3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Star power shines in this remake of the 1957 film of the same title. The plot epitomizes simplicity, but it twists and turns for 90 minutes, and only in the last minute does it find resolution—of a sort. Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is a down-on-his-luck rancher who's not only losing his ranch and the respect of his two boys but even his own self-respect. He seeks to redeem himself, and earn a handsome $200, by joining a posse to take a truly bad outlaw, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), to the 3:10 train in Contention that will take Wade to Yuma and deposit him in the federal slammer. Redemption for himself, justice for Wade, a man who has robbed 21 stagecoaches. It sounds simple enough, but there are Apache Indians before them, Wade's truly bad gang behind them, and the wily Wade with them. Spooky campfires, rampaging stagecoaches, harsh landscape, saloons with pretty women, whiskey-gulping, way too much gratuitous violence, and non-stop trash-talking make this a cowboy classic. Directed by James Mangold who made Girl, Interrupted and the Johnny Cash bio Walk the Line.