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December 31, 2013.

This blog is now closed. After three years and 311 posts, I have decided to end this blog. I have enjoyed watching the films, reviewing them, and interacting with global readers.

If you are interested in contacting me, you can do so by commenting on any of the posts. The blog will remain live on the web.
Thank you to all the readers for your comments, ideas, and thoughts. They were helpful, stimulating, and enriching. This is Alene, signing off.

August 4, 2011

Cowboys vs Aliens (2011)

When it's over, Daniel Craig is a better Bond than he is a cowboy.  Harrison Ford doesn't disappoint as a wealthy cattle owner.  Olivia Wilde's performance is forgettable, but that probably has more to do with the script than her acting abilities.  She was way better in Tron.  This simple sci-fi story is about a town in the old west called Absolution and how this town fought back against the threat of alien invaders.  With five screenwriters and three story writers, I can understand why the film's story went astray.  Too much input and too many ideas oftentimes causes more problems than solutions.  Furthermore, with Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Brian Glazer serving as producers, I would have thought they would have had the foresight to see the holes in the script.  Director Jon Favreau salvaged what he could with the loose script by giving it a lot of action, so at times, the action's pretty good, but at the end, I found it real painful to watch such good talent wasted on a film that had no direction nor connection with the audience.  If you're looking to satisfy the western/sci-fi crossover genre appetite, The Warrior's Way is a better bet (I've already posted this blog).  They don't make westerns like they use to.  The last true western film that was as good as the classics was 2007's 3:10 to Yuma

My rating: 2.5 out of 5


2 comments:

  1. OK, I have to say I was looking forward to this film. Unfortunately it wasn't worth "a spit". While the effects were believable, the story was woefully weak in it's continuity. C'mon... an alien tower in the middle of the desert that has NO surveillance? Unlikely. Killing aliens with ray guns with knives and arrows? Impossible. I'm beginning to believe that Steven Spielberg is producing nothing but garbage. Too bad.

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  2. Yeah, I'm really disappointed with the pre-production of this film, especially in Steven Spielberg. He did better stuff when he was "hungry" for success which also made him more artistic and detail-oriented. Too bad, indeed.

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