by K Hogaboom | Oct 24, 2016 | blog
I suspect I watch “gritty” Westerns for different reasons than many others do. What can I say? I am just a dismal sonofabitch. I like bleak, plodding, bare-ass noir featuring a ragged heroism laid bare in a brief, tiny glory (my Netflix queue occasionally...
by K Hogaboom | Dec 28, 2015 | featured
An incredibly understated, border-town noir film that is surprisingly compelling despite serious drawbacks. In its favor: breathtaking cinematography, a perfectly spare score, beautiful production design, genuinely creepy crime – and a fabulous actress. Those...
by K Hogaboom | Oct 19, 2015 | featured
Despite a solid premise, an epic movie poster, and enough 80s action-dude power to stun a small donkey, 1987’s Extreme Prejudice did not achieve its hoped-for commercial success as an homage to Western action. The film has not aged well and, despite many charms,...
by K Hogaboom | Aug 29, 2015 | featured
Kodi Smit-McPhee apparently has the kind of face that attracts filmmakers who make “You Don’t Deserve A Childhood!” kind of movies. To that end, Slow West out-bleaks every bleak Western ever in the first twenty minutes of runtime – slaughtering...
by K Hogaboom | Aug 24, 2015 | featured
OK, OK. I am a sucker for the Western genre, as little as I’ve (so far) written about it on my fledgling site, here. The formula is just too good. Take a hardened man out in the lawless West, kick up some dust with a shoot-out or two, then give him a reason to...
