The earth is hard, the climate is dry, the sun is scorching. The bad guys outnumber the good, and in the entire town there is but one woman. That's right, this is a Western and its the best I've seen in a theater. Of course that isn't saying much, but my point is that this is a good Western. It's also a good remake apparently, this very movie was made a half century ago or something. So we add "3:10 to Yuma" to the "King Kong list" of remakes that are probably superior to the original film.
The plot is pretty simple, the real draw to this film are the performances. Almost in a duel/partnerships are Russel Crowe as outlaw Ben Wade and Christian Bale as a failed family man whose son outspokenly voices his disapproval of him. An example of their conversation "Someday when you walk in my shoes, you would understand." Intese pause. "I'll never walk in you're shoes." Such words from sons can drive men crazy. And so we get Christian Bale becoming a hero before our and Wade's eyes. It's a sight to see the transformation. The intensity, the passion, the tough grit. Very few movies give a lot to the word honor nowadays, but we see it in this movie in spades.
Two more righteous shoutouts. One goes to the Ben Foster who turns in a splendid performance of Wade's sidekick "Charlie Prince." The little touch of sophistication goes a long way. The second shout out goes to the climatic gun fight. Hopefully this movie is turned into a video game at some point. There's plenty to work with here.
Showing posts with label ben foster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ben foster. Show all posts
Sunday, October 24, 2010
X-Men: The Last Stand 05/27/06
This movie, the third installment of the X-Men series, literally killed the franchise. I mean seriously, everyone's dead. LIke most characters in today's blockbusters, they are the victims of great special effects. This movie has some of the best visuals one will ever see, but I don't know about you, I seriously couldn't give a shit about landscapes. That's why I didn't paticularly like Brokeback Mountain and that's why I can't give this one a passing grade either.
They call it X-Men but what they should call it is a freak show. This movie suffered like I thought it would in the absence of Bryan Singer, the director of the first two movies. I don't know who directed this one but he didn't much care about the characters. (Rogue has about 3 scenes, Cyclops dies in the first ten minutes, Pyro is incredibly one dimensional) Any identification with any of them comes predominantly from the first two movies in the series, in fact if I hadn't seen the first two already I don't think I would have the slightest idea what was going on in this one. This movie is a roll call for special effects. Since the effects are mutants, the characters basically show up on screen, give us a show, and then leave. Just like the circus.
It also is a bad sign when the most effective line in the movie is a ripoff of Shakespeare and the funniest line is an expletive. This movie suffers from the disease called no-more-than-two-syllables-in-a-conversation syndrome. Talk about dumb downed for mass appeal.
Another thing I'll say before I stop complaining. Remember how I said alot of people died. Well most of them are shredded into many many pieces. Kids should definetely not see this movie, and it really should have been rated R.
Two years ago after seeing the horrible Men in Black II, I promised myself, no more sequels. Why oh why do I betray myself so readily
They call it X-Men but what they should call it is a freak show. This movie suffered like I thought it would in the absence of Bryan Singer, the director of the first two movies. I don't know who directed this one but he didn't much care about the characters. (Rogue has about 3 scenes, Cyclops dies in the first ten minutes, Pyro is incredibly one dimensional) Any identification with any of them comes predominantly from the first two movies in the series, in fact if I hadn't seen the first two already I don't think I would have the slightest idea what was going on in this one. This movie is a roll call for special effects. Since the effects are mutants, the characters basically show up on screen, give us a show, and then leave. Just like the circus.
It also is a bad sign when the most effective line in the movie is a ripoff of Shakespeare and the funniest line is an expletive. This movie suffers from the disease called no-more-than-two-syllables-in-a-conversation syndrome. Talk about dumb downed for mass appeal.
Another thing I'll say before I stop complaining. Remember how I said alot of people died. Well most of them are shredded into many many pieces. Kids should definetely not see this movie, and it really should have been rated R.
Two years ago after seeing the horrible Men in Black II, I promised myself, no more sequels. Why oh why do I betray myself so readily
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)