Meeks Cutoff was a dry affair, and the full screen aspect ratio (why the fuck do directors do that??) didnt help but I am a sucker for an authentic western (vs the romanticized kind)
I liked Meek’s Cutoff. I didn’t mind the fullscreen picture but that’s because my TV is one of the older widescreen TVs, so it doesn’t show the film in the centre of the screen. Does anybody know why the newer TVs do that? I have the same issue with Blu-rays Vs DVDs. For example, when I popped my Blu-ray of Island of Death in, the film was in the centre of the screen whereas the DVD from the same Arrow set filled the whole screen. And I didn’t even change the settings or anything!
It has nothing to do with Blu vs DVD, it has a lot to do with the technology of your TV and with the Technology of your player. And it seems also with how the anamophic flag is set on a Blu or DVD. By some DVDs this does not work right.
My TV mostly recognizes the correct aspect ratio, but not always, than I’ll have to do that manually. On my girl friends TV we have to do that always manually when watching non anamorphic DVDs, and then back when watching again anamorphic discs.
And using the old 1,37:1 aspect ratio? Why not, when that image is better for what is told in the filmmakers opinion.
In that special case the question would be if you see in the 1,37:1 image more on top and bottom compared to the widescreen image?
After having finished Mark Twain’s final, uncompleted novel No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger last night, I googled its title and came across a 2019 Western movie reportedly based on that truly strange book: a UK-produced Acid Western entitled Day of the Stranger, directed by Thomas Lee Rutter. Has anyone seen it yet? Reviews are mixed.
A Million Ways to Die in the West was by far my favourite.
Yes, A Million Ways to Die in the West is without a doubt one of the best Westerns on their way back.
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Shows how the west was fun. 
A Reckoning, Justin Lee’s first western from 2018, I’ve not seen yet either. However, reviews of Any Bullet Will Do are not very promising, as for example this one on UK Film Review:
“[…] Any Bullet Will Do chooses to ask its audience to sit for two hours and watch out-dated and underwritten characters, literally grunt and roar at each other, while supposedly representing two sides of a debate.”
We will soon be able to judge for ourselves, as Koch Media will release Any Bullet Will Do on Blu-ray and DVD at the end of May.
No it doesn’t sound promising. I will wait until someone else watches it. I watched a classic and a recent western the other night, Invitation to a Gunfighter and Forsaken. Both had a message. Forsaken was fun alone just watching Kiefer and Donald Sutherland acting together.
i have it here, will watch it within the next few days
The Preacher father- gunfighter son relationship is a great scenario. It puts a new angle on the morality of being a Gunfighter play.
Hum. I liked the beautiful shots of the snowy landscapes in Montana and also Chynna Skye’s interpretation of “Down to the River to Pray,” which I unfortunately couldn’t find either on YouTube or anywhere else.
Atrocious dialogue, but otherwise watchable
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And an over-simplistic plot that never gets beyond worn-out clichés. Justin Lee’s third western, Badland (2019), has a good cast though, including Wes Studi, Mira Sorvino and Bruce Dern.
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An excellent film. Did you like it, Novecento?
Yes, and the director is clearly a SW fan, even down to the music.
Koch Media will release another Western on DVD and Blu-ray next week: Justice (2017), directed by Richard Gabai, who has given the world InSight, Motocross Kids, Virgin High, Kickboxing Academy, and Assault of the Party Nerds 2: The Heavy Petting Detective. It’s probably a good idea to keep expectations for Justice rather low.
Trailer looks okay, but that doesn’t mean much. Anyway, seems there’s a lot of action in it. Looking at what the director did so far, that what’s to be expected, a rather cheap action-packed movie. We’ll see (or not)
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