Angels Sing

This sugarcoated Christmas tale is an Austin-born and -bred affair.

"...reminiscent of an old Roy Rogers movie, a musical Western with a moral message – except that this version..."

Nov. 1, 2013 Movie Review by Amy Smith

No Place on Earth

A spelunker in the Ukraine turns amateur sleeuth as he tries to make sense of the remnants he finds in a cave: They were left by Jews who hid there from the Nazis.

"...a caving enthusiast from New York, was spelunking in Western Ukraine’s gypsum caves when he unearthed evidence of modern..."

May 3, 2013 Movie Review by Leah Churner

The Sapphires

Exuberant but fairly formulaic, this Australian film is a backstage story about an all-girl singing group from the outback in the Sixties.

"...Aboriginal, and they get their start singing country & western music in tatty bars where they’re jeered at and..."

April 12, 2013 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Django Unchained

As entertaining and subversive as Django Unchained is, Tarantino's latest also suffers from a certain slackness.

"...Django Unchained has obvious roots in the spaghetti Western – Django being the name of a character who..."

Dec. 28, 2012 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen opts for scripted comedy this time and lands many good jokes and new offenses, but the target is soft and unmissable.

"...fourth repetition. Nevertheless, a climactic speech on the lessons Western democracy might learn from Middle Eastern despotism offers a..."

May 18, 2012 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale

The most expensive film ever produced in Taiwan to date, Warriors of the Rainbow is a sweeping historical epic.

"...still, it can be difficult at times for a Western audience to keep track of who's winning this mad..."

April 27, 2012 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

War Horse

A stylistic throwback to classic studio movies, Spielberg's film about war as seen through a horse's experience of it rarely rises to the occasion.

"...1914 and has many a harrowing experience on the Western front. The book was also adapted for the theatre..."

Dec. 23, 2011 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Cowboys & Aliens

Jon Favreau and company kick up some good Western dust until the film's alien twist comes off like the newest variation on outmoded cowboys-and-Indians stereotypes.

"...films, director Jon Favreau has made here a classical Western, polished and professional. Don’t get hung up on the..."

July 29, 2011 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Forks Over Knives

This documentary presents evidence that a whole-foods diet can prevent the occurrence of cancer, heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes.

"...documentary. It's ostensibly aimed at everyone, and in particular Westerners raised on a so-called "diet of affluence," i.e., meat,..."

May 13, 2011 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Red Hill

Genuine passion for the Western genre is displayed in this Australian take on High Noon that stars True Blood's Ryan Kwanten.

"...feature debut, has gone and rebooted the notoriously difficult Western genre with this savage, contemporary take on the lone..."

Nov. 5, 2010 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Kites

This Bollywood film made in America mixes elements from crime thrillers, love stories, and Westerns in a big flashy bundle designed to win over viewers dwelling far from the Indian subcontinent.

"...Hour director Brett Ratner, who has produced a shortened, “Westernized” version called Kites: The Remix, which will be released..."

May 21, 2010 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges scores in this performance as a fading country & western star who has cashed in most of his chips.

"...as old and true as the broken-down country & western balladeer at the heart of it, nearly everything about..."

Jan. 8, 2010 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

How to Get to Portland

Full recap of the Texecutioners triple win at last weekend's Battle Royale western regionals

"...nervous about last weekend's Women's Flat Track Derby Association's Western Regional finals in Houston, Battle Royale '08, they were..."

Oct. 8, 2008 Sports Post by Richard Whittaker

Religulous

Bill Maher walks with the angels in this documentary, which he uses as his pulpit to proselytize the gospel of doubt.

"...globe-hopping whirlwind of interviews with various representatives of the Western religious faiths of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Mormonism (Eastern..."

Oct. 3, 2008 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Up the Yangtze

Canadian documentary effectively personalizes the effect of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River and the 2 million it displaced.

"...doesn’t realize is that by learning English and servicing Western tourists (never call them “old, pale, or fat,” the..."

Sept. 19, 2008 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?

Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame chases after the world's most wanted man and comes up empty but fulfilled.

"...cheer, who charms burqua-clad women, destitute Palestinians, and radical anti-Western clerics into candid conversations about the nature of violent..."

April 18, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

The 2007 Academy Award Nominated Films: Live Action

Be your own judge and jury for these final five competitors for the Best Live Action Short Oscar.

"...different light. Daniel Barber's "The Tonto Woman" is a Western that arrives by way of England and is based..."

Feb. 15, 2008 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Bubble

This gay-tinged Romeo and Juliet story set largely in Tel Aviv shows the complexities of love in a land where the conflicts are as old as Western religion and as new as suicide bombers.

"...their given cultures. The conflicts are as old as Western religion and as new as suicide bombers. Set in..."

Nov. 2, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Devil Came on Horseback

Retired Marine Capt. Brian Steidle tells the real, unedited story of Darfur in this documentary examining the powerlessness of one individual faced with a tragedy of inhuman degree.

"...burn villages and massacre civilians with his blessing. The western province of Darfur is ripe for petroleum exploration, and..."

Sept. 14, 2007 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Bratz

Bring some bratitude and a passion for fashion, and you'll be almost as giddy as a 10-year-old girl.

"...like imagery from Moulin Rouge and Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western music. So, in the end, Bratz and I won’t..."

Aug. 3, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Tears of the Black Tiger

This Thai film is part melodrama and part spaghetti western, as if Sirk and Peckinpah fell into a blender and out poured tear-soaked Polaroids, giant exploding squibs and blown-up heads, tearful Asian songbird ballads, and homoerotic outlaw bonding.

"...series – Tears is part melodrama and part spaghetti western, as if Sirk and Peckinpah fell into a blender..."

Feb. 16, 2007 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Seraphim Falls

A morality play without the morality, Seraphim Falls demands its protagonists (Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Anjelica Huston) resign themselves to their loneliness and brutality.

"...is a morality play without the morality and a Western Purgatorio that, in the end, demands its protagonists resign..."

Jan. 26, 2007 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

A Good Year

It's difficult to reconcile this romantic trifle starring Russell Crowe with Ridley Scott, the director who made Blade Runner and The Gladiator.

"...love?) and coming to realize the error of his Western, pedestrian ways. As it stands, there are precious few..."

Nov. 10, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Down in the Valley

Sadly, this is less the epic modern Western it aspires to be than a muddled melodrama about a delusional drifter played by Edward Norton.

"...Valley becomes a B-movie – less a modern epic Western than a two-reel oater with a cheap cliffhanger. There’s..."

June 2, 2006 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Neil Young: Heart of Gold

Jonathan Demme dreams us back to the golden age of performance films, in which Neil Young unfolds his latest album Prairie Wind in concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium.

"...on a farmhouse porch, and Heart of Gold follows western suit. “I think of it as his life passing..."

March 17, 2006 Movie Review by Raoul Hernandez

The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam

Houston-based, Iranian-born filmmaker Mashayekh relates the story of the pioneering 11th-century mathematician, astronomer, and poet, and reminds Western audiences that there’s more to Iran and the Middle East than suicide bombers and hummus.

"...pioneering 11th-century mathematician, astronomer, and poet, and thereby remind Western audiences (who tend to be forgetful about these things)..."

Dec. 23, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Unleashed

Jet Li, in his first Western role of any depth, convincingly plays both man and beast, although a sentimental script by producer Luc Besson hampers the story.

"...(blame Besson for that), but it’s Li’s first major Western role of any depth and he acquits himself admirably..."

May 20, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

All sugar, no spice in this modern-day fairy tale

"...finds out she’s really the princess of an obscure Western Europe country! – it did have burrowed in its..."

Aug. 13, 2004 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen

This double-layered documentary examines the creation of a Hong Kong action film and the impossible feats performed by the Asian stuntman.

"...School by their parents at roughly the same age Western kids were learning their ABCs. Wearing the signature red..."

April 2, 2004 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Home on the Range

It’s fitting that this is Disney’s last traditionally animated feature; the whole affair has a warm, nostalgic feel.

"...hold down the folding seat. This genial, animated Disney Western, which has been in the works since 2000 and..."

April 2, 2004 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

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