3:10 to Yuma

Using a decent, but not spectacular, 1957 Glenn Ford cowboy movie as its source material (based itself on a 1953 Elmore Leonard magazine story), this masterful western brings a beloved film genre back to glory. 3:10 to Yuma is big-screen entertainment that rides right next to the great ones, a blazing, action-packed film that reminds you what first-rate storytelling and filmmaking is all about. Like any good story of this ilk, it's really all about moral choices cloaked in shades of gray rather than black and white as a small-time, rather weak rancher and family man (Christian Bale) agrees to accompany an outlaw (Russell Crowe) to a train that will take him to court and planned hanging in Yuma. Along the way, the two get to know each other and play a cat-and-mouse psychological game in which both show sides that cannot be characterized as basic good and evil. Crowe's cagey dude really seems to be calling the shots here, despite being handcuffed. He may be bad, but he's also extremely smart and wily, which puts his captors off-balance much of the time. With his gang of thieves, led by a psychopath named Charlie (Ben Foster), hot on his trail and Bale's young son (Logan Lerman) ridin' in with surprises up his sleeve, the journey to the train is clearly not going to be easy. James Mangold, who directed the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, again takes command so effectively; he really does understand the needs of a movie set in the changing West. Crowe and Bale always seem to be on their acting game and play opposite each other with true grit and conviction, and Foster steals every scene he's in. He's fantastic, a down-and-dirty bad guy you won't soon forget.