The dang title of this movie is so long it doesn't even fit in the subject line. Anyway, I saw this joint last Saturday and walked away with decidedly mixed feelings. On one hand, I thought this was one of the most remarkable and dynamic films (of any genre) that I've seen in a while. On the other hand I thought it was one of the most bloated and pretentious wankfests I've seen in a long time. There were times where I wanted to throw something at the screen and there were times where I wished everyone else in the theater would just leave so that I could be alone with this stunning film.
I think in the end, my positive reactions outweigh my negative ones. That's a tribute to the beautiful camera work, the outstanding performances and the simple poetry and grace of the entire piece. The Assassination of Jesse James... is equal parts Babel and Unforgiven. It's also reminds me of another film I still haven't been able to put a finger on three days later.
I mean, we know by the simple title of the movie that Brad Pitt's Jesse James will be dead by the end of the movie. How the story works is that we spend the course of the movie both wishing him dead and wanting him to somehow survive. The true revelation is Casey Affleck as Robert Ford (a.k.a. if for some godawful reason someone decides to make a movie about one Mr. Josh, I nominate either Casey Affleck or Mark Ruffalo to play the title character.) Big brother Ben may have the bigger profile but it appears little brother got the acting chops -- side note: Ben Affleck is actually an incredibly bright guy and I think we'll see his true calling is as a director with his film Gone Baby Gone (also starring Casey.)
Casey's Ford, kinda like Norman Bates so many years ago and like Charlize Theron's Aileen Vuornos in Monster more recently is effective in both creeping us out and evoking our sympathy (the former more than the latter.)
There's more I really want to say but honestly (even at three hours) I feel like I've got to sit through it again. Nevertheless, it's encouraging to see two very smart and well-done westerns released just a few months apart. Is it the start of a trend? Probably not. Either way, TAoJJbtCRF is more than anything a true work of art. I'm hesitant to use the word "masterpiece" but it's a remarkable piece of filmmaking, period.
kara [email] said at 10:37 AM 10-10-2007: I just saw a trailer for it the other day but I'll be going to see it. I dig on westerns, although I'm not surprised at the "pretentious wankfest" angle.. I could see how there would be some pressure to make some unique contribution in order to justify making a western in 2007.
reggie [email] said at 10:52 AM 10-11-2007: I don't know if any justification is needed. No more or less so than making a romantic comedy, sci-fi or horror.
To quote The Muppets Take Manhattan "peoples is peoples" when it comes to exploring human behavior it doesn't matter what format you use.
On the flipside...you sure don't see a whole lot of westerns being made nowadays.
reggie [email] said at 9:31 AM 10-24-2007: That's cool. I'm not really saying they are needed, I just like seeing people take chances.
I mean it seemed ridiculous (to me at least) to think that modern audiences would buy musicals yet in the past few years musicals have made a pretty healthy comeback.
josh [email] said at 3:36 PM 10-24-2007: people like music, that's not that weird to me. also disney animated movies and bollywood movies are mostly musicals.
reggie [email] said at 11:34 PM 10-24-2007: People like music, yes. But musicals are people breaking out into dance numbers and singing their dialogue. Not exactly just music.
kara [email] said at 9:43 AM 10-25-2007: Yeah, I'm with you... Musicals as movies have been declared dead several times as far as I know.
Childrens movies and Bollywood aren't really the same thing as "mainstream blockbusters" or whatever..
Gay hairdressers like movie musicals though.
josh [email] said at 11:09 AM 10-25-2007: bollywood movies are mainstream blockbusters in europe and much of the rest of the world. i listen to a BBC movie podcast every week and they run down the top ten in the UK at the beginning of each show and there are almost always 2-3 bollywood musicals on there. i imagine this will start to happen here eventually.
kids watch disney movies... and pixar movies... then grow up to watch other movies, so the idea of people breaking into song is not that weird to most people i dont think.
kara [email] said at 11:31 AM 10-25-2007: Um I meant mainstream here obviously.
And I guess my terms of thinking of these things overall may be a bit dated and contextualized in terms of the 1950s or something but movie musicals have obviously declined in popularity - and there are resurgences but I don't think that anyone being surprised by their success is that off-base.
josh [email] said at 4:26 PM 10-26-2007: yeah i mean musicals are not as big as they were in the 30s or 40s or whenever they were the main kind of movie...
but that doesn't mean a musical can't come out and be successful. it doesn't suprise me when a musical or a western comes out and is successful, if it's good.
i mean, when Unforgiven came out, i was not suprised that it was a success even though it was a western, because it was a really good movie.
the same would apply to a musical. if a movie is good and is marketed decently, it will find an audience no matter the genre or conceit.
reggie [email] said at 12:11 PM 10-25-2007: People breaking into song is not the same thing at all as an ANIMATED singing candle or lion or bear.
Nicole Kidman, Ewan Macgregor, Richard Gere or Eddie Murphy breaking out into a song and dance number is something completely different. The difference is back when musicals were big it wasn't that rare to have your main Hollywood stars also being big time recording artists. THAT's where the change happened and that's why musicals are a harder sell because in the 80's/90's nobody could imagine Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep or Jack Nicholson busting a move and/or carrying a tune.
The resurgence came not only when today's big name stars (Nicole Kidman, Renee Zelweger, Ewan Macgregor) showed a willingness to perform their own songs and dance numbers but when audiences started buying it.
Also, there's been a rise of stars with crossover appeal over the last decade or so with people like Will Smith, Queen Latifah (both Oscar and Grammy nominees), Hillary Duff and Jennifer Lopez so the idea of a celebrity not just singing or not just acting is a lot more acceptable.
josh [email] said at 4:28 PM 10-26-2007: fun fact: in the 80s stars such as eddie murphy and don johnson both had hit singles! (party all the time, and heartbeat respectively)
reggie [email] said at 6:46 PM 10-27-2007: I did say "quasi-." I just remember seeing the video an awful lot on VH1 when I was a kid. Key words in that sentence being "VH1."
reggie [email] said at 11:03 PM 10-25-2007: I'm not sure how it's doing financially but the overall feedback has been positive (from critics and regular people.)
reggie [email] said at 8:12 AM 10-27-2007: 56 on Metacritic. Yet the top score on Metacritic is a four star from Roger Ebert. Plus actual human beings that I've talked to who've seen it like it a lot.
reggie [email] said at 6:47 PM 10-27-2007: I do want to see it if it ever works out where there's absolutely nothing else playing when I get to the theater. If I miss it, I miss it.
rick [email] said at 7:04 PM 10-27-2007: It's worth a two dollar rental if only to watch Bono sing "I am the Walrus." There are some good visuals too; I wouldn't see it in the cinema unless you are a hard-core Beatles fanatic (and even then I must warn they do not do a cover of "A Day in the Life").
brandon [email] said at 7:12 PM 10-27-2007: For some reason, when I saw the trailer for this, the very idea of the movie made me physically angry and nauseated. I wanted to puke into my hands and pitch it at the screen. I wanted to find the director, the producer, the screen-writer, anyone involved with conceiving this project and force them into a circle-jerk where everybody wears furnace-hot steel-wool gloves that have been dipped into vats of glue, glass, and boar's teeth. I calmed down once I saw that Bono worked on this film. They've already had an equivalent experience.
Hated Mulan Rouge, too. Utter hog-shit. Musicals just piss me off in general.
mason said at 7:59 PM 10-15-2007: ...westerns are cool as hell am are in vogue, no doubt...haven't seen 'Assasination' since East Hampton only plays the same 5 movies...I did catch the trailer for 'There Will Be Blood', directed by Paul Thomas Anderson...i'm excited!
Since 'Gangs of NY' Daniel Day Lewis is a good casting call, IMHO
reggie [email] said at 9:20 AM 10-31-2007: This is from Roger Ebert's website. It's an e-mail from a reader. It struck me as so dumb I just had to post it here:
After seeing the title of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," I no longer had any desire to see this film, although I am sure it is worth watching. This title for this movie apparently gives away the outcome of its most climactic sequence. Following this logic, "The Sixth Sense" should have been titled "Bruce Willis Is a Ghost." Why did the producers think it best to reveal the outcome of "Jesse James" in its title?
Brian A. Peterson, Peoria
Unless it's someone's idea of a joke.
Besides [SPOILER] even after the deed is done, there's like another 20-30 minutes of story left.[END SPOILERS] On top of that, it's not like WE DON'T KNOW THAT JESSE JAMES IS DEAD ALREADY SINCE HE LIVED OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
