2011: Year of the Western

There used to be a time when the word 'Western' was not seen without the word 'spaghetti' and the best thing about the whole genre was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and Ennio Morricone's sweeping soundtrack that captured the mood and the dangers of the Western frontier. But thanks to the (almost) runaway success of the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men (which I consider to be a Western, despite not being included in the genre, because of its mood) and the excellent slow-burn of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the Western is making its slow but sure comeback into the mainstream.

2011 will be peppered with Western, Western, and more Western with promising line-ups.

First up is True Grit. Sure, it was released in 2010, but we'll be hearing more about its virtues and whatnots in 2011 when the awards season is in full swing and the movie makes its rounds outside of the US.

According to IMDB, True Grit revolves around a stubborn young woman who enlists a tough U.S. Marshal to help her track down her father's murderer. Reviews have so far been very positive, but it's a no-brainer anyway since this is another work of the (mostly) faultless Coen brothers. 

Here's the trailer:

This here next Western is an unconventional one that I am personally anticipating (would you expect anything other than Mr. Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2?): Cowboys and Aliens.

Yes, laugh while you may. Besides being helmed by a director who is known for his inventiveness and ingenuity, the cast billing will floor you: Daniel Craig, Harrison friggin' Ford, Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde. I believe you have stopped laughing. 

Official summary for the movie as given by Universal Pictures is as thus: 

"The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been..."


And if you need more conviction as to its potential awesomeness, here be its trailer down here:

The Western genre is also being embraced by the animation genre, it seems. Johnny Depp lends his voice talents to the animated film, Rango which, officially that is, is about a chameleon with an identity crisis. 

But from the trailer a few cowboy/sheriff antics seem to be involved. 

Giddy up fellas! We're in for one helluva ride in this here comin' year. Yee-ha!