keeneyankee10
Lifetime Total
10+
Lifetime Trivia
10+
IMDb Member
13 years
Reviews
Lean on Pete (2017)
Absolutely Terrible Film
I went to get tickets for a Mary Chapin Carpenter concert at our local community performance arts center, and this film was playing. As a horse owner, I was induced to see it by the posters which showed a boy and a horse silhouetted against a sunset, with the blurb "When a young boy finds out an aging racehorse is being sold to slaughter, he and the horse take off on an adventure to find a new home.
That description is completely misleading. The horse is killed halfway through the film, and what we have is a not very bright teenager fighting his way though ever more unsavory characters and locations.
I usually go to pieces when an animal is hurt or dies in a film, but not this time. The death scene was so incredibly phony, and by the time it happened I was so bored by the film, I didn't even care. The car that supposedly hit and killed the horse wasn't even dented. Plus, over and over the police tell Charlie, the protagonist, to stay where he is, leave him alone, and he immediately runs off. He's been driving a stolen truck and horse trailer, and no one even questions him.
Even the time period was incomprehensible. Was it the 1990? The present day? Pay phones and old vehicle were mixed in with cell phones and vehicles from the 2010s, and modern televisions. Charlie dna Lean on Pete walk through the desert for miles without food or water, yet Pete the horse never loses weight or gets dirty.
A downer of a film, that lost my interest after the first twenty minutes. The only plus was the box office attendant wanted to charge me full price, rather than senior price. That was a nice compliment. Otherwise, the film took $6.50 and 2 hours of my life that I'll never get back.
That description is completely misleading. The horse is killed halfway through the film, and what we have is a not very bright teenager fighting his way though ever more unsavory characters and locations.
I usually go to pieces when an animal is hurt or dies in a film, but not this time. The death scene was so incredibly phony, and by the time it happened I was so bored by the film, I didn't even care. The car that supposedly hit and killed the horse wasn't even dented. Plus, over and over the police tell Charlie, the protagonist, to stay where he is, leave him alone, and he immediately runs off. He's been driving a stolen truck and horse trailer, and no one even questions him.
Even the time period was incomprehensible. Was it the 1990? The present day? Pay phones and old vehicle were mixed in with cell phones and vehicles from the 2010s, and modern televisions. Charlie dna Lean on Pete walk through the desert for miles without food or water, yet Pete the horse never loses weight or gets dirty.
A downer of a film, that lost my interest after the first twenty minutes. The only plus was the box office attendant wanted to charge me full price, rather than senior price. That was a nice compliment. Otherwise, the film took $6.50 and 2 hours of my life that I'll never get back.
Palo Pinto Gold (2009)
Great Old-Fashioned Western
This is a Western like they used to make 'em. A cast of mostly unknowns do a fine job of putting together an action-packed film the entire family can enjoy. There's no sex, hardly a cuss word, and while there's plenty of gunfights, by today's standards the violence is pretty tame. A film highly reminiscent of the Westerns so popular in the past. I've seen many high-budget films that aren't anywhere near as well done as Palo Pinto Gold.
In addition to the almost non-stop action, the film also has an excellent score, a kind of combination of Western swing, Mexican, and spaghetti Western themes. The Texas Hill Country scenery is also real pretty, and the cinematography shows that well.
One minor complaint is some of the horseback chase scenes. You can easily tell the riders are not running or even galloping the horses, but are in fact holding them back. One horse almost gets revenge on his rider, the actress playing Kayla. Look closely when she tosses saddlebags on his back and you'll see what I mean, and one very angry equine.
In addition to the almost non-stop action, the film also has an excellent score, a kind of combination of Western swing, Mexican, and spaghetti Western themes. The Texas Hill Country scenery is also real pretty, and the cinematography shows that well.
One minor complaint is some of the horseback chase scenes. You can easily tell the riders are not running or even galloping the horses, but are in fact holding them back. One horse almost gets revenge on his rider, the actress playing Kayla. Look closely when she tosses saddlebags on his back and you'll see what I mean, and one very angry equine.