Appaloosa

[Kirth Gersen]

Saw it last night. AWESOME! A picture-perfect adaptation of Robert Parker's novel. Ed Harris wrote, produced, directed, starred, and sang the theme song. Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons, and Renee Zellwiger are all ideal in their roles. Gunfights are quick and decisive. Don't know what else to say.

[Kirth Gersen]

Still no one? Paizo people must hate westerns!

[Nameless]

OK, that is like, the coolest cast ever. I want to check this out now, how have I not heard of it?

[Garydee]

Nameless wrote:

OK, that is like, the coolest cast ever. I want to check this out now, how have I not heard of it?

It didn't get much publicity. I saw it advertised on TV only twice. It looks to be a good movie. With that cast I don't see how it could go wrong.

[Kirth Gersen]

Garydee wrote:

With that cast I don't see how it could go wrong.

I thought that about "State of Grace" (Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Sean Penn, John Turturro), but that movie unfortunately blew chunks.

"Appaloosa" definitely lived up to the cast, though. I absolutely loved it (take that with a grain of salt -- I'm a big Robert Parker fan, and a big fan of westerns as well).

[Vendle]

To like this movie, you have to have an appreciation for well-timed lines and dry wit. I thought it was fantastic. My wife also liked it so much we looked at showtimes later that night. Alas, there wasn't time.

[Gurubabaramalamaswami]

I'm a big fan of westerns. But not this one. Took my dad to see it for his birthday and I'm glad he liked it. I thought it crawled. The end is sooo anticlimactic.

Spoiler:

I was desperately hoping that Vigo's character was going into the saloon to just shoot them both and be done with it. No such luck.

[Jal Dorak]

No fair, Kirth, I love all genres!

I haven't had a chance to check out Appaloosa yet, but I will. I loved seeing Open Range in theatres. The last gunfight was a delight. When you watch a western, the ramblin' nature (read: boring to some people) is part of the experience.

I still gotta go with Once Upon a Time in the West as my all-time favorite.

[Kirth Gersen]

Jal Dorak wrote:

I still gotta go with Once Upon a Time in the West as my all-time favorite.

My favorite of Leone's is Fistful of Dollars, but just because the source story, Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest, has long been one of my favorite novels.

If you liked Open Range, then Broken Trail (also with Robert Duvall) is worth watching.

And I think you'll love Appaloosa.

[S.Baldrick]

I just got back from this and I really liked it. I think the best parts of the film were Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen: They were totally bad ass!

That being said, it did kind of drag towards the end but all in all, it was a great modern western. Not quite as good as 3:10 to Yuma but still a very good movie.

[Kirth Gersen]

S.Baldrick wrote:

Not quite as good as 3:10 to Yuma but still a very good movie.

I know everyone else in the world loved it, but that one was a bit too silly for me. (Then again, everyone in the world seems to love Russell Crowe except for me.) The original "3:10" was just slightly goofy at the end:

Spoiler:

"Oh, I have suddenly seen the error of my ways! I'm no longer a murderer or thief, I'm a meek captive and good friend, because you have showed me so well how wrong I was!"

; the remake was so goofy it totally destroyed my suspension of disbelief:

Spoiler:

"You are so cool! I think I'll go to prison for a bajillion years and even murder my own gang, just to thank you for being so awesome! And can I provide oral gratification for you while I'm at it? Never mind me threatening you with death a couple of scenes ago!"