3:10 to Yuma - mini-review

I finally watched this excellent film on DVD last night. I used to have a major thing for Russell Crowe from his Gladiator days, but he lost his luster with me a bit after the whole phone throwing incident. One can't deny, however, that he is an excellent actor, and this is one of his best roles. He's perfect in a Western, although we can all forget the horrible Quick and the Dead with Sharon Stone. Yes, I did sit all the way through that travesty back in the day that I would watch anything Russell did. Well, we can all thank Sharon Stone for one thing, she brought Russell Crowe to American audiences for the first time, and to the attention of Hollywood.

This is the kind of matchup dreams are made of -- two of the most excellent intense actors of our time, Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, mano a mano in the same movie. Christian Bale plays a down on his luck rancher, a veteran of the Civil War missing a leg who has lost the respect of his teenage son and his wife. Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade, robber and leader of a band of cutthroats, but he's not a simple man -- he draws and seems to relish having an intelligent conversation with Christian Bale's character.

Christian Bale's rancher is deep in debt and through a series of fateful events, he ends up taking Crowe's Ben Wade with a group of men as prisoner to the 3:10 train to Yuma to his trial and certain hanging. Peter Fonda plays a crusty old Pinkerton detective, and it was fun seeing him in this movie. Bale's son tags along to Yuma, and Ben Wade realizes it's because of the boy's hero worship of him. The son gets to see Wade in action when the party is attacked by Apaaches along the way. The son's worship of outlaws like Wade from dime novels is part of the reason that Bale's character took this job taking Wade as a prisoner to justice, and he is trying to redeem himself in his son's eyes.

At the end of the journey, the two men are alone in a hotel room within earshot of the train whistle. Outside they are surrounded by men who either want to rescue Wade or kill him. The two actors have a fascinating conversation in that room where they reveal secrets to each other. Christian Bale reveals that he has never been a hero, and his leg was shot off by one of his own men. "Try telling your son that!" Wade tells about how he was abandoned by his mother. They reach a level of respect for each other as they dash out to meet that 3:10 train. I won't spoil the ending, but Crowe's character is not a simple killer, and he seems to surprise even himself. This is a film that is staying with me, and I keep thinking about it, which I didn't expect from a Western. It harkens back to the old Westerns which were morality plays. I have never seen the original film from the 50's, but from the reviews I've read, this film surpasses the first one with these two superior actors. I give 3:10 to Yuma four stars. Simply excellent, and two of the best parts ever for these two actors. In another year, they would have been nominated for Oscars for this film, in my opinion.

Kung Fu Panda - mini-review

Jack Black is a cartoon character come to life, and so voicing an animated character is the perfect role for him. I've loved Jack Black and his zaniness since High Fidelity. He was a blast in School of Rock and I even loved his gentle crazy romantic in The Holiday with Kate Winslett, but he was miscast in King Kong. Did anyone really believe all those men would follow Jack Black to the ends of the earth?

The voice casting for Kung Fu Panda is dead on. Angelina Jolie smolders as the all so serious tiger who loses out to Jack Black's pudgy panda as Dragon Warrior. Dustin Hoffman is maybe a little lemur, and is Po's exasperated kung fu master, who discovers the best way to train Po is by using food as a reward. The fight over the last steamed dumpling was amazing! Ian McShane of Deadwood plays the best evil rumbling voiced big cat since the tiger in Jungle Book! Seth Rogan of Knocked Up was a surprising voice choice as Mantis, David Cross of Arrested Development plays Crane with Jackie Chan also doing a short voice cameo as Monkey.

So, did I enjoy the movie? We saw it on IMAX and to quote Jack Black, I was blinded by its awesomeness. I loved it! Po's dream sequences are even gorgeous graphic novel like 2-D paintings. It's inventive, it looks great and we howled with laughter. The whole family loved it, and I consider this a new classic animated film. Three and a half stars edging to almost four. This is not just for kids, but I liked that it wasn't full of the "of the moment" adult aimed jokes as the Shrek movies have had.

Thank you Perez!

Perez: The reigning king of soccer, Cristiano Ronaldo, celebrates his win with Portugal over the Czech Republic at the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament in Geneva on Wednesday.

There's only one way to celebrate in true diva style, and that's by taking your shirt off.

Thank you!

Portugal now advances to the quarterfinals.

Happy Birthday Shia!

He's only 22 today. Yes, I'm going to hell.

Reel Geezers on Sex and the City

An interesting conversation with the Reel Geezers film critics on SATC. Spoiler warning if you haven't seen the film yet.

Grant to star in new Rom Com with Zhang

I always love Hugh Grant in romantic comedies. This one sounds like it has an interesting twist, and will be nice to see this great Chinese actress in a lighter film.
Variety: Hugh Grant and Ziyi Zhang will star in "Lost for Words," a comedy that Susanne Bier will direct for Universal Pictures in September.

Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce with Jonathan Cavendish.

Grant is in discussions to play a British film star approached to topline a pic by a Chinese femme filmmaker. He falls for the charms of the helmer's flirtatious translator, but soon sees the object of his true affection is the director (Zhang). Unfortunately, his translator is the only person who can communicate his feelings, and she has her own motives.

James McAvoy - Wanted Photocall

Just Jared:

Originally, James, 29, was rejected for the lead role of Wesley Gibson in Wanted.

“They wanted someone geeky. I screen-tested for the movie over a year ago and they never gave me the part. Then, it was about seven months later when they went, “Look, we’ve been trying to find someone who’s muscle-y who looks good and all that, but it just didn’t work with someone like that so they said, “Could you come and do it?” They basically just said, “You’re the runt of the litter and that’s what makes it work” so yeah, and that’s why I like it. So while I’m doing all this physical work, it’s important for me to remain small. I’m sure they want me to get all big, but it’s important to remain believably geeky,” he told Comingsoon.net back in February.

Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling

Death-defying clips from the 2008 Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake, where every year fearless competitors from around the world tumble down an almost vertical hill in Gloucester, UK, chasing an 8lb Double Gloucester Cheese. It can never really be caught as it reaches breakneck speeds but the first person to cross the line at the bottom of the hill wins the coveted cheese. Thousands of spectators turned up to watch again this year, and there were also a few of the usual injuries. Thankfully St John's Ambulances were on hand to whisk the casualties away to the local hospital.

Valkyrie Trailer

A trailer for Tom Cruise's Valkyrie has hit the internet. The film has had it's release date changed three times, which is never a good sign. The trailer makes it look interesting, and I've always liked the director, Bryan Singer, from back to The Usual Suspects. At least Tom Cruise doesn't even attempt a German accent. Great supporting cast, too, with lots of my favorites: Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, and Eddie Izzard. Unless it changes again, the film is due out in Feb. of 2009.

Photo of the day

Hat tip: List of the Day