "Changeling" opened today to at least one rave review, at least a couple of very good reviews, at least one mediocre one and at least one outright pan. Just judging from the trailer, however, "Gran Torino" might be the more significant of the two 2008 Eastwood films.