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Jonah Hex

Jonah Hex is one of the worst films ever made. I wish I had live-blogged my commentary. There is no part of this movie that isn't dreadful. It has no redeeming features. It's not even re-watchable on the basis of being really really bad, because it's sooo boring and ridiculous. It's based on a comic book character, and I guess I might've thought it was worth watching if I'd read this character before. But I doubt it.

trailer:


As I look for a review that contains any positive remarks I find this:

well, if I ever find a positive comment, I'll try to remember to stick it in this spot.

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

3:10 to Yuma (2008) is a remake of the 1957 Glenn Ford and Van Heflin classic. Though enjoyable, the remake doesn't supplant the original. I had several issues with it, but the main one was the growth of the elder son into a main and motivating character. The father just doesn't seem nearly as noble and principled when i know he's only acting this way because his son is right there watching. Russell Crowe and Christian Bale star in this version, which is directed by James Mangold. Alan Tudyk ("Wash" from Firefly) has a good part.

trailer:


Slant Magazine gives it a mixed review, closing by saying, "Energetic and occasionally inspired, it's a western that, at the moment of truth, too closely remakes when what was truly necessary was reinvention." Rolling Stone calls it "flashily entertaining". Roger Ebert gives it high praise, opening his review with this: "James Mangold's "3:10 to Yuma" restores the wounded heart of the Western and rescues it from the morass of pointless violence."

Cowboys & Aliens

I had not heard good things about Cowboys & Aliens, but now that I've seen it I think the reports I heard were much too harsh. It's great fun to watch. This 2011 science fiction/western stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford and is directed by Jon Favreau. Also starring are Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Keith Carradine and Adam Beach (who plays Jim Chee in the PBS mystery series based on Hillerman's books).

trailer:


Slant Magazine gives it one grudging star and finds fault with everything, opening by saying,

Brandishing a literal-minded title as laughable as the rest of its action, Cowboys & Aliens mashes up genres with a staunch dedication to getting everything wrong, making sure that each scene is more inane than the one that preceded it.

Rolling Stone doesn't like it and closes with this:

The mash-up of cowboys and aliens doesn't do either camp any favors. How are we supposed to work up a rooting interest when both sides are shooting blanks?

Roger Ebert says, ""Cowboys & Aliens" has without any doubt the most cockamamie plot I've witnessed in many a moon" and wishes it had been a straight western.

The Last Rites of Ransom Pride

The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is a 2010 Western starring actors I'm only vaguely familiar with (except for Kris Kristofferson, who has a role) and directed by someone I've never heard of. I got a kick out of this one, and enjoyed describing it to The Husband as "a western with a car chase, a motorcycle with a side car, siamese twins, a voodoo priestess, a dwarf, and the hunt for and reburial of Ransom Pride." From my description, he's decided to pass on a viewing of this one. Hmmm...

trailer:


DVD Talk says, "The good does outweigh the bad though. This won't change your life or even make you think, but it's entertaining enough".

3:10 to Yuma (1957)

The original 3:10 to Yuma stars Glenn Ford and Van Heflin and is directed by Delmer Daves. I've seen this one twice now, and it's just as enjoyable the 2nd time through.

Here's the opening segment that includes the theme sung by Frankie Laine:


Slant Magazine calls it " a solid ride up to its climax". DVD Talk opens by saying:

3:10 to Yuma is one of the best of the late '50s Westerns, and is about as handsome as the B&W Western ever got. Low-key performances from an interesting cast back up great work by Van Heflin and Glenn Ford, whose tense angst adds a Noir-ish dimension. ... Taken from a story by the now-revered Elmore Leonard, the show develops a nice little knot of suspense.

DVD Journal says, "A tight piece of genre filmmaking, 3:10 to Yuma deserves its reputation as a genre classic."

Two Mules for Sister Sara

Two Mules for Sister Sara is a 1970 Clint Eastwood Western directed by Don Siegal and co-starring Shirley MacLaine . We watched this because of Clint Eastwood, but its one of my least favorite of Eastwood's films. It's just a bit too cute for my taste these days.

trailer:


Spaghetti-Western.net says, "For a film that is usually called a failure, it is remarkably enjoyable, but its problems are many" and calls it " a pleasant, if awkwardly paced movie." Roger Ebert calls it "a lot better than it might have been".

Winchester 73

Winchester '73 (1950) has been on The Husband's wish-list for years, and The Younger Son got it for him for Christmas this year. It's more the traditional old-style Western and stars Jimmy Stewart and Shelley Winters. It has Rock Hudson miscast as a native American and Tony Curtis in one of his early roles. Will Geer is also a supporting player. Anthony Mann directs.

trailer:


DVD Talk opens with this:

Winchester '73 is what film critics call a key western, for it represents a major turn in the genre's development. High Noon got all the credit for initiating the 'adult psychological Western' of the 1950s but this ambitious Universal film is the real trend-setter...

Couch Cowboy says, "This is the first effort from James Stewart and Anthony Mann, and many consider it the best." Ferdy on Films points out its kinship with film noir.

Dust

The question is this: Is Dust a Western or not? The votes are in, and The Husband claims it's not even remotely a Western but an urban fantasy, while The Younger Son and I say Dust is a Western, kind of. The Husband just couldn't take the violence and moved away from the tv after an hour or so. The Younger Son had seen it before, having bought it on a sale table after reading the description of a straight revenge Western on the back of the DVD case. He was surprised by the first scene of a modern-day NYC apartment burglary gone wrong.

It's a 2001 film directed by Milcho Manchevski and starring Joseph Fiennes and David Wenham.

trailer:

Dust | David Wenham | Joseph Fiennes | Milcho Manchevski | Movie Trailer | Review

European Film Review says it "should be congratulated for at least trying something a little bit different." Time Out calls the effect "bewildering". BBC closes with this:

Given the production's famously troubled shoot, with reports of soaring temperatures, plagues of wasps, demented sheep, and an outbreak of dysentery, perhaps a 'making-of' documentary might prove more entertaining.

AMC has some information.

The Track of Sand

You can't really "click to look inside" on that picture, but you can go to Amazon.com, which is where the picture came from and where you can buy this book.

The Track of Sand is 12th in the Andrea Camilleri Inspector Montalbano detective series. These are written in Italian and set in Sicily. I read them in English translation (I say, as if there might be any doubt). The Husband gave me the ones I haven't read yet for Christmas. I'm sure I'll enjoy them all as I've enjoyed the ones I have read.

from the back of the book:

Montalbano wakes from strange dreams to find a gruesomely bludgeoned horse carcass in front of his seaside home. When his men come to investigate, the carcass disappears, leaving only a trail in the sand. Before long, two people report missing horses - Rachele, a champion equestrian, and Lo Duca, one of the richest men in Sicily. Then Montalbano's home is broken into and is ransacked and he is certain that the crimes are linked. As he negotiates the glittering underworld of legitimate horseracing and the Mafia's connection to it, the scrupulous and melancholy Montalbano is aided by his unorthodox methods, melancholy self-reflection, and love of good food

The Independent says this book is "as funny and intriguing as the best of its predecessors." Eurocrime says it "provides just what the eager, regular reader will expect." The Seatle PI has a positive review.

I've read these:

1. The Shape of Water
2. The Terra-Cotta Dog
5. Excursion to Tindari
6. The Smell of Night
9. The Paper Moon
10. August Heat
11. The Wings of the Sphinx

Jolly Roofing, not so jolly

They showed up bright and early on Friday morning, December 23rd, for what was supposed to be a 1-day roofing job. At least, we were told it'd take one day. They left at lunch-time and didn't return. Feeling some concern, we contacted our homeowners association president who gave us the roofers' phone number. We were told by the roofing company that the crew wouldn't be back that day. They didn't want to work on Christmas Eve, either, so would not be back until at least Monday.

Why, oh why, did they start a 1-day job and only work half a day before a 2-day holiday???

We were told someone would come out the next morning to make sure the roof had been secured against the rain. Sure enough, at 7:00 in the morning on Saturday (Christmas Eve) we got about 20 minutes of hammering noise up on the roof. So much for sleeping late on our Christmas break.

Monday morning, the crew was back, and we heard this exchange outside our bedroom window:

from the ground, a man yelled up asking, "so you think you'll finish today?"
from the roof came an affirmative response.

Sadly, at lunch-time the roofers left. They didn't return.

And then later, the sprinkling rain started. Even later, the rain picked up. The rain continued into the night.

The Husband thought he saw water in the attic and so started trying to contact folks, but the roofer wasn't answering his phone. Our homeowners association president came by wanting to look in our attic, saying she'd talked with some management company representative (from another complex) who'd dealt with roofing issues and that it might be condensation. We didn't let her come in. There are a number of reasons for that, including these:

1) I hadn't checked the attic myself, and I could double-check to see if the issue was condensation as well as (maybe better than) she could;

2) She talks about people. I do realize that some folks are just like that and discuss what they know about other people with whomever they're with, but we were loathe to let her tour our house. No hard feelings, but there you are.

She started saying, "So you're refusing to let me go into your attic. I just want to get that straight. You're refusing. I'm going to go call all the board members to let them know that you've made that decision to refuse to let me into your attic. I've been in their attic, and theirs, and theirs (pointing as she spoke) and you can call and ask them...."

Sheesh.

She finally actually left, and I went up into the attic and saw that the problem was indeed condensation. The Husband called her to let her know and got an answering machine. She did pick up after he said what I'd found.

We never did reach the roofer.

This morning the roofers were back. This is the exchange I heard on my patio while I was sitting in plain sight inside:

Roofer 1: "I just want to leave here and never come back."
Roofer 2: "I know that's right."

What I wanted to say was this: "You've had several opportunities to finish and go. It's not my fault you're still here." But I didn't.

They are gone now, and though they didn't say anything to us (they've never told us when they were leaving for the day) they did take their supplies off of the patio this time. We're assuming they are finished, here on the 5th day after starting what we were told would be a one-day job. Now I just need to get the patio furniture off my plants (Remember my new butterfly bushes? The coleus will probably be ok).

We've never had a roof inspected after it was finished before, but we're going to have that done this time. We're waiting for a recommendation from our homeowners insurance agent. I don't like the idea of roofers who are obviously not wanting to be here working on my roof, and I just want some assurance that their attitude isn't reflected in the job quality.

And this is my report on How I spent My Christmas Vacation, starring The Jolly Roofing Roofers.

Memphis

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

The last time I saw this film was in a theater after its release in 1969. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is sadly dated by the music: BJ Thomas singing Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, for example. Paul Newman and Robert Redford play the title roles. Strother Martin, Katharine Ross, Cloris Leachman, Ted Cassidy (who has Star Trek connections), Jeff Corey (who has Star Trek and Babylon 5 connections), Kenneth Mars (who also has Star Trek connections), Don Keefer (yet another one with a Star Trek connection), Charles Dierkop (and yet another), Henry Jones, George Furth and Donnelly Rhodes (who played Dutch on Soap) all have parts. Burt Bacharach and Hal David did the music.

trailer:


Roger Ebert calls it "slow and disappointing." Western-Review.com says, "what we have here is an almost quaintly undaring picture motored along by the cheery bankability of stars, jokes, and glamorous production." DVD Talk says, "The classic buddy film, it has aged very well in no small part to William Goldman's smart script and George Roy Hill's creative and spot-on direction."

The Quantum Rose

The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro is part of the Saga of the Skolian Empire series. I've never read others in the series, but this stands alone just fine. Wikipedia says, "The Quantum Rose is an allegory to the mathematical and physical processes of coupled-channel quantum scattering theory", which is nice and all but far beyond my poor understanding. It's enjoyable on the surface without that understanding, though it does focus on the romantic struggles of the main characters more than i'd like. It won the 2001 Nebula Award for best novel. I'd been looking for it on the shelf of local book stores for years without success but found it at my favorite local used shop recently.

from the fly leaf:

The Saga of the Skolian Empire is Catherine Asaro's trademark SF series. It chronicles the lives of the members of the ruling family of the Empire in the distant interstellar future, weaving a fine blend of action, romance, and hard science fiction.

The Quantum Rose is the story of Kamoj Argali, the young ruler of an impoverished province on a backward planet. To keep her people from starving, she has agreed to marry Jax Ironbridge, ruler of the prosperous neighboring province. But before they can be wed, Kamoj is forced into marriage with a mysterious stranger from a distant planet, throwing her world into utter chaos.

SurLaLune Fairy Tales groups it with re-interpretations of the Beauty and the Beast story, but I don't see it. The review at eyrie.org says,

I like the general pattern of the combined romance and coming of age story, and I'm a long-standing sucker for telepathic love stories. Asaro adds enough of a twist, with a willingness to explore unequal power relationships, a faint touch of the psychology of dominance and submission, and some thoughtful internal analysis of human motivation, to keep me coming back for more.

SF Site says, "The relationship is the heart of the story, yet at the same time Catherine Asaro creates a unique and intriguing world". The Romance Reader also likes all that romance. I think this is an example of that old saying: "them that likes it speaks well of it".

The photo at the top of the post is from Wikipedia and is of the edition of the book I have.

Christina's World

I was in a book store the other day and overheard a man who was checking out comment on the small print tacked to the wall above the cash register. He had never seen it before and was struck by the woman and the scene. The guy working there flipped the picture up to look at the back and told him it was called Christina's World.

I can't remember the first time I saw this picture. It was painted by Andrew Wyeth in 1948. I don't remember how I came to know of this painter, his work or this painting in particular, but it's likely I saw something by him in a local museum.

I've been wondering what that customer is so familiar with that he'd be surprised to know I'd never heard of it.

Blazing Saddles

It seemed only fitting to follow a Randolph Scott film with Blazing Saddles (1974), and The Younger Son had never seen it before. Blazing Saddles is a Mel Brooks film, a comedy Western, and stars Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Slim Pickens and Dom DeLuise. Count Basie has a cameo.

trailer:


Slant Magazine calls it "a limp, shapeless mess of a film". DVD Journal says,

as a satirical flag waving in the racial and social winds of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Blazing Saddles' casual vulgarity, racial epithets, and pants-dropping silliness are spread like the very best butter over the more serious business of iconoclastically upturning expectations and tropes, especially some shibboleths found not just in old-fashioned cowboy movies. Its humor is the palliative that lets Brooks mock prejudices and, with gloves off, prejudiced people.

Roger Ebert says,

"It's a crazed grabbag of a movie that does everything to keep us laughing except hit us over the head with a rubber chicken. Mostly, it succeeds. It's an audience picture

Abilene Town

Abilene Town is a 1946 Randolph Scott Western directed by Edwin L. Marin. Ann Dvorak, Lloyd Bridges, Rhonda Fleming, and Edgar Buchanan also star.

You can watch it online here:


Reviews are not plentiful. If you remember Gunsmoke and liked it, then this will bring back fond memories. You can see Gunsmoke's ancestry here. It's fairly typical of its type, with the marshall, played by Randolph Scott, trying to keep the peace between the cattlemen and the influx of homesteaders while also juggling romances with a co-owner of the saloon and the daughter of one of the local businessmen. There's a bit too much romance and singing (way too much singing) to suit me, but it's Randolph Scott, and I'm not sure you can say you like Westerns if you haven't seen Randolph Scott in several.

Tumbleweeds

Tumbleweeds is a 1925 silent Western, the last film directed by William S. Hart. It stars Hart, Barbara Bedford and Lucien Littlefield.

watch it online compliments of the Internet Archive:


Images Journal names it one of the 30 great westerns and says, "Hart was the king of the West and Tumbleweeds is arguably his finest film." Silent Cinema says,

Modern reviews of Tumbleweeds have placed the movie as the high point of Hart's career and as a seminal film of the silent era that was unique for its era in its depiction of Native Americans and African Americans.

Culture Cartel says, "Tumbleweeds stands up remarkably well, and most film devotees will find it among the more interesting and entertaining melodramas of the silent era."

The Battle of Elderbush Gulch

The Battle of Elderbush Gulch is a 1913 D.W. Griffith silent film with inter-titles, starring Mae Marsh, Lillian Gish and Lionel Barrymore. Elmo Lincoln, who was Tarzan in a series of films in the 19-teens through the 1940s has a part in this, too.

watch it online:


It's supposed to be 29 minutes long, and I can only find videos that are about 19 minutes. But I guess all's well that ends well. Especially with cute little puppies.

Westerns

January will be Western Film month around here. As we watch more I'll link them here with the others.

Annie Oakley (1894)
Buffalo Bill (1894)
Buffalo Dance (1894)
Sioux Ghost Dance (1894)
Cripple Creek Bar-Room (1899)

The Great Train Robbery (1903)
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)
The Red Man's View (1909)

The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)

Robbery Under Arms (1920)
The Covered Wagon (1923)
The Iron Horse (1924)
Tumbleweeds (1925)
In Old Arizona (1928)

Fighting Caravans (1931)
Haunted Gold (1932)
Hellfire Austin (1932)
Mystery Ranch (1932)
Sagebrush Trail (1933)
Randy Rides Alone (1934)
The Dawn Rider (1935)
Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935)
Border Caballero (1936)
Ghost Patrol (1936)
Riders of the Whistling Skull (1937)
Rawhide (1938)
Dodge City (1939)
Stagecoach (1939)

Santa Fe Trail (1940)
The Westerner (1940)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
Border Patrol (1943)
The Outlaw (1943)
Abilene Town (1946)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Cheyenne (1947)
Pursued (1947)
Red River (1948)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
I Shot Jesse James (1949)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

The Baron of Arizona (1950)
Broken Arrow (1950)
The Gunfighter (1950)
High Lonesome (1950)
The Nevadan (1950)
Sundowners (1950)
Wagonmaster (1950)
Winchester '73 (1950)
Only the Valiant (1951)
Vengeance Valley (1951)
High Noon (1952)
Rancho Notorious (1952)
Hondo (1953)
Shane (1953)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
The Lone Gun (1954)
Ride Clear of Diablo (1954)
Vera Cruz (1954)
The Man from Laramie (1955)
Man Without a Star (1955)
Gunslinger (1956)
Jubal (1956)
The Searchers (1956)
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Flesh and the Spur (1957)
Forty Guns (1957)
The Tall T (1957)
Valerie (1957)
Man of the West (1958)
Curse of the Undead (1959)
The Hanging Tree (1959)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
Rio Bravo (1959)
The Young Land (1959)

The Magnificent Seven (1960)
The Deadly Companions (1961)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Posse from Hell (1961)
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962)
Ride the High Country (1962)
Gunfight at Red Sands (1963)
Mclintock! (1963)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Advance to the Rear (1964)
Grand Canyon Massacre (1964)
The Last Gun (1964)
Minnesota Clay (1964)
Rio Conchos (1964)
For A Few Dollars More (1965)
Major Dundee (1965)
A Pistol for Ringo (1965)
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
4 Dollars for Revenge (1966)
Django (1966)
Duel at Diablo (1966)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
El Dorado (1966)
Massacre Time (1966)
Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)
The Shooting (1966)
A Bullet for the General (1967)
Day of Anger (1967)
Death Rides a Horse (1967)
Dirty Outlaws (1967)
Django Kills Silently (1967)
A Man, a Horse, and a Gun (1967)
Professionals for a Massacre (1967)
The Way West (1967)
Ace High (1968)
Beyond the Law (1968)
Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968)
The Great Silence (1968)
Hang 'Em High (1968)
The Last Killer (1968)
A Long Ride From Hell (1968)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
A Professional Gun (1968)
The Ruthless Four (1968)
Stalking Moon (1968)
Boot Hill (1969)
A Bullet for Sandoval (1969)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
No Room to Die (1969)
Sabata (1969)
True Grit (1969)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Young Billy Young (1969)

Challenge of McKenna (1970)
Companeros (1970)
Five Bloody Graves (1970)
They Call Me Trinity (1970)
Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
Adios, Sabata (1971)
Blindman (1971)
Captain Apache (1971)
The Deserter (1971)
Django's Cut Price Corpses (1971)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Red Sun (1971)
Return of Sabata (1971)
Shoot Out (1971)
They Call Me Hallelujah (1971)
Trinity Is Still My Name (1971)
Yuma (1971)
Zachariah (1971)
The Bounty Man (1972)
The Grand Duel (1972)
Joe Kidd (1972)
The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
The Proud and the Damned (1972)
A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (1972)
Ulzana's Raid (1972)
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Blood Money (1974)
Apache Blood (1975)
Rancho Deluxe (1975)
Winterhawk (1975)
Joshua, the Black Rider (1976)
Keoma (1976)

Pale Rider (1985)
Walker (1987)

Unforgiven (1992)
Wagons East (1994)
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Last Man Standing (1996)
Wild Wild West (1999)

The American Astronaut (2001)
Dust (2001)
Dead Birds (2004)
Don't Come Knocking (2005)
Summer Love/Dead Man's Bounty (2006)
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Seraphim Falls (2007)
Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
Appaloosa (2008)
The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)
Grim Prairie Tales (2009)
High Plains Invaders (2009)

Jonah Hex (2010)
The Last Rites of Ransom Pride (2010)
True Grit (2010)
Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
Django Unchained (2012)
Gallowwalkers (2012)
Dead in Tombstone (2013)
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Hateful Eight (2015)

Seraphim Falls

Seraphim Falls (2007) starts as a straightforward revenge narrative and ends with confrontations with Charon and the devil. This is a very interesting film, one of the weirdest westerns I've ever seen, and one worth re-watching. It's the first feature film of David Von Ancken and stars Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan as the central characters. Charon is played by Wes Studi, who was wonderful as Leaphorn in the mystery series. Anjelica Huston is Lucifer. The Husband, poor thing, just wants to watch Christmas movies and found it too gory. The Younger Son and I are quite taken by it.

trailer:


Slant Magazine says the film

proves to be something in short supply these days: a sturdy, straight-ahead, less-talk, more-action Western.

DVD Talk likes it and asks,

how often do you get to see Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson engaged in an old-school revenge-drenched mega-chase that runs from the top of a frozen mountain to a godforsaken desert that looks like hell's favorite landscape?

and concludes that it

works because of a straight-arrow narrative, a pair of fine performances, a bunch of colorful characters tucked into the background, and a whole lot of really beautiful scenery