Sunday, August 7, 2011

Cowboys and Aliens

As world continues to go down the tubes around us, I don't know about you, but we need some light-hearted diversion.  We've gone to see a handful of the "summer blockbuster" movies: Thor, Captain America, and Cowboys and Aliens. 

I've read some critical things about the movie, basically complaining that it isn't a compelling story with characters you want to get to know.  Get a grip, people: it's not Shakespeare, it's freakin' Cowboys and Aliens!  There's a lot of explosions, chases, Apaches, authentic period firearms, fights with bad-ass looking aliens, what more could you want? 

The story asks the question, "what if alien abductions took place in the old west?".  Daniel Craig wakes up in the 1873 Arizona back country with some sort of strange "bracelet" on his left wrist and no memory of who he is, or much of anything else.  Turns out he's a robber who got abducted along with his girlfriend but managed to escape.  Harrison Ford plays a tough, grizzly, old Civil War veteran turned cattle magnate with a useless son and very useful, adopted Apache son.  Olivia Wilde is not just thrown in for the obligatory beautiful girl who has to be in any blockbuster movie; her character has a very big and important, but secret, part in the movie.  The aliens aren't just here to abduct folks, probulate them, mine their nose nuggets, and set them free; they're here for our gold! 

So while there's still a civilization around us, enjoy some recreation.  It can't all be prepping, training, drilling, reinforcing your retreat and loading ammunition.  You might wanna consider taking advantage of civilization within the next week or so. 

Just sayin'...


2 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to Cowboys and Aliens when it comes out on DVD. I'm a Daniel Craig fan and as much as I like Sean Connery's acting, I think Craig makes an even better 007.

    Trivia: there was a good Burt Reynolds movie many years ago called "Stick" (based on the novel by Elmore Leonard). In it, there is a Hollywood producer trying to get funding from a multi-millionaire and a couple of drug kingpins looking to launder some of their money. IIRC, the movie he was trying to get funded was called "Cowboys and Aliens". This was back in the early eighties, I think.

    BTW, Francis W. Porretto at Eternity Road (http://www.eternityroad.info/index.php) - a very intelligent and witty writer of both libertarian-type novels and blogs - recommends Captain America as a "must see ASAP" movie. If you are not already reading his blog, you might want to head on over there. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't have him listed on my site, although I check his blog every day. Time to fix that.

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  2. I agree with Captain America as must see. It was surprisingly good. I was a bit afraid they'd make it too mushy and "global", but it wasn't.

    If you go see it, sit through all of the credits, for a preview of the next movie. Same thing they did in Iron Man 2 last summer, and Thor a few weeks ago.

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