One of my resolutions for this year is to actually keep up with this blog and make it fun! What I plan to do each weekend is showcase a film, give an overview, maybe even a review, but basically give a recommendation for a fun weekend film. Hopefully I'll have them out on Friday, but maybe Saturday too... we'll see. "Are you boys some kind of...posse? I hate posses."
For my first Cinema Weekend, I thought I'd showcase one of my all-time favorite films:
3:10 to Yuma, 2007, Directed by James Mangold; "R" for violence and language
Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Logan Lerman, Dallas Roberts, Gretchen Mol, Alan Tudyk, Luke Wilson
I'm not going to rate it, because the fact that I'm featuring it means it's one of my favorites!
We don't really see westerns as a major genre any more, and yet this fairly recent film is one of my absolute favorites. We grew up watching westerns in our family, and in my yeehaw-loving opinion, this remake of the 1950s 3:10 isn't far behind The Searchers and The Magnificent Seven in terms of quality. Despite excellence in its genre, this film is highly recommended to all movie lovers.
- Excellent performances from two leading men Christian Bale (made in between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) and Russell Crowe
- A superb ensemble cast (Ben Foster is brilliant as a loveable sociopathic outlaw and 14-year-old Logan Lerman holds his own between Bale and Crowe, not to mention being in practically every scene)
- Beautiful cinematography (the film was shot nearly entirely on location in New Mexico)
- And last but not least, a true-grit Western story: simple and compelling.
This is the last movie my family and I watched together before I had to come back to school, it's a family favorite and obviously highly recommended!
