A Beautifully-Shot Movie!!!!

Rating: 9/10 (15 April 2008)

I just got done watching it - "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." whew... the main reason i went out and rented it was simply because i had seen clips and heard that the cinematography was absolutely stunning. it IS!
i'm sorry, but the real star of this film is roger deakins, who also directed the photography of the "equally-beautiful-but-not-obviously-so" no country for old men. i think he is one of - if not the best cinematographer Hollywood has today! i am absolutely stunned at what an amazing eye he has! the scene that stole the whole movie for me though was the infamous 'train robbery' scene - where the ghostly white light of the train penetrates the darkness of the forest - revealing the masked robbers. the warm yellow smoke and lighting turns the scene into the most stunningly shot scene in the past 10 years. hands down. i am torn between this and 'there will be blood' - the Oscar winner... very tough...
i also am AMAZED at how much talent the affleck family bestowed on Casey. his performance as Robert ford was so complete and breath-taking - i'm sure he would have won the Oscar had Javier bardem not taken his amazing role in 'no country for old men.' and brad Pitt - a star i hadn't thought too highly about until 'babel' is incredible as Jesse James. i am a bit surprised that he was absent from so many best actor lists... oh well - one day soon...
AND THE MUSIC! technically this film is nearly perfect. i thought this was one of the most effective, moving, and beautiful scores of the year - in fact i think it could only be topped by the brilliant 'atonement' score. this should have DEFINITELY been nominated for best original score - i mean seriously - the 'michael Clayton' score is just a bunch of sounds - not music! wtf! if you're gonna honor James newton Howard at least nominate him for some GOOD music (hmmm - 'i am legend?') anyway - i am in the process of buying the main theme from the movie off of itunes. check it out!
overall, i think the pace was just a HAIR too long, but not that much. the plot was a bit muddled and i found it hard to follow at times... i don't know about other people, but for some reason i had trouble remembering the names of characters aside from Jesse, bob, and his brother... that kinda messed me up a bit... i did watch it later in the night...
so basically - i would definitely recommend this movie - if for nothing else that the shockingly beautiful cinematography and beautiful, lullaby-ish soundtrack. enjoy!
*******/********** (7/10 stars)