Appaloosa is a western along the lines of those maverick hero-for-hire adventures pioneered by Akira Kurosawa (in his case it would be katana-for-hire) and westernized, in both senses of the word, by quite a few filmmakers. The movie follows the story of Virgil Cole (Ed Harris), a traveling lawman-for-hire (nothing new, yeah?) and his sidekick Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) as they ventured into a troubled town, gets hired by the terrified populace, and tracked down the terrorist villain. But not without some twists and turns, of course.

Still, the storyline is not one to follow the roads less traveled but hey, that’s what timeless tales are made of. Remember those? The ones you want to hear over and over from your grandparents at bedtime? The movie is long, almost (but not quite) epic in feel. And that’s already the version horribly butchered by the MTRC and/or the cinemas. And yet, it was able to keep my attention with the right combination of humor, [cheesy] romance, and action, and storytelling.

Word is that there’s already a sequel in the coming. If it’s anything like this one, then they can count on me to be one of the first to watch it (especially if someone gives me a premier ticket).

Rating: 4/5

The Middle East or at least things that involve Middle Eastern terrorists is very much in vogue these days. Body of Lies is just one among that long list of movies (Syriana, The Kingdom, Rendition, and the recent Eagle Eye among others) and luckily, it’s among those on the top.

Roger Ferris (Leonardo Di Caprio of that yeech-boat-movie fame) is a CIA field agent who reports to Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), a Machiavellian spy master (is there any other kind?). They are tracking a notorious Middle Eastern terrorist of the Osama Bin Laden shade. Di Caprio is eager, talented, and resourceful but his best laid plans are often messed up by Crowe to dire consequences. And this is the focus of the movie, the human cost of the shadow war on terror.

Rating: 4/5