Cowboys & Aliens

Universal Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 118 minutes



Set in the old west, Universal Pictures Cowboys & Aliens has amnesiac Daniel Craig waking up with an alien weapon strapped to his wrist and soon comes up against aliens from space.

When Craig arrives in a frontier town, the townspeople realize he is a wanted criminal and the sheriff arrests him. Cattle rancher Harrison Ford wants revenge on Craig for what Craig did to his son and wants Craig for himself, but before Craig can get shipped off to a larger town for trial - aliens arrive and kidnap some of the townspeople, including Ford's son, the no good Paul Dano. Mysterious Olivia Wilde convinces Craig to go after the townspeople which would in the process help Craig recover his lost memory. Craig joins Ford as they go on a quest to bring Ford's boy and the rest of the townspeople home from the aliens.

This film is True Grit meets Battle Los Angeles with the film being mostly a western. There is hardly any hi-tech gadgetry aside from Craig's wrist gun and the foo fighters.

The reason the aliens are here is not really explained aside from the initial reason - nor the reason why the beastial aliens kidnapped people in the first place, although Craig looks like he was part of an experiment. With Ford turning out to be a former Army officer, the movie soon turns out to be an Indiana Jones meets James Bond movie, although I accepted British Craig as an American. Soon, all the various human groups - townspeople, cattle ranchers, stage coach robbers, and native americans - join forces against the aliens in a battle for survival.

I was upset the dog was not used more throughout the movie. What should be obvious with the dog, but then he would just be there, then disappear, then show up again and that was rather irritating for a such a neutral character. Other than those things, I thought this off-beat movie was pretty good.

The director Jon Favreau also insisted the film should only be shot on film since this is a Western, so I do not think there will be any 3-D versions of this film.

See UFO Bob's video review of Cowboys & Aliens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-6dQO6d74E

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 118 minutes.

Pancho

All people smile in the same langauge.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Paramount/Marvel Studios

Rated PG-13

Running time: 124 minutes

Set during World War II, Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger has 98 lb. weakling Chris Evans becoming the subject for an experimental super-soldier serum - and then becomes Captain America.

After being discovered in a block of ice in the present day arctic ruins of a huge flying wing plane, the film then tells the World War II story of Evans. Although it is a simpler time, the country is at war. Despite his physical unfitness as a recruit, Evans is determined to be accepted into the Army. When discovered by scientist Stanley Tucci, Evans is given the chance to develop his natural human potential in a top-secret defense project. After Evans is processed with the super-soldier treatment, Tucci is then killed by an agent of The Red Skull Hugo Weaving - the head of Nazi Germany's research department and their own version of a super-solider accidentally created by Tucci. Weaving uses the Cosmic Cube from the movie Thor to create a series of high tech energy weapons to arm his army of HYDRA in his pursuit for world domination. Without Tucci's support, the now muscular Evans becomes an American USO poster boy punching Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the jaw. Despite the support of British agent Hayley Atwell and Dominic Cooper the inventor - and father of Iron Man - who supplied Evans his iconic bullet-proof American shield, Colonel Tommy Lee Jones consigns Evans to the USO. Disgruntled at this branding role Jones has put him in, Evans soon goes off to rescue his captured best friend Sebastian Stan - as Captain America.

The cameo by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in present-day New York City sets up for the superhero team movie The Avengers. At the end of the movie is the trailer for The Avengers. Too bad the movie leads up to The Avengers as Captain America sets up The Howling Commandos during World War II, a series I would have liked to have seen.

Although initially I was not that interested in watching a World War II comic book movie, despite my being a fan of Captain America, this is the best of the comic book super-hero movies of the 2011 summer. Evans character as Steve Rogers/Captain America may seem a little two-dimensional, but his sincerity and drive eventually makes you care about him and towards the end he starts to have a little dimension to him - especially when you discover he has become a fish-out-of-water.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 124 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Horrible Bosses

New Line Cinema

Rated R

Running time: 98 minutes



In New Line Cinema's Horrible Bosses, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis are employees with horrible bosses - psycho Kevin Spacey, nympho Jennifer Aniston, and druggie slacker Colin Farrell. So the guys decide to kill their bosses.

This is one of the funniest movies I had ever seen. I was surprised at how funny it was to me. A very politically incorrect movie as the guys are so fed up with their bosses, enough to kill them, and enlist the help of ex-con Jamie Foxx to be their murder consultant. Kevin Spacey was great as usual as a psycho and the movie focuses more on how bad he is, as compared to hot Jennifer Aniston's and druggie Colin Farrell's small roles. A combination of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train and Throw Momma from the Train, this film concentrates more on the guys doing things, such as breaking into homes as they search for a way to kill their bosses as well as their comedic consequences. Although this movie is similar to Throw Momma from the Train, this movie is much funnier. One of the funniest scenes is when Charlie Day does an internet search for an assasin.

Cameos by Donald Sutherland and Bob Newhart were cute. The outtakes at the end of the movie were cute, but not as funny as the movie.

Rated R for violence, langauge and sexual situations. Running time: 98 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same langauge.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 157 minutes
















Click below to watch the Transformers: Dark of the Moon trailer.



In the third installment of Transformers, Paramount Pictures Transformers: Dark of the Moon, has the Autobots discover that humanity's space race to the moon was the result of an event - the discovery of a crashed Cybertron spaceship.

The basic story of the movie was interesting about the secret of why we had the first landing on the moon, with a cameo by astronaut Buzz Aldrin, although the filmic use of historical presidential leaders was not as good as in X-Men: First Class. The various Transformers fight scenes were mind-numbingly over the top. At over 2 1/2 hours, half the movie was of CGI Transformers fighting and most of the time - because they are so detailed - you can not tell the Transformers apart during the battles. As a result, you do not care about the Transformers - especially when there is a lot of collateral damage. I wanted the film to get on with the story. You initially do not see any consequences of the collateral damage caused by the battles of the Transformers. It is not until the last act of the movie where human bystanders are disintegrated by the Decepticons fire that there consequences. The military was intelligently used against the Decepticons fighting for their home which made you care more about the battle scenes as you relate to the soldiers. The skydiving scenes were incredible, but still the battle scenes was mostly Transformers mayhem which got old very fast.

The new girl Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is okay, but being suddenly so intimate with the Transformers world seemed a bit much when you realize Shia LaBeouf''s previous girlfriend from the other Transformers movies Megan Fox is out of the picture. Having Leonard Nimoy being the voice of the Transformer leader Sentinel Prime was great in that for a new character, you care immediately about him.

Rated PG-13 for violence.

Pancho
All people smile in the same langauge.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 130 minutes

In Warner Bros. Pictures Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2, this last movie of the Harry Potter series continues where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 left off - where everything comes to a head with evil Lord Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes, retrieving Professor Dumbledore's, Michael Gambon, wand and the battle for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry begins. The question now is - will Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, live or die?

The beginning of the movie will be confusing for people who are not familiar with the book, or at least the movies, as Emma Watson is disguised as the evil Helena Bonham Carter when they try to sneak into the wizard bank Gringotts. Harry eventually realizes his ultimate destination is his second home, Hogwarts. In events that take place basically in one night, Voldemort and his Death Eaters and his bestial army attack Hogwarts demanding Harry Potter's surrender. Meanwhile, Harry and his friends Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are searching to destroy the last of the horcruxes in Hogwarts that are in actuality the last parts of Voldermort's soul in order for Voldermort to cheat death. The teachers and students of Hogwarts defend their school as Voldmort and his minions attack. As in the book, several major characters die, although you usually do not see their actual deaths. Their deaths were very sad to see as their bodies are laid out at the end, but that is the consequences of war. Harry's decision to confront Voldemort, whose life has been intertwined with his ever since Harry's birth, was emotionally draining as Harry realizes his destiny.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 130 minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

Green Lantern

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 114 minutes

Click below to watch the Green Lantern trailer.



In Brightest Day,
In Blackest Night,
No Evil Shall Escape My Sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware My Power...
Green Lantern's Light!
- Hal Jordan/Green Lantern

In Warner Bros. Green Lantern, a dying alien Temuera Morrison bestows on cocky test pilot Ryan Reynolds a power ring and lantern which allows Reynolds to turn into an inter-galactic policeman - a Green Lantern.

With the release of a galactic villainous force Parallax, the inter-galactic police force - the Green Lantern Corps - try to contain him. With Parallax's ability to feed on fear, several Green Lanterns fall prey to the power of Parallax. When Parallax arrives on Earth to meet with it's telepathic scientist controlled subject Peter Sarsgaard - who was exposed to a part of Parallax during the autopsy of the alien Abin Sur/Temuera Morrison - it is the newest Green Lantern Reynolds who must overcome his fear and use his willpower to become Earth's last hope.

While the film tells the story of the origin of Hal Jordon/Ryan Reynolds who would go on to become the greatest Green Lantern of the Corps, the scenes on Earth are anti-climatic compared to Reynolds training scenes out in space on the planet Oa - home of the Guardians of the Universe. While this origin story is much better than Thor, the scenes at home at Coast City on Earth still seem a little trivial. Even though the origin scenes include Hal Jordon's comic book associates from the Ferris Aircraft company Blake Lively and Taika Waititi, as well as dealing with the loss of his test pilot dad, there is not as much angst as what would seem necessary for such an origin story. The climax does not seem as Earth-shattering as you would expect as it happens in one city instead of being world-wide.

What is good about the movie is that the movie looks like the comic book. That is what really made me want to see the movie is because it looked like the comic book, which looks amazing and not something really cheesy. Even the aliens looked believable which includes Geoffrey Rush, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mark Strong, and Clancy Brown - most of which are done through performance-capture. The computer graphics of the Green Lantern uniforms and the Green Lantern's animated light image of their willpower creations were also believable. The relationship with the Central Power Battery of Oa and the universe of Green Lantern was interesting and unexpected to me, which also leads to a potential sequel as hinted at during the end of the movie's credits which is not unexpected if you have read the comic books.

Cameos by Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett were not well used, even though they played powerful characters. Angela Bassett's character was especially disappointing as she is supposed to be the head of the intelligence organization Checkmate in the comic book.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 114 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.