Cowboys and Aliens

was exactly what the title and the trailer promised. I was excited by both, so I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. If the sheer silliness of either one turned you off, you will probably hate the film.

The basic formula for this movie seems to have been simple: do every basic western cliche, then add aliens. So, we have the bad man whose love for a woman redeemed him, the man who owns a town, his useless son, the well-meaning but scared sheriff, the bookish doctor who grows a spine, the young boy who has to grow up, the gang with members both tough and goofy--you get the idea. Then we add the aliens, who are equal parts Aliens and Predators, but nowhere near as badass as either one. Stir with a little unrequited romance, season with kick-ass leads (Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde each do everything you could ask of them), toss in a mystery third force, sprinkle with tons of explosions and dead bodies flying right and left, and you have a film.

A pretty damn fun one, though as you can tell, not one that can handle (or requires) intellectual scrutiny.

As I said at the beginning, for most people it will be easy to tell if you'll enjoy Cowboys and Aliens. I did.

I'm so easy

When it comes to movie trailers, I really am. I want to believe they can all be good. I want them to be good. Even a trailer with obvious issues can still tempt me.

I've recently seen these three, and I am still clinging to the hope that all will be good.

In this case, the cast alone is enough to make me hold that belief.



In this one, on the other hand, I have to hold to my love of comic books that I treasured as a kid.



The third really stretches the limits of even my faith, but I'm going to pray for it to be at least stupidly good.



See? I really am that easy.