Rian Johnson is a fantastic writer/director (no matter what some Star Wars fans may think), and with his science fiction thriller, Looper, he plays with a number of familiar tropes, especially those of the western genre as he explores, and plays with, causality, in this brilliant actioner that stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily…
Tag: western
Tombstone (1993) – George P. Cosmatos
Kurt Russell leads a star studded cast that completely wows in this retelling of the Wyatt Earp story. Joining the always superb Russell is Bil Paxton, Sam Elliott, Val Kilmer, Dana Delaney, Michael Biehn, Powers Boothe, Jason Priestley, Stephen Lang, Thomas Haden Church, Billy Bob Thornton, Micheal Rooker, John Corbett, Joanna Pacula, Terry O’Quinn, Dana…
TIFF 2021: The Power of the Dog dir. Jane Campion
Combining intimate drama with dramatic landscapes has been a signature of Jane Campion’s work, and in her latest film, The Power of the Dog, which she also wrote, that mixture still holds true, giving us a different kind of western. Set in Montana, 1925, the film centres around two ranching brothers, the hard-edged, Phil (Benedict…
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – Destin Daniel Cretton
The MCU expands just a little further with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings which explodes onto theatres on 3 September. Simu Liu, one of the talented cast members of the beloved series Kim’s Convenience steps easily onto the silver screen to assume the mantle of the titular Shang-Chi in a story that…
The Grudge (2004) – Takashi Shimizu
Takashi Shimizu who wrote and directed the original J-horror version of The Grudge, Ju-On, delivers the North American adaptation that isn’t quite as creepy and unnerving as the source material, as it tries to find a blending of Western and Eastern film styles that doesn’t always work. I remember Ju-On freaked me out the first…
Silverado (1985) – Lawrence Kasdan
Occasionally a film comes along and revitalises the genre. Eastwood would return to the western trough countless times before he revitalised it with his own take on it, Unforgiven, but in the mid-80s, that shake-up was left to Lawrence Kasdan and his brother Mark. Lawrence had his fingers in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and…
Magnum Force (1973) – Ted Post
Clint Eastwood returned as Detective ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan for a second outing in 1973’s Magnum Force, despite the fact that he seemed to be quitting at the close of the original film. This time out the gritty, and occasional racist and misogynistic film sees Harry hard at work in his beloved San Francisco, when a…
Maverick (1994) – Richard Donner
Apparently, I’m still watching more Richard Donner movies, and this one I haven’t seen in years! Based on the television show from the 60s, Maverick comes to the big screen with Mel Gibson in the titular role, while the series original star, James Garner, co-stars as Marshall Zane Cooper. Jodie Foster rounds out the above…
Star Trek: Enterprise (2003) – North Star, and Similitude
Captain’s log: date unknown Enterprise goes western in this episode, North Star, written by David A. Goodman. Having an original airdate of 12 November, 2003, this story sees Archer (Scott Bakula) and the crew arriving at a planet of a previously unknown colony of humans that are living in a 19th century setting. But the…
True Grit (1969) – Henry Hathaway
Ten Bad Dates With De Niro brings me a classic western on their list of titles that bring movie tears to the eye. John Wayne delivers an Oscar winning turn as Rooster Cogburn in Henry Hathaway’s cinematic adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel. I won’t lie, I came to the Coen Brothers version of the story…
The Mind Reels 