Social Networks

Back to website

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Only 2 Stars Out of 4


The reviewer (below) isn't thrilled with the most anticipated movie of the summer. I'm crushed and hope to disagree with him when I see it this weekend.  As you know, I write Westerns as well as Contemporary romance and I have been long-awaiting this movie, even before all the hype.

More than a year ago, I was on a plane, going to Texas and I sat next to a young man who was a "special effects" artist.  We got to talking and he told me about a project he was working on... a movie with a strange title, Cowboys and Aliens.  Of course, I told him my Old West connection and he pulled out a portolio and showed me his monsters, effects, even a weird looking cow, that he'd worked on for the movie.  It was really neat seeing those "aliens" from the beginning stages and we spent the next hours on the plane talking movies and special effects and of course, books!

Needless to say, I'm hoping this reviewer got it wrong.   Wild horses, couldn't stop me from seeing this movie this weekend.  :)

Here's the review: 

"Cowboys & Aliens" — Director Jon Favreau's genre mash-up is more a mush-up, an action yarn aiming to be both science fiction and Old West adventure but doing neither all that well. The filmmakers — and there are a lot, among them 11 producers or executive producers including Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, plus half a dozen credited writers — start with a title that lays out a simple but cool premise: invaders from the skies shooting it out with guys on horseback. For all the talent involved, they wound up keeping the story too simple, almost simple-minded, leaving a terrific cast led by Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde stuck in a sketchy, sometimes poky tale where you get cowboys occasionally fighting aliens and not much more. Craig's a stony-faced amnesiac with a weird hunk of metal locked on his wrist who wanders into a dusty town just before alien craft swoop in and start abducting the locals. He joins cattle baron Ford's posse to retrieve the missing and teach these creatures not to mess with hardy western pioneers. PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference. 118 minutes. Two stars out of four.

— David Germain, AP Movie Writer








3 comments:

Laurence Brown said...

You're a great author, I'm looking forward to your next book. More power.

Robin said...

Hi, Charlene! I'm seeing this movie no matter what! I *love* Daniel Craig and I'm expecting to love the movie. :)

It was great seeing you yesterday! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Nas said...

Hi Charlene,

I always liked to watch Daniel Craig in action so I have high expectation for Cowboys and Aliens!

Thanks for coming along to my Lynne Marsshall post, today I have Christina Hollis visiting with a yummy recipe!