- ED HARRIS WAS THERE. This festival usually has multiple screenings of each film, especially the galas and special presentations, but the filmmakers / actors / whoever else usually only seem to go to the premiere and the world premiere for this movie was last night. So Piers Handling, the director of the festival, gets up to introduce the film at the start and he’s waxing lyrical about “Ed” like he’s a personal friend and then out of nowhere and all casual like he’s like “… and we have the good fortune to have Ed here with us this morning.” OMG. Audible gasp in the theatre. Audrey may have died a little because she loves him in ways a nineteen year-old should not. He talked briefly about what inspired him to make the film, reading the book the movie is based on, and introduced his co-writer and the producer. He stuck around for a bit at the start of the film before he presumably left.
- I have a great and undying love for cowboys, the American west, spurs and gunslingers and the like, so I’m very surprised by how few westerns I’ve seen, much as I do like the ones I have seen… which reminds me that I’ve been meaning to download the theme to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
- I have much love for Ed Harris (Virgil Cole) and Viggo Mortensen (Everett Hitch) as a team in this movie, both as themselves and in character. I want them to be a celebrity couple, I want to find a name mash for their dynamic duo-ness. Ved? Eggo? I want them to work together always. They’re like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, only without the “I’m so geriatric and you’re so cranky” commentary. I like unflinching sidekicks whose loyalty does not waver. I loved Evertt-the-human-dictionary providing big words for Virgil — they literally complete each other’s sentences. Aw. The part where Rene Zellwegger (Mrs. French) started coming on to Everett and he’s like “No, see, you’re with Virgil and I’m with Virgil, but we’re not together” was great. I want them to find a surrogate mother and have babies together.
- I’m still trying to figure out what kind of accent Jeremy Irons was attempting. Same goes for Timothy Spall, who I think was trying to sound like Robert Duvall in Thank You For Smoking but ended up sounding mostly like he always does.
- Did not enjoy the narration at the start and end of this film.
- The guy who plays Ace in The Quick and The Dead, one of my top ten favourite movies of all time, shows up in this as a hired gun. Evertt asks Virgil how good a team Ace and his little brother are and I’m thinking “Dude, he can shoot the spade off a playing card at forty feet!” Wrong movie.
- There was more coffee drinking in this movie than I’ve ever seen, even in comparison to movies that heavily feature coffee shops.
- Didn’t like Rene Zellwegger or her character, Mrs. French, in this. Do you think Mrs. French was married to Mr. French?
- The score was really wonderful in some parts and really terrible in others. At certain points, it sounded almost like adult contemporary jazz or something. Totally bogus.
- On the other hand, if you see this movie, stick around during the credits. The first song that plays during the credits doesn’t seem to have much to do with the movie itself is not terribly good anyway. The second one, though, is a nice and earthy little song describing the relationship in the movie between Virgil and Mrs. French and it is hi-fucking-larious. I kept trying to figure out who was singing and lo and behold, the song was performed by none other than Ed Harris himself. LOVE IT. Also, it being an original song means that it could very well be nominated for an Oscar and I think it totally should. I want to see Ed Harris perform this on stage in February!
- Definitely check out the trailer. It’s an awesome trailer, although it doesn’t really give the best representation of the film itself, which is a lot less melodramatic and a hell of a lot funnier than the trailer is. The movie itself is a little uneven in patches, but the performances are pretty solid and it’s worth seeing for Harris and Mortensen alone.
Appaloosa
Stick around for the end of the credits on this one.
IMDB Plot Synopsis Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.