Appaloosa, a western co-written, directed and starring Ed Harris was much better than I expected. I am not a huge fan of westerns, but it is something I should reevaluate due the number of well-made westerns in recent years (3:10 To Yuma and The Assassination Of Jesse James…for example). Harris stars as a lawman for hire that cleans up dirty towns with his sidekick the laconic Viggo Mortenson. This town is reminiscent of that from Yojimbo (Red Harvest) where there is no law and order-just a bunch of outlaws doing as they please. Harris and Mortenson quickly bring justice to the town, but there are several battles along the way and a troublesome love interest, played by Renee Zwellenger. It seems that she is attracted to the boss bull and can’t help herself-an interesting characteristic that causes problems for Harris and Mortenson. It has great acting, cinematography, and an original story-well-worth the time.
I also enjoyed Body of Lies, based on the novel of the same name, with Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, however not as much. My main problem with this film is that they simplified it too much (or Hollywoodized it). The themes are well worn and predictable; can the undercover agent regain trust form the Jordian operative in time to save his life? That being said DiCaprio puts in another impressive performance as an Arabic-speaking American undercover operative in the Middle East. The exotic locales and impressive cinematography captured my interest despite the hackneyed plot.
Clint Eastwood had a busy year putting out two films, Gran Torino and Changeling. I haven’t seen the former, but Changeling was beautifully shot, but suffers from Hollywood simplification and was cleaned up for general audiences. This fascinating plot is based on a true story that is much more lurid and perverse than the film version. Jeffrey Donovan (star of Burn Notice) put sis a great turn as the corrupt police official. Angelina Jolie is ho hum as is the usually excellent John Malcovich but that’s more due to the limited role he was given. The film’s period details are impressive as is the cinematography, but the conventional Hollywood plot ruins it for me.
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