Open Range
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.34 You Save: $2.91 (47%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.83 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Open Range
Movie Review: Not since Dances w/wolves has Costner film looked this good!
Summary: 5 Stars
This Movie review is predominantly about this 2-Disc DVD Collection Edition with a few editorial (personal observations) comments.Kevin Costner's passion is truly in the American Western. He has proved it with one of the greatest Western films "Dances With Wolves" (Top 100 AFI (American Film Institute) American film of last 100 years (circa 1998).
Now with "OPEN RANGE" Kevin Costner has again returned to his great film making with another soon to be Western Classic. I loved this movie!!!! A great story, fantastic breath taking panoramic cinematography (Alberta, Canada), an outstanding supporting cast with Robert Duvall as "Boss", Annette Bening as "Sue", Michael Jetter as "Percy" and Costner as "Charlie", with plenty of drama, action and true romance. (My wife loved it too!!)
Summary of this DVD set; Disc-1 - Open Range Feature film in 2.35:1 Ratio Widescreen Anamorphic (automatically adjusts to any television size) Format. And Enhanced for 16:9 Home Theatre HDTV's. (what a magnificent Picture & dynamic DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound). Audio Commentary w/Kevin Costner (very informative). Disc-2 - Special Features; "America's Open Range" a 60 min historical journey back in time to the open range of the 1800's narrated by Kevin Costner (very enlightening/informative), "Beyond the Range" Directors Journal about the making of Open Range, 10 Deleted Scenes w/optional Kevin Costner commentary, StoryBoarding: Open Range and Music Video Montage.
This is a must see Classic Western especially the 20 minute climatic gun fight (better than the gun fight at the OK Corral). Rent it, Buy it, I guarrantee you'll be watching this movie again and again. The Direction, Cinematography the Storyline the Cast are the best!!! To bad the general public missed this movie the first time around. Here's your chance to watch/own this Classic Western DVD set !!! Don't miss it. Enjoy.
Movie Review: More than just a great Western - a truly decent one
Summary: 5 Stars
Kevin Costner's third film as director, Open Range, which spends little time on the range itself but uses its low budget to great effect. Rather than opt for a big, expansive epic approach, this is a throwback to the smaller-scale Westerns of the 40s and 50s, telling a simple story with well-drawn characters and doing it well. Robert Duvall and Costner are the free-grazing cattlemen who find themselves unwillingly waylaid in a small town when Michael Gambon's hammy local cattle baron and his corrupt sheriff take violent exception to their presence and a liking to their livestock until a showdown is inevitable. So, no great originality there, but there's some nice character work, beautiful dialogue, excellent performances - especially from Duvall and a visibly ailing Michael Jeter - and, something that's been lost from the Western for a long time, a sense of decent values.
Costner certainly takes his time - possibly too much time - but there's something very satisfying about a modern film where violence is constantly deferred and which builds to a climax rather than throwing one in every ten minutes. When it comes it's in the form of quite possibly the best shootout ever filmed: some claim, but one the film is big enough to earn with some of the most shockingly powerful killings since Jack Palance sent Elisha Cook skidding across main street in Shane. More than that, there's a sense of consequences to every action that helps give the film real moral weight. It's a small film, but refreshingly so, and beautifully crafted. In its own way it's the best western in more than a decade, and probably still would be if there were more competition for the title.
Extras are good, including some good character-based scenes that inadvertently give away how many special effects were used even for innocuous scenes, a good brief documentary on the history of the period and a 65-minute documentary on the making of the film.
Movie Review: Four Reasons Why I Love This Film
Summary: 5 Stars
They don't westerns that much anymore, at least on the big screen. People in the Baby Boomer generation grew up with them on television. Western films were big at the box office in several decades, too. Well, at least Kevin Costner must have a heart for the genre as he been involved with several major western productions in the last 15 years, this the latest.
The best thing I can say about this film right out front is that it may be the best western I've ever watched. I can't give it higher praise than that! Since I've seen so many, for so long, it's especially high praise.
I make this bold statement because of the following:
1 - Fantastic scenery and beautiful cinematography. If it looks spectacular on my 24-inch flat-screen, I can't imagine how awesome it would be a big plasma set.
2 - Characters you really care about, led by three actors who almost always give solid performances: Robert Duvall (the best in here), Costner and Annette Bening. Duvall, by the way, gives one of the best short "speeches" I've ever witnessed in a movie. It was nice to see Bening actually play a wholesome woman for a change. The two men who are out on the range with Duvall and Costner also were excellent.
3 - Just the right amount of action. When the action does occur, such as gunfire, the sound is incredible. This might be one of the best movies, audibly-speaking, I've ever heard, which is another reason for ranking it Number One. There are no lulls but not a ton of action, either.
4 - Just the right amount of romance. It doesn't get sappy, it doesn't overshadow the basic story, but it adds a nice, soft touch to what could be a very rough and unpleasant tale. And, in a different twist, it's the romance, not the usual climactic gun battle, that ends this film.
I can't say enough about this movie except that I'm sorry more westerns like it aren't made today.
Movie Review: The best western since Unforgiven
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was positively fantastic to watch in theatres and really great to watch at home. There are a number of reasons why I thought this movie was superb:1) When I watched this in the theatre, I got the full experience of the movie. Now, I absolutely love it when a movie can present great cinematography and combine it with loud, realistic special effects. This movie does not have a lot of action, but when it does, it's real loud, and really nice. There are scenes when there is thunder and lightning, and when you see the lightning in the background, you hear the real thunder. Now, this may seem like a simple audio effect, but simple or no, it is enjoyable, at least for me.
2) The movie simply has some of the best acting I've seen in a western since Unforgiven. Costner's character is a troubled former soldier with a history he does not like to discuss. Duvall (Boss) is the leader of the free grazers, and he also does a good job. Supporting actors all also did a very good job.
3) The conflict in the movie is extremely interesting. One of the free grazers is killed and it leads to Costner and Duvall going out to kill the ones that did it. It is a cause of justice, but not overly contrived.
4) The ending has one of the best shootouts I have ever seen. All the action missing from the first three quarters of the movie seems to be shoved into one part of the movie, making it a fantastic firefight.
All things considered, this is a must-see for any western fan. The only drawback (and it really is a small one) is the love story in the movie. To some people it is either too undeveloped, or the movie would have been better off without it. I personally agree with the latter, because the story seemed kind of cheesy and it did draw from some of the mood of the movie. Yet this was really minor and was not enough for me to dock a star from it.
Movie Review: Cowboys, Bad Guys, No CGI - Oh My
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been a Kevin Costner fan for a while now. Although after Waterworld I thought Costner was starting to get a little full of himself.Nevertheless, seeing Open Range changed all that. Costner plays a troubled character, beseiged by memories of the war and his actions in it. His character is reminiscient of Tom Selleck as Monty Walsh; hard, rugged, but undeiniably human.
In a summer where the Rocky-on-a-horse rip-off Seabiscuit is winning acclaim just for simply not being a sequel, here is a story that actually says something. Boss (Robert Duvall) and Charley (Costner) are cattle drivers who just want to mind their own business on the grassy lands of the U.S. But some corrupt politicians want to charge them for grazing, so they commit some evil deeds to pressure the heroic duo. Boss and Charley are not violent men, but they have no qualms about violence when they must stand up for themselves. Here the film tells the story of protecting simple values with no pretensions of political correctness. They don't promote violence, but they acknowledge it is a fact.
It's actually the opposite of Unforgiven. Instead of pretentiously criticizing violence while simultaneously glorifying it, Open Range presents violence as a simple reality, no judgements. Other elements of reality you get to see are actual dealings with the western prison system. There are no bar-pulling breakouts here. You just deal with the sheriff.
The film's unique look comes from the color scheme. Open Range is green and wet. Most westerns are brown and dry. It's not better or worse, just different. That difference, combined with the story and the action, make Open Range the most intriguing western since The Quick and the Dead.
In my opinion Open Range is Costner's best directing work and one of the summer's, and year's, best films.