"Appaloosa"

"Appaloosa" is a very good western directed by Ed Harris and shot by Dean Semler (ASC and ACS). Harris and co-star Viggo Mortensen are great fun to watch in the lead roles as a pair of gunslingers who freelance as lawmen in the old west.

The gunfights are short and sweet; Harris does for the gunfight what Takeshi Kitano did for the swordfight in "Zatoichi (2004)".

Dean Semler was one of the few DP's to often shoot on the ASA 800 speed Kodak stock (since discontinued), and has become one of the higher profile proponents of digital cameras in recent years. He shot most of both "Apocalypto" and "Get Smart" using the Panavision Genesis camera. He frequently uses different shutter angles and other tricks in order to shoot in low light conditions. In both of those films, I was annoyed by the smearing effect caused by the shutter angle ("21", shot by Russell Carpenter, exhibited many of the same artifacts). Most audience members don't get bothered by these aberrations, but they stand out like a sore thumb to me. It makes me feel as though I'm watching a cheesy reenactment on the History Channel; the film looks like interlaced video, especially when there is movement in the frame.

"Appaloosa" was shot on film, so I guess the above tangent was somewhat irrelevant. It could have been the print I viewed, but the film looked a little soft and had some distracting grain in some shots. Still, it's a wonderful film. And I loved the shot of the cougar.

-Dave Boyle