COWBOYS AND ALIENS

Wikipedia reminds us:

"Steven Spielberg, one of the film's executive producers, visited the director and the writers during pre-production to look over the script and the artwork. He provided Favreau with a collection of classic Western films.[15] Spielberg also invited the director and the writers to a private screening of several Western films and provided live commentary on how to make one properly.[22] The films included Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, and Destry Rides Again."

Now, you have to ask yourself, who did George Stevens ask before he made SHANE? Or whom did Howard Hawks seek instruction from before he shot RED RIVER? Or Anthony Mann before me made WINCHESTER'73? They struck out on their own, armed with a good screenplay, written by writers of talent and experience.

Well, its seems the director and writers were foolish enough to pay attention to Spielberg
(ah, what was the name of the Western he made? Oh, that's right, he never made one), and came up with COWBOYS AND ALIENS

The reviews are in. I don't know about you, but I can't say I’m surprised. The film stinks. When was the last time Spielberg made a good film?

Last weekend I subjected myself to INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. Besides being a rehash of the first Indiana Jones film, it was dull. It would take an army of archeologists to detect any Kingdom in this disaster (except perhaps the Kingdom of the Blind, lacking a one eyed man). It did have one humorous note. Jones, under suspicion of being a Red by the FBI, advises a student to read V. Gordon Childe (a Marxist archaeologist).


Sadly, Speilberg has WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE on his chopping block for future butchering. I expect the same bloody job he did on WAR OF THE WORLDS; a story he clearly did not understand despite the fact the author explained it to the reader in the first chapter. But then, he would have had to read the novel.



I suspect COWBOYS AND ALIENS will be yet another nail in the coffin of the movie Western, but will fill theaters with the dullards who wouldn't sit through STAGECOACH on a bet. But a STAGECOACH colorized, pursued by CGI enhanced aliens; well, that's a horse differently colorized.