Rating: 
Summary: Try To Forget
Review: Good. Evil. Relationships between parents and children. History. Racism. Ethnic pride. Status. Murder. Economic stresses. Politics. The fact that John Sayles has been able to make us think about all these issues and more, makes this movie, its actors, photography, and soundtrack unforgetable. Sayles doesn't make easy movies, just ones that make adults thankful for his talent and intelligence.
Rating: 
Summary: Warner Bros is the real criminal in this low-key whodunit
Review: John Sayles and this movie are too good to deserve the minimalist treatment Warners gave them when they put this DVD together. There is virtually NOTHING extra--no director's commentary, no behind-the-scenes featurette, no cast and crew biographies (Sayles uses an amazing cast, each of which I wanted to know more about). Ironically, considering the importance of multiculturalism as a theme of the movie, there isn't even a Spanish audio track. And when will the studios learn that theatrical trailers are NOT value-added features?I'm glad to own the film (though there was a funny blip in the middle of it)...but I think Warners could have given us more. And more importantly, John Sayles deserves better.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful film --
Review: I'll keep it short, because the other 5-* reviews covered the ground.... This movie is close to magical, in the way it covers the ground in that small town... From the army base and its sergeants dealing with the "new" army, to the schools (diversity), to politics (do we need a new jail), to ugly past (a murderous old-time sheriff), this film unfolds personalities and issues like no other film. Sayles is a master story-teller, and Lonestar is a great story with depth. Buy it, watch it, study it!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best "indies" yet!
Review: I saw this movie when it was first released, and then again this week-end on TNT. It's one of the best films I've seen and I plan to purchase it for my library. It doesn't have a lot of action and the plots develop slowly, but, like In the Heat of the Night, there is not one throw-away scene. I've never seen Kristofferson so evil...his work was real enough to be very, very scary. I liked Chris Cooper and Frances McDormand is a riot in her all-too-brief scene as Cooper's strung-out ex-wife. I live in a small town in east Texas and I know people like the Sheriff, Big O, Buddy and the others. The plot twist at the end might be a bit off-putting for some, but, to me, it just added to the quality of the writing, directing, acting and drama. This is a movie to be savored. Do not expect action, car crashes or surrealistice special effects. It's a film about real people facing real issues and doing their best to right some very bad wrongs. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: I can't beleave how many 5 star rating there are!
Review: This movie was very very slow. The ending was average at best. You will regret spending time to see it. I watched this with two friends and we looked at each other with blank faces throughout the movie at least 6 times. We were in shock at how bad it was. To other reviewers, please be more objective about your opioins or I will not be able to believe any of you!
Rating: 
Summary: Great film with UGLY layer change.
Review: This film, of course, is a 5-Star film, but the DVD gets just 4 due to the inept layer change. It comes directly after a key line of dialogue. Just as Chris Cooper's character is having an epiphany, the sound disappears and the image freezes momentarily as the layers change. Ugly, clumsy: Studios get a clue. Grrr...
Putting that aside (and the fact that there are no real DVD 'extras') it's great to finally see the film in widescreen again. This is one of Sayles' best, up there with The Secret of Roan Inish and his neglected masterpiece, City of Hope.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing movie
Review: I saw that movie in 1996 in a cinema in Sweden and I was fascinated by it. The story is well written, the characters are interesting and reflecting what the daily life in a culturally mixed city somewhere in the south of Texas must be like. The smooth changes between scenes happening years ago and those in the present are breath-taking.
Rating:
Summary: AN OVERLOOKED MASTERPIECE
Review: I have now annoyed most of my literate friends with my rants and raves about this film. It works on so many different levels, as a whodunnit, as a social commentary, and as a meditation about heroes, fathers, and love. Y'know those movies you can always watch when you see them on? LONE STAR is as repeatedly watchable as, say, THE GODFATHER, and has one of the best last lines since CASABLANCA--"Forget the Alamo..." BUY IT!
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best film of the '90s
Review: John Sayles is one of the best--and certainly among the most interesting--American directors working in film today. Self-financed on a small budget, using his large number of talented friends as cast and crew, Sayles crafts films that owe allegiances to no one but himself. Virtually never does he make the same film twice, and almost all of them are a great pleasure to watch. "Lone Star" is Sayles' masterpiece. It succeeds on every level: as mystery, as romance, as social commentary. Set in a Texas border town, it creates a rich world peopled with characters and situations we understand and identify with. There is plot, mood, color, drama, passion suspense and even humor, but if pressed to say what it really is about, I would say that the theme is how the present is a product of the past, and how people are given opportunities to be imprisoned by it or to transcend it. "Lone Star" is one of only two American films of this decade (the other is "Shindler's List") to which I would give a '10'. It's been a long time since I have felt so thoroughly challenged, entertained and satisfied by a single piece of art.
Rating:
Summary: Tight well presented package
Review: It's a gestalt. It's a simple story with a clear picture of multicultural tension. Plot layout gives a rounded view of the societal macro implicitly within a small town story. Watched it several times; could find no fluff, no throwaway. Kristofferson, is pure redneck evil. Elizabeth Peña's dreamy style offered attractive counterpoint to her high tension role. All in all, feels like a classic.
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