Fridae

You can call it the return of Russell Crowe. After a string of highly-publicized public brawls and high-profile flops (Cinderella Man, Master & Commander, A Good Year), Russell seems determined to redeem his reputation at the box-office.

Fresh on the heels of his excellent gangsterama American Gangster, Russell scores yet again with 3:10 To Yuma, a superb shoot-'em-up Western that showcases his prodigious acting skills and spellbinding screen charisma.

Russell plays a dangerous outlaw who regularly holds up trains and stagecoaches. The authorities have been after him for years, but have been unable to track him down. Then, by a stroke of sheer luck, an impoverished army veteran (Christian Bale) manages to find and capture Russell. Christian and a few other men must now escort Russell on a 3-day journey to a prison in Yuma.

Russell, of course, has no intention of going to prison. And his men � who sorely miss their leader � will stop at nothing to get him back...

Directed by Jame Mangold (Walk The Line), this is perhaps the best Western since Clint Eastwood's 1992 Oscar winner Unforgiven. It combines a good script, powerhouse acting, a strong sense of location as well as a palpable respect for the Western genre to give you two hours of thrilling cowboy entertainment.

We highly recommend it to the butch boys and girls, and anyone else who likes to play cowboys-and-rodeos in bed.