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In Reply to: RE: "Appaloosa" on DVD posted by DWPC on January 18, 2009 at 17:23:36
Westerns are my favourite genre, and I actually liked this one. It was certainly 1000x better than Pitt's "the coward robert ford and hanging a painting with homoerotic overtones" (worst movie I have seen in ages).
I thought Appaloosa was visually beautiful, story was good, and I thought Viggo was excellent (though he is pretty much always excellent, "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises" are a couple of my faves in the last few years). I cannot stand RZ and was curious if she was going to actually be a femme fatale hired by Irons' character (a little too 20th century for me).. she squinted well though. I thought the woman who was with Viggo was very good, and though she was a bit tacked on, thought the "less calculating whore" made for an obvious but good contrast.
Was it perfect? No... but my weakness is a "hired gun defends town from land baron" cliched story.. and for me this one delivered enough that I was glad I watched it.
Follow Ups:
That Jesse James thing with Pitt and Ben Affleck's mumbling, talentless brother was indeed much much worse. Like a trauma victim, I buried that painful experience deep in my memory. So "Appaloosa" moves up one notch.Actually, I agree with almost all of your comments except the "visually beautiful". As a director, I don't think Harris knows one end of a camera from the other...the cinematography was just barely above TV level. And in westerns, the cinematography is a big deal. Maybe Harris wanted it to look sterile, if so he succeeded. The lighting was the only visual element I thought was good. Bottom line for me was the failure of the screenplay to develop the secondary characrters at all. I said I thought the supporting cast was excellent, but Harris threw them away like props. I'd like to have seem more of the kid who testified, of Viggo's whore, of Irons' villain. Instead we got about 40 minutes of Harris having his coffee.
Zellweger for me is cinematic lemon-sucking. When she's on the screen, everything is overwhelmed by her squinty, pinched mug. Can't act either. AFAIK, she isn't related to anyone big, so her Daddy must have a tape of some studio exec with a goat.
I think the last good western was "Open Range". Kostner understands westerns. Even the weak remake of "3:10 to Yuma" with Crowe was better than "Appaloosa".
We're chasing terrorists in the wrong place...they're on Wall St.
Edits: 01/19/09 01/19/09 01/19/09
Hi,
Yes that is a state of her obviously ill fitting contact lenses combined with copius Makeup/Dust dry wind/etc-- surely Lasik is in order with her $$$'s
Hmm
Des
Is so it was method acting....she even did it in the studio shots. I'm not being incharitable. But romantic female leads used to be attractive. Its used to be part of the job.
We're chasing terrorists in the wrong place...they're on Wall St.
I had actually watched The Searchers earlier in the day, and while Appaloosa does not come close for cinematography, they did hit enough of those desert landscapes that I loved the visuals. The house being pelted by sand, the natives coming through the brush, even the walkup to Bragg's saloon I thought all looked great. Even the moment when the three riders cross the river and bulldoze their way into Bragg's men had some nice oomph behind it. Not a great director maybe, and not sure if I was in an overly good mood, but it was enough for me to sit back and appreciate it. So few westerns are made these days, that maybe I need to be content to really enjoy the mediocre ones :-)
to separate her from her "acting" in Cold Mountain. So I was pleasantly surprised to see her much more nuanced role here.
Your view of the movie overall also echos mine. Not a 'must see', but certainly a 'worth seeing'.
"Dammit..."
All I could see in that was her squinting and acting. Ugh. Z's was the only performance in that movie worse than Nicole Kidman's, which was for me as enjoyable as chalk squeaking on a chalkboard.
Thought she was much more relaxed, and much better, in Apaloosa. I actually enjoyed her character.
This movie had a kind of easy-going, insinuating charm for me, mainly due to the slow character build-up and the nuanced relatinoship between the main characters.
Very enjoyable, if not one for the ages. I love westerns too. This is one I'll watch again on DVD, although I won't buy it.
Ever since my wife made me sit through "Chicago", whenever I see the Zellweger name, I'll usually avoid the film. Seems like many agree with me. I only gave in on this one because I like westerns and they're scarce. I noticed in Netflix reviews for "Appaloosa" that Zellweger gets a lot of very negative reactions; far more than are usually seen for actors. So what's the deal? How does she get so many major roles with what seems a strongly negative public reaction?
We're chasing terrorists in the wrong place...they're on Wall St.
My father (in his 70s) thinks she is the cat's ass.
Maybe he has been a Hollywood power broker all these years without telling me, and has been casting her in everything he can!
When she asked Viggo in the movie "do you think I am pretty", I was on the edge of my seat wondering how he was gonna respond.
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