Cowboys & Aliens: Review, Discuss, Grade, Sequel, DVD **SPOILERS**

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Captain Craig, Jul 29, 2011.

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How do you grade Cowboys & Aliens?

Poll closed Feb 14, 2012.
  1. A

    13 vote(s)
    22.8%
  2. B

    26 vote(s)
    45.6%
  3. C

    12 vote(s)
    21.1%
  4. D

    2 vote(s)
    3.5%
  5. F

    4 vote(s)
    7.0%
  1. Brikar99

    Brikar99 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, Ella said these were the scouts before the invasion.
     
  2. Hyperspace05

    Hyperspace05 Commodore Commodore

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    Why not? What would you prefer? Water? :lol: :guffaw: :rofl:

    If aliens come for any specific substance, a relatively rare but useful metal sure works better than the usual subjects that aliens seem to want that are plentiful throughout the solar system (and perhaps the universe). Minor rocky planets such as Earth are great places to find rare metals/minerals at low relative cost.
     
  3. Vendikarr

    Vendikarr Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    True, but apparently they were going to invade to take our gold. Still basically a robbery.

    Another thing I got a kick out of was what a survivor the dog was.

    Lonnegan kills the men it's traveling with, so it goes with him. It stays with him until it latches onto the boy probably figuring the boy would be the best one to care for it.

    When the alien attacks the riverboat, the dog takes off. It later finds itself in the company of the outlaw gang until Lonnegan shows up again. It follows him til reunited with the boy.

    At the end when Lonnegan leaves, the dog decides its best chance at survival is with the sheriff and the boy.

    Talk about a character with a highly developed survival instinct.
     
  4. DarthTom

    DarthTom Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I didn't see the film over the weekend but I did see the season premier of Ancient Aliens on Friday which interestingly enough dovetailed this season's first show with the old West.

    Some at the marketing department at the HS channel is thinking in advance.
     
  5. marillion

    marillion Vice Admiral Admiral

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    As I too, am in Nuevo Mexico, I was watching with interest. While the little mining town of Absolution has no historical place in New Mexico, it is referenced that the federal marshal was going to take Jake and Percy to Santa Fe. Were they in Arizona, they would have likely been taken to Tucson or Phoenix.

    Gold was historically mined (with limited success) in various spots around the state, most notably in the mountains east of Albuquerque.

    I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, but perhaps not as much as I had hoped. My wife, who is not a fan of westerns at all, was not all that impressed.

    I really liked that it had an authentically "western" feeling to it and that townsfolk and Native Americans reacted much as I imagine they probably would have in real life.
     
  6. IndyJones

    IndyJones Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Is gold really any worse than Unobtanium?
     
  7. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I think my biggest complaint about the movie is Olivia Wilde's character turning out to be an alien. It felt kinda cheap, like they did it just to provide exposition for the aliens. It made them feel a lot less scary having somebody there who already knows all about them.
     
  8. DarthTom

    DarthTom Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    :guffaw: Yea. Trans-galatic aliens take the time, resources, and trouble to invade earth - fight us - for liquified water when it's much more easily extractable in solid form as ice as close as our moon. Or it can be derived from hydrogen molecules much easier which is very plentiful in the galaxy.
     
  9. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It absolutely is. It's easier to argue with, because we know what it is. It's like asking if gold would make less sense than dilithium for running the Enterprise's warp engines - the answer is "gold wouldn't make much sense, period, and I don't know what the other thing is like."

    This one has tanked hard. It may lose the weekend to The Smurfs, and even if it squeaks by the projections now are for the blue dudes to pull in more money on first release than C&A.
     
  10. RandyS

    RandyS Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Screw the critics. Go see it and use your own brain to decide if you like it or not.

    Now, I haven't seen it yet, but I'd like to.
     
  11. Captain Craig

    Captain Craig Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well it seems Cowboys and Aliens edged out the Smurfs for #1 afterall. The reported figure is $36.4m for its opening 3-day haul.
     
  12. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Let me say this movie is fucking awesome! It takes a standard western with all the typical western tropes but throws aliens into the mix and it totally works. All the characters were cool and fun. Even though Harrison Ford's character's son was annoying, he got what was coming to him (constantly getting his ass kicked by Daniel Craig) so I can tolerate him. I did think the relationship between Harrison Ford and the young Native American who was kind of his adopted son was interesting.

    My only real complaint is with the aliens themselves, mainly that they're generic aliens for movies today. Computer generated beasts with weird anatomies, don't talk or really communicate in any known fashion. They consider humans to be a lower form of life, "like insects" and are performing unspecified experiments on them. And their ship has dark interiors with what looks like organic components. The aliens maybe disappointing but the cowboys themselves kick ass.

    Best line of the movie: "Don't yank on it, it's not your pecker."
     
  13. DarthTom

    DarthTom Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks for the review and spoilers don't bug me at all.

    Regarding the above, I always thought the way Trek depicted aliens they meet where they virtually instantaneously are able to communicate with each other as utterly absurd.

    For me, it's far more realistic that in an alien invasion scenario we would not be able to communicate with them because much of language and communication is having a common frame of reference and without that it's virtually impossible to do so.

    That may not work well for writers and the plot but it's much more realistic.

    My hesitation seeing this film is still the fact that it's based on Western/Cowboy themes which typically I hate.
     
  14. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I won't deny it's realistic, but to me realism isn't entertaing.
     
  15. I Grok Spock

    I Grok Spock Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yep, it fit the milieu or genre or whatever.

    This was pure popcorn fun. No deep thinking required or desired. If you like the people behind and/or in front of the camera, you'll probably like this movie.
     
  16. archeryguy1701

    archeryguy1701 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    It was a decent movie. I liked Daniel Craig and I thought Harrison Ford did a great job. Overall, it was pretty entertaining and I will pick it up when it comes out.

    With that said, I must admit that I was left a little disappointed. Every other movie I've watched for the first time over the last several months really sucked me in, whether it be that I was grinning through out or really invested in what happens to the main characters or that I was just straight up having a ton of fun watching it. I've had some good luck picking movies lately. However, C&A failed to really suck me in. It was entertaining, but it never really got me "worked up". Based on this, I'll give it a B.
     
  17. Velocity

    Velocity Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Gold is desirable because of its properties like it doesn't combine with other elements readily -- it doesn't rust, etc. I think gold makes sense as the maguffin.
    Fun movie. I think some people are just put off by the Western/SF mix. Firefly had the same problem at first. I must say that one of my favorite parts was Daniel Craig's ass in chaps.
     
  18. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Yeah, agreed. It was fun, but I kept finding myself looking around the theater at other things.
     
  19. Set Harth

    Set Harth Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Other things in the theater were more interesting than the movie?:eek:

    That's not a good sign.
     
  20. OdoWanKenobi

    OdoWanKenobi Admiral Admiral

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    It was ok, I guess. The plot is pretty standard, and predictable. There's some entertaining action, and Craig and Ford are always good. It just feels kinda hollow, though. There's something definitely missing. I couldn't help but think that I might have just preferred an actual western with this same cast, and just forget this alien nonsense.