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Review: Cowboys & Aliens 225

The name pretty much sums it up: There are cowboys. There are aliens. And Iron Man Director Jon Favreau has blown a pretty penny trying to make the whole thing work, getting the sexiest woman alive from Maxim a few years back, as well as a James Bond and a Han Solo to convince you to come to the theater and watch 6-shooters take on the little green men. Spoilers may exist below, but I promise to keep the review mostly lacking substance: just like the movie.

So let me be clear up front: I didn't hate it. The only movie this summer that I walked out of the theater thinking FAIL in capital letters was Green Lantern. So far everything else has had some sort of redeeming value. And this does too: solid production values, occasionally funny dialog, cool looking aliens, and a really awesome bad guy base/rocket ship is good fun.

The plot: Daniel Craig is a cowboy who wakes up with amnesia and a strange metal wrist band. He runs afoul of a punk kid with a rich daddy (Ford) in a town where blinking lights in the sky show up and lasso people away at night. So Craig and Ford and a ragtag assortment of town folk go looking for their kin, learning about the aliens, and growing beyond their cheesy racism with the local indians, and shooting pistols at alien space ships.

The sci-fi western is tough sod to trod. The winners (Firefly, Cowboy Bebop) have typically placed Cowboys into Outter Space, and not Aliens into the Old West. For me, this is because the whole old west/cowboy thing is kinda campy. Hollywood dried up that well over the years, leaving behind a legacy of great and terrible movies. But the Western has a visual vocabulary we all know. The Bar Hall Brawl. The standoff in main street between two gun-slingers. The Boozing and the Prostitutes. And of course the dialog conventions... that 1800s slang which is very fun to play with for a moment, and pretty annoying after awhile. Unless you are Malcolm Reynolds.

I think they did an ok job with their world. They never really break out of The Old West. With the exception of the super weapon that Craig has attached to his wrist, the good guys weapons are pistols, rifles, dynamite sticks which makes it all the more awesome fighting highly maneuverable alien fighter jets, as well as the more melee battles on the ground.

The aliens and their technology are a mixed bag. Their design is sort of like a turtle with a quatto to inside. We see 2 ships: one which is kinda a fighter that looks like a firefly, and one giant rocket base that is mostly underground and used to mine gold (which is explained, but really is done just for cool golden visuals scattered all around the film, and to justify alien presence and overall badness).

Should you see it? I enjoyed Captain America, Harry Potter, and Thor more. But this was better than Transformers 3 and Green Lantern. It's visually stylized. Sometimes charming. My wife thought Daniel Craig was just ok, where I found him to be pretty cool. I thought Harrison Ford to once again proves that he is just to old for this sort of work: Same problem with Indiana Jones the action just isn't believable any more- he looks and moves like an old man, and they edit it this stuff to make him look like he is doing more than he is instead of embracing the fact that he's an old guy shuffling around. He just doesn't pull it off. But he looks good in a hat.

But when I look at the producer credits, I can't help but feel like this just should have been better. There are 8 writers, including several of the Bad Robot regulars. The producers include the Ron Howard/Brian Grazer team, Steven Spielburg and those Lost guys again. I can't help but feel like when the dust settled, this was a film by committee. From the design to the script to the casting and somewhere through 8 writers and all these producers a bit of sparkle got sanded off.

But hey, next summer Pirates & Aliens? Ninjas & Aliens? I spent all night trying to decide what genre should encounter aliens next, and i have the answer: Alien & Aliens. Now THAT would be a movie.

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Review: Cowboys & Aliens

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  • Who the heck is that?

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:20PM (#36948708)

    The true sign of any picture I would avoid.

    • by Nimey ( 114278 )

      I dunno. One of the best episodes of Star Trek:TNG had at least four, and they may have stopped there because at the time they couldn't credit any more.

      The episode? Yesterday's Enterprise.

  • One mans opinion is of no consequence to me.
    I still plan to see it on netflix.
    • Why would you look at a movie review article then? Let alone comment on one?

      • by jhoegl ( 638955 )
        You assume I read it, and you assume one can not share their opinion in response to anothers opinion.
        You fail to understand opinions.
    • And your opinion of his opinion should be of consequence to anyone?

      Thankyou good sir, for blessing us with your pithy little interjection. People who were going to follow that opinion like sheep will no doubt now follow yours. Dunt it make you proud. There was a little sarcasm there by the way. In case you missed it.
  • Alien vs Ninja (Score:3, Informative)

    by nhat11 ( 1608159 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:23PM (#36948754)
    They already have an alien vs ninja =) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_vs_Ninja [wikipedia.org]
  • by heptapod ( 243146 ) <heptapod@gmail.com> on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:23PM (#36948762) Journal

    It's nothing like the comic and as AC posted there are eight writers which is a warning sign.

    I was hoping there would be a high noon shootout, a crazy old prospector sidekick, the whore with a heart of gold and a six shooter between her boobs, saving an alien from being hung by the sheriff who's more crooked than the branch on the executioner's tree. Instead "Aliens are greedy like us. Supposedly killing off humans means they can get all our gold." Aliens who can travel interstellar distances have the need to exterminate humanity when 16-17th century tradesmen traded realty for shiny beads of glass then have the unmitigated gall to gift those natives with blankets full of cooties. Crappy films are good when they're crowdpleasers but there weren't any joyful moments where humanity got their comeuppance against the aliens.

    I expected Blazing Saddles with anal probes. Instead I got JJ Abrams without lens flare.

    • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:40PM (#36948974)

      Sometimes an action flick is just that...
      Action flicks rarely if ever really have a good plot... We just think they do when we were kids, or teenagers. If you never saw any of the Star Wars movies then watched them (Even excluding the new ones) they would probably joke at the lame plot that they use to show off all the cool special effects.

      Why did they need the force? Well as a plot device to show people doing super human things, so they can make these cool special effects with it, did the force really add to the plot much... Lets see...
      Boy Find messagers who direct them to a an old general.
      General befriends boy and asks him to join him,
      Boy rejects then finds guardians dead from bad guy.
      Boy goes with general as has nothing else to do.
      General finds Rogues to do work No Questions Asked.
      General, Boy and Rogues go on quest get caught by Bad Guys.
      General, Boy and Rogues try to escape and rescue the Dame.
      General works on the escape, while Boy and Rogues find dame.
      Dame helps Boy and Rogues escape.
      General Finds Bad Guy fights to the death and dies.
      Boy takes Generals place.
      Boy kills Bad Guys...
      Boy becomes Hero.

      Now you can take that story plot, and change things around many ways to create hundreds of movies. After such movies we do not gain much insight into anything. They are just fun to watch the special effects, and its easy plot allows our imagination to make us feel like we can be the hero too.

      • I get your point, but there really aren't any huge OMG special effects in Star Wars related to the force. Stuff moving without being touched? A dude grabbing his neck and pretending like he's getting choked? The most famous force moment is done completely through dialogue ("These aren't the droids you're looking for").

        Star Wars special effects were all things like space ships and planets blowing up.

      • by genner ( 694963 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @03:18PM (#36951054)

        Sometimes an action flick is just that... Action flicks rarely if ever really have a good plot... We just think they do when we were kids, or teenagers. If you never saw any of the Star Wars movies then watched them (Even excluding the new ones) they would probably joke at the lame plot that they use to show off all the cool special effects.

        Why did they need the force? Well as a plot device to show people doing super human things, so they can make these cool special effects with it, did the force really add to the plot much... Lets see... Boy Find messagers who direct them to a an old general. General befriends boy and asks him to join him, Boy rejects then finds guardians dead from bad guy. Boy goes with general as has nothing else to do. General finds Rogues to do work No Questions Asked. General, Boy and Rogues go on quest get caught by Bad Guys. General, Boy and Rogues try to escape and rescue the Dame. General works on the escape, while Boy and Rogues find dame. Dame helps Boy and Rogues escape. General Finds Bad Guy fights to the death and dies. Boy takes Generals place. Boy kills Bad Guys... Boy becomes Hero.

        Now you can take that story plot, and change things around many ways to create hundreds of movies. After such movies we do not gain much insight into anything. They are just fun to watch the special effects, and its easy plot allows our imagination to make us feel like we can be the hero too.

        Boy finds out the bad guy was his father NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

    • Yeah, and I truly believe that there are a crowd of people who really really want Harrison Ford to do something that doesn't suck. We keep buying tickets, and it's a surprise when we get oatmeal instead of steak. Out the last twenty-ish movies, three have been tolerable, none have been great. Before the early 90's, then it was 50/50..... Cowboys & Aliens Morning Glory Extraordinary Measures Crossing Over Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Firewall Hollywood Homicide K-19: The Widowmake
    • I love your story idea. But I can't let the beads-for-realty thing go without making the comment that the Natives didn't pretend to own any land, so if anybody got taken for a ride in such a deal it was the one who purchased from a non-owner.

      But I think the realty reality was more about violent force (and cooties) than swindling.

      • by KarrdeSW ( 996917 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @02:04PM (#36950110)

        It's also worth noting that the land was actually traded for several thousand dollars (in that time, not today's) worth of beads, firearms, cookware, and other manufactured goods (the bulk of which was NOT the beads).

        It's especially worth noting that the natives who sold the land didn't live there. They actually sold a neighboring tribe's land. The rest is violent force and cooties.

    • Crappy films are good when they're crowdpleasers but there weren't any joyful moments where humanity got their comeuppance against the aliens.

            Huh? You pull for aliens because humans deserve their comeuppance? This is a bizarre little corner of the world we have here...

            Brett

  • by h4rr4r ( 612664 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:24PM (#36948774)

    Daniel Craig aka Vladimir Putin should be a Bond villain not James Bond. How do they explain him being a cowboy in this? The KGB sent him to spy on our cattle?

  • by wjousts ( 1529427 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:28PM (#36948832)

    Pirates & Aliens? Ninjas & Aliens?

    Pirates & Ninjas, obviously!

    • by 0racle ( 667029 )
      How can there not be a Pirates v. Ninjas yet? They wouldn't do it right though. It should be non-stop violence and action with next to no story and absolutely no romantic subplot or motivations. 90 minute film, 85 minutes of action.
    • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

      Pirates & Aliens? Ninjas & Aliens?

      Pirates & Ninjas, obviously!

      I have always said that the only thing missing from The Last Samurai was pirates, and it would have then become the ultimate action movie, because it would have had pirates, ninja, samurai, and machine guns.

  • by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:31PM (#36948856)

    The producers include the Ron Howard/Brian Grazer team, Steven Spielburg and those Lost guys again.

    Wow, that just screams mediocre crap before the first scene even plays.

    Same problem with Indiana Jones the action just isn't believable any more- he looks and moves like an old man

    Ford seems to be one of those actors who just can't accept his age. And for some reason, everyone is still indulging him (maybe they're still starstruck from his younger days). Personally, he's one of the actors I would least want to ever have to work with. He comes off as an arrogant prick in just about every interview and the people who've worked with him don't ever seem to have many kind words for him (except Lucas and Spielburg, who both started working with him before he became so big). Basically, he's an old-school movie star who does everything HIS way and isn't going to listen to any direction at all, especially someone telling him "You're an old man now, and you look stupid as shit in a fight scene." And this is not the kind of movie he should be in anymore (not sure what in the hell Favreau was thinking).

    • Hollywood is a bottom-line industry. When they see "Harrison" they think of all the money his movies have generated. If they have to wheel him out on stage they'll do it.

      Same thing with a lot of other aging actors. Sylvester Stallone is still squeezing blood from that stone and they're talking about a Die Hard 5!!! I really just don't get why Hollywood doesn't trust the new generation of leading men to carry films. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, et. al. are proven assets.

      • Die Hard was Bruce Willis.

        • by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *

          That's another prick I wouldn't want to work with. Kevin Smith had a routine [imdb.com] on him that pretty much summed up what it's like to work with Bruce Willis. It was basically along the lines of "I would give Bruce direction and he would either insult me or completely ignore me." Now, depending on your opinion of Kevin Smith, that was either appropriate or rude. But Bruce still doesn't come off as the kind of guy you want to have to work with every day on a stressful shoot.

      • Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, et. al. are proven assets.

        Crowe maybe, but some people think he's already beyond his sell-by date. And Jackman? I like him, but name one hit he's carried as the leading star? He was the big attraction in the first X-Men movie, so they gave him a Wolverine movie. Didn't do to well? Swordfish? Mediocre sales. Australia? Nobody outside of Australia went to see it. He's been in a number of underperforming romantic flicks. He's yet to carry an action movie all on his own. Ford and Craig have. I like Jackman better than either, but this i

    • He was thinking he wants to sell tickets to people over 40. Especially women over 40. Nothing wrong with that. Rosie Huntington-Whitely isn't in Transformers 3 for her acting skills.

      • Rosie Huntington-Whitely isn't in Transformers 3 for her acting skills.

        Really? I'm pretty sure simply being alive counts as good acting for that series. And yes, I am including plants.

    • Ford seems to be one of those actors who just can't accept his age.

      It is not so much that as the fact that everything he has done that isn't an action film has bombed.

      • by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *

        No, he's made some decent dramatic films (Witness, The Mosquito Coast, Regarding Henry, etc.). I think he just wants the big paychecks.

    • It's not the age, it's the massive marijuana habit.

  • Remember Aliens VS Predator, which was another OK movie.
  • by PatTheGreat ( 956344 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:37PM (#36948916) Homepage
    Seriously. I don't care what the critics say, it had cowboys, aliens, Olivia Wilde, Daniel Craig, and Harrison Ford. If you don't like it, then you, my friend, just don't know art.
  • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:38PM (#36948932)
    Am I the only one that was hoping for a scene on a train, so that Harrison Ford could tell an alien to "Get off my train"?
  • by smoothnorman ( 1670542 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:41PM (#36948988)
    This is the one and only most critical RandomA-vs-RandomB film that cries out to be made!: http://boingboing.net/2007/07/31/zeppelin-vs-pterodac.html [boingboing.net]

    Jürgen Prochnow as the prussian sabre scarred Zeppelin captain with a vast history and one last battle to prove! ...and i dunno...uh, John Malkovich as the psionically mentally linked Pterodactyl master - who, unlikely enough, has a past that overlaps Prochnow's ...yeah.

  • by jimmerz28 ( 1928616 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:42PM (#36949004)

    It might be worth seeing if it had Vin Diesel.

    And I was really drunk.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • No I liked Pitch Black and I like Vin Diesel his voice is crazy.

        But Cowboys & Aliens looks like it will be as good as The Pacifier (2/10) was, which I only saw very drunk and only because Vin was in it.

  • by DoofusOfDeath ( 636671 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @12:57PM (#36949172)

    To me it was a fun, marginally campy movie. Daniel Craig does a pretty good job playing the tough guy. I didn't go in looking for a life-changing experience, and I came of the theater having enjoyed myself.

    I guess each has his own opinion, but I still don't understanding the hating some people have for this movie, given its limited ambitions in the first place.

    • Re:I enjoyed it (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Doctor_Jest ( 688315 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @01:20PM (#36949492)

      I also agree.. :)

      Well put. Sometimes movies are just supposed to be fun. I mean, seriously? We're praising movies on the one hand that have just as silly a premise as this one, but because someone has a boner against Daniel Craig as James Bond, this movie lacks "substance"? WTF? Didn't the title clue everyone in? (As for Craig, I enjoyed his Bond movies... more than I can say for the last 4 Bonds...)

      Now for the rest of you neckbeard Comic Book Guys:

      Sometimes movies are just that... fun rides. Who gives a shit if Harrison Ford is arrogant? The man's been in film franchises that grossed a bazillion dollars... and he's a good actor. He's wiping his ass with $100 bills and that sparks jealousy. He doesn't "Burt Reynolds" his way through a part... he's believable.

      As for high art in this movie... is everyone missing the fun? All critical folk should look at this movie the way they SHOULD have looked at the Star Wars prequels... through 11-year-old eyes. Stop trying to turn simple action space operas into hard science fiction all the time. You'll live longer. :)

      This movie has all the elements:

      Cowboys? Check.
      Aliens? Check.
      Explosions? Check.
      Action thrills? Check.

      Pretty much pass me the popcorn. If I wanted to watch Shakespeare, I wouldn't go to a movie with the title "Cowboys and Aliens"...

    • My problem is that whenever people say they're just in it for a mindless romp and they liked it, I listen and end up watching Transformers.

    • by godrik ( 1287354 )

      I must say I enjoyed that movie as well. I went to see it yesterday just expecting "a cool movie ". And that was really cool. The plot is weak btu I must say I did not care too much about it. Daniel Craig's active a "survivor" type of man was very convincing. For once, I found the violence in that movie really violent for a sci fi movie. Usually you got a "pioo pioo" laser sound and the guy is dead, you cross the name of the character and go to the next seen.

      Here the action and violence looked really real.

  • Popcorn Movies (Score:3, Insightful)

    by IonOtter ( 629215 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @01:00PM (#36949196) Homepage

    Y'know, people need to just learn to turn off their brains once in a while. If you really wanna use your brains when you see a movie, don't go to the cinema at the mall, go to the art-house cinema in the college district.

    This is where the genre of "popcorn movies" comes into play. It's not great, it's not bad, it's a movie you can enjoy so long as you've got a bit of popcorn to stuff in your face while you watch it. Quite frankly, the last "Steak and Potatoes" movie I saw was "Moon", and I left the theater incredibly happy. The last "Dinner and Nightcap" movie I saw was "Avatar", and I left THAT one a bit dizzy and giggly, wanting a cigarette.

    But most of the summer offerings so far have been either Popcorn, or flat out Pepto-Bismol. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" from last year is a perfect example of a Peptol-Bismol movie, and I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater, but got it from "a friend".

    "Cowboys and Aliens"? I'd call this one a "Popcorn, Soda and Hot Dog" movie. It's not a "Steak and Potatoes" movie, but it's got more brains than just a popcorn. You don't need a brain, per se, but if you care to use it, you won't be terribly disappointed. You'll still be a bit peckish when you leave, but not sick over spending 10 bux.

    • I saw Kung Fu Hustle and Ong Bak at my college's theater. Twas awesome without all the inconsiderate SOBs around.

    • Not using your brain probably lowers your IQ or at least makes thinking seem like more work. People have way too much time to turn off their brain; watching TV turns off more of their brains than sleeping does! Given how much stupid shit goes on these days people need to wake up and START thinking not take a break (a break which they've not earned.)

      Our lives have become like our food-- cheap junk we buy to falsely fill needs leaving us unfulfilled... so we consume endlessly as long as we go down the wrong

    • Y'know, people need to just learn to turn off their brains once in a while.

      Agreed. Art is a wide spectrum and Cowboys & Aliens firmly fits within that somewhere. Sure it's not Inception or Matrix but it doesn't try to be. Instead it's a new telling of a classic western story with the twist that the antagonists aren't from around these parts.

      It succeeds rather nicely in that both Harrison Ford's and Daniel Craig's delivery fits their roles superbly. They're fun to watch in the context that they're portraying the typical Dirty Harry style gruff western guy.

      I didn't go to thi

    • by k6mfw ( 1182893 )

      > If you really wanna use your brains when you see a movie, don't go to the cinema at the mall, go to the art-house cinema in the college district.

      There are two kinds of people. Film lovers that sip fine wine and have intellectually stimulating discussions about the film. The others are those that eat popcorn and watch movies.

  • The key to enjoying any movie is correct expectations. If you, like CmdrTaco, cannot help but to compare this with Firefly/Serenity, you will be disappointed. It's not a space western, it's a Close Encounter, and quite honestly, has more in common with that movie than any western. It uses the usual suspects of western stereotypes in order to keep the backstories to a minimum, and does it as effectively as any other movie has. Ultimately it's an action movie, and the action delivers a 6 or 7 out of 10, wh
  • Sequel? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rishistar ( 662278 ) on Monday August 01, 2011 @01:02PM (#36949212) Homepage
    So when is Cowboys vs Predators coming out?
  • + babysitter? Sounds like, "no".

    I wish that Hollywood would understand that making money of movies is not a god-given right, that folks won't go to movies just cause they're there.

    I saw an interview with Favreau, where he said something like this movie "gave him a chance to experiment blah blah". Tip: movies that want to be commercially successful should not be seen as a director's playground of "visuals" etc. They should tell a story that the audience will be interested in.

    If Favreau wants to experimen

    • Of course, the "experimentation" with degraded footage in the opening credits of Se7en, with color grading in Three Kings, with bullet time in The Matrix all had a huge impact on film grammar and influenced the look of many movies that followed.

      Also, is a director's price for "success" (being tapped to direct a 100M+ studio action flick) that they shouldn't try anything new, different, or artistically fulfilling? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

  • "I am sick of these Muth-f'ing aliens on this Mutha-f'ing planet!" -- I mean come on, Cowboys and aliens is this years "Snakes on a Plane" - the title is the movie and the movie is the title.

  • Frankly, I'm done with these genre flicks of late. I'm also tired of the comic book crap. Spiderman was good, Spiderman 2, not so much etc. The Hulk movies were just there to fill seats with CGI which, let's face it, is what writers go for these days. Come on Nick Nolte? Seriously?

    To do a movie nowadays it seems you have to pick from one of the subjects: Toys, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Comic Books and "artsy." Yes with 8 writers it was bad, but the OG "Casino Royale" had what, 5 directors and I sti

  • Wasn't Predator vs Alien enough to satisfy the Alien vs Alien wish? If an enemy of your enemy is your friend then if two enemies are fighting doesn't that make it a win/win situation?
  • And Iron Man Director Jon Favreau has blown a pretty penny trying to make the whole thing work, getting the sexiest woman alive from Maxim a few years back, as well as a James Bond and a Han Solo to convince you to come to the theater and watch 6-shooters take on the little green men.

    Huh... Sexy woman, Bond, and Solo? Perhaps we'll get the names of these three shortly...

    The plot: Daniel Craig is a cowboy who wakes up with amnesia and a strange metal wrist band. He runs afoul of a punk kid with a rich daddy (Ford) in a town where blinking lights in the sky show up and lasso people away at night. So Craig and Ford and a ragtag assortment of town folk go looking for their kin, learning about the aliens, and growing beyond their cheesy racism with the local indians, and shooting pistols at alien space ships.

    Well, that's two. What about her name?
    She's the lead actress, the love interest, and, in your words, the "sexiest woman alive"? Come on, Taco... Surely she has a name, or were you too busy spanking it to her tits to bother looking it up? She even shares top billing on the goddamn poster.

    Frankly, Olivia Wilde deserves better than this shiat review.

    • by Faw ( 33935 )

      She's the lead actress, the love interest, and, in your words, the "sexiest woman alive"? Come on, Taco... Surely she has a name, or were you too busy spanking it to her tits to bother looking it up? She even shares top billing on the goddamn poster.

      Frankly, Olivia Wilde deserves better than this shiat review.

      Eh, what tits? She has a pretty face but she has the body of a 13 year old boy.

      • She's the lead actress, the love interest, and, in your words, the "sexiest woman alive"? Come on, Taco... Surely she has a name, or were you too busy spanking it to her tits to bother looking it up? She even shares top billing on the goddamn poster.

        Frankly, Olivia Wilde deserves better than this shiat review.

        Eh, what tits? She has a pretty face but she has the body of a 13 year old boy.

        Which perhaps explains Taco's interest.

    • Frankly, Olivia Wilde deserves better than this shiat review.

      No, she really doesn't. Her character was completely useless to the movie, and only relevant to the plot at the very end. Her presence on screen added nothing to her character or any of the others.

      And it doesn't speak well for her as an actress if this is what she she chooses to appear in. It should have been obvious that the script was weak, so either she has poor judgement, or this is the only work she can get.

  • Every time I read a good sci-fi novel I think to myself, "why is Hollywood incapable, at least nowadays, of making a movie even half this good?"

    These movies offer nothing but hackneyed concepts, idiotic premises and gaping plot holes. And a significant part of the problem is that these movies all need to be turned into blockbusters. That means that any sci-fi movie is turned into an action movie with epic undertones. Hollywood lacks both creativity and subtlety and Cowboys & Aliens is a perfect example

  • by glwtta ( 532858 )
    But this was better than Transformers 3 and Green Lantern.

    That's just harsh.
  • The title pretty much screamed "Don't see me I'm shit". I love sci-fi and don't mind the western but how could someone thing this would be good movie? I suppose if explosions and gunfire are all that is needed to make a good film for you then it might work but otherwise it just doesn't make any sense to see this before it's on streaming from netflix.
  • I liked the film, honestly. I took my dad, who likes westerns, and he enjoyed it also. Granted, the mcguffin (aliens want our gold!) was stupid, but otherwise the film's action held up. I liked that Harrison Ford's character was given some depth instead of him being the town asshole through the whole movie. Daniel Craig's character was also more complex than needed for an action film, which was nice.

    Someone had told me this was based on a graphic novel. Is that not the case? Judging from the complaints abou

  • 1. THE UNION PACIFIC STORY
    2. THE RANCH STORY
    3. THE EMPIRE STORY
    4. THE REVENGE STORY
    5. CUSTER'S LAST STAND
    6. THE OUTLAW STORY
    7. THE MARSHAL STORY

    from another post I had of 1958 TV guide article, "Seven Ways to Plot a Western"

    I haven't seen the movie, not planning to (I just don't go to movies anymore). Sounds interesting however (an 8th plot? maybe that's why they needed eight writers?)

  • But hey, next summer Pirates & Aliens? Ninjas & Aliens?

    I want to see Sex & the City & Aliens with the aliens winning.

    Though Sarah Jessica Parker would have to wear some sort of badge or special t-shirt so she can be distinguished from the aliens.

  • Where's the Attack the Block review? Sounds like that is the real alien genre mashup winner.

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