The Lone Ranger

First Hit:  This film is a waste of the audiences’ time and Walt Disney would have never approved of releasing something like this.

The plot is mediocre, the acting is mediocre, the characters are poorly drawn-out, the concept is second-rate and it is painful to watch.

Briefly; John Reid (Armie Hammer) is an intellectual guy who grew up in the in the southwest and gets deputize by his brother to find a killer named Bruce Cavendish (William Fichtner). He gets shot and is left for dead.

Tonto (Johnny Depp) is a Comanche ousted by his tribe but decides to save Reid. Together they make up a team that tries to write the wrongs of Cavendish, railroad builder Cole (Tom Wilkinson) and the US Government’s actions towards the Native Americans.

Through a convoluted story line, we have Tonto being somewhat smart and serious, working to assist a slightly dimwitted Reid (AKA Lone Ranger) to right these wrongs. Yes, the concept is poor and way too big for the characters.

Hammer is not interesting in this leading role. And, although he's in the leading role, he is not the leading character. Depp is more interesting, appears to be the leading character, but seeing high-tech tattoos (his back and front) in a couple of scenes, made me realize that even good makeup doesn’t always work. This showed part of the flaws and the lack of carefulness of this film. Fichtner is meanly good enough to be a villain. Wilkinson is OK as someone who is only to get as much as he can. Ruth Wilson (as Rebecca Reid – John’s brothers’ wife) is one of the better characters and holds her part of the film together very well. Justin Haythe and Ted Elliot wrote a convoluted, unmanageable, and almost unfilmable screenplay. Gore Verbinski directed this like he did Pirates of the Caribbean films and the problem is he forgot that the Lone Ranger is a TV legend while the pirates weren’t.

Overall:  This film can be passed over and it will not matter except to the people who invested in it because they will probably lose money.

Django Unchained

First Hit: Visually strong and arresting, crisp action, good story and great acting.

The story is about a slave named Django (played by Jamie Foxx) who is rescued from slavery by a dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (played by Christoph Waltz). He saves him because Django knows the faces of Shultz’s next bounty.

Django is good as his partner and they work together as bounty hunters through the winter with a promise by Shultz to assist Django in finding his enslaved wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Broomhilda is enslaved by Calvin Candie (played by Leonard DiCaprio) who has a wizened and manipulative house slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson).

That’s the premise and along their journey there is enough of a story to set up backgrounds and motivations for each of the characters. The funny moments are truly funny. The violent bloody moments are true Tarantino blood baths.

The story and characters were wonderfully conceived and delivered.

Foxx is absolutely delivers a very strong performance as the enslaved and now free Django. Waltz is superior and excellent in his role and delivers some of the best lines in the film. Washington is sublime as the comfort slave with an unending spirit to live her life fully. DiCaprio is surprisingly and excellently nice, crude, and mean as the owner of the largest slave plantation. Jackson is beyond sublime as the wizened house slave. His ability to show both control (drinking a drink in the library room) and subservience was amazing. When he is on the screen you have to watch him. Quentin Tarantino wrote a tight, engaging and expressive script and his direction was flawless.

Overall:  This film is one of Quentin Tarantino’s best efforts as writer and director.

The OSCARS and Other Notes

It is that time of season again and although this year wasn't an especially great year for films, a couple of interesting and outstanding "out of the box films" caught my eye: "The Artist", The Tree of Life" and "Melancholia".

On the other side of the coin, I'm grateful that the Harry Potter series has ended as they became painful to watch. And the Sherlock Holmes film was also very bad.

Some performances I would have like to have been honored but weren't would include: Michael Fassbender in "Shame", Kirsten Dunst in "Melancholia", Charlize Theron in "Young Adult", Carey Mulligan  in "Shame" (cannot give enough credit for her singing "New York, New York" as though she was standing on the edge of a cliff ready to fall at any moment), Christoph Waltz in "Carnage", and Albert Brooks in "Drive". 

Given the selected honorees by the academy, here are my picks for some of the categories:

• Best Picture: "The Artist"

• Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"

• Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer in "The Beginners"

• Actress in a Leading Role: Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

• Actress in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

• Cinematography: "The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki

• Directing: Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist"

• Film Editing: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

• Adapted Screenplay: "The Descendants" Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

• Original Screenplay: "Margin Call" J.C. Chandor

To all of you: Thank you for coming to my site and reading my reviews. The number of views has grown tremendously over this past year. There are now over 550 reviewed films and it is fun for me to post and read your comments.

May this new year bring on better films with new ideas tested and old ones enhanced. I know I'll be there in the 5th or 6th row center ready to suspend belief into someone else's story.

May you

Be Well...

Michael

True Grit

First Hit: A different and powerful version of a wonderful western story.

Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn a rundown US Marshall who drinks way too much, is a great shot and is not afraid of any man.

He is hired by Mattie Ross (played by Hailee Steinfeld) a 14 year old girl whose father was shot by Tom Chaney (played by Josh Brolin). Chaney has run off into an Indian reservation. Mattie is headstrong and from the moment the film opens I was amazed at her character, her presence and the ability of Steinfeld to make Mattie her own.

Matt Damon has the third important part is this saga as Texas Ranger LaBoeuf. He joins the search for Chaney because Chaney is wanted for killing a judge in Texas. LaBoeuf and Cogburn don’t see eye-to-eye on how to track Chaney so Cogburn and Ross split up from LaBoeuf. As they are about to give up because the trail has gone cold, Ross stumbles on to Cheney. Well you can imagine what happens next.

Bridges is fantastic in bringing to life a different Rooster Cogburn than the one John Wayne brought forth. What was wonderful is that Bridges performance did nothing to diminish Wayne’s portrayal and added his own unique version with some real character and depth. This is an Oscar contending performance. Steinfeld, was phenomenal and nothing short of great. Poise, character and immediately mesmerized me into fully believing her every action and word. She did not falter or lose character in any way. She could garner an Oscar nomination. Damon was very good, and as the third character fully rounded this film. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the screenplay and directed this without the tendency to make it more twisted or impactful. This film is shot straight-up and it is good.

Overall: Truly a wonderful western that doesn’t feel out of date or out of character.

Appaloosa

First Hit: Westerns are not in favor as a popular film genre, but this one developed characters and was truly wonderful to watch.

Ed Harris plays Virgil Cole a city marshal for hire. Cole and his partner, Everett Hitch (played by Viggo Mortensen), go from town to town as they clean up the mess the town’s people cannot clear up themselves.

In Appaloosa they are hired because rancher Randall Bragg (played by Jeremy Irons) is blocking growth of the town’s budding mining business. Two of Bragg’s men killed a man from Chicago and when the current town marshal goes out to get the two men; Bragg shoots the marshal and his two deputies dead.

Therefore the town hires Cole and Hitch to bring order, but to do so the town must obey Cole’s rules. Adding additional characterization and interest to the film is Renee Zellweger (as Allison French) playing a woman who is enticing and a strong weakness for wanting to be loved or in a man’s arms.

The beauty of this film is that this film doesn’t rush to create the characters, it lets them develop. It gives them space to let the audience in little by little. Sometimes it is it only a couple of sentences but they are enough to color in a deeper view of whoever is in the scene. Towards the end, Hitch sits down next to Cole and says, I have some things I need to say to you. And in two cryptic sentences, a new level of understanding is played out. There are other scenes of honesty between these two men that show a deep, true, honest, and respectful friendship.

Overall: I like the way the film unfolded. I liked that it didn’t fill it’s space with special effects. And, I liked the way the characters were allowed to develop, grow and change as the film went on.