Dean reviews "3:10 to Yuma", "Shoot "em Up" and "Brothers Solomon"
“3:10 TO YUMA”
It took an Aussie and a brit to make a great American western. It’s one of the best of the year!
50 years ago, a dime cowboy novel was made into a black and white western, "3:10 to Yuma" starring Glenn ford and van Heflin. Now, the story has been expanded, the starring roles have been brilliantly illuminated by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale...and "the western" has been re-energized.
In it, Oscar winner Crowe is great as a notorious outlaw whose finally been captured, and now is being escorted to a nearby town to be put on the 3:10 train to the Yuma Arizona prison...that's if his former gang doesn't spring him en route.
Bale is intense as a rancher who takes the escort job...and strikes up an odd bond with his prisoner.
These two actors are at their best as are the amazing supporting cast of Peter Fonda and Ben Foster as Crowe’s crazed second in command.
There’s plenty of shoot 'em up action but at its core, "3:10 to Yuma" is a story of honor.
Mosey on down to your local Cineplex for this powerful, dean's list "A.”
“SHOOT ‘EM UP”
"Shoot ‘Em Up" may be the most appropriately titled film of 2007. That’s pretty much all that happens in the movie.
Clive Owen plays a mysterious stranger in the wrong place at the wrong time that saves a pregnant woman and her baby from a group of hired killers headed up by a crazed, Paul Giamotti.... who then, also wants Owen dead.
Endless rounds of explosions and tiring chase scenes connect attempts at "Kill Bill-like", over-the-top dialogue and a contrived plot line of why this pregnant woman and her baby were targets...and whether the mystery man can stop the killers.
At the end of the 2 hours...there wasn't enough story to support all of the violence.
It’s an all style and no substance, Dean's List "C."
“THE BROTHERS SOLOMON”
The "movie to miss" this week is Will Forte and Will Arnett’s "The Brothers Solomon." They are two brothers who decide that the only way to wake their father up from a coma is by giving him the grandchild he's always wanted...only both of them are social nit wits not wise in the ways of the ladies.
You can tell that the story here came from Forte, a former SNL writer. It’s reeks of a 3-minute sketch that should never have been made into a 90-minute movie.
It could have been worse though. Rob Schneider could have been in it. A Dean's List "D minus."
Comments
Dean... you're normally the man that my husband and I go to for movie reviews.... we just got back from Shoot 'Em Up and after I heard your review this morning, I was expecting much more of an unimpressive mess of a movie than I saw. It seemed to be much more Sin City inspired than Kill Bill. As said, it delivers on the title... and as a guy who usually can enjoy a movie for what it is, at its base... it was a pretty good shoot 'em up movie. Who else has delivered a kill by carrot? Yes, the storyline was weak. It might have been better as a "summer" movie just there to be fun to watch (if you like that kind of movie). But I enjoyed it... it was money well spent going to the theater to see it. And about one minute in to it my husband turned to me and whispered "I am SO getting the DVD for this when it comes out."
Posted by: Victoria | September 8, 2007 1:13 AM