REVIEW: All the Pretty Horses [2000]

“I have no honor but my promise” I shied away from Billy Bob Thornton’s All the Pretty Horses because the Weinsteins had billed it as a romance and all I had read said it was terrible. Now, almost a decade since its release, and the addition of two stellar films based on Cormac McCarthy novels, I had to take a look back. Watching No Country for Old Men and The Road does not give you a feeling that anything written by the guy could be something other than dark and…

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REVIEW: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [1969]

“For a gunman, you’re one hell of a pessimist” Director George Roy Hill had a little success when working with Paul Newman: two Best Picture and Best Director nominees with classics The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid along with a cult classic in the hockey comedy Slap Shot. The Sting is one of my favorite films and so when the opportunity presented itself to see the first pairing of Hill, Newman, and Robert Redford on the big screen, I had to take advantage. Being the earliest success…

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REVIEW: Appaloosa [2008]

“Everything eats meat likes a dead buffalo” It kind of flew under the radar, but Ed Harris’ film Appaloosa is a pretty solid western. As only his second foray behind the camera, after the good art biography Pollock, Harris has upped the stakes a bit in terms of scope and execution. Sure an old time western set around New Mexico territory isn’t all that posh and expensive, but it is impressive nonetheless. Between the costumes and the authenticity needed to make it real, something that HBO showed was possible with…

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REVIEW: Once Upon a Time in the West [1968]

“Watch those false notes” Never having watched many Westerns, I just know from what I have heard, that they are chock full of anti-heroes. Men who live conflicted lives and, while they may do the right thing, probably only help others when it ultimately serves their own purposes. These aren’t businessmen, but just plain men … an ancient race. With Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, this cannot be truer. Between our three male leads, and even our female star, not a one can be called a…

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REVIEW: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford [2007]

“Recapitulating the act of betrayal” The man, the myth, the legend, and the movie title. In what could be my favorite film name of all-time, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is much more than its superfluous moniker. From its bloated runtime to its slow, methodical pace, Andrew Dominik’s epic tale contains an inner beauty that allows for all the pretensions one seems to associate with it. Dominik is unrelenting on his quest to tell the story the way he wants it told, never compromising by…

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REVIEW: 3:10 to Yuma [2007]

“Even bad men love they mommas” It is interesting how having an Oscar nominated director and actor, along with an Oscar winning actor can make a film garner award season buzz rather than the backlash of being a remake. The stigma of remake usually spells the kiss of death for most films, but it seems almost an afterthought with James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma. Based on an Elmore Leonard short story, the original is somewhat highly touted, so it is not as though people don’t know of it to have…

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REVIEW: The Proposition [2006]

“Australia … what fresh hell is this?” Late nineteenth century Australia seems to have been quite a hellish place indeed if we are to believe what Nick Cave and John Hillcoat have given us here. From the unflinching, seeming authenticity, the weight of conflicting emotion on the part of each and every human being portrayed, and the sheer beauty of it—pain, suffering, and all—I won’t be the one to dispute it. I must admit that I have never seen a western before. None of the classics—John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Sergio…

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