Showing posts with label Christian Bale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Bale. Show all posts

Saturday, August 30, 2014

3:10 to Yuma

I am not the biggest fan of wild west films. I don't particularly care for Russel Crowe (although I can appreciate that he is a good actor) and I am just so over Christian Bale. Still, I ended up watching 3:10 to Yuma (Alan Tudyk! Peter Fonda! Kevin Durand!) and enjoying it throughout.

Russel Crowe plays the outlaw Ben Wade, who gets himself caught and is set to be brought to the train going to Yuma prison. Yes, yes, it leaves at 3:10. The raga tag band of unlikely characters to get him there include the Doc (a vet, actually), a bounty hunter and farmer Dan Evans, who really needs the money promised him for getting Wade on that train.

Evans' motives go beyond that as he also wants his young son William to respect him (he doesn't). William himself wants in on the trail because he believes himself to be a great shot, even at 14, and also considers his father to be a wimp. Hot on their trail (after a cleverly devised delay) is Wade's gang of outlaws, now led by the trusted Charlie, who wants desperately to fee his boss and keep the gang together.

Many a shootout and several casualties later (Alan Tudyk! Peter Fonda! Kevin Durand!) the good guys almost made it. They are hiding out in a hotel room, having recently obtained the assistants of the local marshal and his two best men. They hightail it soon enough though, because Charlie offers anyone a reward of $ 200,-- if he just shoot and kill one of his boss' captors. Quite effective in making things way harder for Evans, who is the only one left that really wants to put Wade on that train. This not only wins him the respect of young William, but that of Wade, as well.

The final shootout is quite exciting, with only very few survivors.

Not bad at all.

7/10

Sunday, January 19, 2014

American Hustle

I do not get everybody's infatuation with David O. Russell. Never mind that the guy is reportedly an asshole but his films are mediocre, at best. Like this one. Granted, American Hustle is far superior to the last of his products that has been shoved down our collective throats, Silver Linings Playbook, but that is not saying much.

Like its predecessor, American Hustle apparently cannot decide whether it wants to be a comedy or a drama. In my opinion, it is neither. Let's just agree to calling it a crime caper. Don't get me wrong, it has its moments and Jennifer Lawrence is actually very good in this (yes, I called her very good), now that she is allowed to play something other than the defiant young woman of all her previous roles.

As for the comedy part (or attempt of it)...the actors are made to look as ridiculous as possible (unnecessarily so), except for Amy Adams, who is as scantily dressed as possible. There is a dance part and some singing (both uncalled for). The drama comes in when several love triangles develop among the characters. It gets even sappy at parts (the Amy Adams character revealing to the Bradley Cooper character that she has been using a false name but 'this, this is real'). Also, it has endless voice overs (which I don't care for).

The story itself is about a couple of con artists that get caught and are forced to help the feds con other people (including one very honest and likable politician) but actually end up conning the feds. It drags on forever and the plot gets lost in the smugness of it all.

Could have easily been a good half hour shorter. I kinda wish it had been.

4/10

...which brings us to our Best Picture Oscar nominees update:
Gravity
Captain Phillips
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle