As the director, co-screenwriter and star of Appaloosa, Ed Harris follows up his Oscar-nominated work as an actor-director in 2000's Pollock with an adaptation of Robert B. Parker's novel, revolving around two old friends and partners (Harris and Viggo Mortensen) in 1882 New Mexico trying to enforce the rule of law in a town threatened by a corrupt power-broker (Jeremy Irons). Harris spoke with Cinematical in Toronto about working on Appaloosa, adapting Parker's novel, co-starring opposite Mortensen and how hard it was to find financing for a traditional Western like Appaloosa: "Pretty hard. I mean, it was very interesting; people really responded to the script, and if the budget for it had been half of what it was, we probably could have got it made pretty easily. ... But we needed the budget to serve the production values; it called for that. I didn't want to make a little intimate art-house film. I wanted to make something that respected the space that it took place in ... it deserves it; it calls for it; so, it was pretty tough; it was a real battle."

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Under no circumstances is Ji-woon Kim's The Good, the Bad, the Weird a great movie, but I found myself genuinely impressed with it. The pitch – "Korean comic spaghetti western" – sounded like the sort of ultra-hip, insubstantial, self-consciously campy Asian actioner I've grown tired of; I kept flashing back to Riyuhei Kitamura's much-hyped but totally useless Versus, an acquired taste I haven't acquired. I needn't have worried. Though Kim's western pastiche may be insubstantial, it's anything but a drag. It's masterfully directed, legitimately funny, and legitimately fun, thoroughly enjoyable even at an excessive 129 minutes.

Though you may think you're here to see how Kim (whom you may remember from his terrific horror entry A Tale of Two Sisters) plays with the western genre, you're really here for the action sequences. There are two spectacular ones: the rollicking train robbery that opens the film, and a later all-stops-out chase scene involving several gangs of bandits and the Japanese army. These aren't the sort of scenes that bring you to the edge of your seat, but rather the sort that put a steady, delighted grin on your face. Unapologetically goofy, absurdly attenuated, brilliantly paced, and backed by a rousing musical score, they alone make the film worth sitting through.

1. People are willing to get out of bed at seven in the morning to watch a movie about people starving themselves to death. I don't care how much people paid to be here: it is simply amazing that the 8:30 am showing of Hunger (which Kim reviewed at Cannes) -- one of the most intensely unpleasant films I've ever seen, with a program description that did that aspect of it justice -- was a near-sellout at Telluride's largest venue. By the time I got to the theater at 8 am on a rainy Sunday morning, I was 259th in line. Everyone keeps saying that what "makes Telluride special" is the enthusiasm and undying cinephilia of the audience (most of whom come back year after year), and nothing epitomizes that attitude better than this morning's Hunger queue.

2. Anyone who fights to save the whales is automatically a hero, no matter his means. Just as it was remarkable to see people line up at the crack of dawn to watch an indescribably painful art film, it was disappointing to see a Telluride audience give an uncritical standing ovation to "eco-pirate" Paul Watson following a screening of Pirate of the Sea, the mediocre, one-sided documentary profiling him. Watson, a Greenpeace dissident who goes out on a boat and tries to sink or sabotage whaling or seal-hunting operations, may well be a hero, but there's no way you could fairly come to that conclusion after watching the hagiographic documentary, which takes Watson's word as gospel, and refuses to explore the troubling implications of his often violent efforts. Another documentary about Watson, called At the Edge of the World, will play Toronto; here's to hoping it's a bit more considered and thoughtful.

It's no secret that Hollywood is sequel crazy, but it's gotten to the point where it's hard to tell at a glance if a movie is a sequel or something new all together. Here are five trailers I had to closely scrutinize before I could determine whether or not sequalization was occurring.

Fast & Furious
Yup, this one's definitely a sequel, the fourth installment in the series launched by 2001's The Fast and the Furious. First off I give the whole franchise kudos for having the originality to give each of the films its own title and not just slapping on an escalating series of numbers. Furthermore, despite never having seen any of the others in the series, this trailer piqued my interest. Vin Diesel and co-star Michelle Rodriguez are seen here hijacking a tractor trailer hauling multiple tankers of gasoline, and the action is downright spectacular. Granted, the almost subliminal lesbian make out scene doesn't hurt either, but I could get behind seeing this. Here's what William had to say on the trailer.

Sukyaki Western Django
At first glance one might think this was a belated sequel to the 1966 spaghetti western Django. In reality this is an ultra violent homage to the genre with Takashi Miike at the helm and with Quentin Tarantino appearing in a supporting role. I've seen a few of Miike's film's, but the one I remember best is the bizarre and brutal Ichi the Killer, so I'm curious to see how he does with a Western. The preview is a frenetic barrage of action scenes with plot details being of secondary concern, but there's some wild stuff here, including bullets being deflected by samurai swords much in the way a Jedi would deflect a laser blast with his light sabre. The film is shot in English, though according to Jeffrey's review of the film, the mostly Japanese cast's unfamiliarity with the language is a drawback. Still, this looks pretty cool. Sukyaki Western Django goes into limited U.S. release this weekend, so I don't imagine it will be long before it's available on DVD.

By chance, two Takashi Miike movies, Dead or Alive and Audition, opened in my town with in a week of one another in 2001. It was pretty eye opening seeing the huge difference between them, the speedy carnage of the former and the slow suspense of the latter, and I became an instant fan. Since then I've managed to track down just six more Miike movies, and in that same time he has made over forty (including videos and TV shows). The speed of his production fits perfectly with the personality of his movies. They're often nonsensical; I couldn't make heads or tails of two of his more recent pictures, Gozu and The Great Yokai War. And they're very definitely energetic, verging on crazy. He reminds me of the great German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who cranked out over 40 movies and TV shows in less than 15 years and died at the age of 37. Miike is now 48 and one wonders how much longer he can keep going before he combusts.

Miike's new movie, Sukiyaki Western Django, finds him making a slight change of pace. No, the movie is still crazy and fast and nearly unintelligible, but he has stopped for a moment to consider the work of other filmmakers. The movie is a tribute to Spaghetti Westerns, and especially Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), which in turn was based on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961). Remember Bono's taunt at the beginning of U2's cover version of "Helter Skelter"? ("This song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We're stealing it back.") This movie feels as if Miike is doing some stealing back of his own.

It really seemed like we were finally going to get Garth Ennis' Preacher this time -- the dark, funny, and controversial comic book series seemed perfect for HBO. Isn't that what they do, after all?

Apparently not. Mark Steven Johnson told Comics Continuum that they've passed on the series. "We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going. But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point! It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO."

But, Johnson says that he's heard that someone is trying to obtain the rights for a big screen adaptation, and that he hopes it happens -- and that whoever nabs it can do the stories justice in a series of films. "Someone" doesn't narrow it down much, but shall we let our imaginations run wild? Frankly, in this world where the legendarily un-filmable (Lord of the Rings, Watchmen) is being made every day, I can't believe Preacher remains untouched. Isn't every studio dying for its own mature comic franchise? Isn't there a daring young filmmaker who's just dying to be boycotted, picketed, and harassed? Aren't we constantly hearing that all publicity, no matter how bad and hysterical, is desirable? Let's put it to the test. Whoever that "someone" is that's angling for the rights, may they succeed, and get Preacher on the big screen.

I don't necessarily have a soft spot for westerns -- although 3:10 to Yuma, Seraphim Falls, and The Proposition certainly didn't hurt that cause -- but because we as moviegoers aren't exactly inundated with them, it always feels like they tend to have more effort and care put into them than most other genre fare.

Judging from the MSN exclusive trailer for the upcoming Appaloosa, this looks to follow suit as Ed Harris (who also directed and co-wrote the film) and Viggo Mortensen (for whom Harris played an adversary in A History of Violence) deal with lawlessness in a small town out west, while the widowed Renée Zellweger surely tempts them both.

Toss in a supporting cast that includes Jeremy Irons and Lance Henriksen (that reminds me, The Quick and the Dead merits mention as well), and the benefit of my doubt at least has been earned. Appaloosa is scheduled to play Toronto in September, followed by an October 3rd release.

While The Dark Knight dominated the weekend box office here in the US -- with a little love spared for Mamma Mia! and Transsiberian -- in Asia things looked a little different. The Good, the Bad, the Weird , which was just picked up by IFC for the US, opened in its native South Korea to outstanding returns, according to Variety.

The film, a salute to Spaghetti Westerns with a modern twist, is expected to surpass 2.2 million admissions over the weekend, which would make it the fastest to hit that mark this year, beating out police comedy Public Enemy Returns. Its opening day returns put it in the company of previous monster smashes D-War and The Host. We should hear more about The Good, the Bad, the Weird when it plays at Toronto in September.

The news is not as good in Japan, where master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated achievement, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, was expected to dominate. Opening on a record number of screens for a local picture (481), Ponyo is said by its distributor to have earned 83% of the total made by Miyazaki's blockbuster Spirited Away, which sounds good. But as reported by Mark Schilling in Variety, those numbers may be misleading.

Poised to debut in its native land today, a Korean Western is also making plans to conquer the United States. The Good, the Bad, the Weird has been acquired by IFC Films for US distribution, according to CJ Entertainment, the film's Korean distributor.

As noted by the Korean Film Council, advance ticket reservations are unprecedented for what's been described as South Korea's most expensive production (US$17 million) to date. Directed by Kim Jee-woon, The Good, the Bad, the Weird debuted at Cannes in May. Kim Voynar said it is " a crazy, busy Western that centers around a map to a treasure happened upon by a (seemingly) bumbling fool, who ends up being pursued by a good-guy law-enforcement type, a wicked bad guy dressed in black, and, at one point, an entire army. It runs a little long, but it's funny and sharp, with a spectacular chase sequence near the end and a nice final payoff."

The film will have its North American Premiere at Toronto and then open in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and three other major cities in the first half of 2009. The director most recently made the terrific horror flick A Tale of Two Sisters and crime drama A Bittersweet Life. but he also made the wrestling-themed comedy The Foul King and the very darkly humorous The Quiet Family. You can watch the trailer, check out the posters, stills, and more at the Korean-language official site.

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