"3:10 to Yuma" _ You hear that a movie like "3:10 to Yuma" is being remade and the immediate reaction is, "Why?" The original 1957 Western, about an intellectual outlaw and the indebted rancher who's volunteered to help deliver him to prison, was solid and still holds up well today. So it's a wonderful surprise to discover that this new version, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale and directed by James Mangold, not only remains true to its roots but expands on them in ways that are thrilling and thoroughly entertaining. Moviegoers aren't exactly clamoring for the Western these days, and a master work of the genre hasn't come along since "Unforgiven," but the acting is so powerful and the craftsmanship is so superb, it's bound to draw fans both old and new, and deservedly so. Based on the short story by Elmore Leonard and maintaining his flair for compelling, complicated bad guys, the film follows the unlikely alliance that forms between the dangerous Ben Wade (Crowe) and the damaged Dan Evans (Bale) over the course of a couple of days in the craggy Arizona desert. Peter Fonda and Ben Foster lead the strong supporting cast, with the wiry Foster nearly upstaging his more famous co-stars as Wade's loyal but volatile right-hand man. R for violence and some language. 117 min. Three and a half stars out of four.
_ Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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"Fierce People" _ Based on a forced premise, this drama explores the idea that a family of super-rich New Jersey eccentrics is like a tribe to be studied anthropologically. None of the characters resembles any creature you'd discover in nature, however. Griffin Dunne, directing from a script by Dirk Wittenborn (based on his book), wants us to gawk at patriarch Ogden C. Osbourne (Donald Sutherland) and his dysfunctional brood of drunks, misfits and hangers-on and, at the same time, appreciate them for the supposed humanity of their flaws. We see them through the eyes of 16-year-old Finn (Anton Yelchin), whose recovering alcoholic and addict mother (Diane Lane) has dragged him to the estate of Osbourne, an old friend, during the summer of 1978. He was supposed to have visited his estranged father, a famed anthropologist, in the Amazon to help him study the Ishkanani tribe. Instead he watches his dad's documentaries, which conveniently happen to comment on his increasingly bizarre run-ins with the Osbourne clan. Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly came off more believably as real people on MTV. Kristen Stewart, Chris Evans and Elizabeth Perkins co-star. R for language, drug use, sexuality/nudity and some violence. 107 min. One and a half stars out of four.
_ Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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"The Hunting Party" _ With 2005's "The Matador," writer-director Richard Shepard slyly and effectively mined the possibilities of dark humor in a deadly situation: a washed-up hit man on the verge of burnout. This time, he applies the same tactic in an even bleaker place: Bosnia, where a group of journalists seeks out a wanted war criminal to ... Interview him? Capture him? Even they're not quite sure what they'd do if they found him. Shepard has made a rock 'n' roll war postwar picture, one that's slick but has something to say. And he strikes just the right absurd, satirical tone until near the end, when he allows the film to take some convenient turns that wrap things up a bit too neatly. Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg play off each other beautifully throughout, though, as the mismatched trio. As a veteran TV news correspondent, Gere has an epic meltdown live on air and hopes that this scoop will revive his career; Howard plays his longtime photographer who lands a cushy network job but ends up getting sucked back into the field. And Eisenberg is the jittery newbie _ a television executive's son _ who's along for the ride. R for strong language and some violent content. 103 min. Three stars out of four.
_ Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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"Shoot 'Em Up" _ Certain people are certainly going to be offended by this intentionally over-the-top action flick, with its objectification of women and its juxtaposition of sex and violence. Clive Owen, as sharpshooter Mr. Smith, helps a woman deliver her baby with one hand (to the tune of Nirvana's "Breed," appropriately) while fending off a bevy of bad guys with the other; later, he rolls around naked with Monica Bellucci (as the film's obligatory hooker with a heart of gold) while firing bullets at an onslaught of attackers, followed by a pun that you can probably figure out for yourselves. Any junior high school kid with video-game expertise and a dirty mind could have written this stuff (Michael Davis, a grown-up, did, and he also directed) so it's really not worth getting worked up over. It's a parody of a genre that wasn't all that deserving of parody: the mindless, John Woo-style cornucopia of carnage. Looking for plot amid the gunfire is also pointless; it has something to do with saving the aforementioned infant from a hit man (a growling Paul Giamatti) and his henchmen. But longtime Woo cinematographer Peter Pau, who won an Oscar for Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," is responsible for the camerawork, so at least "Shoot 'Em Up" is a gritty visual feast. And while much of the choreography can be incredibly inventive, after about an hour it all becomes mind-numbing. R for pervasive strong bloody violence, sexuality and some language. 93 min. Two stars out of four.
_ Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
Copyrights
The Associated Press. Capsule reviews of this week's films. Copyright 2007 AP News.
