Blu ray movie review of True Grit

The Coen Brothers latest movie is a remake of classic western called True Grit. While Coen brothers receive critical acclaims for their movies, they rarely had big box office success with their movies. True Grit is a rare exception. It did better than most of their previous works in terms of box office success. It spent some time at the top of the box office. It’s also rare for a western to be received so well at the box office these days.

The story follows a girl on a mission to avenge her father. 14 year old girl named Mattie Ross hires a tough U.S. marshal to track down her father’s killer. She looks for a man with “true grit” to pursue the killer. She ends up hiring Reuben Cogburn. While Cogburn is definitely tough, he has drinking problem as well as problem with Mattie tagging along. Along the way, they are joined by a Texas Ranger named Laboeuf who is tracking the killer himself. The three of them venture into Indian country and face many dangers along the way.

The story is adequate at best. It isn’t anything we haven’t seen before in western. After all, it is a remake with similar plot. However, the acting by the four main characters makes it a great movie. Jeff Bridges as the drunk but tough marshal is spot on. Haillee Steinfeld was relatively new actress at the time of the release. However, she will be a major Hollywood star in the near future. Matt Damon as a little off Texas Ranger was good comic relief. Overall, the movie was definitely worth watching even for non western fans.

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The Good, The Bad, The Weird Blu Ray Review

The Good, the bad, the weird is the Korean take on the Sergio Leone’s classic Spaghetti Western, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. This has to be truly one of few Korean movies to deal with Western subject. Instead of the Wild West, the setting is the 1930s Manchuria. Until recently, Korean films were mostly dramas and melodramas. Only in last 10-15 years has Korean cinema produced broader genre including action and adventure films. The Good, the Bad, the Weird is the latest attempt at something different that might appeal to international market.

The story revolves around three characters trying in pursuit of a treasure map. The story opens up with a hitman, the Bad, trying to steal a map from a Japanese official traveling by train. During the robbery, a thief, the Weird, steals the map from the Bad. The Weird escapes with the map. Meanwhile, a bounty hunter comes upon the scene and decides to pursue the Bad for the bounty. All three are tangled up in a classic chase as they all hunt for the treasure and each other.

The movie is clearly influenced by many classic western movies. Even so, the movie has distinct Korean elements. There are some humorous dialogues that might only appeal to native Korean speakers. Even so, the overall plot and subject matter should appeal to broader international audiences. There are some breathtaking cinematic and photography in Manchurian desert. The opening train sequence as well as all the action sequences are top notch. Any fan of western and Spaghetti western should appreciate this fine film.

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Blu-Ray disc movie review of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

It’s easy to see why some consider Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid one of the greatest western movie. Paul Newman and Robert Redford play two of the most iconic characters in the history cinema. The movie is not so much plot driven as it is character driven. And, this will appeal to almost everybody including non western fans. The movie does not fall into one genre. Instead, it is a comedy, action, and a great drama rolled into one movie.

The story starts off in the Midwest where Newman and Redford lead “The Hole in the Wall Gang.” They rob trains and banks. The Pacific railroad hires the best trackers and lawmen to capture or kill Butch and Sundance. The rest of the movie is about Newman and Redford evading the capture or outright murder. The story is not so much about the pursuit. It is about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The examination of the two criminals. They are as likeable as any two criminals can be liked. You hate to see it end.

The acting is as good as it gets with Newman and Redford. They deliver funny and very sincere performance. They probably should have been nominated for the Oscar. The two actors make this movie entirely on their own.

This is simply a solid entertainment from start to finish. The director George Roy Hill surrounds two characters with decent story and chase scenes. He did great job of just staying out of the way of two great actors. No one should miss this great film.

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Blue-Ray hd movie review of Appaloosa

Ed Harris writes, directs, and acts in Appaloosa, a western adapted from a book by Robert Parker. I did not read this book so I can not compare the movie to the book. I don't think you need to read the book to fully enjoy this film. Ed Harris has always been one of my favorite actors. He has portrayed variety of characters throughout his movie career with very assured acting. In his second effort as director, Ed Harris delivers a very old school western about friendship and loyalty.

The movie starts off in New Mexico 1882. The town named Appaloosa is under the control of outlaw/rancher named Randall Bragg, played by Jeremy Irons. Three lawmen are dispatched to arrest one of the henchman working for Bragg. Bragg refuses to hand him over and kills the three lawmen on the spot. The town enlists Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, played by Viggo Mortensen. The plot is fairly straight forward. Mix in a love interest for Cole by the way of Renne Zellweger. Ultimately, this is a story about friendship and loyalty more than gun fights. There are no slow motion worthy gun fight sequences. The gun fight scenes are brutal and quick. Just the way it was in the west. The friendship between Cole and Hitch is the center piece of the movie.

There's not much to say about Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons, or Renee Zellweger. They are all Oscar caliber actors. The plot is simple and straight forward. This does not mean it's boring movie. It is very entertaining film. Ultimately, the bad guys get shot and the good guys triumph. But, not in the traditional way. One of the friend sacrifices himself for his friend. It is a perfect ending to a great old school western flick. This is highly recommended to any movie lovers.

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Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Rober Ford Blu-ray movie review

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as a title really sums up the movie's plot, but it is more than your typical western movie. Not only is the title a spoiler, but it sums up the two main characters. JESSE JAMES is the villanous hero where as Rober Ford is the coward. The title allows us to sit back and enjoy the journey of Robert Ford in his quest to become famous and Jesse James' journey into infamy and legendary myth.

Pitt gives one of his best performances in one of his most challenging role. He didn't really need to say much. His presence was enough. Pitt may very well be remembered for this film, even with an ever-growing impressive body of work. The supporting cast also did a great job, with an outstanding showing by Sam Rockwell as the sometimes not so evident meeker Ford.

It was interesting to see that Pitt wasn't the focus of this film, instead we find Casey Affleck deviling deep into the depths of desire and crazyness. The tension building with each disappointment or insult from everyone. How he did not win Oscar gold for this performance is beyond me.

Overall, it's a great story wonderful visuals, low-key narration and great acting. It ended up being very impressed. Just don't expect shoot em up type of western movie.

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Western classic The Wild Bunch on Blu-ray

The Wild Bunch is director Sam Peckinpah's vivid and provocative imagination of the west in the early 20th century. It is a remarkable film, both famed for bringing to screen one of most realistic dying west and for its intense portrayal of violence and brutality. Shot in widescreen, it is a dark and unrelenting tale of the 9 outlaws known as the wild bunch, united in friendship and in their fight against the vastly changing world around them. As they see the sun go down on their own way of life, changing technology and the industrial revolution is getting a firm grip on society and they see the dawn of a new west.

A gang of outlaws led by Pike Bishop ride into a town in 1913 and proceed to rob the railroad office. However, their getaway is thrown off by a railroad company's hired bounty hunters, headed unwillingly by Pike's former friend Deke Thornton , who has been offered the chance to earn a pardon if he can catch or kill his old comrade. Following a massacre in the streets, Pike's gang escape and flee to the south toward Mexico where they are enlisted by a seedy general in Agua Verde to rob a weapons train. Pike and his surviving gang-members, Dutch , Lyle , Tector and Angel , agree to carry out the raid on behalf of the general, but they unwisely give one box of the stolen rifles to the local bandits, resulting in the general seeking retribution by taking Angel as his hostage. Believing that they should stand by Angel whatever the cost, Pike and the boys put up one last stand against the soldiers of Agua Verde.

Once the shooting stops, there is an odd sad feeling that settles over the compound and the movie itself. The bounty hunters show up when the vultures do. The sight of his former companions' dead bodies slumped over the backs of horses is too much for Thornton to bear. You know he would have rather been there by their side during the battle, and now he cannot bring himself to claim the reward for their hides. He simply sits down in the dirt as the survivors of the compound quietly file out and an ominous wind begins blowing through the dusty streets. Moments later it's his turn to make a choice. You can't help but feel he made the right one.

The Wild Bunch is an incredible film. If ever a film was ahead of it's time, this is it.

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John Wayne’s Western The Searchers Blu-ray movie review

John Ford is a great classic Western filmmaker, employing the classic Western film star, John Wayne, in perhaps one of the most underappreciated and unwatched films of our time. Ford builds a thoroughly entertaining and engrossing movie which explores classic Western themes without necessarily relying on these themes to drive the plot.

Like any good Western, we are inorexably drawn to a some kind of Cowboys vs. Indians saga, but Ford manages to draw us into the conflict in such a way that the mere conventions are'nt followed. While relying on the archetypical roles of the two groups to set up a conflict, Ford is ahead of his time in managing to characterize the Indians as more than a mere "noble savages". Wayne's character's (Ethan Edwards) hatred of "the Commanch" is called into question a number of times, especially in his stormy relationship with adopted nephew and fellow searcher Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), who we are told is a quarter-Indian himself, and cannot bring himself to find the same sort of hatred for the Indians that Ethan holds.

Ethan Edwards takes his time in returning home to Texas from the Civil War to the home of his brother and his family. But soon after he does the family is massacred in an Indian raid. The two young daughters are taken prisoner and Wayne with Jeffrey Hunter and Harry Carey, Jr. go off in search of them. Carey is killed early on, but Wayne and Hunter go on for years, both driven men for different reasons.

Ethan Edwards is probably the most racist man Wayne ever portrayed on the big screen, yet we some how feel sympathy for him at the same time. He has experienced hard and bitter life on the frontier for him. Just as it's been for the Indians as well. Chief Scar, played by Henry Brandon, is Wayne's opposite number and he makes clear what he thinks of whites. Two of his sons were killed and he's going to take many white scalps in reprisal.

Featuring 18-year old Natalie Wood as a first 'adult' roles, the sparkling Vera Miles as Pawley's love interest, Wayne's son Patrick in a funny comic relief, and the harmonies of the Sons of the Pioneers accenting Max Steiner's rich score, THE SEARCHERS is a timeless movie experience that becomes richer with each viewing.

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Wyatt Earp – blu-ray movie review

This is one of the best, and underrated, westerns ever made. It was a very intense, interesting character study of a famous lawman, showing flaws and all. In fact, this is the only version, I believe, that really shows the sadistic side of Wyatt Earp, and what made him a bitter man. To be fair, it also shows his good traits.

Unlike other adaptations of the same subject (namely, Kurt Russell's Earp in 'Tombstone'), this film deals with the famous gunfight as merely a step in Earp's life. Rather, the film focuses on the man behind the legend. To do this, it looks at Earp's life in two stages: his life before, and after, a major transition.

Hollywood's version of history is considerably at variance with the facts, and life on the frontier in the 19th century would appear to have been more dull and monotonous than exciting and colorful… Certainly, life in Tombstone, Arizona, in its time of greatest prosperity as a mining town must have been anything but healthy, with its vast number of rough working men relieving their boredom with drinking and brawling, and occasionally shooting each other…

In Kasdan's epic Western, Earp is the upright defender of the law, and Doc, a dissolute gambler… Nevertheless, the men are compassionate and respectful, and both have a kind of dignity… Holliday is much more credible as the black sheep of an aristocratic Virginia family and a jaded idealist… Dennis Quaid allowed himself to lose 30 pounds of his weight only to accurately portray the gun-notorious Doc Holliday, now, alas devoted to the bottle and in the latter stages of tuberculosis…

The cast is pretty good and also pretty deep. Costner may not be seen as a star anymore but that doesn't mean he can't act and can't hold the attention. He is a reasonable Wyatt but he suffers from being too deliberate and too shut off at times. I understand he needed to do it for the character but it contributes to the film feeling slow. The other brothers are played well by Madsen, Ashby and Andrews. Maybe it is because of Costner's drab Wyatt, but Quaid really lightens things up as Doc Holliday. His colourful character stands out easily against the old west types. The support cast is deep and includes faces such as Hackman, Fahey, Harmon, Pullman, Sizemore, Rossellini, Williams and O'Hara.

Despite its occasional longueurs, in its latter stages (which deal with the post-Gunfight spiral of revenge between the Earp and Clanton gangs, with Wyatt's happy second marriage to the beautiful Josie and with his final promotion to legendary status) the film achieves a similar epic grandeur to that of "Dances with Wolves", aided by those familiar features of the large-scale Western, sweeping photography of the scenery and a stirring musical score. One of the better modern Westerns

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Pale Rider – Blu-ray movie review

Clint Eastwood made this film in 1985 and at the time many people said it was the best movie that he had ever made. Some people even went further and said it was the best western ever made. But the raucous shoot-em-up Silverado came out that very same year, basically foisting Kevin Costner onto an unsuspecting world, and it made a bigger splash in 1985 than did Pale Rider. And after that two more things happened: Costner went on to make Dances With Wolves (1990), and Eastwood went on to make The Unforgiven (1992), and with all that Pale Rider slipped into obscurity. The Unforgiven now wears the mantle of being Clint's masterpiece, his finest western, of being maybe the best western ever. And other people marvel much the same way at Dances With Wolves. Meanwhile, nobody thinks about or even remembers Pale Rider, a sorry fate that this fine film doesn't deserve.

The similarities between this movie and his well-known Spaghetti Westerns are vast, but the difference lies with the superior quality. Once again he is the ‘Man With No Name' defending the weak and settling an old score. Where this one differs from his earlier work is that the characters and dialogue are realistic surpassing the one – dimension norm for the genre. The characters are credible in the sense that each has believable motivations for their actions. The Hood are motivated by their greed and the gold miners are motivated by their dreams. The credibility is thus intact with regards to the characters drives meaning that we now do not have to rely on suspension of disbelief as we witness the action unfold. The dialogue is in sync with each character. The Hood speaks with an educated tongue, but his desperation is apparent as the Preacher stands his ground. The miners speak with little sophistication thus reflecting their social status of the times. The Preacher speaks as we would expect ‘The Man With No Name' to speak. He is cool and rational and what little is said carries a lot of weight. The dialogue thus enhances the rich diversity of characters.

In 1850 California, a small group squatters and their families find themselves terrorized by Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), who are standing win the way of his progress… Desperate, LaHood begins using violence in an unsuccessful attempt to run the peaceful yet determined homesteaders from their land… Leading the homesteaders is a decent man Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty), who dreams of a better life for himself, his girlfriend Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgress) and her lovely daughter from a previous marriage, 14-year-old Meagan (Sydney Penny).

If you are looking for an original movie, than you'll have to look somewhere else. This movie uses all the possible clichés that can be found in this kind of Westerns. But on the other hand I must also say that all is done in a very proper way. Eastwood is a fine director and he did what he was best in at the time: he made a Western. The story, the direction, the acting, the scenes,... it all looks professional and more than OK and especially thanks to Eastwood's acting performance in it, this movie is still a 'must-see'. I'm not a big fan of Westerns, but every time that I'm able to see one with Eastwood in it, I'll not let it pass. My advice: if you can see past the fact that it isn't very original, you will almost certainly enjoy it

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How the West was Won – Blu-ray movie review

Ford's most distinctive work has dealt with the white American's conquest of the wilderness... He has made films about most of the significant episodes in American history—early colonization of the West, the Civil War, the extermination of the Indians—and in so doing he has recounted the American saga in human terms and made it come alive...

James R. Webb's original screenplay for the screen won an Oscar in 1962 and it involves an episodic account of the Presscott family and their contribution to settling the American west in the 19th century. We first meet the Presscotts, Karl Malden and Agnes Moorehead going west on the Erie Canal and later by flatboat on the Ohio River. They have two daughters, dreamy romantic Carroll Baker and feisty Debbie Reynolds. The girls meet and marry mountain man James Stewart and gambler Gregory Peck eventually and their adventures and those of their children are what make up the plot of How the West Was Won.

Three of Hollywood's top directors did parts of this film although the lion's share by all accounts was done by Henry Hathaway. John Ford did the Civil War sequence and George Marshall the sequence about the railroad.

I was surprised how many times while watching the film I was moved to tears -- and not always during the sad scenes. (The scene at her father's grave when Carol Baker sends her son off to war, long after her husband has also gone, is very moving.) What was it that made me so misty-eyed? I found myself getting caught up in the lives of these pioneers, with their hopes, dreams, and disappointments, and all too human frailties.

Beautiful scenery, great cast, lousy writing, uneven acting, different directing styles that don't mesh, and lines running up and down your screen because of the gimmick, add up to a movie that should be seen but not taken seriously.

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