Henry Rausch

The movie has an unpredictable, quirky procession to it, you can the director was going for a Fargo-esque type of movie. It mostly works, with a few nits. Half the characters are cardboard cutouts, standard western fare—the criminals that steal the shirt, the Warren Jeffries stand-in and his sons, and the character played by Sydney Sweeney do not have much character. The performances are good, but their characters are static. The mother character progresses the most, she literally abandons her son at the beginning of the movie but in the end reconciles with him. The son character changes too, in the beginning he is enamored of American Indian culture but at the end the scales have fallen from his eyes, he reminds me of the character in Breaking Away who venerates Italian bike racers until they sabotage him, then he returns to his “tribe.” Even by the standards of a quirky movie , many plot devices don’t make sense. Why would the shirt’s owner not have an alarm system for a million dollar artifact? Why would the clothing store owner risk his life and a few hundred G’s for it, doesn’t he have goons for that sort of thing? And (except to advance the plot) do Sydney Sweeney and the Afghanistan vet risk everything for something they don’t want or need? This being a movie in 2025, it goes without saying that white Men have to be the bad guys— the Warren Jeffries stand-ins. Which is ironic because they are the most innocent and blameless, they are minding their own business in their 1890s world, treating women like chattel, when all the other characters, who deserve their own fate to one extent or the other,come to them. This is an enjoyable, funny movie. Not as deep or memorable as No Country for Old Men but worth a watch.

I loved this, it has a quirky energy that reminds me of The Sting, but it got more serious. It is a bit low budget, most if the scenes seem ti be shot in 3-camera, but that just makes the acting more important, and the actors come through.

This held my attention throughout and the ending was ambiguous enough to stay with me after watching, which is how I judge a good movie: the longer I think about it, the better. Yes, there are plot holes throughout but for me they did not distract because they were not glaring contradictions, rather just side characters that were not fleshed out. It ends with a neat message of hooe and faith in humanity. 5 stars.

This is a multi-layered character-driven story that deals with themes of loss and identity. It asks the question, could you reject your family to fit in to a society, and would it be worth the price? The best movie I have seen this year, hands down. It is not a movie for people who like CGI and explosions. It is a thinking-person’s story. I suspect the negative reviews are because it makes a powerful statement against the hysteria about words and racism, that has only gotten worse since it was aired in 2003. If holding a light to “cancel culture “ is troubling, this would not be a movie for you.

It is Star Wars! Star Wars is a religion now, but when it came out, I was 16 and I remember adults talking about it—Star wars was campy and retro but fun and a good tonic for all the bad times we had in the 70s. Chris Pratt and the big robot are Han and Luke, Millie Bobby is Leia, fill in the rest. It is filled with crazy characters in another world united to defeat a bad guy and a bad empire. Just a good romp, not any deeper meaning. If you didn’t enjoy this movie, there is something dead in you.

It has been a long time since I watched a movie that kept me as engaged as this one did. Fantastic study of men under oressure, reminded me of “ The Enemy Below.”

I am a huge fan of the Odyssey, read the translation a bunch of times and read or watched every adaptation I could get my hands on. So my expectations were high watching this, happy to say they were met. It is not a CGI- palooza toga and sandals flick, if you want that watch Gladiator 2. It is a introspective look at how a man relates to the world and his family when he returns from war. The nearest thing I can compare it to is Hurt Locker. Another is the 1946 “Best Days of Our Lives”. Every serviceman ( or woman) who returns to his family can relate to this movie. One nit: the last suitor that Odysseus kills says to Penelope, “ I would not have left you.” This is unfair for two reasons: (1) it was Penelope’s fault that he went off to war. Odysseus had a great crazy thing going where he pretended to be insane, “ sowing the sand “ with oxen to fool Agamemnon’s man. It would have worked , but Penelope came down to watch the fun carrying her infant son, Telemachus (why, Penelope?) Agamemnon’s man snatches Telemachus and throws the baby in front of the exon, forcing Odysseus to abandon the crazy act or kill his son. (2) The suitor is the “smart one” in the movie, the guy that avoided the draft and slept with all the soldiers wives and girlfriends while they were at war. Even if Odysseus coukd have gotten out of the war, he was honor bound to Agamemnon to support him. In summation, great movie but I did want to see all the disloyal serving girls who slept with the suitors strung up, not sure why that was left out.

Do not understand the comments complaining that the movie is “woke.” The movie’s climax actually rejects woke ideology. The character chooses to live as he was born and how God intended, which is the antithesis of woke/left ideology. Outstanding film and thought-provoking.

In the first movie, a nobody becomes a legend. The second movie completes the circle: a legend tries to become a nobody and the people invested in the legend react badly. It is a thought provoking: take away the comic book element and consider what would happen if Jesus returned to earth and wanted to be a carpenter. Think the people invested in his legend would react well? Without spoilers, it is hard to discuss entirely, but I loved how the standard Quinn- Joker power relationship is reversed: Joker’s in the thrall of Quinn here. It is not a comic book movie, it is a deep analysis of what happens when you try to stop playing a role that others want you to continue. I think the reviewers critical of the movie wanted a standard comic book. It isn’t.

A provocative movie with body horror scenes that may turn away some but if you stick with it you will rewarded with a thoughtful story about two themes. The obvious one is our obsession with beauty and youth. The more subtle theme is, what does our younger self owe our older self? The movie is a metaphor for how choices we make when young affect our body as we age. I think every young person should watch this— the actions you take now affect your life when you are (gasp) 60! The last 15 minutes were self indulgent and could be cut, the point was already made.