Rick's Flicks Picks on AWN: Western

COWBOYS & ALIENS (2011) (***1/2)

rdemott2 — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:38:30 -0700

In all honesty it's surprising this wasn't been done sooner. Beginning with STAR WARS, the sci-fi genre has been borrowing Western motifs. Jon Favreau's comic book adaptation puts sci-fi smack dab into a Western. Even the sci-fi has a Western tingle to it. The heart of this film is in the Wild West and most importantly with its characters.

RANGO (2011) (***)

rdemott2 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:18:55 -0800

I've been mulling over what to say about Gore Verbinski's first foray into feature animation. Like it's main character it has so many dual identities. Its photoreal animation is a truly original, while its script seems cobbled together from dozens of at right angle sources. The film has adult ideas that few American animated films ever have, but it seems lost at what audience it's really targeting. It's a Western. It's a comedy. It's an existential examination.

TRUE GRIT (2010) (***1/2)

rdemott2 — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:01:00 -0800

For a Coen Brothers film, this Western is pretty straight forward. A young girl’s father is murdered. She seeks revenge. Her determination is undaunted. And yet this is a Coen Brothers’ film. The siblings love of language and dark humor color this compelling character study.

JONAH HEX (2010) (*1/2)

rdemott2 — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:47:44 -0700

I went into this film knowing only the basics about the title character. Jonah Hex is a severely scarred bounty hunter with some supernatural abilities. His family was murdered. The film didn’t really expand my knowledge and in some ways confused me even more. At 80 some minutes, there were times I thought I was watching a reel of the cut scenes from the JONAH HEX videogame.