Review: “Horizon: An American Saga- Chapter 1”

As the credits rolled on the first part of Kevin Costner’s epic western series, Horizon: An American Saga— Chapter 1, I had but one thought: “I cannot believe he’s promised three more of these.” For those who have never seen a western before, or possess only a fleeting familiarity with the genre, Horizon is serviceable. […]

Holiday Classics: “Hell’s Heroes” (1929)

If you like your holiday movies bleak and uncompromising, look no farther than 1929’s Hell’s Heroes. The early talking picture is a western based on the 1931 novel The Three Godfathers by Peter B. Kyne, but it’s actually one of several screen adaptations of the story, whose Christmas setting, religious imagery (look no further than […]

Review: “The Old Way”

There’s a moment in the climax of director Brett Donowho’s “The Old Way” where baddie James McCallister (Noah Le Gros) and gunslinger Colton Briggs (Nicolas Cage) finally confront each other face-to-face after having spent the entire movie on each other’s heels. McCallister tells Briggs that they’re going to resolve this conflict “the old way”—i.e., with […]

Review: “The Power of the Dog”

“This is Phil. You’ll meet Benedict later.” That’s the way that Jane Campion, writer and director of “The Power of the Dog,” purportedly introduced the star of her movie to the rest of the cast and crew. Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays sadistic Montana rancher Phil Burbank, apparently remained in character for the entire shoot, and […]

Review: “Cry Macho”

Clint Eastwood has long asserted that 1992’s “Unforgiven” would be the last film he made in the western genre, the genre that both began and defined his screen career. Beginning with a lead role in the late 1950s television series “Rawhide,” then embodying the now-iconic antihero the “Man with No Name” in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” […]

Review: “News of the World”

“Maybe, just for tonight, we can escape our troubles and hear of the great changes that are happening out there.” It’s hard not to chuckle a bit when Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) tells this to a group of people gathered to listen to him read them the news, before launching into a story about […]