Cowboys & Aliens – 100 Yards Over the Rim

By Bennett Owen

Credit: io9.com

Hot Damn!  Cowboys & Aliens is just one month away! The anticipation only grows as we inch towards opening night. Watch this!

I’m a kid again, counting down to Christmas! I haven’t been this excited since I found the Lone Ranger PJs in my parents’ closet with the ‘For Bennett – From Santa’ tag on it.

Credit: Vintage Treasures

And C&A is a gift that keeps on giving, bringing back the mighty Harrison Ford, restoring him at age 68 to his superstar, mega-force, butt-kicking splendor.  Now if you think the movie is set to be some camp, smirking, half-comedic western satire, you’d be oh-so wrong. Here’s how co-screenwriter Roberto Orci describes what we’re about to see:

“The world feels like the world in ‘3:10 to Yuma’ or even ‘Unforgiven’ but introduced into that are aliens who start attacking … the guys on the horses in the movie have no words for what they’re seeing.”

Credit: Movie Goods

Credit: Coming Soon

And Ford adds this assessment:

“…It’s a cowboy movie first and then stuff happens. Even after stuff happens…it’s still a cowboy movie. And that’s what’s incredible about it because nobody’s done that before, that’s new territory.”

Check out the full and fine Ford profile in the LA Times:

Credit: LA Times

‘3:10 to Yuma’…’Unforgiven’…Now those are some serious credentials.  You know where to find me on July 29^th. I’ll be the guy down on the front row, so close to the screen I can count the pixels. Don’t even think about asking me to share the popcorn.

Science Fiction and the Western, mixing the genres, what a novel idea! Seems like someone would have come up with that one years ago…something along the lines of  ‘Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter…’

Credit: imdb

It turns out the Sci Fi western is almost a genre unto itself and we will be exploring it in tomorrow’s post, including a full episode of  ‘Twilight Zone’ that you will NOT want to miss.

Cowboys & Aliens Countdown – Just 99 Days

By Bennett Owen

Credit: Teaser-Trailer.com

It’s here! The new trailer! Two minutes and 45 seconds worth of testosterone pumping, hormonal pounding, prime time, kick-butt, John Favreau-induced genius. 

Credit: CinemaBlend.com

Watch this. When it’s finished hit replay. Thank me later:

Blog-world is abuzz on this one, with comic book connoisseurs enthused that the movie appears to do justice to the wildly popular graphic novel.

Credit: Amazon.com

Consider this from Steven Zeitchik of the LA Times:

“It's still too soon to tell if the mash-up of westerns and science-fiction conventions will come off as interesting or incongruous.  What does emerge from the trailer is that the movie doesn't skimp on the western atmosphere — something we suspect will play a lot better in a post-"True Grit" world.”

Credit: orlandosentinel.com

And the mighty Harrison Ford is back big time…thank you, John Favreau! The circle is complete. 

Credit: herocomplex.latimes.com

Back in the 1970s I was a teenager laboring in the hay field, starting right after July 4^th through the end of August. It got so tiring that some of the hay crew would go down to the meadows after supper and do rain dances in hopes of getting a day off.  One time it worked* and my Uncle Jules took the family to town to see “this movie everyone’s been talking about.” 

Credit: filmofilia.com

At the Big Sky Cinema, the lights went down…and the triumphant strains of Star Wars literally blew us back into our seats where we remained riveted for the next two hours. When it was over we all stared at the blank silver screen, not wanting the experience to be over. That’s the moment my star-struck Uncle Jules put into words what we were all thinking and uttered the immortal line, “go buy some more popcorn, we’re watching this again.”

Credit: Guy Sande

* Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance – Western saying

COWBOYS & ALIENS - 120 Days and counting

by Bennett Owen

Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com

Following hot on the heels of True Grit comes a summer blockbuster with all the trappings of a classic western, and just may rescue Harrison Ford’s career. This movie will get plenty of my money based on the title alone.  The Super Bowl spot was magnificent:

And again, the full-length trailer. This won’t be the last time you see it posted here:

As this is posted I must wait only another 120 days to see it on a giant silver screen. Am I premature in my enthusiasm? I think not!  Here’s the synopsis, lifted directly from Cowboysandaliensmovie.com:

1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. 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 has been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella, he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents - townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors - all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com

Marauders from the sky. Ya gotta love it. Now Park City has its Sundance Film Festival but Austin, Texas is gaining fame for the BNAT…the Butt-numb-a-thon, brainchild of Ain’t it Cool News creator, and Head Geek, Harry Knowles.

 It’s a 24-hour film marathon held at the Alamo Draft House. 

Here’s what one lucky attendee had to say about Cowboys & Aliens:

“Jon Favreau, Roberto Orci, and Ron Howard brought {the first 40 minutes of C&A} to BNAT and without going into spoilers I'll simply say that this movie is going to #$%& ROCK. Favreau has done something that can simply not be repaid - he brought Harrison Ford back. And not just stuck him into the film, either. He's #$^% BACK. He gives a rich, layered, complex performance and commands attention as soon as he takes the screen.”

Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com

Oh right. And it stars James Bond, which means my sister will be sitting right next to me on opening night!

Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com

Like so many other recent blockbusters, Cowboys and Aliens first saw life as a hugely popular graphic novel. Director John Favreau knows his audience and caters to it big time. He’s a regular at Comic-Con where the incomparable ‘Weirdo Super Fan’ Matt Zaller caught up with him and co-star Sam Rockwell:

COMIC-CON - Matt Zaller at the Cowboys & Aliens Red-Carpet. Watch more top selected videos about: Sam Rockwell, Cowboys & Aliens (film)

OK, time for some fact checking and soul searching. True Grit has grossed $250 million dollars worldwide on a production budget of just $38 million.  Rango is also well over the $200 million mark. Cowboys & Aliens this summer and the Lone Ranger is going into production, not to mention a revival of the genre on TV. The western is well and truly back in the saddle.