Rating: 
Summary: One of the BEST & SMARTEST movies ever made
Review: This intelligent and incredibly well made film is one of the best movies I've ever seen. All the performances were superb, and the editing & camera work were so perfect in support of the themes of arbitrary separations which turn out to be false. A compelling story, lots of interesting turns to take as the story unwinds (it doesn't merely unfold), and every frame is authentic. Buy it. It's one you'll watch dozens of times over the years.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies I've ever seen
Review: Just when I resign myself to the fact that movies can't show all the sides of complex cultural issues like race in south Texas the way that books can, along comes this fairly low budget masterpiece from John Sayles. Provides perspective and meaning to Texas history like nothing you've ever seen. But above all, the movie is true to its characters, and all of the larger points just naturally make themselves out of the characters' stories. That's what makes it so effective.
Rating:
Summary: excellent, a must see
Review: One of the best movies I've ever seen. I have seen it 4 times which is unusual for me. Delicate and realistic potrayal of how even immigrants can look down on the more recent immigrant. The cross-cultural tensions are straight-in-your face and involve many aspects: racial, sexual and even military vs. civilian. I am just waiting for it to come out on DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Sayles got it right
Review: Having grown up in a Texas border town, I was curious to see how Sayles approached the complicated multi-cultural issues inherent in this setting--I've never seen a movie that captured the aura as well as this one does. The plot, the characters, the dialog, the landscape are all rich; the acting--Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Pena, the entire cast--is phenomenal. Sayle's technique of moving between past and present is virtually seamless and an integral part of the story. This is one of those rare movies I can watch over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Positive, Progressive, Liberating
Review: I love this film. "Lone Star" is simulanteously a mystery, a romance, and a meditation on the cultural history of the US. I saw it in San Antonio in an audience which was about 60/40 Hispanic/Anglo. Thus far, it is the movie-going experience of my life. Conservatives who rever the past and consider modern America to be in moral decay - see this film. It presents a bold counter-arguement.
Rating:
Summary: Passion & the breaking of vicious circles
Review: One of the best if not the best movie I have ever seen. Unfortunately it is not for sale in Denmark, so I had to rent it 5 times! First of all the love story is soothingly mature, which is a rarity these days. Secondly the plot is tight, the dialogue exquite and the pictures full. Thirdly, performing is so genuine you can almost touch the actors. Kris Kristofferson should definately have won the Oscar Academy Award for his dangerous, fascinating, and all-evil sherif of yesterday. In addition to these points, the movie presented to me very unfamiliar topics such as Mexican immigration and the relation between Afro-American and Native-American people. Now I know how come the seminoles made patchwork (I wondered about that for 10 years). Finally 'Lone Star' take use of very strange technique, as past and present go on at the same time - at least in the same room. See it!
Rating:
Summary: A difficult, but worth it, movie to fathom
Review: Very difficult to follow-bears many rewinds to grasp - the speach is difficult to follow, but it is well worth the effort. Clealy portrays the ultimate decency of people who have to overcome centuries of prejudices/trials. It has lessons to absorb and digest. I liked how it rose above stereotypes and "movie politically correctness" to show blacks, hispanics, whites as all meeting the challenges of life and dealing with fair/unfair as humans not as stereotyped Hollywood stick figures. An outstanding and thought provoking experience. It is the kind of movie that influences/penetrates your thought for days and months. It portrays the life choices we all have to make and how we deal with those we can't make. Despite the rating, it is definitely a family movie.
Rating:
Summary: Complex, subtle and one of best movies ever
Review: A mystery that depends upon a small western town's history and racial climate. It is also a love story and the protagonist's coming to grips with character of his deceased father. Something for everyone and with a twist at the end. I don't want to give any of the plot away, but want to encourage all movie buffs to see this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Stereotypes
Review: There's something so "Plastic, Benjamin" about a scripted debate on race relations. Somebody tell John Sayles that drama comes first. His political inclinations are so important they blot out the sun. Remember, "To Tell a Mockingbird?" It never felt preachy. Why? Because Greg Peck had a meaty role and his position was clear. "This will not stand," a Lincolnesque moment. Chris Cooper is one sad sheriff trying to live up to his legendary dad. The town is a boiling pot of Anglo, Mexican and Afro-American potations. They shout at each other, they cuss, sort-of, but then they all sit around and express their feelings. Subtle, this ain't. That's why the movie feels like it's taking three hours to tell a ten-minute story. Who killed the bad sheriff? Kris Kristofoson is one of those redneck bad guy-racists that come out of Hollywood without motivation. This script won an academy award back in 96. There are incestuous stories, stereotypes, town histories intertwined, but I still can't figure if the sheriff and the schoolteacher can overcome that last revelation.
Rating: 
Summary: an excellent movie
Review: Chris Cooper plays the sheriff of a Texas County investigating a skeleton found in the desert. As he delves into it he discovers things about his father like the fact that he might have been the one who originally buried the body. There are wonderful flashbacks telling the story as it happened 30 years ago. Kris Kristofferson plays the corrupt sheriff and Matthew McCaunaghy plays Cooper's father. The pace is slow but you don't really notice it because it's not boring. The characters are very well drawn and the pieces of the mystery come together seamlessly. An excellent movie.
| 
