Lone Star

Rating:
Summary: might have been good but wasn't
Review: After reading all of the great reviews for this movie, I was very disappointed in this film. Potentially a good story, but it couldn't overcome the trite dialogue and generally poor acting.

Rating:
Summary: Texas Justice.
Review: This was a movie for thise who want to think about society. It points to a Texas Sheriff and his dark backround. Chis Cooper is a fine thespian in this one. This will make you think about treating Mexican Americans in a bad light. They are people too, looking for a better way, "North of the border!" Kris Kristofferson role as a wicked Sheriff is flawless. He is ruthless in his pursuit for seeking, and ridding the illegal aliens in the movie. Sheriff D., (Chris Cooper) sees this Texas County fo full circle as a Hispanic Deputy seeks to run for his Sheriff position.
This was one of American Cinemas greatest '90s offering.

Rating:
Summary: tremendous story line
Review: this is a great movie. If your like me and require more than special effects in a movie, you should like this one. This is a very character driven movie, not fast paced. the characters are three diminsional, and the flashbacks to the previous generation make the movie. Never really liking Kris Kristopherson, he really does a tremendous job in is role, as do the rest of the cast; including Chris Cooper and Francis McDormand. Well I might have over did it with this talk of characters...the plot is a mystery in which the sheriff is investigating a thirty year old death. Enjoy!!!

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes the truth is more painful than your memories !
Review: The ancient memories of a beloved father enrich our imagination and many times work out as a filter which does not allow us to see some dark facets and moreover to be unable to watch the painful thruth .
That work of John Sayles is undoubtly , his masterpiece . Some clues , a crude investigation , a challenging retrospective ; a hard search in the unknown documents of the sometimes mericless reality will revel the real essence of a person whom we considered under the awful and persistent human condition in all his wide ugliness .
There is a italian film of the seventies that might have influenced to this ; I am talking about The strategy of the spider of Bernardo Bertolucci (1970) and more recently that film of Costa Gavras : Music box with Jessica Lange . Both films focus that awesome and disturbing argument ; but in the case of this work of Sayles , there is an aditional and rewarded gift to the viewer . The mechanism of the memory and the emblematic and artistic approach employed for the fluidness of the camera work out to the perfection level in this movie .
To me one of the ten best american movies in 1996 .

Rating:
Summary: Superb storytelling
Review: This movie really took me by surprise. Rented it not expecting much because I hadn't heard much about it. Low-key, no big car chases or explosions (so "Arnold fans" would be disappointed). This is just an extremely well written, well directed, believable mystery that keeps you guessing. Storytelling at it's best

Rating:
Summary: Like Peeling an Onion...
Review: Like peeling an onion, this film removes layers of history and prejudice one by one to reveal the very core of a small Texas town and the expectations of those who live there. Each layer is connected to those above and below it, and revelations completely flesh out all of the characters whether they are on screen at the time or not. You know what it was like living there 40 years before and 20 years before, just by what is occuring in the present. Just goes to show that there is no telling where the skeletons are hidden when you go digging for them.

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: A Quiet Masterpiece...
Review: ...and one of my favorite films because of it's intermeshings of mood, plot and character. I have always considered that the American 'norm' is one frought with brutal people made into heroes because the history books tell us that they were heroes; also, that maybe's man truest nature is of brutality and cruelity...and history, again, washes things as clean as laundry done for Sunday morning. Anyhoo, that's what this movie speaks to, how brutality affects the Rio County area so much that many secrets have somehow bonded the folks living in this ant farm of a community. Note how there's a sub-theme of competition and struggle, man versus whatever (rattle snake skins, longhorn skulls, soldiers preparing for battle, the after hours gambling) where a 'winner' must be declared.' You will dig this one because it will have you thinking about it for a long time aferwards..