4 Film Favorites: Contemporary Westerns - Appaloosa / The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford / American Outlaws / Jonah Hex (Widescreen)

"Appaloosa": Paired as rivals in "A History of Violence", Ed Harris (who also directs, produces and co-scripts) and Viggo Mortensen stand together as friends and for-hire peacekeepers Cole and Hitch in a character-driven, bullet-hard Western based on Robert B. Parker's novel. As the woman who arrives in town with only a dollar and a keen sense of survival, Renee Zellweger adds feelings - those things that can get you killed - to a quest to bring murderer Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) to justice. "The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford": Everyone in 1880s America knows Jesse James. He's the nation's most notorious criminal, hunted by the law in 10 states. He's also the land's greatest hero, lauded as a Robin Hood by the public. Robert Ford? No one knows him. Not yet. But the ambitious 19-year-old aims to change that. He'll befriend Jesse, ride with his gang. And if that doesn't bring Ford fame, he'll find a deadlier way. "American Outlaws": To corrupt railroad barons, Jesse James and Cole Younger are meddlers, troublemakers, ingrates and candidates for rope neckties. To the downtrodden folks in and around Liberty, Missouri, they're something far different. Heroes. Jess, Cole and their rough-and-ready gang ride to the rescue of farmers terrorized by a railroad's land-grab scheme in "American Outlaws", a dust-and-thunder update of Western lore starring Colin Farrell as charismatic fiery Cole and Ali Larter as Jesse's gutsy wife Zee. "Jonah Hex": Out of the pages of the legendary comics and graphic novels steps Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin), a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of the last resort who has survived death and can track anyone...any anything. Jonah's violent history is steeped in myth and legend and has left him with one foot in the natural world and one on the "other side." His one human connection is with Lilah (Megan fox), whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. But Jonah's past catches up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can't refuse: to wipe out the warrants on his head, he must hunt and stop dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich).