Appaloosa

Just had a WTF moment reading a "worst movies of 2008" list with this on it. I couldn't disagree more. What this movie is not: an "epic" millennial western with lots of bloodstained gun fights between action heroes and super villains on the frontier. It does not have lush cinematography of wide vistas of the mountains and desert. That is, the landscape is not the central actor here. What it did remind me of was the closeknit black-and-white westerns of the 1940s and 1950s. It told a straightforward, fairly simple story about men and women struggling with notions of love, justice and honor, while attempting to define and uphold those concepts for themselves and others in the absence of imposed external authority. In other words, it was a classic western in many respects. At the same time, it explored themes unavailable to the classic era, such as the notions of female sexuality and male-female relations beyond the rigid confines of the 1950s. The perfect hybrid, as far as I'm concerned. To me it was the most refreshing entry into the western genre in a loooooooong time, maybe since Leone. Screw anyone who thinks westerns have to begin and end like a superhero movie. Ed Harris wrote and directed this. I loved the screenplay, and even the original song over the closing credits. More power to him. Jerermy Irons was awesome in a supporting role as the bad guy---one of my favorite roles of his in a long time. As in the case of The Duchess, there is a reason this movie has been playing in theaters for almost three months, and still going strong. Deal with it, fanboys!