3:10 to Yuma-An Outstanding Movie

Movie Review

-3:10 to Yuma-September 2007-

It’s been far too long since the last “real” western came out. You know the kind with outlaws who can shoot faster than any lawman and do whatever they please. That’s why I was very excited when I first saw previews for James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma. I think the last good western to come out before 3:10 to Yuma was Unforgiven.

What made this movie so good was the quality of the acting. When I saw the previews for 3:10 to Yuma I looked it up on Google and found that it was actually a re-make. I rented the original version that is now over 50 years old, and found that it really wasn’t as good. I went into the research a little deeper and found out that the whole story line started out as a short story and was made into a movie in 1957. Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors, mostly because he can play almost any role. I recently saw American Gangster and thought that he nailed the part of the “good cop”, and of course how could you not like his performance in Gladiator? I don’t think there could have been two better actors for this movie than Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

3:10 to Yuma was a well-written plot filled with robberies, gunfights, and much more action. Your first encounter with Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is fraught with excitement. The opening scene shows a gang burning down Dan’s barn. We later find out that Dan owes the Land Office a good deal of money and hasn’t been repaying it fast enough. The gang that burned down Dan’s barn was hired by the man who was owed money, trying to scare Dan off of his land so he could sell it to the railroad. The morning after his barn was burned down, Dan and his two sons set out to find his cattle that the gang let loose that night. While rounding up his cattle, Dan hears some commotion in the distance. He rides his horse over to see what is going on, and his witnesses the end of a stage coach robbery, by a gang lead by none other than Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) himself. Ben Wade is the most famous outlaw in the Arizona Territory, some say no one can shoot faster than him and his pistol (The Hand of God). The stagecoach that Ben Wade was robbing was a bank pay-role coach, loaded with more than just money. Every person on the stage coach had more than one weapon, not to mention the gantline gun on the back.

When Ben and Dan first meet there is no quarrel, Dan simply lays down his guns and tells Ben that he is merely rounding up his cattle. Ben takes Dan’s horses as an insurance policy to make sure Dan doesn’t tell anyone what he had done. Later on in the movie, Ben is eventually captured, because he sticks around too long tending to his lady friend in the town of Bisbee. (To be continued.)

Entry #2-Extended Definitions

Extended Definitions-Blog Entry #2

Fear:

There were a couple of definitions in the dictionary that caught my eye more than the others. “A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined,” and “Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power.” The first definition specifies that you are afraid of impending danger, evil, or pain. These are all things that are normal for humans to fear. On the other hand, the second definition is pretty much defining people being afraid of someone in high power like a president or other type of ruler.

Fear is something everyone is born with, no matter how tough you think you are there is always something that’s going to scare you. That’s why it’s defined as a distressing emotion. You’re born with this emotion just like you’re born with the emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, or boredom. I think they have made up a name for just about every type of phobia possible now. I mean there are over 100 phobias that begin with the letter A. There are phobias for people that are afraid of any thing from books (bibliophobia) to a fear of ugliness (cacophobia) to a fear of the great mole rat (Zemmiphobia). My favorite phobia has to be the fear of long words which is properly titled, and I quote, “Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.” Myself, I have a few fears just as anyone else does. Thanks to the American government, we don’t have to live in fear of a tyrannical dictator like Saddam Husain.

To fully understand the second definition I had to actually look up a word that was in the definition, which didn’t make much sense to me. I had a pretty good idea as to what reverence was, but I decided to look it up to be sure. Reverence means with deep respect. So what that definition is saying is that fear isn’t only being afraid of someone or something; fear could also mean that you have extreme respect for someone resulting in fear. People in third world countries fear dictators, but dictators may not be the only possible person for someone to fear. Other possibilities could be something smaller like your boss. Maybe you live in fear of your wife or the leader of the Mafia. You could fear any one of these things.

When I first read the list and saw fear on the paper, one thing came to me instantly “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (FDR). This is a pretty accurate quote. Sometimes the only reason we fail at something is because we are afraid that we’ll fail.

Of course my biggest phobia is the dreaded Dorfmeisterphobia!!

Post #1

My relationship with writing hasn't always been too great. All through high school I hated having to write papers and everything to have to do with writing them. I have also never liked to read. I think the biggest reason for this was my junior high years. We were all forced to read books that were in no way interesting to me. Ever since then I don’t think I have read a book all of the way through unless I had to for a class. Last semester I took Comp. 1 and decided that I didn't mind writing too much any more. I think I actually turned out to be a pretty good writer; I don't think I got below a 90% on any of my papers. I struggled a bit on a research paper, because of the MLA formatting and the parenthetical notation. I'm not sure what Comp. 2 will bring to the table, but I'm sure it will be tough.

I seem to have a bad balance of weaknesses to strengths. A few of my strengths would be grammar, spelling, and organization. I have always been a good speller, and I have never had a problem with grammar. If I ever learned anything from my high school teachers it was how to organize a paper. The things I have had problems with would be punctuation (semi-colons vs. commas), and MLA format. I have a tough time with parenthetical notation as well. I think my biggest problem with English is simply applying myself. I have found that I do a lot better if I make myself interested in the class.

My English teachers haven't always been the greatest at working with students. I just never really connected with any of them; I think I was just trying to get through classes with as little work as possible. Most of my grades for English were C’s or lower, mostly because I just didn’t care about my grades too much in high school (big mistake). A couple of my English teachers were pretty good, but I would have to say my best English teacher thus far would be my English 105 professor from last semester. She was the most helpful English teacher I have ever had. I think my high school English teachers actually drove me away from reading and writing more than anything.

In this class I am just hoping to continue to learn more technical things about writing and maybe a few new things about English in general. Also maybe work in a little fun here and there. The book for this class seems to be right up my alley as well, I like to argue.