Elaine Whiteside

When I see Russell Crow is in a movie I automatically expect a high quality epic performance by him, and he doesn't disappoint in that way but you can imagine my surprise and disappointment that Sleeping Dogs is a dark disjointed nonsense of a movie. Crow has Alzheimers and can't remember his life. Throughout the movie you can imagine several of the characters introduced could easily have been the killer of the murder victim the story is built around as he had sex with everyone's wives, girlfriends, students and fellow faculty members and enjoyed recording his liasons. So many things didn't make sense as the movie moves along. The person convicted for the crime and put on death row 10 years earlier didn't do it as it turns out and he asked to speak with Crow's retired cop character before he is put to death asking him to solve it. Why did the weird trash guy try to kill Crow's character, it made zero sense. Why did the budding authoress and Crow's retired cop partner accuse each other? That made no sense. And why didn't Crow's cop partner just tell him in the very beginning "hey man, you killed the guy because he was screwing your wife. I walked in on the scene and helped cover it up by digging a hole so you could bury the murder weapon." It would have made more sense somehow if in the end Crow's cop partner had committed the murder for whatever reason, and he knew Crow had no memory of it. Instead the cop partner plays dumb throughout the whole movie. In the end, I hated this movie. And I actually bought it instead of renting. What a waste of money.

This is a very touching and sweet movie. I wished they had made it to Canada but that wouldn’t have been the right way to live and the wrong lesson for Henry. In the end all was well, Henry grew up and baked that award winning pie Frank taught him, and best of all Adele and Frank were finally able to be together after a long wait. This is a happily ever after story.

1883 is loaded with good actors, Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Billy Bob Thornton, Rita Wilson and more. I think for most of them this role is their greatest acting achievement. Except for Billy Bob Thornton there is pretty much no doubt that Sling Blade was his life’s crowning achievement in acting. 1883 is raw and real and holds nothing back on the struggle of life in the 1800s as immigrants to America traveled from east to west to settle the country. I don’t think it would be a good show for little kids though. Every convenience we enjoy is a gift someone struggled to provide. 1883 is a stark and gritty reminder of how how we all got here. The hopes and dreams of the early settlers, their suffering and sacrifices scattered from sea to shining sea. 1883 is who our ancestors were.