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.

THOR

Paramount Pictures

Marvel Studios

Rated PG-13

Running time: 115 minutes















Click below to watch the Thor trailer.



In Paramount Pictures Thor, the Norse Asgardian god Thor, Chris Hemsworth, is stripped of his power by Odin the All-Father, Anthony Hopkins, for being too arrogant and is banished to Earth/Midguard. After hitting Hemsworth with her car, Natalie Portman takes the strange Hemsworth home as she believes he is a key to her scientific weather research.

Based on Marvel Comics Thor, this film was much more interesting in the Asgard and other realms than while being on Earth. While Earth had all the jokes, with the main settings being in a desert and a small town, it was rather boring compared to the family dynamics between Odin, Thor, and his brother Loki, Tom Hiddleston. Not even S.H.I.E.L.D made up for a boring Earth as S.H.I.E.L.D was just portrayed as another secret government agency that takes over everything and nothing was really spectacular about it. The movie trailer made S.H.I.E.L.D seem much more sinister. Agent Clark Gregg mentioned that Thor made the S.H.I.E.L.D agents look like minimum wage mall cops which was easy to do as the agents did act like mall cops and not the elite special operations teams that they should have been. While back in Asgard, it was rather touching and sad to see a sweet young Loki turn into a bitter man jealous of his beloved brother Thor. This was a better telling of betrayal than Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader. With director Kenneth Branagh's  Shakespearean roots, this definitely helped the story which is basically a retelling of Shakespeare's Henry V.

The frost giants were much more agile than what I imagined from the comic books, so the battles between them and the Asgardians were more intense than what I expected. And it is the invasion of the frost giants during his coronation that causes Thor to be arrogant in the first place as he wants to insure the safety of Asgard by invading the frost giants realm with the Warriors Three.

As Queen Frigga, Thor's mother, Rene Russo was an unexpected addition to the movie as I recall no publicity concerning her being a part of the film. Actually I did not recognize her until I read the end credits, although I knew that she had looked familiar when I saw her. There is also a bowman amongst the S.H.I.E.L.D agents Jeremy Renner who is uncredited as the character Hawkeye.

In the spirit of Asgard and the other realms, the credits were rather cosmic. There is also a scene after the end credits which goes more into Samuel L. Jackson and S.H.I.E.L.D which, when combined with all the references in the movie, lead to possible sequels like The Avengers.

The band Foo Fighters song "Walk" is also in the film because the filmmakers thought its lyrics were strangely appropriate for the film.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 115 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same langauge.