The site was broken yesterday so it's another double update day.
Stagecoach (1939)
There are a number firsts for John Ford as he directs his first Western with sound, his first film in Monument Valley and his first collaboration with friend John Wayne. A group of strangers ride a stagecoach through Arizona to New Mexico in 1880 while Indians are on the war path.
Winning two Oscars in it's day and numerous plaudits since this film is seen as one of the ground breakers for it's day. There are some interesting characters on show and the final action sequences are impressive but the build up is fairly slow and you do not get the impression of a tension filled ride across hostile territory in the early parts of the film. It is interesting to see how the common Western theme of outsiders being shunned or against the local community as well as distrust of some of the baggage civilization brings is used even in this early genre entry.
4/5 maybe more notable for it's historical value than it's actual content.
The Greatest (2009)
Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon star in this drama alongside Care Mulligan from writer/director Shana Feste. A teenage boy is killed in a road accident and his pregnant girlfriend moves in with his parents.
This is pretty much an average getting over someone dying film that has few shocks along the way. There are average performances from the cast and what the film does best is stay clear of clichés and being overly melodramatic as some films in this genre often are. Being unoriginal and not really offering any new insight into the process of grief are probably the worst charges you could level at this film.
3/5 there are plenty of other films like this out there.
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