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stevefah
Reviews
Monsters (2010)
Decent SF movie for people with a brain... which lets out half the reviewers here
Considering the budget (most of which was obviously spent on travel) and the fact that ALL the CGI was done on a couple of networked PCs using Adobe's Photoshop, Premiere and (I think) Aftereffects, this is one heck of a movie.
The "monsters" (which are just alien lifeforms which have adapted to life on Earth) are a cross between an octopus and a crab--only about 50 feet tall. They're somewhat secondary to the story which, as has been noted by many reviewers, is a cross between a road trip and a love story. The main protagonist, Kaulder (not Colbert), is a pretty dislikable guy; the girl is attractive, but at times you wonder if anyone's home.
Hint: to those who didn't "get it"--the beginning tells you what happened at the end. The rest of the movie is essentially a flashback. (Without that, the movie would have seemed entirely pointless.) The CGI, all shot without green screen, was created by the director/writer--and serves the story: most of it is not "in your face" as in most monster/alien movies--the bulk of the 280-plus CGI shots are shots of signs, broken machinery or architecture, or alien funguses on trees. The CGI is absolutely seamless, IMHO. There's only one non-monster shot (of a downed 'copter next to a highway) that didn't look absolutely real--and the monsters themselves are pretty darned good.
The acting (and only the principal two characters are actual actors, the rest are "locals" pressed into service) is pretty good too.
So if you read and watch SF (as opposed to "Sci-Fi") you will probably like this movie. The "Sci-Fi" buffs will find it too low key.
Appaloosa (2008)
An excellent character study set in a Western.
So maybe lots of the people who post negative comments are hard of hearing as well as somewhat illiterate... what's not to get, folks? Start here: Renée Zellweger's character didn't sleep with any male with a pulse, she only slept with the current alpha male. In any given situation. She's a widow, broke, scared and desperate (she arrives in town with $1!) in the Old West in 1882. Doesn't mean I sympathize with her, but it's understandable, at least. Ms. Zellweger always looks to me like she's sucking on a lemon, so I think they could have picked a better-looking woman for Cole to fall for, but everything is explained if you pay attention to the film. ("She's so clean!")
The relationship of Virgil and Everett is the key to the film, not the bad guy or the gunfights, or the Apaches.
They've been partners for 12 years or so. They don't even have to talk to one another to know what the other's thinking until Allie enters the picture. Cole is not getting any younger. He has no female figures for comparison except "whores and that Indian woman." He can settle down, in a job he knows how to handle, with his companionship issues resolved, and in his own house. He's taking care of #1, people... and he's always thought of Everett as secondary but necessary. But if he settles down, he won't need Everett. Everett sees this coming. He knows Cole even when Cole doesn't know himself.
(SPOILER)*******
He kills Bragg to PROTECT Cole. It's his last submissive gesture. All he asks in return is that Cole not prosecute him for it, to let him literally ride off into the sunset. The characters are typical Robert B. Parker strong silent types (think, to a degree, Spenser and Hawk).
I think maybe some of the nay-sayers on this film are too young and inexperienced (not to mention untutored) to "get it"... which is okay. Nobody *has* to like ANYTHING... but it's an issue when your comments indicate that your dislike is anything more meaningful than a personal choice or opinion.
Not the best Western I've seen (not even the best Parker adaptation), but Mortenson, Harris and Irons really make this work. (Not so Ms. Zellweger, unfortunately.) Oh, and real gunfights probably were that abrupt and quick, and maybe the pace was too slow for the ADD generation. It wasn't meant to be another "Quick And The Dead."