'Dead For A Dollar' (2022) Movie Review

In the opening scene of Walter Hill’s new western, Dead for a Dollar, bounty hunter Max Borlund (Christoph Waltz) visits outlaw Joe Cribbens (Willem Dafoe) as he’s about to get out of jail, where Borlund put him. This sets the stage for a tale of hard, violent men on an inevitable collision course. And at no subsequent point does the film live up to the potential of this first moment. 

'The Bygone' (2019) Movie Review

On the surface, The Bygone looks made for me. A sparse, gritty neo-western about clashing cultures, a disappearing way of life, hard-scrabble folk scraping to get by in a desolate land, all capped off with the potential for violence lurking just out of sight. The problem with the debut feature from brother co-director and co-writers Graham and Parker Phillips (Graham also stars) is that generally all it offers are surface elements, with little waiting below. In many ways, it’s a strong debut, in others, not so much.

'The Bygone' Trailer: This Grim Modern Western Should Have Left When It Had The Chance

A violent, gritty neo-western, you say? I’m an easy mark, you have my full attention. And the trailer for Graham and Parker Phillips’ new movie, The Bygone, certainly piques my interest. Check it out below.

'Desolate' Trailer: Check Out This Grim Modern Western Thriller

A grim, proto-western about hardscrabble outsiders struggling to scrape by and ultimately turning towards a life of crime to make it through? Yeah, I’m here for that. And if you, too, like the sound of this, check out the trailer for director Frederick Cipoletti’s upcoming Desolate.

Park Chan-Wook To Direct Violent Western 'The Brigands Of Rattlecreek' For Amazon, Matthew McConaughey Wanted To Star

Park Chan-wook helming an ultraviolent western? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! And this is apparently a thing that’s happening. Praise be! The Oldboy and The Handmaiden director will reportedly lead The Brigands of Rattlecreek for Amazon, working from a script by Brawl in Cell Block 99’s S. Craig Zahler, with an eye on Matthew McConaughey to star.

'Buffalo Boys' (2018) Movie Review

Two brothers return from far away, to a home they left when they were too young to remember, only to find it overrun with violent, corrupt outsiders who rule over their people with an iron fist and exploit every resource. Sounds like a standard western plot. And it is, but in Buffalo Boys, instead of a historical American epic, director Mike Wiluan transfers the setup to 19th century Java.

This 'Buffalo Boys' Trailer Is Intense And Full Of Insane Western Action

An action-heavy, martial arts-filled western from Singapore? Don’t mind if I do. Buffalo Boys, Singapore’s official submission for the foreign-language Oscar, finally has a domestic release date and to celebrate, there’s a bone-breaking, sword-playing, bullet-spraying, vengeance-exacting new trailer. Check it out after the jump.

'Godmonster Of Indian Flats' (1973) Movie Review

Godmonster of Indian Flats has just about everything you could possibly want out of a movie. It has dope fur vests, sheep farmers, old-west-style prostitutes, racist land barons, a racist sheriff who used to be a Wall Street player (?), pie throwing children, faking a dog’s death as a means of blackmail, black-hood-wearing lynch mobs, and, of course, an eight-foot-tall rampaging mutant sheep monster. If that doesn’t make you want to watch this oddity from 1973, nothing I can say will change your mind. Just know you’re missing something truly strange and wonderful.

'Buffalo Boys' Trailer: This Indonesian Western Is Action Heavy And Grim

Last month we saw the first teaser for the Indonesian revenge western Buffalo Boys, and it was rad. But it was just a taste. Well, it’s back with a full trailer that delves into the storyline and shows off more of the fantastic action hinted at last time. Enjoy.

'Buffalo Boys' Trailer: Action Heavy Indonesian Western Features Folks From 'Headshot,' 'The Raid 2,' And More

This should be fun. In recent years, Indonesian action cinema has delivered the likes of Merantau, The Raid and The Raid 2, Headshot, and more. These rank among the best violent martial arts movies, not only of modern times, but ever. And a bunch of folks involved in many of these films, and others, teamed up for a project called Buffalo Boys, which promises no shortage of face-kicking, throat-punching action.

'Hostiles' (2017) Movie Review

Scott Cooper’s Hostiles shares a substantial amount of DNA with old school westerns of bygone eras. It’s the direct descendent of John Ford and John Wayne, in both positive and negative ways. Sweeping and grim, it attempts to shine a light into the deepest, darkest corners of a man’s soul; it’s also dicey in a Searchers way when it comes to the ingrained racism of its protagonist and this particular era of American history.

'Hostiles' Trailer: Surprise, A Grim, Gritty Western

Throughout their history, westerns have often been grim, gritty, and dicey on the racism front. All of which figures prominently into the trailer for Hostiles, the latest from Black Mass and Out of the Furnace director Scott Cooper.

'Five Fingers For Marseilles' Trailer: Check Out This Gritty South African Western

To be honest, most years around this time, I’m bummed I won’t be at the Toronto International Film Festival (or Fantastic Fest for that matter). Money, time, day job, blah, blah, blah. While any number of future awards contenders usually show up at TIFF, it also skews heavily towards the genres and types of grim fare I favor. And this year, holy crap, I really wish I was there to see Five Fingers for Marseilles, a spare, gritty, lovely modern South African western. Check out the trailer below and tell me you’re not into this.

Blu-Ray/DVD Review: 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller' Criterion Collection

When it was released in 1971, the critical response to Robert Altman’s revisionist anti-western, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, was positive, but tempered. Co-star Julie Christie received an Academy Award nomination, celebrated cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond’s gauzy camerawork earned a BAFTA nomination, and a few other accolades added up. Over the years, however, it’s become recognized as a classic of the American New Wave. A maverick, anti-establishment feature, and the Criterion Collection just released a fantastic new Blu-ray worthy of that elevated status.

'In A Valley Of Violence' (2016) Movie Review

If westerns have taught us nothing else—and I’ve taken far too many life lessons from the genre—it’s that nothing brings a killer who has renounced killing back to his old ways like messing with his family or his dog. That’s the primary education a small-town numbskull learns in writer/director Ti West’s take on the spaghetti western, In a Valley of Violence.

'The Magnificent Seven' (2016) Movie Review

Studio westerns are a Hollywood staple, though one that has largely fallen by the wayside in recent times. Reworkings and narrative modernizations of the formula are more common—just look at this year’s Hell or High Water for an excellent example—but a straight-up old school western is something of a rarity. But that’s precisely what Antoine Fuqua’s star-spangled The Magnificent Seven delivers, though in bloodless, PG-13 fashion. It doesn’t bring anything new to the formula, but it doesn’t try to, and that’s fine.

'The Magnificent Seven' Trailer Is Totally Badass

To be honest, until some photos dropped yesterday, I forgot that Antoine Fuqua’s remake of The Magnificent Seven was happening. But if we were sharing the same boat, Sony is doing their level best to remind us both that this is on the way, because they just dropped the very first trailer.

A New 'Django' Is On The Way Starring Franco Nero And Written By John Sayles

In 2012, Quentin Tarantino gave the world a crash introduction to Django with his revenge western DjangoUnchained, but the character goes back much further than that. Originally appearing in Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 spaghetti western, Django, the film launched a legendary 100 unofficial sequels—including Unchained. This number is obvious hyperbole, but there are 30-something accounted for, which is a ton of badass westerns. And we’re getting another one, with the original Django, and from an Oscar-nominated filmmaker.

'Bone Tomahawk' Trailer: Check Out Kurt Russell In A Cannibal Revenge Western

While I was less than enthused with Eli Roth’s latest addition to the cannibal movie sweepstakes, The Green Inferno, there’s another on the way that I’m rather psyched to see. Bone Tomahawk is a very different take on the subject matter, trading in do-gooders being devoured by a jungle tribe for the trappings of a grim revenge western. The movie recently premiered at Fantastic Fest and now a new trailer has hit the airwaves.

'The Hateful Eight' Trailer: Quentin Tarantino's Latest Western Looks Grim And Badass

Any time Quentin Tarantino drops a new movie, it’s going to be a big deal. That much is a given. When it’s a western with a stacked cast, like his upcoming The Hateful Eight, well, to say we’re excited is an understatement. We’ve seen photos and random whatnots from the film, but now we have our first trailer, and it looks like a damn fine time.