GregSinora

Clichéd, contrived and completely predictable. More horse crap from the ever reliable (!) Ridley Scott. You've seen the film a million times before, and yet - Oscar winner (we all knew that the Oscars were a damn joke though). Isn't anyone offended at the popularity of the film - it's just pure macho crap. It's films like these that shame the existence of film, but who cares when it makes this much money! It's like a goddamn block of cheddar! Anyone who likes this film is (yes this a fact) a MORON. Russell Crowe is a (cardboard) fool, all his posing and serious looks can never save this multi-million-million-multi-multi-million dollar piece of crap ego-fodder. You're all fools, you and Ridley Scock!

Kim Ki-duk's seventh movie could have been so much more. Romantising forced prostitution is not a very sensible decision. Lets face it the film is meant to be uncomfortable viewing, but by the end it was to much, and the final message put forth seemed a grave mistake - if you force sex on a girl enough she will eventually love you and stay with you forever even if she is still forced to sell herself (now thats shocking)!! As for the film making, in general it was disappointing, a horrible shaky POV shot to show a character's drunkenness - that is lazy film-making, and the use of bad music, added to the blatant romanticism of a serious issue. Some valid attempts made at portraying the nasty realism of the red light district were again undercut by cheesy romance! Although there is no doubt that Kim Ki-duk is a talented filmmaker (see 'Spring, Summer' for a fine example), this film showcases little of this.

For some reason or another i've also had problems viewing westerns, or rather motivating myself to watch them, and i can the enjoyment i receive from a western (or many other period genres) is relatively slim. Altman's 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller' could well be an exception (along with Jarmusch's 'Dead Man'). Altman captures frontier life in a respectably gritty way, capturing the noise and also the goodness of the people. Beatty's Mr McCabe is more likable than a pimp should be and is for sure not the silent badass we could expect, talkative and pleasant, he is seems no gunslinging cowboy. The plot makes the most of good characters, causing them suffering, Altman builds empathy with them, whilst creating hatred for the bad guys, all with an anti-corrupt message (which does seem redundant seen as the film was made by Warner Bros!). All in all though this could change my perceptions of the western genre, for it doesn't seem to be the conventional western piece.