JESSE JAMES BUNNY!
I'm the greatest American outlaw! I took the lives of over 15 men and feared no Pinkerton operatives. I never meet a train I wouldn't rob or a stagecoach I wouldn't turn. Oh, and the South shall rise again.
OH NO!
PIGGY FORD!
PIGGY FORD!
I sure did like Jesse, but I loved the reward money even better! I shot Jesse James, governor Crittenden! Love me! Oh, and fuck the South, even though I am from Missouri.
"Bah! Whatever, Piggy Ford! No one named Pokemon villains after you. Or whole American mythologies either, by the way."
"Whatever. I still killed you. Cause it's 187 on an undercover cop! YEAH!"
"What? That lyric isn't relative at all!"
"Oh, um. That picture is awful dusty?"
"Those are my last words! You thieving Yankee cowardly piggy!"
"Bah! Whatever, Piggy Ford! No one named Pokemon villains after you. Or whole American mythologies either, by the way."
"Whatever. I still killed you. Cause it's 187 on an undercover cop! YEAH!"
"What? That lyric isn't relative at all!"
"Oh, um. That picture is awful dusty?"
"Those are my last words! You thieving Yankee cowardly piggy!"
__________________________________________
Amanda and I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford last week and I thoroughly enjoyed my first ever Western. However, I was disappointed by the lack of gunfights in my first ever Western. More gunfights! More swindling and horse rustling. More stereotypes!
Scratch that. I don't know very much about the Old West, but I do understand that most of the action around it was framed by the Reconstruction period. Former Confederates flew to the Territory hatching schemes on how to bring back Dixie. However, it was also known national for federal expansion and the conflict over local autonomy. Finally, it's the frontier and living on any frontier isn't easy. Gun fights weren't as deadly as in the movies because, well, it wasn't the movies. The railroad dominated the landscape and you had to be one tough criminal to take them on. Like most things in the American "Master Narrative," the imagery sometimes does not hold up to the reality.
I enjoyed the films rolling narrative and thought the voice overs were a nice touch. I read some reviews on Rotten Tomatoes that found it too didactic. While it did feel like the book the movie was based on just came onto the screen, the technique is justified. Jesse James story was a whole myth and you needed a separate storyteller to build all that. If we had that all through some words flashed on the screen then it would have been harder to absorb. They also gave the movie a good sense of pace, leading up to Jesse's assassination, building him as all to real man that was still legendary. Imagine if someone described you in a solid, haunting, lyrical voice-over.
Finally, I like Brad Pitt no matter what anyone says. And I also like Ben Affleck and his brother is in the movie giving a great performance. It feels weird for me to say someone acted well. I don't know anything about acting except that I certainly couldn't even do a second of screen/stage time. Even if I was "Pedestrian 4" in the far left corner of the screen, I could not produce the right combination of standing in my costume and staying quiet necessary for high-caliber cinema. Forget it if I even had to move. Imagine me as "Guy Buying Fruit 2." Disaster.
With that said, even all those directors frien...err...I mean struggling actors you see in student films could out act me. Still, Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck rocked their respective roles. Pitt having this hurt bravado, a man increasingly paranoid, but still believing he was in control. Affleck runs with a dangerous innocence, someone inherently harmless and weak, but still capable of the simplest violence. Imagine a five-year old with a gun. Or something like that.
For more (eloquent) reading, the film critic for our paper, Nicholas NiCastro, did a great review of the movie for the paper in our October 29-November 4th edition. Check it out!
Peace!
Scratch that. I don't know very much about the Old West, but I do understand that most of the action around it was framed by the Reconstruction period. Former Confederates flew to the Territory hatching schemes on how to bring back Dixie. However, it was also known national for federal expansion and the conflict over local autonomy. Finally, it's the frontier and living on any frontier isn't easy. Gun fights weren't as deadly as in the movies because, well, it wasn't the movies. The railroad dominated the landscape and you had to be one tough criminal to take them on. Like most things in the American "Master Narrative," the imagery sometimes does not hold up to the reality.
I enjoyed the films rolling narrative and thought the voice overs were a nice touch. I read some reviews on Rotten Tomatoes that found it too didactic. While it did feel like the book the movie was based on just came onto the screen, the technique is justified. Jesse James story was a whole myth and you needed a separate storyteller to build all that. If we had that all through some words flashed on the screen then it would have been harder to absorb. They also gave the movie a good sense of pace, leading up to Jesse's assassination, building him as all to real man that was still legendary. Imagine if someone described you in a solid, haunting, lyrical voice-over.
By the time he was 23, Garik would be diagnosed with asthmatic allergies, as if the air were too rich for his introspection. He took full claim for all 93 blog entries, but little would read them. And he never meet justice for all the drinks he screwed up while as a barista for he fled Tompkins County to parts where people would believe, 'Yes, it's decaf.' I swear."
Finally, I like Brad Pitt no matter what anyone says. And I also like Ben Affleck and his brother is in the movie giving a great performance. It feels weird for me to say someone acted well. I don't know anything about acting except that I certainly couldn't even do a second of screen/stage time. Even if I was "Pedestrian 4" in the far left corner of the screen, I could not produce the right combination of standing in my costume and staying quiet necessary for high-caliber cinema. Forget it if I even had to move. Imagine me as "Guy Buying Fruit 2." Disaster.
With that said, even all those directors frien...err...I mean struggling actors you see in student films could out act me. Still, Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck rocked their respective roles. Pitt having this hurt bravado, a man increasingly paranoid, but still believing he was in control. Affleck runs with a dangerous innocence, someone inherently harmless and weak, but still capable of the simplest violence. Imagine a five-year old with a gun. Or something like that.
For more (eloquent) reading, the film critic for our paper, Nicholas NiCastro, did a great review of the movie for the paper in our October 29-November 4th edition. Check it out!
Peace!
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