The Hateful Eight
by Felipe Rosa
The Hateful Eight: there’s no denying that Quentin Tarantino has a great ear for over-the-top, entertaining dialogue; in this film, however,
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: thriller, western
Tag: western
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
by Felipe Rosa
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Sergio Leone tells his entertaining tale unhurriedly, letting the film (and most scenes) breathe.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: top, western
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
by Felipe Rosa
The Magnificent Seven: John Sturges worked out of a fantastic blueprint for this western (not that it’s a guarantee of anything, of course), and the results show. The action is fast, furious and exciting (both well shot and edited); that leaves plenty of time for the story to unfold, and for the group of characters to display what they are made of. The large cast respond in kind and is generally strong; Eli Wallach creates a great villain and is the […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: top, western
Red River (1948)
by Felipe Rosa
Red River: Howard Hawks (I wrote about my appreciation of his work before) weaves a great tale; it contains elements which are very particular about the place and time (the hardships of that life, the arrival of civilization) and also universal (the indomitable human spirit, sense of honor and companionship). It’s also, more relevantly, supremely entertaining; it has both tight action scenes and lots of low-key funny moments. The flawless cast is a big reason for that: a great gallery of […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: top, western
Django Unchained – Revisit
by Felipe Rosa
Django Unchained: violent, profane and extremely fun, this is a typical Quentin Tarantino film. The writing is partially great: it is a good story (full of references, as usual), with interesting characters speaking lively lines of dialogue; the main problem with the writing lies in the structure (linear and conventional for his standards), which has a weaker last third. Scenes balance beautifully tension and humor. The cast is in great shape, particularly Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Robert Richardson’s camerawork […]
Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: western
True Grit (2010) – Revisit
by Felipe Rosa
True Grit: the strength of this film begins in the Coen Brothers’ screenplay: the characters are interesting and round, and the dialogues are rich and fun to listen to.
Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: western
The Lone Ranger (2013)
by Felipe Rosa
The Lone Ranger: generally misguided film, from the story to the general tone that borders the disrespectful towards itself to the bad pacing. There’s simply too much meaningless action, too many poor attempts at humour, too many villains; it’s all empty, however. It’s well done with good production values, but when all is said and done, the only reason to watch this is to be reminded of better films by the wonderful setting (Monument Valley) and Hans Zimmer’s references to […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, western
The Professionals (1966)
by Felipe Rosa
The Professionals: one would expect that, with a cast of this charisma (Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Lee Marvin) and a story with its roots on a classic setup, this would be a great Western. However, the writing falters early on: despite the limited number of characters, they are neither well-developed nor particularly interesting, and both the drama and the action are pedestrian, at best. The whole cast seems to be playing small and lesser varations of other roles they […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: western
Django Unchained
by Felipe Rosa
Django Unchained: very entertaining film, particularly for the first two-thirds or so, when the screenplay runs out of steam. Tarantino displays great control over the film’s visuals, music and cast, which is perfectly able to read the fun-as-ever dialogue. Christoph Waltz is once more the stand-out.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: western
Fifth about The Seventh 