Wayne, you know my bud David? More of an acquantance of mine. We converse a lot.

It wouldn't be too far a stretch if Northfork got an Oscar nom so don't knock it.

I would hardly call Open Range a blood bath. It was a good showing of what the old west was really like. And I hate cowboy movies. But what was really fun is my 15 and 16 year old liked it, my wife liked it and her mother liked it and we all think it was one of the best cowboy movies we ever saw!

I hope your a better shooter than critic ;)

Rob, I think you may have misread my comment. I thought David did a great job with Northfork, and I look forward to seeing anything he is associated with in the future. We have not met, but exchange correspondence on occasion.

Regarding my "blood bath" comment; I am an confessed anti-gun person and I find movies that resolve their conflict with outrageous gun battles not only silly, but contribute to the "myth of the gun" which has contributed mightily to our present dilemma with gun ownership in this country. I would bet that your teenagers would not have liked that movie nearly so much had it not ended with that extended gun fight, which struck me as just silly after the first couple of minutes. It was certainly much longer than the actual "gunfight at the OK Corral," and I'm not talking the movie.

BTW, I confess I didn't turn off the shootout. But I was hoping for a bit more realistic conclusion. And it appears a lot of critics didn't disagree with me, because despite some serious lobbying, the movie is not garnering much interest for the awards season. I have this dream where Kevin Costner and Howard Dean are sitting in a bar over beers discussing, "Where did I go wrong?"

Blood Bath? It was indeed a grahic portrayal of an old west shootout but I didn't see it portayed in a sensational KILL BILL kind of way and not really ironic in any way.


Ironic that they shoot films in a studio in Burabank instead of actually going to Nepal. :p

What is boxoffice sucess? I'm sure when its all said and done (WORLDWIDE + RENTALS) it'll make a 'buck or two'. These types of films don't usually garner HUGE BOX OFFICE numbers. (Was Dances With Wolves a "Cowboy" movie?) $60 Million is a tight number for this type of film (Dramatic Western)

None?! Zilch?! What about the Metis? or does that count?

Anti-gun people typically have jaded opinions (People that are anti-gun usually don't get it anyway) and it really was in no way anything like My Darling Clementine.

I doubt they are sitting around wondering what the heck happended. Tons of films each year are ignored by the Academy. Open Range had mass critical acclaim.

Now, Im not trying to start something, just some musings on a Sunday morning.

Dissapointed that OPEN RANGE did not get any noms:(

I am surprised considering the critical acclaim. The list comes out the 27th but will surely mimic the Golden Globes nominees.

Release Dates

Cold Mountain - 12/25
LOTR - 12/17
Master and Comm - 11/14
Mystic River - 10/15
Seabiscuit - 7/25

OPEN RANGE - 8/15

With the exception of Seabiscuit the other films appear very fresh in the Academy's minds. I think we all know the Academy is agenda driven and political.

I enjoyed Open Range but would have liked to have seen the love story developed more (The connection between characters) and would have like to have seen the Antagonist(s) more as well. They spent too much time in Duvall and Costners relationship. Good film though.

I think that list is good. The only film I have not seen is Cold Mountain and I heard it was pretty good, as well.

I loved Master and Commander, but I think Costner (and even Duvall's) character was more rounded and, for lack of a better word, "better" than Crowe's.

But, remember that everyone in Hollywood hates Costner and he has pissed off some of the Academy members in the past right after Dances with Wolves.

LOL

Costner is the man. Screw the Academy. :)

<<Costner is the man>>

Well, he certainly thinks so. I wasn't too crazy about him from working with him, but I do like his work. For my money, his best performance was "A Perfect World"--sort of a forgotten film, but a goodie.

Well I have never worked with him, but as an outsider judging on talent (acting/directing) I like what I get.

Perfect World! That was cool! I almost forgot as well.

In many ways, Open Range is a conventional western. In the vein of My Darling Clementine, Chisum, or even The Wild Bunch. All of these films have this theme in common: a man's gotta do what a man has to do. Good vs. evil. The cinematography was gorgeous and the gunfight choreography was equally good. But at times the sky looked like a matte backdrop (see opening). There was flaring due to sunlight in some of the frames. This is the loudest gunfight soundtrack since Dead or Alive (the Japanese action film). Brought to you in glorious DTS 6.1. I guess Costner has to compete with the Matrix, Hulk, T3, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen crowd. (Not all of these movies are available in DTS). But six-shooters don't sound this loud or reverberant. In OR, they sound louder than a .357 magnum.

Between the beginning and the end there is not that much action. Four men staging a cattle drive seems to be a small lot, compared to Red River. There were more cattle in The Rare Breed than OR. In fact the big problem that this movie runs into is the legacy of great westerns that came before it: Ride the High Country, The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, Searchers, Dances with Wolves, etc. That's a tough path to hoe. I enjoyed OR and wish they would make more westerns, but it's tough competing with action and sci-fi flicks, where each year they up the ante in special effects. If anyone of you subscribe to Cinefex, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I went to an OLD TOWN once and they put on the Cowboy Show. Those 'smokewagons' were freakin loud.

I read also where they fixed the skies in POST.

Yup, the skies were fixed in the opening scenes, amongst others. One very good reason for this was that on the budget of the film, there was no waiting around to get the right skies. Digital intermediate is becoming more and more affordable and acceptable for medium budget filmmaking. My fellow (and now-former) Steadicam operator Jimmy Muro was the DP on that show and I'm very happy that he has gotten as much recognition and career boost as he has.

I purchased Once Upon a time in Mexico and watched it over the weekend. Basically a homage to Clint Eastwood movies. I enjoyed it.
In spite of what people say, Rodriguez has a gift for high camp like few others. (I pretty sure he doesn't expect his movies to taken seriously, at least by the comments he makes).

I guess the best part is the recipe for slow cooked pork in the ten minute cooking school extra.

Plus he brings you into his personal studio, Pretty frikin cool.

I just received my OUATIM DVD and must say I like it very much.
The only "downside" is that it isn't a 2 disc release (with more
and longer exta's) with dts sound. Oh well, you can't have
everything.

I thought the picture looked superb on DVD. As usual with
his DVD releases there are some very interesting extra's on
the disc. I loved the piece where we got to visit his house/
garage which was even more hilarious with his cooking flick.
I've never ever seen that on a DVD before. Some of the pieces
(like the cooking) had me laughing pretty hard and I was
pretty shocked with how one extra ended without spoiling
it for anyone.

10 minute flick school was great again and you eve get two
commentaries (one for the sound with mainly the music score).
Great stuff!

I watched all of the extra's and have seen the first half hour
of the director's commentary track. He actually gives some
insight into how and why which helped to raise the movie a
bit for me.

Good stuff, that's the only reason why I bought that DVD--didn't care for the movie, though. Oh, I don't get why everyone says his movies are like a Sergio Leone film? I dont see too many parallels, other than the "El" playing the guitar like the Branson and his harmonica in Once Upon a Time in the West.

If anything, I think OUATIM is more like a Peckinpah film.