although i trust movie bob's review, alot of people have said that it is worth watching it anyway so i think i will, i'll report back when i have seen it (its not out in the uk till the 19 of aug) and hope it is worth the £15Abandon4093 said:
Escape to the Movies: Cowboys and Aliens
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
Okay, I'm going to defend this film. I'm not saying it deserves an Oscar but it was a solid summer film and was fun to watch. I am not sure what everyone was expecting from this piece to be so horribly disappointed.
Was it formulaic? Somewhat. What is predictable? Yea.
It was a WESTERN.
It was a Western more or less where everyone pulls together, gets on their horses and goes to find their missing loved ones. Except their loved ones are in the clutches of aliens rather than Native Americans or Outlaws or whatever.
The parallel between the Native Americans and the settlers and the aliens - wasn't addressed cause it didn't really need to be. The settlers of the time did not see themselves that way. We have a good chunk of time behind us to look back on so WE see the parallels. They wouldn't. Throwing in a blatant mention of it would have been an odd PC Aesop toss in. We HAD the parallel of the aliens see us as insects and underestimate us, Dolarhyde insults and underestimates the tribe's weapons and battle tactics.
We DID have parallels in the film, just less leaden ones. We had the whole Greed aspect in spades, it was the driving force that kept the two leads from trusting each other, and it was the whole reason the aliens were there.
Honestly I went into this expecting some B movie quality entertainment and was pleasantly surprised.
Was it formulaic? Somewhat. What is predictable? Yea.
It was a WESTERN.
It was a Western more or less where everyone pulls together, gets on their horses and goes to find their missing loved ones. Except their loved ones are in the clutches of aliens rather than Native Americans or Outlaws or whatever.
The parallel between the Native Americans and the settlers and the aliens - wasn't addressed cause it didn't really need to be. The settlers of the time did not see themselves that way. We have a good chunk of time behind us to look back on so WE see the parallels. They wouldn't. Throwing in a blatant mention of it would have been an odd PC Aesop toss in. We HAD the parallel of the aliens see us as insects and underestimate us, Dolarhyde insults and underestimates the tribe's weapons and battle tactics.
We DID have parallels in the film, just less leaden ones. We had the whole Greed aspect in spades, it was the driving force that kept the two leads from trusting each other, and it was the whole reason the aliens were there.
Honestly I went into this expecting some B movie quality entertainment and was pleasantly surprised.
I've gotta personally disagree with the entire review, Bob, though I respect your opinion, of course.
Honestly, I did NOT expect to walk out of the theater loving this movie. I thought it was just going to be incredibly goofy and forgettable, but... I dunno, something about it really struck a cord with me on every level. I loved pretty much everything about it. I'm not sure if I could exactly say why, but I did.
Am I the only one that thinks this way? I'm rather curious. Perhaps it's just one of those "made for me" things.
Honestly, I did NOT expect to walk out of the theater loving this movie. I thought it was just going to be incredibly goofy and forgettable, but... I dunno, something about it really struck a cord with me on every level. I loved pretty much everything about it. I'm not sure if I could exactly say why, but I did.
Am I the only one that thinks this way? I'm rather curious. Perhaps it's just one of those "made for me" things.
Now now, Bob has shown in the past that he can like silly when it's well executed. Heck, he makes clear that he came into this that he was expecting some straightforward fun but even that was denied from us in his opinion.AvauntVanguard said:
Hey Bob, way to blame this all on someone completely unrelated. Even if you dislike Abrams you can't deny that he is trying to do something original or at least do old stories in new and interesting ways. For someone who complains that movies are becoming bland and formulaic you seem to have trouble noticing attempts at innovating. Also with the whole Indians and manifest destiny subtext in the movie of course its being used for irony but part of irony is not pointing at it going "Hey look at that isn't that Ironic look at how clever we're being!"
I love how you can look at the comments section in Bob's reviews, and see page 1, "Wow, you are right Bob" whereas pages later, people completely disagree with him.
Incidentally, anybody notice that he hates every single movie that doesn't give him exactly what he expected?
Incidentally, anybody notice that he hates every single movie that doesn't give him exactly what he expected?
I liked it. It was like an old Clint Eastwood movie with monsters and spaceships. It is a fun action movie and if you like guns and monsters and complain about firefly not being on the air you should give it a look.
Bob doesn't get why the movie was bad? Here's why:
You can't take a simple concept (no matter how interesting), and just turn it into a movie expecting it to be good. You need to have a plot, and characters, and a SCRIPT, and it seems that movies like this take the one good idea, and fill the rest in like a Mad Lib. It was lifeless because it literally had no life.
You can't take a simple concept (no matter how interesting), and just turn it into a movie expecting it to be good. You need to have a plot, and characters, and a SCRIPT, and it seems that movies like this take the one good idea, and fill the rest in like a Mad Lib. It was lifeless because it literally had no life.
Oh, well that's just too badGlerken said:
OH LOOK, NUDITY! PG-13 NUDITY WHERE YOU SEE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! THAT'S TOTALLY OKAY!
Moviebob doesn't like JJ Abrams. I could be wrong there, but yeh, why else would anybody not like the last Star Trek movie? Just to be safe, I'm calling that a rhetorical question.pheipl said:
Anyway, best not to base your entire choice as to whether you go see a film or not on the basis of one film review. The other reviews I have read for Cowboys & Aliens have actually been overwhelmingly positive. I was meaning to give this film a shot anyway. It's actually Captain America I'm not in such a big rush to see.
When I first saw the trailer for this movie in theaters, everyone in the audience laughed when the title appeared. My dad said it was stupid, and my best friend thought the same, though my mom was interested in Harrison Ford being in it. I told them this movie was based on a comic book (apparently it was a graphic novel, my bad), and I told them, basically, that this could be a fun little movie. Cowboys fighting aliens. How awesome would that be?
I guess not so much.
I guess not so much.
I had more fun at this movie than with any other action-oriented movie that's come out in 2011 so far. Captain America had some scenes that got me excited, but it bored me at times. I really enjoyed Hanna, but I don't think it was trying to be a "fun" movie.
So I disagree with Bob; while this movie isn't deep, and it has flaws, it's worth a watch.
So I disagree with Bob; while this movie isn't deep, and it has flaws, it's worth a watch.