Place of Bones

This is obviously going to try and be one of those gritty, how it really was, Westerns. You know the type - the poverty, the danger, the dirt, the easy way men kill others. Then you quickly realise this is not gritty like American Primeval or 1823 are.

The best actor by far is Corin Nemec who plays a man, Calhoun, who's been shot and is found by a mother and daughter who live in a wooden shack with barely any furniture or change of clothes but the shack does have a large window of stained glass panels. Why? The shack is in a rocky valley - so how do they grow crops and where are the animals? No horses, cows, not even a chicken. Perhaps it was a very tight budget that couldn't stretch to livestock!

By being there, Calhoun has brought trouble and there is the inevitable misunderstandings, gun fight and deaths.

I did not see the end coming and it is almost worth watching the film for that, otherwise, really don't bother.

Canadian director Audrey Cummings delivers a successful Western that knows how to survive thanks to its good final stretch with one of the craziest climaxes of 2024.

It is a low-budget film and it shows in both its production and its set design, but with all that it manages to give a fairly successful film that is strengthened by having a fairly recognized cast that gives some prestige to a simple, straightforward and somewhat everyday script, but that is inspired in its final part to compensate for all the flaws that we can find with a truly mind-blowing twist.

The grace is in knowing how to solve the strong points of the script that allow you to stay away from all the situations that are happening, it knows how to use tension, drama and humor to always keep you up to date with everything that is happening, to then completely let go and give a pleasant surprise in its resolution to everything that was built up for us previously.

A film reminiscent of a low-budget Western that isn't perfect, that has many simplistic things and perhaps a bit of cheesy dialogue, but in the end it is an achieved result and we end up having a film with which we really have a good time without realizing it, a rewarding bet in its right measure.

A woman and teenage daughter are forced to defend themselves when an injured man attracks outlaws to their homestead.

This is a very B movie. The storyline is quite predictable but attempts to put a little twist on the ending. The writing, character development and overall atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired. Poor dialog, uninteresting characters and forced acting feels cringy, unnatural and much like a community theater performance. I felt myself forcing interest to finish watching it. The twist also falls flat.

This is not a film I'll be recommending to anyone unless they're just looking for something challenging to watch from beginning to the end.

It is years after the Civil War. Pandora (Heather Graham) and her daughter Hester are living on an isolated desolate ranch. Her husband is dead and buried on a nearby hillside. They are always watching out for intruders. They find a wounded bank robber followed by more criminals looking for the stolen loot.

There is a flatness to this western. There is something missing. I couldn't put my finger on it until the final revelation. The movie keeps hinting on something sinister, but it never says it out loud until the end. I couldn't feel anything for any of these characters because I could never be sure about them. While the ending is interesting, it's a long flat wait to get there.

This was a decent western, and I am not into western movies generally due to the slanted views of Indigenous Americans and the Misogynist treatment of women.

That being said, I found this one watchable, but not without plot holes and actions by the women that seems off base due to their circumstances.

The male antagonist lived up to their roles of being of the same mindset of right-wing maganuts. So I commend them on their acting chops. I didn't like any of them, so they did an excellent job.

Other than some of the antics by the daughter and two gapping plot holes, I quite enjoyed this.

Oh yeah, the twist at the end was nifty and after it came up I had an Aha moment.