Escape to the Movies: Cowboys and Aliens

[Harveypot]

THat's a shame. I was thinking of seeing that. Also, Attack the Block came out in the UK about 3 months ago but I never got to see it because the people who run the cinema are dicks. I was 15 but I needed ID and I don't have any so I never got around to seeing it.

 

[Frybird]

With unneeded jabs and rants like this, it's hard to take Bob seriously.

Unfortunately, most people seem to agree on what he had to say about Cowboys & Aliens.
One would think a project like this is a massive labour of love, and maybe it is, but when the product in the end just feels dull to the very people immediately sold on the premise, something gone REALLY wrong.

Thing is, the people agreeing with him haven't seen it. Look at the responses of the people that agree with him. They saw the trailer, their mom said they thought it would bomb, they thought it sounded interesting, it looks cool, but they haven't seen it and are just blindly agreeing. Then look at the people who say they've actually seen it.

I actually was referring to critics, or better said "reviewers". Especially /Film and AICN gave rather lukewarm reviews.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

Dis-a-pointing. Really, truly, crushingly so (dramatically speaking). I don't know why I wanted this to be compelling and awesome (besides it being great if everything was like that; so "in particular"), but I did, and hearing it's just a bit bland and underdeveloped... Le sigh.

Maybe it'll be a little better to my not-overexposed (or "hyper-refined" if you prefer) critical sensitivity, since I only see a couple of new films at the cinema a year (with rare exceptions for series I'm following, and when I'm paid to go).

 

[Mumorpuger]

Does anyone know where I can find a large image of the Avengers composite he shows in his credits? I want that as my wallpaper!

 

[Stammer]

Just saw it today. It was a fun movie, possibly because I haven't seen a lot of Westerns in my time so I wasn't COMPLETELY dulled-out by the cliches.

What really struck me was the sci-fi stuff. I dunno, maybe I've just been spoiled by Mass Effect's really realistic races and all the science I've read about space-faring species. But damn, everything about the aliens in this movie was COMPLETELY unrealistic. See below for a brief list of some of the unrealistic BS I was able to pinpoint:

Spoiler: ACTUAL SPOILERS CONTAINED

> A defense mechanism where they open up their rib cage and expose their heart? Again-- a DEFENSE MECHANISM. And it's not like their hearts are non-vital organs. A little kid stabs one in the heart with a knife and it kills him.
> A space ship that runs off of gold? They say that gold is as scarce a resource on their own home planet which is why they're mining earth's. AS A FUEL SOURCE. And that's assuming of course that a gold-based fuel wouldn't let off radiation.
> Placing the stasis pods where all of the aliens sleep directly surrounding the power core of the space ship? Even if the power source wasn't radioactive, that just seems like a really stupid design.
> We're supposed to believe these aliens are a space-faring species with these being their scientist/scouts, and yet: they don't wear any space suits at all, they use barely any technology whatsoever outside of their aircraft, they never communicate, they never emote, we're not shown any sign of intelligence at all.

The list goes on.

 

[Mister Linton]

I agree with whoever mentioned the double standard involved with character development. Captain America no character development = good, Cowboys & Aliens no character development = bad? What gives Bob?

 

[General Vengeance]

Ah, I might go see it anyway.

See this is why Hollywood continues to make crap, you "might go to see it anyway". If we continue to support movies with hype and no substance, then Hollywood won't learn anything.



Dull is the perfect word to discribe this movie thanks Movie Bob.

 

[ForensicYOYO]

i was looking forward to this coming out, mabey i will give it a miss then

This was the first movie in a while that I was actually looking forward to. Cowboys Indiana Jones and James Bond fighting aliens is boring? They must have tried to screw this one up.

Ah what a shame and I had high hopes for it.

I'll just skip this and wait for the eventual Netflix release.

Im sorry ladies and gentleman. I love movie Bob but he is wrong about this movie (for the most part). While they could have done a better job selling some of the plot lines, this was some of the most fun Ive had in a movie in a while. The action, punch lines, and characters were great( - Olivia Wilds character unfortunately). It even had moments that kept you at the edge of ur seat due to the suspense. I loved Captain America but the one thing the movie lacked for me was an action moment that you could leave with and say "That was awesome". Cowboys & Aliens had several. Trust me and see this.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Ah, I might go see it anyway.

See this is why Hollywood continues to make crap, you "might go to see it anyway". If we continue to support movies with hype and no substance, then Hollywood won't learn anything.



Dull is the perfect word to discribe this movie thanks Movie Bob.

And yet if I avoided movies just because some douche with a stick up his ass says it's bad then I wouldn't see very many movies, and I already don't see very many movies.

Also:

I agree with whoever mentioned the double standard involved with character development. Captain America no character development = good, Cowboys & Aliens no character development = bad? What gives Bob?

I've really begun to question Bob's credibility.

 

[maninahat]

Yes Bob, it's a real thing. That was apparent the last hundred times you brought it up in every other article or video. Thank goodness you kept this week's announcement relegated to a footnote.

Sucks to hear about the movie being boring. Crying shame. They shouldn't have gone wrong with a Western Predator hybrid. For goodness sake.

 

[Bungalow]

What is the screen grab at 1:42 from, at the point the adopted indian is mentioned?

It looks like a pirate-hatted Ninja kicking two mongols in the face. If that's from this film i may have to see it.

As for people talking of a double standard, I'm not sure it's useful to try and discern the set of rules that MovieBob, or any critic for that matter, use to develop their opinion, I don't think they exist. In some movies, I'm not worrying too much about character development because I'm too busy having a good time with the movie and the characters I've got. Normally if I worry a character isn't developing it's because they're not interesting me and I'm waiting for them to get more interesting.

Besides, if you're going solely by the voice of one critic, you may want to diversify your media somewhat, we all know MovieBob might not be the most objective of sources when it comes to comic/videogame movies. I for one do like hearing MovieBob's opinion on films, but I enjoy how he tells them alot more.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

Remember, Bob said The Last Airbender was worth seeing.

No he didn't. He said it was better than Eclipse. Other than that he tore it apart. And saying it's better than Eclipse isn't saying much.

 

[stueymon]

Wow, I'm kinda disappointed by this, I was expecting more from this film.

Also, Attack the Block really doesn't live up to expectations. I went to see it a couple of months ago and I cant remember anything interesting from it....But admittedly I was rather drunk..

 

[catfishtuna]

When I saw the add for this movie I thought, Oh Good Movie bob hasn't ripted a movie to shreds in a while. But no I guess it wasn't even good enough to warent a proper thrashing.

 

[SandroTheMaster]

Huh, Captain America holds true to its stereotypes and it is the best movie ever for it, Cowboys and Aliens do the same and it is boring for it.

 

[omegawyrm]

So wait, they don't broach the irony of alien invasion of earth being similar to the American invasion of the frontier? When I saw the trailer, I thought that was supposed to be the subtext of the whole movie.

 

[notimeforlulz]

I might go watch this regardless of Mr. Bob's criticism. His review is what I would describe Captain America as being, which I can describe as: "We're doing a slow mo action scene? Do we wanna put some effort into it? No, cool then"

Where as this appears to be a movie that has adopted the video game story method, Act II: Amnesia, Action, Inevitable betrayal. Act III: Action, Action, Action, friend in trouble, kill big bad. Act I: ????

 

[TheSchaef]

When it stops being considered surprising movies involving the Old West are usually gonna suck

3:10 to Yuma

This. 3:10 to Yuma, while some say not as thoughtful as the original, still blew away all my expectations about lame modern Westerns. I haven't yet seen True Grit, but not due to any lack of enthusiasm now that I know they're still making good Westerns.

But then, my favorite Western of the modern movie age before 3:10 came out was The Quick and the Dead, an over-the-top effort by Sam Raimi to tell a legendary story in a truly legendary style, much like 300 ultra-pimps the battle at Thermopylae.

Sounds like, with that many writers, the movie suffered from too many cooks in the kitchen. I might trust Orci and Kurtzman with it if it were supposed only to be what was advertised in the trailers: a sci-fi/Western mash-up with such an absurd premise, the only thing it could be is awesome. If it were meant to be allegorical to the crowding out of Injuns by palefaces, then I would think the metaphor would be much more plainly stated, like Section 9 parallels to apartheid, or the Animatrix segment Second Renaissance Part I, which directly recreated iconic images like Tiananmen Square and the execution of Nguyen Van Lem during the Tet Offensive.

But from the sound of it, and I think this would address the confusion about Bob's argument to depth of character, is that the movie suggests all of these things but doesn't actually reveal anything that's not already apparent. The depth is suggested but overplayed, the plot twists are hyped but predictable, the movie effectively is promising but not delivering, whereas Captain America told you exactly what it was and then f-ing did it.

One of the grand axioms of my education in music was that they can love you or they can hate you, but if you bore them, you're done. That may be the ultimate failing of this movie, that it's neither good enough for Bob to love, nor bad enough for him to hate, and forgettable is almost worse than just plain bad.

 

[Jarlaxl]

Saw Captain America last night. It was good, but it was far from the awesome zomgeverythingisawsum that Bob makes it out to be. It's formulaic to the point of hilarity (see: Diversity Squad being Captain America's right-hand men. Need I say more?). The thing is, Captain America does what it does well. It does one thing - it has the good guys beat up the bad guys, and then it calls it a day.

And that is fun to see, and that is all this movie was. It called down the whole Big Book of Cliches and Tropes, and it didn't matter. They're not what guided the movie.

I thought that Sucker Punch was a flaming pile of dog crap because it had interesting concepts with a wet batch of paper acting as a "script" - and without a script, there's nothing holding those interesting concepts together. Bob apparently thought that it was fab-u-lous.

I have some reason to question his judgment, as you might be able to tell. C&A is no different. I'm going to see this movie, and, yes, I will probably be let down big time. But:

a) I <3 Harrison Ford
b) Cowboys vs. Aliens
c) Explosions
d) Did someone say Olivia Wilde nude scene?

Maybe it will overplay tropes and cliches. As long as it doesn't try to do too many things at once, that's alright. It should have cowboys fighting aliens, there should be explosions, and I should be able to turn off my brain for 2 hours with little issue. Bob's critiques all seemed to come from the fact that he was expecting a deeper experience.

I...I don't understand why he would.