western — Blog — 3 Brothers Film

Justified: City Primeval (2023) Can't Quite Fit the Old-School Marshal in 21st-Century Detroit

Justified: City Primeval demonstrates that in 2023 we cannot have a cop show as fast and loose as the original.

Review: The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)

Knotts and Conway’s bumbling outlaw duo make The Apple Dumpling Gang an amusing entry point into the Western genre for little kids.

Reviews, Flash BackAnton BergstromJune 24, 2022western, comedy, comedy duo, family, bank robberyComment

Review: The Walking Hills (1949)

John Sturges’ Western plays like a minor variation of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

Review: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is bleak and darkly funny Western anthology from the Coen Brothers, but doesn’t quite add up to more than the sum of its parts.

Reviews, The Current: At HomeAnders BergstromNovember 20, 2018Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, western, anthology, black comedy, violence, James Franco, Tim Blake Nelson, Tom Waits, Zoe Kazan, Liam Neeson, Brendan GleesonComment

Review: High Plains Drifter (1973)

This is a vicious film that has nothing but contempt for American hypocrisy.

Reviews, Overlooked and Under-Appreciated, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromMarch 28, 2017Billy Curtis, Clint Eastwood, Ernest Tidyman, Geoffrey Lewis, High Plains Drifter, Jack Ging, Mariana Hill, Mitchell Ryan, Scott Walker, Stefan Gierasch, Ted Hartley, Verna Bloom, Walter Barnes, westernComment

Table Talk: The Revenant (2015)

Anton and Aren table talk Iñárritu's latest, considering his direction, Leo's performance, and the film's storytelling and realism.

Review: Slow West (2015)

An ode to the violence of naiveté.

Reviews, The Current: In Theatres, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromJuly 15, 2015Ben Mendelsohn, Caren Pistorius, drama, John Maclean, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, New Zealand, Rory McCann, Slow West, Sundance Film Festival, western Comment

Justified and the Greatness of Artistic Modesty

Aren explores how Justified achieved greatness by staying generically modest.

Review: Let the Bullets Fly (2010)

Allegorical satire disguised as riotous entertainment.

Reviews, Overlooked and Under-Appreciated, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromMarch 25, 2014action, allegory, China, Chow Yun-fat, comedy, communist revolution, Ge You, Hong Kong, Jiang Wen, Maoist revolution, satire, westernComment

TIFF13: Unforgiven (2013)

Lee Sang-il's film is a socially-complex remake of a classic western.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 17, 2013Clint Eastwood, Ken Watanabe, Lee Sang-il, remake, samurai, TIFF, TIFF13, Toronto International Film Festival, Unforgiven, westernComment

Review: Only God Forgives (2013)

Refn's Drive follow-up is a nightmarish disappointment.

Reviews, The Current: In Theatres, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromAugust 15, 2013Bangkok, Cannes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Nicolas Winding Refn, Only God Forgives, revenge, Ryan Gosling, Thailand, thriller, vengeance, westernComment

Review: Meek's Cutoff (2010)

A critical darling that is lethally boring.

Reviews, Aren's Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromSeptember 6, 2011Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Reichardt, Meek's Cutoff, Michelle Williams, Oregon Trail, westernComment

Review: Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

A dour-faced and violent Western. With aliens.

Reviews, The Current: In TheatresAnders BergstromJuly 30, 2011Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, John Favreau, science fiction, westernComment

Review: Rango (2011)

A surreal and cinematic marvel of an animated film.

Reviews, The Current: In Theatres, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromApril 13, 2011animation, Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp, Rango, western Comment