I already glossed over my feelings on Jon Favreau’s “Cowboys & Aliens” at Comic-Con. In short, I find it to be an incredibly taxing exercise with zero character development, vacant of energy and held together by incredibly lazy screenwriting. But for the sake of the western, I hope it does well at the box office. So if you happen to see the film this weekend, come on back here with your thoughts.
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43 responses to “Tell us what you thought of ‘Cowboys & Aliens’”
I can’t bring myself to see it.
Will there be a Crazy, Stupid, Love thread too? My favorite films this year are The Tree of Life, Beginners, Jane Eyre, Certified Copy, The Sunset Limited, Rango, Limitless, and Source Code and this BLEW THEM AWAY (well not The Tree of Life) so I am very curious to know the thoughts of others on this site.
Haven’t seen it, but holy cow, have you heard about “Potter?” Fastest film to cross the global $1 billion mark, and the first of the series to do so as well. By the looks of it, this may be the second best global gross of all time.
Might see it tonight. This negative criticism is disappointing though.
Love westerns. Love sci-fi. Love mashups and there’s something ironic about aliens and cowboys in particular as frontier characters that actually makes them a perfect match. The casting is ideal. Craig looks perfect for the Western era. Ford goes against type and do what he should have been doing for the last 10 years…become a character actor. Then you have other talented actors in here as well. This seems like it has all the potential in premise, cast, and crew, but suffered from 6 screenwriters.
Saw it today. It was much, much better than those piece of shit excuses for movies, The Green Lantern and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The meshing of genres didn’t entirely work, but I was never bored. Worked better as a western. Paul Dano was hilarious.
It’s a very competent action movie, but it lacked the great characterization necessary to go to the next level. I’d rate it about a B.
This was definitely Harrison Ford’s most interesting role in a long time. He had most of the best character moments.
I didn’t see ‘Cowboys & Aliens,’ but at the theater everyone over 65 was buying tickets to ‘C&A’. My friend and I were shocked at how appealing it apparently is for the geriatric set (Harrison Ford maybe?). Also, funny fact: I heard MANY of them call it ‘Cowboys & Indians.’
Can we have a joint Tell Us What You Thought Of ‘Friends with Benefits’/’Crazy, Stupid, Love’ thread?
I had little desire to see ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ before the reviews. And then the bad buzz killed my desire altogether. I still may get to it eventually because it seems to be doing better with the public than critics; albeit, not much better.
I thought that it was a hopeless mess. I love Favreau, but the five writers left so many plotholes in this one that it was mystifying. I almost wept watching Paul Dano make a fool of himself after his incredible performance in There Will Be Blood. There were several laugh out loud moments for me at the absurdity of the script like how they try to help Craig with his amnesia I won’t spoil it however flimsy I found the idea. Harrison Ford looked bored out of his mind. I love seeing Daniel Craig on screen, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care at all about any of the characters or find any real tension in the story. I mean it is never even truly clear why the Aliens show up in the first place…..The answer seemed to me to be so that they could make a movie. One minute guns won’t work on the aliens, then they do. Daniel Craig can’t remember what happens, but others can. It was a mess.
James, I love westerns. Maybe I don’t know enough about this movie, but it didn’t really strike me as a western, at least as I’m used to thinking of them. I was really skeptical before it was released. The buzz and reviews didn’t help sell it for me.
The majority of my family (minus myself) went to see it. They thought it was okay, but nothing special. Craig and Ford didn’t overly impress them and Olivia Wilde was horrible.
And yes, please put a Crazy Stupid Love article on here.
Haven’t seen Friends with Benefits, but am curious to hear any reactions about Crazy, Stupid, Love if anyone has seen it . . .
I might go but the buzz is really horrible. I am skeptic. Maybe after a couple of weeks for the really cheap shows.
Dano was easily the worst part of There Will Be Blood
I agree with Rashad.
I found it curiously uninvolving. My mind kept wandering. And I kept feeling sorry for the actors, like Sam Rockwell. What a waste. But if you’re just going for the air-conditioning and being with friends for a summer movie (and you’ve seem everything else), why not?
I guess I’m surprised as to why people were expecting the movie to be good? Not being sarcastic. I must not know the background of this movie. For me, the premise just seemed ridiculous. I have no problem with popcorn movies, either. I just couldn’t muster up any interest.
I highly recommend CrazyLoveStupid. Well produced and directed and funny.
I had a bit of fun with it but damn, Olivia Wilde’s character. Was any of that really….necessary?
@Keith- just got home from seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love and my immediate reaction was: well acted, entertaining, and probably one of the best “rom-coms” I’ve seen all year (granted, I’ve seen very few that I would deem even remotely worthwhile/it’s only the end of July). IMO, it’s not ‘Bridesmaids’ hilarious, but there are definitely funny moments which overall outweigh any flaws. It’s a weaker script, but the chemistry between every single actor is very obvious and I truly enjoyed watching Carell and Gosling team-up. I was a little lost as to all the random side-tangents (i.e. Kevin Bacon’s involvement and Gosling/Stone’s romance that is never really played out to its fullest) but it all seems to work out by the end. In other words, go see it- it’s worth your money!
The shallow and contrived CRAZY STUPID LOVE is not worth anyone’s time or money. It’s a bad weekend for movies unless you’re close to a theater showing ATTACK THE BLOCK or THE GUARD. Ryan Gosling is the real deal, though.
Am I doing something wrong? I’m getting emails of new comments but when I come here, the comments aren’t here?
“Crazy Stupid Love” was great. One of the best romantic comedies I’ve seen in a long time.
I didn’t see C & A. I saw Crazy, Stupid, Love and it was okay. I also saw Attack the Block and it was fun.
Thanks, Dana! And everyone else. Rom Coms are generally a plagued genre and I’m not usually interested in them, but I was curious about CSL, primarily because of the cast. So thanks for the feedback!
Would love to see Attack the Block and the Guard. The buzz is strong on both.
@ Keith
CSL is the first studio rom-com I can recall seeing in a looong time. It’s probably the most formulaic major genre in Hollywood, and it’s sucked the soul out of more promising actresses than I care to recall (remember when Jennifer Lopez was a promising talent?), but I decided to see this one based on some of the reviews and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The characters felt like people rather than types, which is a huge thing to say about a film in this genre.
Saw it tonight. It was entertaining enough, but nothing that special. Character motivations were, for the most part, a bit sketchy. It’s certainly not anywhere as good as the Deathly Hallows Part 2, but I could think of worse ways to spend a couple hours of my time.
I’ll throw in another vote for Crazy Stupid Love. Gosling and Stone owned and Carrell played the same character as always, which is just fine with me. Kind of lulled at parts and could have stood to be 20 minutes shorter, but overall was really fun.
Abysmal.
If you think too much about it, it’s pretty bad. I enjoyed it though. Nice popcorn flick.
I was not thinking at all. Once I had seen the trailers for Battleship, Final Destination 5 and Killer Elite I stopped thinking. It did not work and I hated Cowboys and Aliens.
The story was ridiculous, the dialog corny and really there was not one redeeming feature. Not the special fx, sound or costumes. Nothing.
Also is there a rule that says Matthew Libatique can only be excellent when he works with Aronofsky?
I still wonder to this day how that 2009 Star Trek movie is so good despite that team of Orci/Kurtzman/Lindelof that seems to just lead to poor films.
This movie honestly made me a little nervous about Prometheus. Thanks Cowboys and Aliens.
Better than I expected, which doesn’t say much since I expected an atrocity. Daniel Craig’s inherent watchable-ness did a long way for me to get through the film as well as them not taking the whole thing too seriously.
Hate it or love it, though, the aliens were sufficiently well-made. It’s been ages since I’ve been truly freaked out by movie aliens. Those hands… THOSE HANDS… they will haunt my nightmares for awhile.
“I still wonder to this day how that 2009 Star Trek movie is so good despite that team of Orci/Kurtzman/Lindelof that seems to just lead to poor films.”
It isn’t good though. The screenplay is appalling. Watch it back to back with Wrath of Khan, there really is no comparison.
10 years from now people will look back at Kurtzman and Orci’s slew of ‘blockbusters’ and wonder: “How the hell did THEY get work?!”
I thought it was a ton of fun. The script is easily the weakest element, but the performances, action, cinematography, & production design were enough to get past the weaknesses of the writing. I dug it. It was the most invested Ford has been in nearly 20 years. I’d definitely say Super 8 and Attack the Block were better films, but I still thought this one was a ton of fun. I’m not sure how anyone can say the script for this is worse than, say, Transformers 3, which I also really enjoyed, but the script for that one is pretty atrocious. Whatever, I dug Cowboys & Aliens. Sue me.
P.S. Is there going to be a thread for Attack the Block? Have you seen that one Kris?
I wouldn’t say the script for Cowboys is better than Transformers 3 but the latter has other quality elements that help make it an entertaining action film. I didn’t like any of the aspects of Cowboys above or below the line.
As for Star Trek, the screenplay is far from the best part of the film but overall the I love the sum of the parts of that film.
I haven’t seen Attack the Block. Frankly I’m tired of hearing about it in the blogosphere. Need some distance before I even bother taking a look.
I know the feeling. I dug the film but I’m also tired of hearing about it. Feels like this year’s Scott Pilgrim in terms of over-saturation in the blogosphere.
It was terrible, exactly the kind of dumb niche high concept that Internet geeks try to convince studios that general public would like and general public never does. And then the geeks end up not liking it either. Bad, stupid, pointless, boring characters, ridiculous plot devices, Olivia Wilde, crap effects. RDJ was right to bail out of this disaster thought his name and charisma would at least give it a bigger lead over Smurfs. Craig is no movie star charisma and draw, Ford is past his prime and Wilde is one of many interchangable starlets. Nothing to see in here.
Just terrible — really bad…
It was joyless. For those who are saying we should have all known it would be bad based on its premise, I disagree. The movie just takes the lazy, unimaginative route on every single plot point in the film. There’s no mayhem, no glee, no imagination. It also features some of the most bizarrely boring exposition I have ever been forced to sit through. Without going into specific spoilers, I thought the explanation of Craig’s myserious”past” so unimportant and trivial that upon its explanation, it was the only time I laughed out loud. This made me think that Iron Man was a fluke, because this sinks even lower than Iron Man 2 for Favreau…
It’s a shame. Word of mouth is going to kill this thing. Everyone I know who’s seen it: from my dad, to my brother, to coworkers … all I’ve heard was “it wasn’t very good”, “ehh, it was okay, don’t run out to see it”, or “I was bored”. :(
Loved it! Haters hegone. What movie did you guys see? This has a fun script, it takes itself seriously rather than being an ARMY OF DARKNESS style goof, it actually invests itself in its characters, and Harrison Ford jas his best role since THE FUGITIVE. Great summer blockbuster.