Flay

If my mega-plex theater is any indication, it probably won't due to the number of theaters it's playing in.

It's playing in 1 theater for 4 times on Saturday opposed to 12 showtimes for SWAT, 11 times for F vs. J, and 11 times for FF.

I'm going to try and see it tomorrow if it's not sold out.

Zodiac_Speaking

It is really good; well-acted, beautiful cinematography, killer shootout, and an early Oscar contender for Duvall and maybe screenplay. Well-worth your time and money. The audience I saw it with, really was into this movie, laughing, oohhhing and ahhhing at all the right times. Should be a real winner for costner and westerns in general.

Grade: B+/A- (I haven't made a desicion yet.

laserdogg

Great movie! Saw it tonight at a sold out showing with an appreciative, older crowd.

Some of the grayhairs were gasping at the violent finale, but it was never over the top.

Applause throughout the theater when the end credits came up.

effigy

What a fantastic movie! Just watched it and must I say .. I loved it. Never was there a moment in the film where I was just waiting for the next scene .. I swear this is on top of my list of westerns right up there with Unforgiven and Tombstone.

rkndkn

Best western in ages!

vedderstapp

Marvellous.... now all I need is a UK release.

Damn you Buena Vista!

Zodiac_Speaking

I decided it's a B+.

Did anyone else not like the score, especially in the opening half-an-hour?

The audience was really into this movie, only Freddy vs. Jason and X2 had a better reaction.

Its fun to see audience really into a film, especially a Western.

Supreme Sean

I thought it was very good, but not excellent. Duvall and Costner were top notch. Duvall, in particular, is Oscar worthy. I liked the photography, and the climactic shootout was one of the best action sequences of the year. The only faults were the over abundance of comedic moments, and the fact that Michael Gambon's villain character isn't that well defined and is barely in the movie. Grade: B+

Tom Banjo

effigy

Same here. I was at a mall while watching it and I was surprised the 4:30 showing of Open Range was jam packed. Great audience reaction throughout the whole thing.

silentbob007

I enjoyed it. I think a few scenes could have been tightened, but overall, a nice foray into the multiplex.

B.A.

I actually liked the score - I thought it was very well done (very subtle and smooth).

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by this film. I thought the trailer's we have all watched over the last couple of months were going to ruin the film and its better sequences, but gladly they didn't.

Duvall was excellent. He had plenty of excellent one-liners.

I thoroughly enjoyed the humor inter-laced throughout the film. It did not bother me one bit.

The pacing of the film was fine by me and the film wasn't too long.

Michael Jeter's performance was great, too. (I believe it was his last - good way to go out, Michael. )

I really enjoyed the score (as I mentioned above) and the cinematography was mostly top-notch.

I liked the supporting cast - they rounded out the film nicely.

**** out of *****.

The crowd at the showing we made it to was really into the film as well.

Ian11

I loved it. Maybe I'm really starved for a good Western but even against recent heavy weights like Unforgiven, Tombstone, or the series Lonesome Dove I think it holds up on its own terms; although I wouldn't say its better than the three.

You get to see the relationships each of the characters have and the humour in the movie worked for me. And I believe Robert Duvall is up there with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood as one of the best screen cowboys as far as I'm concerned. He just lives and breathes of the Old West. Costner is of course always at his best when he plays a cowboy or a baseball player. And Annette Bening Whoa. If only all middle aged women looked this good. And yeah she's a good actress.

And the final gun battle is one of the best I've seen in a Western. The sound effects are great and the guns sound like real guns. Bravo to the sound people. Its pretty obvious Costner worked hard to put more realism into the fight scene. You can see them do lots of reloads, guns run out of ammo, there's fumbling, and people who are shot still stand and are able to fight. There's a real time aspect to it instead of the flashy intercutting and editing thats way overused today. You also see townspeople running away from the town en masse and some even fight back with their own guns; which is actually more accurate to what real townspeople back then did to "undersirables".

immortal_zeus

I saw it and really liked it. I was hoping for more shooting than the shootout at the end, but it was good. The story built up to the anticipation of the last shootout.

Robert Duvall was excellent and Costner and Benning did good jobs as well.

harosa

A beautiful movie, and when the first shotgun blast goes off in the bar you jump out the seat if the theatre you see it in has a good sound system.

Geofferson

I saw this yesterday and was very pleased. A very solid Western all-around. Nice rebound for Costner who has been defunct for the past several years, IMO.

Beautiful photographry and a well-paced story to a satisfying shoot-out climax.

SteveyP93

I enjoyed the movie a lot. The love story was pretty weak and felt very forced, but the shoot out, Duvall's character and especially the cinematography were all fantastic. I've never been a huge fan of Duvall (in terms of me going to a movie just to see him) despite the fact that I really respect what he has done across his career, but his character is so good in this one.

Shilex

Saw it. Liked it.

I enjoyed the slow buildup, and the quiet and serene atmosphere. Saw it in a packed show and most people were seniors in the audience. It's nice to see a movie with a respectful audience.

Some nitpicks though. Could have done without Annette Benning's character alltogether. Something just didn't seem to meld right with their relationship. Kinda feel that she was miscast. And throughout the whole movie I kept thinking that Clint Eastwood would have done Costner's lines better. Chop off the last five minutes of the movie and it would have been great.

badger1997

The cinematography was excellent. Besides Duvall's performance it was the highlight of the film for me, and I went in a bigger Costner fan than a Duvall fan.

Maybe I am alone in this, but what the movie reminded me an awful lot of was the old Elmore Leonard westerns. Even the way it was told in small pieces ending with a fade out kinda made it like chapters in a book. It was well-developed and took its time and then built up to a great ending.

Although my one complaint is some of the interaction between Benning and Costner at the end.

Tarantino

I liked it a lot.

I think the villans (mainly the broken arm fella) should have been more defined.

GoldenJCJ

one of the reasons I really liked this movie was because the broken armed guy wasn't really defined. This movie was basically through Costner and Duvall's point-of-view, neither one of them had ever met this guy all they knew of him was through reputation, that he was a bad mofo and a heck of a gunfighter. And as we learned from Saul Rubinek's character in Unforgiven, a good gunfighter will eliminate his biggest threat first.

All around a very good movie, very authentic. IMO, one of the best movies of the year so far.

The fact that it was released in late summer doesn't give me much hope for any chance of Oscar though.

DRG

I thought it was an okay, enjoyable movie. But the climactic shootout... just kicked ass. It's weird because it's pretty much by the books, but still has a punch. Okay, Kev... you're forgiven for Dragonfly. Stick to what to do best.

vedderstapp

Baseball movies?

jasonbird

Open Range

Just got back from this. Really enjoyed it. It's nice to see a good
movie that's not so effects laden every once and a while. I've
always liked Westerns, and this one fits nicely among the top.

Duvall and Costners character development and interaction
throughout the movie was top notch. I found the Benning/Costner
relationship spot on for the time. It's how things happened back
then, and happen today as well. It's called Love at first sight.

If you haven't seen this movie, and are a fan of westerns, I
would urge you to see it on the big screen. you won't be
disapointed. The sound in the gunfight was very good. Very. Good.
Movie.

Jason

bsktballDude1

After seeing Seabiscuit last week, and now seeing Open Range today, have really made this last bit of summer quite good at the movies. Very nice to see these much slower paced(but not too slow) character drama driven films.

As many have already said, Robert Duvall was completely awesome in every scene he was in. Costner was also good at being the more serious character, but believable with being in love with Anette Benning's character as well. The photography was quite stunning to look at, particularly the wide open prairie. The shoot out scene, even though you knew it was coming, still was exciting nicely shot, and one of the better climaxes we have seen this summer.

I was impressed to see the showing sold out, especially since it came out a couple of weeks ago. Great word of mouth is really extending this movies growth. I give it ***/****