A movie lives or dies on the believability of the performances. In the case of The Power of the Dog, you have to believe that Benedict Cumberbatch can play a bastard cowboy. To his credit, Cumberbatch manages to deliver upon … Continue reading The Power of the Dog (2021) Review
I’ve never been on the Cohen brother’s bandwagon. Where some people see genius, I see convoluted plotting, snail-pace story-telling and sometimes arrogant stylised techniques. Aside from the True Grit remake and parts of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, I don’t … Continue reading No Country for Old Men (2007) Review
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a difficult one to review. It is a movie comprised of segments; individual stories with a western theme. They vary from comedy, to drama, to the macabre and back again. Each one has it’s own … Continue reading Oscars 2019: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) Review
I am not a fan of the Coen brothers. It is an unpopular view but where people think that everything they touch seems to turn to gold, I find their films passable at best. This means that a new Coen movie … Continue reading Trailer of the Week:The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
There is something “old-school” about The Magnificent Seven. Not the fact it is a Western, although that does seem novel at a time when Westerns are quite rare in Hollywood, especially close to the blockbuster season. Magnificent Seven is old-school … Continue reading The Magnificent Seven (2016) Review
There aren’t many roles that feel so tailor made for Brad Pitt than that of outlaw Jesse James. From the moment the actor is on-screen he both owns the role and the movie, managing to be the most interesting character whenever … Continue reading The Assassination of the Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) Review
This film would be a lot better if it was just called Cowboys. Before the aliens show up to cause all matter of destruction and chaos, the film follows Daniel Craig’s cowboy into a small, typical western town where he confronts a sheriff, tavern owners and most notably of all, Harrison Ford’s cowboy rancher. Daniel Craig plays the “man with no name” style cowboy really well. He has the mood, the hundred yard stare and the swagger required to walk into bars and taverns and exude a confidence and arrogance that makes people think twice about messing with him. The opening act, … Continue reading Cowboys and Aliens (2011) Review
Westerns and War Films: There are so many that it is difficult for either genre to impress me. I’ve sat through examples of both that people regard as the pinnacle of the genre, like The Longest Day and Platoon for War films or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly for Westerns but other than a few exceptions, they aren’t the sort of films I’d ever get excited about. I’ve had the Magnificent Seven saved on my DVR for a while now and just can’t bring myself to watch it, there is always something I’d rather watch. Recently though, two … Continue reading 3.10 to Yuma (2007) Review
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