Idol Chatter: September 2007 Archives

It's official! Summer is over and Hollywood is now rolling out its what-the-heck-do-we-do-with-these pet projects as images of gold-plated awards and acceptance speeches dance in their heads. The proof, in this case, is in the Pitt pudding, Brad's latest film, which he produces and stars: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

This is an awards-season release not because it's a self-indulgent piece of historical fiction, though it is adapted from Ron Hansen's well-researched novel of the same name; rather, this film is a competent, probing, lyrical work that may never find its audience because it's very low on dusty, action-packed "stick 'em up!" sequences and very high on extended reaction shots and psychological soul-searching. This is simply not a guy's guy movie, unless the guys in question are Niles and Frasier Crane.

"The Assassination of Jesse James..." is a no-frills film as barren and humorless as the landscape it captures, with little use of music, matte shots... or editing. Clocking in at 2 hours and 40 minutes, at times the movie feels as long as its title.