Classic Movies: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)

By Jason Haskins

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is the third film in the Man With No Name trilogy started by director Sergio Leone in 1964. It is widely considered one of the greatest Westerns ever made—hell, one of the best films to grace screens. There is no question how influential this film was not only in terms of the genre, but composition—easily one of Leone’s finest visual films.

Classic Movies: Unforgiven (1992)

By Jason Haskins

I'm never going to forgive Clint Eastwood for this damn movie. Eastwood might have been reaching the peak of his directorial pursuits (this, of course, being pre-Million Dollar Baby era) and some thought he was going to slow down as an actor, which he had hinted towards around the time that Unforgiven came out in 1992, but Eastwood created his finest masterpiece. One that literally closed the book on the Western genre. Sure, there have been some good Westerns since including HBO's series, Deadwood, but none have come close he sheer significance of Unforgiven's drive to push new boundaries for the genre as well as undercut all of the clichés and make something so powerful.

Another Take: Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

By Jason Haskins

On paper, or at least in my head, the concept of mixing cowboys and aliens is an awesome one. Some may scoff at the title of the film, but it literally explains everything you need to know about this movie. Daniel Craig plays a bandit cowboy who wakes up in the desert without his memory, but with a weird contraption on his wrist that turns out to be a weapon of some kind.

Cowboys & Aliens (2011) Review

By Tanner McCullough

Daniel Craig wakes up in the middle of the desert with no idea who or where he is and a mysterious bracelet attached to his arm. After being confronted by a group of bounty hunters, he is able to quickly dispatch all of them, without knowing why he is so good. Craig rides into the town of Absolution, where he soon meets a preacher (Clancy Brown) with a quick draw and a heart of gold, a timid doctor (Sam Rockwell) who is tired of being picked on, a strong woman with a mysterious past (Olivia Wilde) and the Dollarhydes. The Dollarhydes are the ranching family who own Absolution. They’re led by curt patriarch Woodrow, though our first experience with them is the reckless son, Percy (Paul Dano). Within minutes Craig is wanted (it turns out he’s a train robber named Jake Lonergan). If this all sounds familiar to you, it’s because it is.