Journal # 1

I chose to read the review of "3:10 to Yuma" by Armond White. He is a critic of the New York Press. His review was a very narrow view into the overall movie of 3:10 to Yuma. He made me feel like that movie was just a cliché of all the western movies I've ever seen before mashed into a poorly plotted movie. This was an excerpt from his review "After ending with numerous bangs, it offers the slump of “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that before". This in turn made me not want to see the movie. He chose to instead talk about War and say how great that movie was and how it was under appreciated and a much better movie over all. He summed up his thoughts about War and 3:10 to Yuma in this excerpt "Anyone interested in new masculine archetypes (and their moral quandary) should seek out Jet Li and Jason Statham in Philip G. Atwell’s War". His argument is very interesting in that he focuses on the fact that this movie is merely "another" western movie. Personally I believe this movie was very well done. I thought that the director used many crucial angles and amazing plot development to make this movie truly amazing. Also adding new special affects and well known actors allows this movie to not only take a step out of the old western genre but also into a new level of western movies all together. White's line " But we’ve rarely seen a western this unprovocative" is clearly incorrect. I believe White is just pissed because his "War" movie didn't get the acclimate and awards that 3:10 to Yuma had acquired. This quote sums up his over all feelings for this movie "It’s some kind of bad joke that a lame genre movie like the new western 3:10 to Yuma gets prestige treatment while War, an ideal example of genre filmmaking, gets ignored"clearly this reviewer has just got his nickers in a twist over what seems like his obsession "War". But the reviewer does not rip the director (James Mangold" completely apart, he does give him props for some of his previous movies and his ability to build and refine characters through out a movie such as walk the line. But this almost seems as if it is a smoke screen for the upcoming onslaught he has in store for Mangold. The reviewer clearly states that the movie lacks anything even remotely interesting. "...but builds up to a poorly plotted, shoddily executed gun battle". Overall I believe this review did a very poor job in addressing the overall theme, setting or plot. This reviewer is not doing his job and should, I believe, be fired. But the mere fact that he addresses other movies, which weren't always directed by the same director, in this review makes his points clouded and pompous. Moreover the very fact that he has convinced himself that War is a far superior movie than 3:10 to Yuma clearly shows an unhealthy bias and the review reeks of bigotry. I stick by my statement before that he should be fired. I will not be reading any of his reviews anytime soon.