This movie has all the standard western tropes but elevates them by layering in meaning via Christian metaphor. It’s not nearly as gritty as many of its peers, which allows a less muddied overall experience with a more fulfilling story and ultimate resolution.
Closest comparison: It’s like Shane by way of The Outlaw Josey Wales.
Setting: Western
Plot: Western
Tone: Western
This movie is a no account grimy western that thinks reading depravity into historical settings is profound. The only good thing about this movie is its Leonard Cohen score, but that even clashes with the overall tone of the film. This film is an unmitigated disaster.
Content warning: female nudity
Closest comparison: It’s like Once Upon a Time in the West crossed with Taxi Driver.
Setting: Western
Plot: Entrepreneur
Tone: Sleaze
This is a somber, slow western that’s more wistful than it is profound. It’s strange and episodic, winding its narrative lazily along until it peters out unceremoniously. For all of its problems, however, it’s curiously fascinating and hard to look away from the bizarre journey.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs by way of Meek’s Cutoff.
Setting: Western
Plot: Chase
Tone: Stoner
This movie is a pretty standard Western, though tamer than most. It’s a fun time, baseline enjoyable, an adventure without being adventurous.
Closest comparison: It’s like Shane by way of Rio Bravo, both of which are better films.
Setting: Western
Plot: Western
Tone: Western
This is a solid modern western that has a lot going for it. In some ways it’s a mashup of other westerns, but with its own fresh shootouts and getaways. Chris Pratt has an excellent turn as a bone-chilling villain, and Dane DeHaan is clearly having a lot of fun as Billy the Kid. The plot rambles a bit too much and at least one key moment is unearned, with muddled motivation. Sill, this film is definitely worth a watch for fans of Westerns, but it’s not going to bring anyone to the genre.
Content warning: rape
Closet comparison: It’s like The Night of the Hunter by way of 3:10 to Yuma.
Setting: Western
Plot: On the Run
Tone: Thriller
This movie is an excellent Western that stands on its own feet, without the rape-revenge or one-lone-hero tropes to fall back on. Discovering who Katie Elder is along with her sons is an engaging plot and propels the story well through to the end, providing a solid backdrop for the meaty character drama. This film has several good shootouts, as any good Western should, but it’s got much more going on. If you’re not particularly familiar with the Western genre, this is a very approachable place to start.
Closest comparison: It’s like Stagecoach by way of Shane.
Setting: Western
Plot: Detective
Tone: Family Drama
This is a straightforward cops and robbers tale in rural modern Texas. It’s good at showing why the robbers are robbing, and how the cops are pursuing, but beyond that it’s a bit boring. It’s not as compelling and tense as No Country for Old Men, nor as gleefully anarchist as Thelma and Louise or Bonnie and Clyde. Mostly it plays out as expected, and while it’s not bad by any means it doesn’t present anything particularly special.
Closest comparison: It’s like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? by way of The Highwaymen (Netflix, 2019).
Setting: Western Drama
Plot: Cops and Robbers
Tone: Family Drama
This movie is one of the all-time classic westerns, but unfortunately it does not live up to the hype. It’s aggressively tone-deaf, transitioning back and forth between scenes of gut-wrenching tragedy and lighthearted western antics like whiplash. There’s no emotional payoff for the injustices perpetrated in the first act, and multiple times main characters will suddenly do things they’ve said they wouldn’t with no warning or explanation given. Except for the score, cinematography, and acting, which are all excellent, this movie is an absolute mess.
Closest comparison: It’s like Man on Fire (2004) by way of Once Upon A Time in the West.
Setting: Western
Plot: Road Trip
Tone: Rescue Thriller
This film is so classic that seemingly all other movies featuring stagecoaches pulled from it, even modern films like The Hateful Eight and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. It’s one of the great John Ford westerns, and even after all this time still holds up to modern viewing. There are plenty of great character moments slathered on top of the rich western setting and the solid underlying story, and it’s the characters that carry the film and make it so memorable even today.
Closest comparison: It’s like the final vignette in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs by way of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Setting: Western
Plot: Confined Strangers
Tone: Adventure
It’s bizarre and amazing, funny and tragic, beautiful and nerve-racking all at the same time. Or rather, in succession, but and it knows what it is every step of the way even if the audience is still trying to figure it out. The Coen brothers lead their audience expertly through various stories, keeping the emotions just where they want them every step of the way. It’s very violent in parts, sometimes played for comedy, sometimes for tragedy. If you like Coen brothers movies it’s a must-see, if you like Westerns don’t let the beginning throw you off. This movie touches on all the different aspects that are central to other Westerns, somehow without giving them short shrift, and there’s nothing else like it.
This movie is disappointing to say the least. With writer/director Lawrence Kasdan (of Empire Strikes Back fame) and Kevin Costner in the title role, this should have been great. Unfortunately, it’s just a longer version of Tombstone, which came out the year before. Clocking in at over three and a half hours, there’s no excuse for it to be as boring as it is. For it being essentially the same story it’s a shame that everything is better in Tombstone, from the casting of Wyatt Earp to Doc Holliday, from the pacing to Kevin Costner’s own performance in both films. It’s not terrible, it’s just not worth watching.
This is an overlooked gem that I only heard about by happenstance. It's older and campy, but it's always a treat to watch Jimmy Stewart's performances. It's a little-told part of American history, which is always fun, but the style is certainly dated. The diplomatic language was exquisite and cut so brilliantly to the heart of each conflict in question that it almost bumped it up to a 4/5 for me by itself. All told, though, at the very least it could use a non-gritty remake with an emphasis on dialogue.
This is a classic old western so the pace is slower than modern films tend to be, but it adds to the mood and the movie's better for it. Nice slow build of tension and stakes, so that it's much more of a drama than an action piece. Some spotty acting in various places, and the argument about why the heroes do what they do was unsatisfyingly off the mark. But I can certainly see why Logan referenced it so heavily.
First off: it's ultraviolent, it's sometimes depressing, there one 2-second "gentlemen, avert your eyes" blip, and there's lots of swearing. But it's the best movie I've seen in a while, and it's certainly the best X-men movie to date. And the little girl is awesome!
It's a very emotional and emotionally mature movie that takes its subject matter seriously and delivers on the payoff in heart-pounding, tear-jerking realism.
Chris Pratt was fun, but not as fun as he is in a lot of his other things. I liked Vincent D'Onofrio a lot, probably just as much as Chris Pratt. This one barely sqeaks in at a 4/5, and although it didn't have Yule Brenner, it had better character development than the original.
