Westender

Many people say that this movie was bad. Its something more. Its pointless. There is no case, there is no climax. There is a guy dressed in a period costume wandering in slow pace through forest and desert. There are some phrases heard every 15-20 minutes and then walking again. Sorry but period/fantasy films require by definition budget. If its a students work they should stick to a comedy or a cult horror b-movie.

The reason why i write this review is not only because i just watched it as a late night show (4am)and left with a ''that was it?'' in the end. Mostly i write because i see an absolutely crazy propaganda from some people that write extremely good reviews for that thing. Propably most of those people are friends of the creators if not the creators he he he. People don't mind those critics. These are not real. The movie is horrible.

Filmed entirely in Oregon, on some amazingly atmospheric locations, this film was reportedly made on a budget that probably wouldn't provide the perks for one of today's overpaid Hollywood super-stars.

Its evocation of a medieval world has quite a bit more flavor than many of the big studio efforts of, say, fifty years ago, and its flaws are not terribly distracting or disappointing.

It is true that the editing could be considerably tightened and that some plot points are not elucidated too well, especially since flashbacks are used, though not to any true advancement of the linear storyline.

Blake Stadel, as the questing knight of the title, while not a very expressive actor, nevertheless contributes a stalwart presence (and makes the abuse he suffers look convincingly real, by the way).

The cinematography is the real star of this show and the music score is blessedly free of the droning and the bombast that afflicts too many big budget films these days.

All in all a very worthy effort and one that certainly makes a viewer look forward to future efforts from its makers.

Considering the film was done with a very small budget by a first time film-maker, "Westender" is a noble effort and has many quality bits. There are a few snags here and there, but most of these will fade with experience.

The story follows a down on his luck knight in a medieval fantasy world. After a night of hard drinking and gambling, Sir Asbrey of Westend bets and loses a precious ring. The movie follows his journey to reclaim his ring, and of course along the way rediscover himself and what truly matters.

To get the negatives out of the way, "Westender" felt much longer than the hour and forty-five minutes it was. Many scenes, while beautifully shot, could be tightened. There are simply too many long environment shots that do not movie the story forward. A few of the actors, mostly first timers themselves I imagine, that are a bit wooden in acting and line delivery -- some less than stellar dialog surely contributes to this. As long as the movie felt, it left several plot lines dangling without closure.

On a more positive note, as I mentioned earlier, the film is visually beautiful. It proves that a quality director goes further than a big budget. Scene composition, lighting and movement are all handled really well. The score to the film really helps to compliment the wonderful shots.

Overall, a strong premiere for a new director. There is certainly room for improvement, but many of the fundamentals are here and very strong. I look forward to future films.

The scenery is beautiful, and many times you'll be thinking to yourself, "Where is this place??" In particular, there is a scene with a waterfall that just cries to be walked to and explored.

So far as an actual film, it would have been better served as a series of postcards, as you get breathtaking vistas with only little snippets of storyline on the back to figure out what is going on. And while the acting is pretty atrocious, it is both good and bad to note that the dialog is thin and minutes pass without any words being spoken. A little voice also appears in your head after about 20 minutes whispering in your ear, "Come on, something has to happen to move the story forward". But it never comes, and you're just watching, plodding along waiting desperately for the next ill conceived plot device taking set in overwhelming scenery shots.

If you're looking for anything remotely interesting, stay away.

This movie is awfully unbearable.

For awhile, I thought it was produced by Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation as a good amount of the film is an exposition of Oregon's forests.

The plot...well I wasn't sure if there's any. OK, let me try - it's a man's quest to find the one ring and on his journey he supposedly find himself. Well, I think that's what they're trying to illustrate but the writer and the director failed miserably. The writer failed to explain several aspect of the film. For instance, how the protagonist fell from grace, or who was the woman, who burned the woman, who was the gypsy etc. Moreover, it seemed like, there are only about 2 pages of dialogue written for this movie and the little dialogue it had, it was very weak. It did not helped that the actors delivery of the dialogue is equally terrible and the acting is not very convincing. The only convincing acting in the whole movie I found was the old man in the cave. However, he can't seem decide if his accent should be Celtic or English.

The director makes up for the lack of dialogue and weak plot with a stunning cinematography. Not bad for a first time director. However, I do find it very boring and exhausting after awhile when all you see is a man walking scenes after scenes with a gorgeous landscape in the background.

This film is not even worth a rental albeit, the DVD cover looked like a John Waterhouse painting.