Topic: Cowboys & Aliens

‘Cowboys & Aliens’: The Trouble with Loving the Movie’s World But Not Its Characters

Cowboys & Aliens is probably the movie I’ve most been looking forward to in 2011: The so-crazy-it-might-work blending of sharpshooters and interstellar invaders, the comic book pedigree, Jon Favreau at the helm while Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford team up. And I liked it a lot; it was funny, suspenseful, and had a good mystery — and those aliens were damn scary. But it didn’t blow me away, and I’m still confused as to why. If I had to make a guess, I’d say it’s partly because I didn’t really care about the characters. More »

Damon Lindelof Rags on January Jones’ Acting

This is amazing: Upon seeing X-Men: First Class, geek scribe Damon Lindelof tweeted, Emma Frost’s THREE mutant powers: Telepathy, Transformation to Solid Diamond and last but not least, Sucking at Acting. While it’s a great putdown, and we’ve never been January Jones fans, I’m surprised that a Hollywood star who’s not an actor would say something negative about another actor. More »

7 Movies with Unbelievable Premises: Whether They Succeeded or Crashed and Burned

With many movies, especially the recent glut of remakes, it’s easy to figure out why they’re being made. But others, including three releases from this week — Passion Play, The Beaver, and Hobo with a Shotgun — have plots so implausible that they must be jokes, we thought, until they actually came to theaters. Find out how aliens, hand puppets, angel wings, deadly snakes, and mythical characters all made it to the big screen, and whether they made good on their promises to entertain. More »