Cowboys & Aliens Movie Review

Here is yet another genre blending story. I’ve often wondered why this sort of thing has not happened before. When we get an alien invasion movie it’s more often than not set in the present or sometimes in the future. Why is it that no one thought to have aliens invade in a historical setting before Cowboys & Aliens (2011)?

It’s 1873 in the Arizona Territory, and a stranger (Daniel Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint of his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the population of Absolution doesn’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). It’s a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been.

As the title suggests, Cowboys & Aliens combines two genres that are at odds with one another; Western and Sci-fi. It’s really a pretty good western movie. It’s full of cowboys, Apaches, horses, stagecoach robbers, a preacher, a bartender named Doc (Sam Rockwell), a tyrannical rancher and his worthless son (Paul Dano), bandits, an ancient Indian cure for amnesia, beautiful women (including Abigail Spencer), a brave kid with a spyglass (Noah Ringer), and a plucky dog that follows the good guys for miles and miles though the desert. There’s racism and mistrust that runs rampant. All these mistrusting groups need to learn to overcome their differences as they fall under attack by otherworldly forces. Then the sci-fi is blended in with aliens, spaceships, bug-eyed monsters, a laser blasting wrist weapon, and alien abductions. The juxtaposition of these two genres makes for an interesting story; and the title tells you exactly what the movie consists of.

Cowboys & Aliens makes a pretty good western without the aliens. It’s got all the classic elements of a good western. But alas, we’re told that the western genre is dead. I don’t agree. The last kid-focused western was Rango, and that was quite good. Other recent westerns that I can think of include True Grit and 3:10 to Yuma and those were also really good. I suppose there hasn’t been enough action movies set in the old west that were box office successes to make Hollywood want to invest in a genre that hasn’t been very popular since the late 1960’s. But do we really need to throw in sci-fi elements to get people to watch a western?

The cast in Cowboys & Aliens was phenomenal! It had a large cast that had high acting standards. Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig were made for roles like these. And director Jon Favreau actually gave the characters something to do rather than simply place them in front of special effects-laden backdrops. The characters are developed enough for us to care about them.

For all the fun special effects, characters, and action the story is pretty choppy and convoluted. The Apaches and marauders were a bit too eager join forces to help fight the aliens. Most of the scenes could probably have been done in any order rather than have an inevitable progression from one to the other. There’s also the illogical sci-fi trope that bestial monster aliens somehow are intelligent enough to build and fly spaceships. I choose to forgive this since most other aspects of this film were very well done. I did appreciate the fact that the aliens are never actually called “aliens.” That word was not in the old west vernacular.

With a title like Cowboys & Aliens we’re promised an exciting genre mash-up. This movie could have taken itself much too seriously to be any good, and yes there were times that it did take itself too seriously. Cowboys & Aliens is something like firing an old six-shooter. The aim is good, the ammo is plentiful, but there are times the just misfires. Is it good? Yeah, it’s okay. But it’s more fun than it is good. It’s worth seeing because of the unique blend of old western action coupled with an alien invasion. I’m still on the fence over whether or not this is worth owning a copy. I’d probably want to see it once more, but likely no more than that. It’s definitely worth renting, though.

What's another common character type that would be fun to pit against aliens? Ghosts? Detectives? What do you think might be a fun genre mash-up? Comment below and tell me about it!

Looper Movie Review

A good time travel movie will really make you think about the implications of time travel, the dichotomy of paradoxes, and possibly even philosophical differences between determinism and free will. I think that since I began watching Doctor Who, I expect a certain level of mind-bending awesomeness as I try to understand the time line. Looper (2012) was a well written time travel story that gives you a mental exercise as you watch an action packed movie.

Set in the near future of 2044, Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works as a hit man for the mob that exists 30 years in the future. Time travel hasn’t been invented yet, but it will be within the next three decades. It will become illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they send their target 30 years into the past where a “looper” like Joe is waiting to mop up. The target has silver strapped to him as payment for the looper. Joe’s friend Seth (Paul Dano), another looper, is paranoid about the mob deciding to “close the loop;” the looper’s contract is ended by sending the looper’s future self back to be killed by the looper, along with a very large payment. Joe is getting rich and life is good. But something is wrong when Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) appears for assassination unhooded. Young Joe’s hesitation costs him a lot when Old Joe knocks him out and goes about his own agenda. The mob of 2044 lead by Abe (Jeff Daniels) begins hunting down Young Joe for not taking out his target. Young Joe hunts down his older self to finish the job and get the mob off his back. Old Joe goes about an elaborate man hunt of his own while trying to keep Young Joe alive so that Old Joe himself doesn’t disappear before his objective is accomplished.

Looper is a very intelligently written movie. Some time travel movies sidestep paradoxes in the interest of telling a story. That causes the story to not make a whole lot of sense. Rather than avoiding paradoxes, Looper embraces them! By the end of the movie there are several impossibilities piling up, but we get an astonishing and logical conclusion that it’s as if the paradoxes created by time travel never existed. As far as time travel stories goes, I’m sure that even Doctor Who would be satisfied with it.

There was a really neat scene that only time travel can create where both Old and Young Joe meet in a diner, sitting across from each other in a booth. Imagine sitting across the table from yourself with a 30-year age difference. The two converse, which could open up an endless conversation about the emotions and metaphysics of encountering yourself this way. But interestingly, the conversation is left very simple and down-to-earth. Professional hit men must not be particularly inclined toward philosophical debate.

The actors do a fantastic job. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis both play the same character with a 30 year difference. It’s evident that the two actors spent a lot of time together to refine the one character they play. Levitt managed to perfectly imitate Willis’s pursed lip smirking smile, and Willis captivates some of Levitt’s subtle mannerisms. There was also a stunning makeup and prosthetics job done on Levitt to make him physically resemble Willis even more. You can’t help but believe that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will inevitably become Bruce Willis one day.

Really the only negative things I can say about Looper stem from my own personal preferences. It’s got a pretty bleak and pessimistic view of people. There are mobs and gang violence, drug use, hookers, and plenty of profanity. Even the time travel aspect tends to favor a determinist philosophy. Toward the end it ebbs more towards a standard shoot-‘em-up action movie. But none of this is incorporated without reason. The movie is about a hit man working for the mob; such individuals aren’t known for their scruples and ethics. The mob environment isn’t conducive to peaceful negotiations or friendly verbal exchanges.

I can’t fault the movie for these things since they are meaningfully built into the plot and character development. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but it was so well written and directed that I have to say Looper was a good movie that succeeds on its own merits. It’s not going to appeal to most viewers who don’t enjoy violent action movies, but even if that is the case for you, I still recommend seeing it because it’s such a well written time travel movie. I’m glad I saw it, but I probably won’t go out of my way to see it again, let alone get a copy of it. If you enjoy violent action movies, you practically owe it to yourself to see Looper.

What is your favorite time travel movie? Comment below and tell me why!

Little Miss Sunshine Movie Review

Comedy-drama movies are an odd thing. They juxtapose contrasting moods that ultimately form a story during which we can both laugh and cry. I’m sure that is an insanely difficult thing to pull off well. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) did it perfectly. I honestly can’t imagine a better film that is full of honest emotional drama and laughable situations.

In Albuquerque, Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) brings her suicidal brother Frank (Steve Carell) home to the care of her dysfunctional and bankrupt family. Sheryl’s husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) is unsuccessfully trying to sell his nine-step self-help and self-improvement technique to reach success. Her son Dwayne (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence as a follower of Nietzsche and aims to be a jet pilot. Dwayne’s grandfather Edwin (Alan Arkin) was kicked out of a retirement home for heroin addiction. When Sheryl’s seven-year-old daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) has a chance to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in Redondo Beach, California, the whole family travels together in their old Volkswagen Type 2 microbus. The Hoover family deals with every imaginable obstacle a road trip can have as well as escalating conflicts with one another as they try to give Olive every chance she can get to reach her dream.

The thing that stands out most to me in this movie is the acting. The performances are full of remarkable subtleties. The actors (and of course, the writer Michael Arndt) really grasp how unspoken reactions can be funnier than witty comebacks or sarcastic dialogue. It demonstrates also that pain and conflict can be the source of some of the funniest material. For example, Dwayne’s eyes frequently portray a bleak, dead outlook on life and the character is full of teenage angst and disgust. In reaction to his family’s antics, he just tilts his head in an almost imperceptible way to get us to crack up.

After the initial individual character introductions, there is a brilliant scene of the family dinner. This serves to develop the dynamics between the characters. The dialogue feels so natural here and we get a clearer understanding of how the family views one another and what kind of conflicts there are between family members. All the characters are so well developed that you can’t help but empathize with them and their losses and successes.

There is genuinely funny comedy in this movie. I was cracking up throughout the movie. But the funny moments come and go, and in their place is some very real drama. I felt bad when Olive cries for fear of being a loser and potentially losing her father’s love and respect. I felt uneasy when Frank’s academic rival appears at the same gas station, causing to resurface the feelings and thoughts that drove him to attempt suicide. I empathized with Sheryl who is at her wits end trying to keep the family together and happy. You will laugh and cry in this movie, and these two contrasting emotions the movie tries to elicit don’t detract from each other. It is excellent writing!

The Hoover family encounters just about every problem they can on a road trip. One of the earliest problems is after their first stop; they can’t get the VW bus to start again. The aging van’s clutch breaks. Since the van is so old and obsolete, the part must be special ordered which will take up to two weeks. Richard is unwilling to give up, and they take the advice of the mechanic; they push the van until they reach 20 miles per hour and start the engine in third gear. This means they avoid stopping unless absolutely necessary and that it takes a group effort to get the bus moving. Not only is this a hilarious running gag that is used in very creative ways, but it also represents the family needing to work together to keep the family moving and reach their goals.

I simply adore the overall theme of the movie. It is through pain and suffering that we learn and grow the most. The movie is about ideals and dreams versus illusions and reality. The beauty pageant in particular shows us thematically how ridiculous and subjective ideals are. The Hoovers are a family that suffers though trials together, refuses to give up, and decides to do what they like, in spite of what the world dictates is best.

Little Miss Sunshine is “rated R for language, some sex and drug content.” There really isn’t any sex in this movie; we just see the covers of some of grandpa’s porn magazines. We also see grandpa snorting heroin once or twice. I didn’t think it was worth getting offended by them. Language is pretty prominent, though. I do not like profanity, but there are situations in real life that are so intense that nothing can beat a well placed F-bomb. Little Miss Sunshine is full of situations like these. I don’t like how much profanity is in the movie, but it is meaningfully implemented. Anger, rage, and frustration become so intense that saying “gosh darn it” would just sound incredibly stupid.

Little Miss Sunshine is a beautiful movie that is very well written, remarkably well acted, and skillfully directed. There are reasons it won academy awards for best original screenplay. Even the cinematography and color palette are eye-catching. If you can tolerate the profanity, I highly recommend seeing this movie. It’s humbling and dramatic, but still hilarious and funny. I’ve got a copy sitting on my movie shelf along with other favorites.

What is a dramatic comedy, or “dramedy” movie that you really enjoyed? Do you have a favorite? Comment below and tell me why!