Tag: Western

REVIEW: Modern western ‘East of Wall’ is ambitious, yet flawed

The Dakotas are a place of ruggedness and natural beauty. In this film, we get a first-hand glimpse into life there from the people who call it home.

The movie centers on a real family who own a horse ranch in South Dakota. The matriarch is Tabatha Zimiga, who plays herself in the picture. She lives on the ranch with several of her own children, and because there are many kids in need, has a few other teenagers staying there as well.

The film picks up with Tabatha stressed, as she’s recently become a widow and faces financial difficulties. Her business, which involves selling horses, is still going steady, but getting by on her own with mouths to feed is a struggle. Since the death of her late spouse, her relationship with her daughter Porshia is also strained.

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REVIEW: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is a powerful, meticulously made historic epic

Martin Scorsese has once again returned to the crime drama genre, focusing on a series of murders known as the “Reign of Terror.”

“Killers of the Flower Moon” centers on a conspiracy to murder members of the Osage Nation and steal their wealth and land. In Osage County, Oklahoma, members on the reservation received rights to royalties from oil production that was taking place on their land. The finances they inherited, unfortunately, made those with rights targets to others.

Scorsese’s film centers on these events, mainly through the eyes of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio). A World War I veteran, Ernest arrives in Osage to work with his uncle William Hale (Robert De Niro) as the murders are picking up. During this time, Ernest himself marries a woman with rights to oil wealth herself, Mollie (Lily Gladstone).

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REVIEW: ‘Power of the Dog’ is a well crafted character study that digs deep

The concept of masculinity is explored and deconstructed in this new Netflix feature, set where the prairies meet the Rocky Mountains.

“Power of the Dog,” directed by Jane Campion, takes place during the 1920s in Montana. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Phil Burbank in the film, a tough cattle rancher with a rough personality.

While Phil seems mystified by the life of a rancher in the western side of the nation, his brother George (Jesse Plemons) is less fascinated by the cowboy career and has ambitions of settling down. He does just that when he meets and later marries a restaurant owner named Rose (Kirsten Dunst). The film then follows how Phil often finds himself at odds with the rest of his family.

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REVIEW: ‘Harder they Fall’ is full of western fun

Those who loved the scene in Django Unchained where a shootout had a 2Pac song playing over it should find a lot of enjoyment in this Netflix feature.

The protagonist of “They Fall” is Nat Love (Jonathan Majors), an outlaw who saw his parents killed in front of him as a young boy. Since then, he’s made it a priority to take out the people responsible, and by the time the movie gets underway, there’s just one left.

That individual is the dangerous criminal Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), who at the beginning of the film is imprisoned. However, during a train stick-up, Rufus is released. With news of Buck’s release spreading, Nat decides to go after the criminal and his gang with a group of outlaws he’s friends with.

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REVIEW: Eastwood’s ‘Cry Macho’ is a misfire

Clint Eastwood is once again sporting a cowboy hat in his latest movie, but this one doesn’t take place in the old west.

In “Cry Macho,” Eastwood portrays Mike Milo, a retired rodeo star and horse breeder who was just cut from his job. His former boss Howard Polk (Dwight Yoakam) hires him for a different job at the movie’s outset, though.

Polk’s son, Rafo (Eduardo Minett) lives in Mexico and is allegedly being abused. Mike’s job is to bring Rafo back to the United States, so the father and son can reunite. While reluctant, Mike takes the job, meets Rafo and the two go on a journey from Mexico City to the U.S. border.

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REVIEW: Not much good to report in ‘News of the World’

Before there was Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Walter Cronkite, there was Tom Hanks’s character Jefferson Kidd. At least according to “News of the World.”

In the film, directed by Paul Greengrass, Hanks plays Jefferson Kidd, a former Civil War captain who now earns a living by going from town-to-town in Texas to read the top headlines and stories from the nation’s largest newspapers. Set in 1870, reconstruction is still a work in progress, with some parts of Texas remaining dangerous while others are lined with United States soldiers.

The movie picks up with Kidd on his way to a different town for another news delivery. Along the way, he finds a young girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel), who’s near a broken down wagon. From paperwork in the wagon, Kidd learns that Johanna was taken in by a Native American tribe after the deaths of her parents, and that she was supposed to be taken to surviving family members in another part of the state. Kidd is then instructed by officials to take her to reunite with her family members, which is a tough, 400 mile journey.

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REVIEW: ‘First Cow’ is a strong film about gentle people

How now, first cow?

This feature from the studio A24 does in fact feature a cow, but it also includes a whole lot more. The movie is set in the early 1820s, during the days where pioneers pushed west for trades such as gold and fur. We’re immediately introduced to Otis “Cookie” Figowitz (John Magaro), a cook who’s part of a fur trading group making their way to a fort.

Cookie isn’t exactly on friendly terms with the others in the team, though, as they claim he doesn’t provide enough food. Once he gets to the fort, though, he does manage to start a friendship with a Chinese immigrant named King-Lu (Orion Lee), who he met earlier during his travels. Not only do the two form a bond, they also begin a money-making scheme where they secretly milk the first cow brought to the area and use it to make high quality baked goods.

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LAMB Special: Large Association of Movie Blogs Movie of the Month, Stagecoach

“The Grapes of Wrath” is probably the main reason John Ford is one of my favorite directors of all time. But it’s his extended filmography, including 1939’s “Stagecoach” that cements the legacy.

Recently, the 1939 black and white classic just so happened to win the Large Association of Movie Blogs’ Movie of the Month event for August. As a fan, I’m more than happy to talk about it.

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REVIEW: ‘Wind River’ Works As Crime Drama And An Emotional Character Piece

Taylor Sheridan, who wrote two the great “Sicario” in 2015 and the superb “Hell or High Water” last year, returned to write a third movie and this time he directed, too.

The film is “Wind River” and the name is based on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, where the picture takes place. The movie tells the story of Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), a tracker and hunter working for the Bureau of Land Management who comes across the body of a murdered woman on the reservation.

As a result, Lambert gets in contact with the Tribal Police Chief Ben (Graham Greene) who in turn gets assistance from an FBI agent named Jane (Elizabeth Olsen). As the three conduct the joint investigation, Lambert’s background is expanded upon and the audience learns that he lost a daughter and she was discovered similarly to the woman that he found.

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REVIEW: ‘Hell Or High Water,’ A Modern Western And An Instant Classic

There’s been many good films released in 2016, but “Hell or High Water” is the first I can really call great.

The movie follows the Howard brothers, an ex-convict/roughneck Tanner (Ben Foster) and a divorced dad, Toby (Chris Pine). While the two are on good terms, they don’t exactly have the same way of doing things. However, the two decide to work together in a bank-robbing scheme to save their family’s ranch in Texas.

As a result, a duo of Texas Rangers are sent after the brothers. The pair includes Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) who’s about to retire and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), who has to put up with Marcus’ rough personality.

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