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Not rated. () |
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All Flixster |
(2406) |
1417 |
5170 |
Female |
(1660) |
977 |
3566 |
Male |
(746) |
440 |
1604 |
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Plot:
Adapted from Cormac McCarthy's award-winning novel, All the Pretty Horses cries for epic length but runs only 112 minutes for theatrical release. Drastically shortened during a lengthy stretch ...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 24, 2008I didn't feel emotional attached to Damon's character and the way the film ended made it feel incomplete. It was just okay.
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MCT:July 13, 2008This is a great movie ..Matt Damon and Lucas Black are awesome..This movies reflects the harshnes of mexican laws
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MCT:June 14, 2008I Once upon a time, I rented this movie. And it was so utterly, utterly dull that I returned it to the video store unfinished. The End.
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MCT:April 7, 2008
I know this movie wasn't all that long but it sure did seem like it. There was no real plot to it. Just a bunch of random events that happened to some cowfolk. There were definitely some pretty horses in it, but it didn't hold my interest all that well.
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MCT:March 16, 2008Started out really strong but quickly tailed off. The best parts were with the kid - the love story just seemed contrived and unbelievable.
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MCT:February 8, 2008
All The Pretty Horses tells the story that was beautifully put to pen and paper by the incomparable Cormac McCarthy in the novel of the same name. John Grady Cole, played by Matt Damon, is a cowboy in the 1950s that with his best friend Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas) by his side embark on an adventure into a mysterious and dangerous Mexico. There Cole finds peril a plenty, his passion for horses and an inevitably doomed love with the daughter of his employer (Penelope Cruz).
As a Cormac McCarthy fan, I was immensely disappointed by this film adaptation of what could arguably be called a literary masterpiece. Frustration quickly set in as I viewed this debacle that I felt cheated. Cheated because I had fallen in love with the characters that I knew from the book and they were barely existent in this film. Why? Because there was no imagination, no creativity, no unique perspective.
When a person decides to take on a book of such brilliance, they better damn sure know what they are doing. Alas, that was not to be the case here. This film bombed for a reason, because the people that were involved in making it slaughtered every page of genius that was written with every shot they made. Billy Bob Thornton should have stuck to collecting vials of blood and self mutilation instead of getting his hands onto this project. He offered nothing. It was as if he just copied everything from the book word for word. Everything mirrored the novel and came off second best instead of enhancing the novel. It was as if he sat in the Director?s seat and read every page as he went along and said, ?Okay. The book says that you do this and you stand here and you say this. So do it!? I am flabbergasted as to how he has ever had a directing gig. Was Sling Blade just a fluke?!
Then there are the actors. I am a fan of Matt Damon?s. He has done some good stuff but this cannot be added onto ?Finest Film Achievements in an Actor?s Career?. If they were to do a segment on ?This Is Your Life? for Matt Damon 30 years from now, he should have the television program and network sign an iron clad legal document stating that they will not list in his filmography this film, show a clip from this film or even mention this film in any capacity. I don?t know if he read the book at all or researched his role at all before stepping in front of the camera or even made an effort beforehand because he looked like a fish out of water. He was wooden and lifeless at times and I did not believe him in the slightest when he did actually show any emotion. The scene that just re-instates this for me is when he is on the telephone to Alejandra (Cruz) begging her to meet him and he is confessing his love for her. He could very well have been ordering a pizza in that scene and the viewer would have been none the wiser. Damon should have when he was offered the part, taken on the lead role in ?Brokeback Mountain?. Maybe then he would?ve been able to redeem himself.
I did give this film 2.5 stars and so there were some positives, however rare. The location/s in which the film was shot was breathtaking. The cinematography was lavish and exquisite and that is something it had going for it. It?s a relief to know they had somebody on board who knew what they were doing. Some of the actors had a hint of knowing what they were doing as well. Like the timeless Penelope Cruz. She has a poignant quality about her and an innocence in this film that resonates in every scene and smile and tear. I really did feel her anguish, her joy and love and that is a sign of a great actor. One who is able to make you believe whatever they are telling you, showing you. Another thing about Cruz was that she did something that the film needed. She brought something different to her character. She gave Alejandra another dimension. In the book, Alejandra?s character is questionable when she chooses her family over her lover. There is a doubt about her decision. That she possibly made the choice because of her family?s money and the luxuries that that money provides. Cruz takes a stance on how her character is portrayed. She is pure, innocent and deeply in love with no other motives for her choice but family loyalty and honour.
As the end credits rolled up I was left feeling empty and deflated and longed for something more. For an explanation as to why this film was not everything that it was supposed to be. How could someone get it so wrong? I couldn?t understand it and I still don?t. Perhaps Thornton felt he was being true to the book by duplicating it word for word both in script and scenes but all he ended up doing was killing the essence of what the book is really about. He did not even consider the possibility of being an individual with artistic freedom and lost the whole point of All The Pretty Horses. -
MCT:January 23, 2008Despite the fact that the films one sheet makes you think you are going to see a romantic film.It really is not. Hey don't get me wrong. I love a romantic movie from time to time.But it goes to show how some one sheets are misleading. This was a great film. Billy Bob Thornton returns behind the camera to give us wonderfully shot film. Matt Damon was as good as could be expected. And Lucas Black is growing to be a good actor.(I can forgive him for fast and Furious 3) Enjoy this film. Rent or watch on Cable If you want to kill 2 hours. You wont regret it.
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MCT:January 19, 2008
Way to many storys going on in one movie. Would have been better if they had just left out a few of the different story lines and develipted the story line a little more
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MCT:January 2, 2008
Zzzz. . .huh? Oh, sorry, just thinking about this movie makes me sleepy. It's a well-constructed story but Lordy is it boring. Matt Damon is great even though he makes out with Penelope Cruz. And that kid from ET wasn't so bad either. I read somewhere that BBT had to make significant cuts in order for the movie to be 3 hours. I can't even imagine what he cut. More sweeping shots of landscapes? Penelope Cruz pouting? So sleepy now. . .zzz.
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MCT:October 17, 2007
I loved Matts accent in this movie, made me really believe he was from Texas...I loved the script and the characters. A very good movie to watch curled up on the sofa!
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MCT:May 24, 2007
billy bob thornton directed this beautiful adaptation of cormac mccarthy's breathtaking novel about two young texas men who go to work on a ranch in mexico wherein one of the young men falls in love with the ranch owners daughter thus hurtling the two protagonists into an epic adventure.
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MCT:May 8, 2007
McCarthy wrote such a powerhouse novel that any film version was bound to underwhelm by comparison. That's not to suggest the film is bad by any means, only that it doesn't reach the epic heights of its source material. A few positives worth noting: 1) Henry Thomas is very good and steals the movie, playing the role of Cole's friend, Rawlins; 2) the Mexican jail sequences are probably the most faithfully rendered of any that appear in the book; 3) the cinematography captures the spectacular beauty of the American west. I have several complaints as well, mainly having to do with excised or truncated scenes (though I realize such decisions must always be made), but I'm also not sure that Damon and Black were appropriately cast in their roles. All-in-all it's a decent western that could have been done better, though I understand Billy Bob feuded with the studio to make a much different, longer film. What a shame.
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MCT:March 26, 2007This movie was good, however, from what I heard if it would have been done the way directer Billy Bob Thorten wanted it, the movie would have been ten times better. However, I think that Matt Damon doesn't look to bad as a cowboy anyway.
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MCT:March 7, 2007
3 young cowboys, on a travel to Mexico. A ranchowners pretty girl, and the drama begins. Nice and quiet story.
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MCT:February 12, 2007
I REALLY LIKE THIS MOVIE BECAUSE IT'S NOT EXACTLY WHAT I EXPECTED IN A CONVENTIONAL WAY, HAS GREAT ACTORS, AND INCREDIBLY MOVING MUSIC
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MCT:January 30, 2007
the studio yanked billy bob from the directors chair so we'll never know how good this could have been
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MCT:January 29, 2007
matt damon plays well in this one penelope is there to i will recommand as a sunday nite movie to start the week on a gud tune, the scenery is attracting and of courses the horses all around if ya want to dream of gallopin in your sleep a must seen
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MCT:November 25, 2006
This film blew me away. Talent was everywhere. Will soon become part of my personal library of DVDs.
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MCT:November 17, 2006
well i think that most stories either are really dramatic and romantic or always teach a lesson. so i will give this movie a......................................................
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