All the Pretty Horses

Rating:
Summary: Heaven on Earth?
Review: With a name like "All the Pretty Horses" I was expecting much more focus on the beauty of horses. Perhaps scenes similar to the ones in "The Man from Snowy River" movies.

The choices the characters make throughout this movie also made this less than pretty. Not only do they give up on true love, they also seem content with an existence far below their dreams.

The scenery at the start of the movie gives the viewer hope although you start to wonder when the most beautiful Penelope Cruz is going to make her appearance to brighten up a story that could have been so much more. They almost leave her out of the movie in some ways and the chemistry between Penelope (Alejandra) and Matt Damon is mild at best. The dialogue was difficult to hear at the start of the movie for some reason and the script writers needed to cut out more of the swearing and focus on dialogue that actually would have been more inspiring.

The plot seems watered down and while the story aims at being romantic, the characters seem shallow and I'm sure is just a faint echo of the ones presented in the original novel. The real story seems to be more about a friendship and how it survives the test of time in a similar way to Shawshank Redemption, complete with prison scenes.

Texas rancher John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) seems to be running from the life he really wants in order to escape his bitter dissapointment. In the process he learns that even when you make your own choices, you still might not reach your goals. He never confronts his mother for being willing to give up the family Cattle Ranch. Instead, he heads off to Mexico, only to be weighed down by a teenager (Lucas Black), who also seems to be running from his own life.

I think both Matt and Penelope were cheated in many ways. Their acting is wonderful, it is just that they have little to work with. One of the best scenes in the movie is when Cole tells Alejandra, she is going to get him into trouble and she says: "You are in trouble."

The movie was also in trouble soon after that statement. What a real pity. This movie could have been an amazing tragic romance.

This quote comes to mind:

There is no escape-man drags man down, or man lifts man up. -Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

For a more emotionally fulfilling experience, watch the "Man from Snowy River" movies. The characters are fully developed and the horse scenes are spectacular.

Rating:
Summary: Read the book, pass on the movie...
Review: I was excited when this came out on DVD, as I'd missed it in theatres, but had read the book. I figured that anything directed by Billy Bob Thornton had to be good, even though Matt Damon doesn't strike me as the lonesome, soul-searching young man who heads south of the border to find the meaning of life. Henry Thomas does a credible job as his sidekick, but Penelope Cruz as the love interest just doesn't work. There is NO on-screen chemistry between the two of them, and the subtle touches that made the book such a good read are totally lacking in this BORING movie. My recomendation: read the book, pass on the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: I had high hopes for this film. Good cast, top director, great critical reviews, based on a good book, etc. Even three quarters of the way through I was hoping for a real masterful change of direction. Alas, upon completion I was hit with the reality that this is one bad film. Even the great scenery can't make up for a disjointed and purposeless screenplay. I think the screenwriters took their cues from television show Seinfeld. This is the story about nothing. There is absolutely no point to this film.

It starts where it began with the protagonist no wiser for the experience of being a cowboy, a broncobuster, a love interest, a Mexican prisoner, and a character of questionable decision-making ability --all in a time span of a few months. Sure maybe he proved to be an honest and just individual but so what? He put himself into a situation and place where honor is determined by who has the most money and justice is non-existent, nor can it be expected. Maybe the point is that one can be an honorable idiot. Who knows, who cares. This film is a waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Hmmm...
Review: "All the Pretty Horses..." First of all, the parts of this movie that are in English are hard to understand most of the time, it seems like run-together whispers. But, of course, some of it is in subtitles, so you can understand that easier, but then you miss some parts they actually say (in English) so it doesn't make very much sense.
Another reason why it doesn't make sense is because the movie skips around too much, I heard it was cut up alot to fit the theatre version. The acting, though, is exceptionally good, even though it is hard to hear. And the end, well, it just doesn't seem to fit very right because they had to cut some scenes out. But, if you really would like to buy this movie, I reccomend getting it used, ($$$) instead of brand new ($$$). There is a good scene in here, though, when Matt Damon trains the horses in Mexico. Hope that wasn't too brief for y'all, I sometimes get bored reading the rather long reviews! (...)

Rating:
Summary: Great movie, here is why
Review: This is a great movie. Yes it is a little scrambled. Why. Not because Billy Bob is a bad director. Obviously (Slingblade). Its because he had to take out like 2 hours of the original movie. There will be a Special Edition coming out soon with most or all of the original footage. Even without the extra footage, this movie is great. Watch this movie for what it is, a story. It doesnt have a set format like most of the garbage out there. It has heart, and that goes a long way. If this is bad, I wish more movies were like it.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this--when I was through watching it
Review: No, I'm not trying to be funny. When I was watching this movie, I was seriously yawning. I adore Matt Damon and think Penelope Cruz is great, and so I thought this would be sort of romantic, a little adventurous, with a dash of livestock (pretty horses) amid New Mexico's great scenery. I don't think I was expecting too much given the previews and propaganda for this. I have to say that the major problem with this movie is that it plays like a book. Americans are used to hour and a half to two and a half hour movies at the distant most that are fast paced, dramatic and/or adventurous. It plays like a GOOD book, but a book none the less so it was basically slow-paced and--I really hate saying this but--boring. I like it though in the aftermath, after you've gone through what seems like three or four torturous hours of staring at the tube with this on, you'll think about it--or at least I did and think that the plot was more than just decent.

There's this guy, not a kid by any means but still fairly young who rides all the way to Mexico with his best friend Lacey since his mother has sold the land that he wanted to live and work on. On the way there they come across a kid--kind of an idiot whose good with a gun, they pick him up, ride with him and he gets them all in trouble by in a very amusing way getting his horse, gun and all of his things stolen, (no, he wasn't bathing in a river buck naked or anything). The kid steals back his horse and they part from him while they're running from the people who are hunting them for the stolen horse. Lacey and the-guy-who-Damon-plays end up in Mexico, find work breaking the horses owned by this wealthy guy with a beautiful daughter-Cruz. There's no chemistry between these two, maybe because the script was probably based too tightly on the book, (there's a great deal of distinction between "literature" and "romance"--at least to authors who don't write "romance") so if characters fall in love, I think that it tends to be less than very romantic. The movie lags but by the end--of the plot, if not the movie--I think you appreciate how interesting the movie would have been if it was faster paced. If you're really thinking of buying this, you should rent it first to get a feel of whether or not you'll really want to keep for a long-term period. I gave it a three because I thought the plot was great, it was just the pace and emptiness that made it lack luster.

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating!
Review: The sad thing about this movie is you can tell it truly had potential. The cinematography was beautiful, but there was no flow. Although I usually don't do "chick flicks" I was prepared to watch a romance, which was what this movie appeared to be in the trailers, but wasn't at all. The romance part was very minor and didn't even have a real point. Much of this movie didn't really have a point. The whole plot lacked consistency and there seemed to be alot missing throughout the movie.

I haven't read the book, so I can't compare it, but it seems there was just more to the novel than could be fitted into 2 hours. It seemed to be a few different stories rolled into one. Every time something happened that made you think "Oh this is what the movie is about" something else happened without any explaination. And Penelope Cruz may have looks but really lacks acting ability.

Rating:
Summary: Amazon was so right
Review: Amazon predicted I would rate this movie two and a half stars. Well, no half star is available, so I can only rate it two. I wanted to watch this because I hadn't read the book and I knew the book had garnered important awards. I gave it all the breaks I could, but I wasn't prepared for the many ways the story developed, maybe because the transitions were so sudden. What started out as a cowboy story turned into a romance and then a prison story. Probably in the book, it was not so disjointed. I cut the actors all the slack I could, and wonder if much of the best part didn't end up on the cutting room floor. However, for it to have been any longer would have bored the tears out of the small group who watched it with me. Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up. I can't imagine why. Next time I am going to listen to Amazon predicting my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Not as dramatic as Midnight Express but more than a western
Review: I will have to agree with one of the other reviewers, Blevins character was severly underdeveloped, also Sam Shepard was supposed to be in this film some place in the beginning, I couldn't find him, must be too much editing. They spend quit a bit of time in a brutal prison which brought to mind Midnight Express. Some movies I would love to edit more but this one, really does Jump, all of a sudden Bruce Dern is there as a judge. This is really a worthwhile film but it seems they cut important parts then left in the parts about breaking horses. That was really tedious but I guess that's why you have fast forward for your own editing. Matt Damon should have spent more time with P. Cruz than the horses! ....

Rating:
Summary: A very boring movie!
Review: I actually had pretty good expectations of this movie going into it even though it screamed chick flic. And I thought, "Matt damon is a pretty good actor maybe he will make the film interesting." Matt Damon could not save this film, neither could Penelope Cruz or any of the actors. The problem with it is the story. Some of the parts in the film seemed so unrelated and random. Like, for instance, there is a scene where Matt's character is mourning the death of his father in the beginning of the movie. He is talking about who is going to take over the farm or something and then nothing happens. He just travels down to Mexico to be a cowboy. And the love affair between Penelope and Damon's characters is boring and uninspired. Before they actually "hooked up" all they did was exchange a couple of glances at eachother. There is no build-up to their affair they just decide to hook-up. This film is full of these actions that have no motive behind them. For this reason the film is hard to get into because you don't really understand the characters. This movie is just a collection of unrelated scenes and facts thrown together in hopes of making a compelling and passionate drama film. Unfortunately, it fails in every aspect. I think the problem with it is the adaptation from novel to film. The story actually had some potential but it's like every time it was getting interesting it became even more boring. Probably the fault of the director Billy Bob Thorton, or one of the screenwriters. Other than the eye candy that Damon and Cruz serve as, this film is a yawn.