★★★ The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

[Twinkletoes: 3.0]

Twinkletoes says: 'This very slow moving film is about the assassination of Jesse James by Robert Ford, a man some have labelled a coward. I have to say that I was very surprised to see this thing available on DVD already. I had thought that it was released in a limited fashion to get Oscar consideration and that it would be released slightly wider sometime this year. Let me commend the studio involved for forgoing the bigger release. This is not a great film and it is anything but a commercial one. It sort of felt like someone tried to make a Terrence Malick film but just didn't possess the artistry or talent to pull it off. It's not a bad film and I certainly don't regret having seen it, but I wish there had been about 30 minutes less of it to see. Casey Affleck's Oscar nominated portrayal of the cowardly Robert Ford was indeed very good but Brad Pitt is way too big of a star to appear in such an intimate film.'