Weekly New Release Report – 12/18/12

We got a bit of a big week this week because Christmas is coming up in just one week and we have tons of releases to cover. We get our Tuesday releases, then our Wednesday movie releases, then on Friday, ANOTHER set of new releases to hit up with some MORE movies! I’m honestly this excited because this is also the week I chose to go Christmas shopping because I like to procrastinate. The fact that there are a lot of good deals out there and a lot of the good DVDs are coming out means I’ll be out there in force. Plus, once I get sick of hanging out with giant groups of people, I can just go relax in the movie theater and catch a new release. With that, let’s go have a gander to see what’s coming out and get everyone prepared.

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Amazon.com WidgetsDVD/Blu-Ray Movies:

First let’s go over the major releases for Tuesday, December 18th. We have Pitch Perfect, which has garnered lots of positive reviews and admittedly I’m curious about. It helps that I’m in love with Anna Kendrick.

There is also the reboot of the Total Recall, which I reviewed as not bad, which carries an alternate ending and director’s cut as well. I’ll assume the director’s cut has more f-bombs and more three-boobed people because that’s what these “cuts” usually mean. We also get Clint Eastwood’s Trouble With the Curve to see how long he can scowl at Justin Timberlake and Amy Adams.

As for the major releases coming out on Friday December 21st, let’s not forget Resident Evil: Retribution. There’s also the Joseph Gordon-Levitt flick Premium Rush. As for television, the previous seasons of Californication and Shameless are out so everyone can catch up before the new seasons start up next month.

Pitch Perfect

Total Recall (2012)

Trouble With the Curve

Resident Evil: Retribution

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

Premium Rush

Killer Joe

Shameless: The Complete Second Season

Californication: The Fifth Season

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time (Triple Feature) [Blu-ray]

Out in Theaters:

On Wednesday December 19th, we get The Guilt Trip with Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand. I don’t think it’ll do too well but I like the writer (Dan Fogelman, Crazy, Stupid, Love and Tangled) and it gave me an idea for a review that will hopefully be up by the end of the week. We also get the re-release of Monsters Inc. in 3D for the kiddies. Finding Nemo didn’t do well for the re-release, but we’ll see with the holiday season coming up and kids getting out of school how it goes. Also in New York and Los Angeles, we get the first screenings of Zero Dark Thirty for those lucky enough to check it out.

As for the movies coming out Friday December 21st, Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher movie comes out. A lot of people have been complaining about how he doesn’t look the part of a 6’5” enforcer but we shall see. We also get This is 40, the new Judd Apatow release, going wide that day as well. Also for those that have seen Cirque Du Soleil, you get a 3D movie experience on-screen with Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away arriving in theaters for your consumption. Also of note, if you’re lucky to be in the LA or NY market, you get The Impossible with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, which is something of a must see on my list.

With that, everyone have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday shopping from us here at the New Release Report. Good luck in those lines or if you’re lazy like me, there’s still time to ship stuff from Amazon. That’s why the links are above to help you out without having to leave your chair and face the weird people out in the malls.

Grizzly Review: Total Recall

I find it ironic that Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) is so bored with mundane life in Total Recall that he seeks the key to the secrets in his dreams; a longing for a better, more spectacular life with more substance. Better and more spectacular – this remake had the potential to be that, to build on the Philip K. Dick story that was originally immortalized in the Arnold Schwarzenegger 1990 flick. However, it seems to run into the same issues Quaid does in his (fake) life. Everything from the plot, to the characters, to even the visuals are redundant and generic during Len Wiseman’s reboot. It is at least – for the most part – a fun, if forgettable escape before we step out of the theater into our own reality.

Farrell plays Quaid as he is haunted by the same dream of escaping capture with a mysterious woman (Jessica Biel) that gives him a longing of a higher purpose. He works on an assembly line, in a factory with his friend Harry (Bokeem Woodbine) building synthetics, robot soldiers in the vein of the Clones in the Star Wars prequels or the NS-5’s in I, Robot. He lives a nondescript life with a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) and while going through the motions, he is driven to find the answer to the emptiness he feels.

Quaid and his wife live in the Colony, a dark, industrial-like slum, and they commute via The Fall, a transport that goes through the core of the Earth in order to reach Great Britain, the only other habitable place on the planet, where the rich get richer. The world is comprised of these two regions as the rest is uninhabitable due to the plaent’s earlier chemical warfare. The Resistance has been fighting with the elite over equality ,while the controlling government class declares them as terrorists trying to disrupt the system that works for all involved. Quaid feels connected to these stories and needs answers to filling the void and lack of purpose in his life that his dreams allude to.

Enter ‘Rekall’, the escapism that the bored need in order to live the fantasy and drown out the routine reality. You can become a movie star, sports figure, or even a secret agent. It is obvious that Quaid goes for the secret agent gig, but before he can get fully immersed, things go bad. Fast. His loving wife, quite suddenly is an evil undercover agent trying to kill him. That girl in the dream? Oh, she’s real and fights for the Resistance. Speaking of the Resistance, yep, he is definitely connected to their organization. And the government led by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston)? Yeah, Quaid is so important to them, that he needs to be hunted down for what he knows. Still following me? Honestly, it doesn’t matter. He is basically Jason Bourne in the future trying to figure out his purpose. That seemed easier than writing those last two paragraphs. Take from that as you will.

It should be known that while there are few Easter Eggs for those that have seen the 1990 version (Three-boobed lady!!), this bears extremely little resemblance to that movie. The Paul Verhoeven film had Mars, Sharon Stone, the idea of reality versus perception. Plus bug eyed people in search of oxygen (note, that ALWAYS freaked me out when I was a little kid, I couldn’t watch that sequence for years). Len Wiseman goes in a direction that only skims the idea of living up to your past versus establishing your own destiny and identity. He has always been a great visual and action director and really takes advantage of the futuristic setting and beautiful actors to establish eye candy and fast pacing for the audience to cover up the lack of depth in the screenplay.

Farrell does a serviceable job as Quaid as he runs around trying to figure out who the hell he is and who he needs to be. I do wish that there was a bit more depth or explanation to the character that delves into Quaid’s past, because his path to the truth seems to run so fast, and the character embraces his rogue fugitive present all too easily. While great for pacing into the action set pieces, which Farrell handles very well, the investment into the character is just on the ‘good guy must beat bad guy level’ as opposed to the ‘I hope he gets closer on who he truly is destined to be’ type of guy.

Beckinsale has fun with largely expanded role of his wife that goes from ‘loving spouse’ to ‘femme fatale-like kiler’ too quickly in her quest to take down her confused ‘husband’. However the increased visibility of the character distracted me as it seems to be more a showcase for her, as opposed to keeping the story on Quaid and developing his journey story arc to find the truth. Granted, I can definitely get over myself and just appreciate Beckinsale owning the screen. Jessica Biel does a good job as well, even if the character is very one note, and merely a directional arrow in order to get Quaid from point A to point B. Cranston should have been in this movie for longer, but during his time on the screen, he owns it and makes sure you know he is the big man in charge, and that he has no problem making sure his agenda is carried out.

Visually, the Colony looks like the world in Blade Runner, mixed in with Toronto’s Chinatown. Apparently Australia, where the Colony is located, is where all the Asian people went during the chemical warfare that engulfed planet Earth. The filmmakers really put the doom and gloom into the movie and capture the oppressed nature of the citizens of the Colony. While visually impressive with the set decoration and CGI, it feels repetitive to stare at the same dull interiors that every bar/apartment/government building this world has. Who knew the future was so listless and unimaginative? However, the action sequences are great and the futuristic car chase scene is fun to watch. I was a big fan of an elevator sequence too because holy crap Beckinsale kicks ass in this movie. I swear they took the sequences straight from Minority Report [Ed. Note – Early Drafts of the Minority Report script were written for Total Recall 2, which obviously never happened], but they still are visually appealing nonetheless. And Kate Beckinsale, again, is a total badass in this movie.

Overall, this is a fun diversionary movie and nothing more. I felt it could have gone deeper into the idea of innate personality versus the expectation/perception of who you were, but I will take a straight up sci-fi action flick that will stimulate the senses for 2 hours. The movie goes fast and it is a ride, but just like Quaid, do not ask me to recall any details about it later, for it will be a distant memory until the next action flick shows up on the silver screen.

CCI 2012: Looper, Total Recall & Elysium Panels!

Sony pictures decided to buy out Comic-Con on Friday with a two hour time slot in the hall H which is the biggest at the convention to promote their three biggest Sci-Fi films Looper, Total Recall & Elysium which all look really good.

Looper

First off let’s talk Looper.  Johnson’s an undeniably terrific writer/director and Looper looks to be a refreshingly original breath of fresh air in a box office climate flooded with reboots, sequels, and remakes.  You absolutely do not want to miss this movie because with these new and original films we just get the same things over and over again. Let’s see the panel video. We have 1 of 3 panel video below; part 2 & 3 is straight after the first.

Just some highlights from the panel:

• Gordon-Levitt was asked how he went about embodying Bruce Willis, but he admitted that he’s not a good mimic.  He didn’t feel like an impersonation would be proper, so he internalized it.  He watched all of his movies on repeat and even put the audio of his movies on his iPod so he could listen to his voice a lot.
• A guy came up and asked what it was like to work with Bruce Willis, and Gordon-Levitt said that he’s really sweet and actually soft-spoken.  He said some big guys come into a room with a booming voice, but Willis doesn’t have to make himself heard and he doesn’t have to raise his voice.
• Johnson said that he’s “the luckiest son of a bitch in the world” to be able to work with people like Blunt and Gordon-Levitt.  He said that writing drafts of the script after he had his cast was just as difficult as writing the script for the first time.

Courtesy of Collider, full read out here

Total Recall

Second, let’s talk Total Recall panel. It’s rare for a film to come to consecutive Comic-Cons, but Total Recall showed up last year at the beginning of production, and now its returned with the theatrical release only weeks away. So for that it’s a unique set up and I suppose it’s great for promotion. I don’t currently have the panel video for this, I may be able to update this article later but for now I have a great interview with Bryan Cranston on Total Recall.

Just some highlights from the panel:

• Farrell says he had a good time making the film, but he didn’t feel like he had to fill Schwarzenegger’s size 16 shoes.
• The actors are asked about how they physically prepared for the role, but Cranston cuts in because he wants to see how the sign language interpreter signs “Cohagen has been described as a douchebag.”  He then notes how his co-stars had to go through so much physical training, but they probably got a good sleep every night.  The other actors describe how they prepared to the physical stuff.  It boils down to eating right, working out, and Biel adds “Boxing, boxing, boxing, boxing…and chicken.”
• When asked what attracted to the film, Wiseman said it was the mystery that intrigued him even though he geeked out on the action and world-building.  So it was the mix of “the art stuff and the fun stuff.”
• Cranston said he was also hesitant to jumping in to something that had been done before and done well.  But Cranston looked at the character of Cohagen as someone who wants Quaid (Farrell) not to die but “to behave.”  He saw Cohagen as benevolent and if people just listen to him, he can lead them to utopia.  That approach is what drew him to the role.

Courtesy of Collider, full read out here

Elysium

Third let’s talk about the Elysium panel. Neill Blomkamp‘s District 9 was an amazing feature film debut, and whatever he chose to do next would demand the attention of all the fans he amassed in 2009, which of course includes me.  Elysium had been a complete mystery until a synopsis recently appeared online.  After reading the synopsis, Elysium was easily one of my most-anticipated movies of Comic-Con 2012.  Hope you enjoy the panel video below.

Just some highlights from the panel:

• People on Elysium never get sick because they have machines that can cure diseases.  One shot shows a woman getting into a machine that instantly cures her cancer just by scanning her over.
• The corner Max is backed into is when he gets trapped in a radiation vault at his job.  He’s hit with radiation poisoning and given pills to manage the symptoms, but he’ll still die in five days.  The only way to save his life is to get to Elysium.
• His ticket to Elysium is to join a heist where he and two co-horts plan to download important information directly out of a guy’s brain (the guy is played by the great William Fichtner).  Even though Fichtner’s character is on Earth, he’s a citizen of Elysium.  Max is basically turned into cyborg in order to be able to extract the information from Fichtner’s character.  However, that was incredibly important data so Rhodes sends down an assassin-type character played by Sharlto Copley.
• Bloody destruction; if you loved how the weapons in District 9 obliterated people, Elysium is going to follow suit.  One goodie we saw was when some guy gets hit with a ninja shuriken in the chest, and some other guy says “That’s not so bad,” and then the guy who was hit with the shuriken explodes.
• Damon was drawn to the project because of Blomkamp.  “It was a very easy decision for me,” says Damon because he was so impressed by District 9.  But beyond that, Blomkamp showed Damon a graphic novel he had done that was on Blomkamp’s computer.  And then there was a book about the weaponry and another about the vehicles.  “Normally, we don’t get to see the movie before we’re in it,” but Damon says there was so much information here, and there was no way he was going to let this project get away.
• Blomkamp’s approach to Elysium was similar to District 9.  “It’s an equally scaled up version.  You’re trying to push the budget far beyond what the budget can sustain.”  The pressure on the crew remained at a high level.  Blomkamp went on to say they wanted to get more reality so they went to Mexico City rather than try to dress up Vancouver.  He said how some crew members thought Vancouver was tough, and Blomkamp knew that they were going to go to Mexico City, and thought “You guys have no idea what you have in store.”

Courtesy of Collider, full read out here.

So while it seems like Warner Bros. has been taking the Con by storm, Sony wasn’t going to be outdone and blew us away with a serious of great panels for what look to be some great movies. To see our previous articles on these check out our links below.

Looper: New Trailer Looks Amazing

‘Elysium’ from the director of ‘District 9’: Plot & Images

CCI 2012: Neill Blomkamp Talks Elysium, District 10 & Something Called Chappie

TOTAL RECALL Trailer: Starring Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale’s Ass.

Check out more Comic-Con coverage here, more pics on our Tumblr and follow the action at the Con over on our Twitter! Oh, and Like our Facebook page while you at it!

The GrizzlyBomb 2012 Comic-Con Preview!

It is that time of the year again and it is time to revel in the wonders that is the San Diego Comic-Con 2012! One of the biggest things this year for our site is that we will actually be in attendance and representing GrizzlyBomb as we go to the biggest place where news on comics, television, movies, and video games breaks every minute from July 12^th-15^th and of course we will document it all. We are going to be on the show floor and I will be your guide and your way in to panels, booths, and probably pictures of the lovely booth babes so please visit as much as you can during the next week because we’re going to be knee-deep in some fun stuff.

Over the years, the panels have become some of the biggest places where announcements are made, stars have shown up, great Q&As have been done so we are going to do a preview on what we think will be some heavy hitters and must sees in San Diego.

Highlander Remake Casts Its Lead: Ryan Reynolds!

You heard me, Ryan Reynolds has been cast as Connor Macleod in the Highlander remake. For many, apparently this is a bad thing, but I’ve always had a history of loving Ryan Reynolds, and I always look forward to seeing his abs him in anything I watch. I think he’s a perfectly fine actor, and has comedic chops, which I’d argue are the same set of skills you need to act well in drama.

While other details about the film have yet to surface, like who will be playing Juan Villalobos-Ramirez, the immortal Spanish-Egyptian-Scotsman, or The Kurgan, I’m positive those details will come soon, and at the very least, will be interesting. I’m happy the movie is being remade, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they handle the concepts of The Prize, The Gathering, and brutal decapitations being a main plot point. The only way they could screw this up, would be by trying to somehow have covers of Queen as the soundtrack. Either license the original soundtrack entirely, or get a totally new composer to write a new score. Queen or bust.

As many of you probably know, Highlander is the quintessential cult movie favorite. An argument could be made that in a way, it was the reverse Firefly of its time. It started out as a fantasy film that was clearly only meant to be one movie, but showcased a world and mythology so evocative and thought-provoking, people just had to go and make a sequel and screw it up by making them aliens. That then led to further sequels that retconned that detail, and a directors cut that tried to redeem that inane writing decision, and ultimately led to the franchise getting its own series, that built its own intricate mythology that contradicted the movies canon, and led to yet another movie sequel, that confusingly attempted to bridge the two sets of continuity in a way that left everyone feeling awkward. Being a Highlander fan has always been difficult because of this, and the thoughts of any more sequels generally brings a headache as we all try to retrofit everything into the tangled web of sub-continuity and pseudo-explanations for concepts such as The Watchers, or just what the hell The Prize is in the first place.

Thankfully, someone in Hollywood saw the franchise, realized another sequel was a lousy idea, and took it to its obvious and necessary conclusion: REMAKE TIME BABY! Remakes are trendy now sure, but there is a place for them. Some movies get so clustered with badness that a remake/reboot is the only way to give a franchise some new lifeblood (Batman), and others are genuinely good retellings of a story that takes it in a new and exciting direction (1982’s The Thing), while others are more akin to re-adaptations of the source material it came from (2012’s Total Recall). So it stands to reason that Highlander lies somewhere in between the reboot/new exciting direction remake clause, and while many of my colleagues here at Grizzlybomb have lamented the decision to cast him, I’m Pro-Ryan Reynolds in this remake.

Also can you imagine Ryan Reynolds trying on a scottish accent? AMAZING.

TOTAL RECALL Trailer: Starring Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale’s Ass.

Last week we talked a little bit about the upcoming Total Recall remake, and made fun of the fact that they released a trailer for the trailer. Which we ate up. Well now the actual trailer is out and we thought you might like to see it.

A few things we learn from this trailer…

TOTAL RECALL Remake: A Teaser…for a Teaser.

So as Hollywood proves how unoriginal it is, we continue to be spoon-fed reboots, remakes, sequels, prequels, and the lamest of all – reimaginings. And the worst part – they know we’re dumb enough to keep paying to see these things, so they’ll never stop. I admit, I’m the worst offender of all. I’m gonna watch the shit out of the new Total Recall, because I loved the old Total Recall.  The difference here is, while I love the original, I love it mostly because of Arnold. Now we are clearly devoid an Arnold. Can Colin Farrell make us forget about Schwarzenegger?

No, he can’t.

But he can try, and he won’ t be alone. Joining Mr. Farrell we have a pretty strong cast – Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, John Cho, Bill Nighy, Bokeem Woodbine, and Walter White Bryan Cranston. No Michael Ironside, but pretty strong none the less.

Now, we finally have some footage to go along with that cast list, and it comes to us in the form of a teaser…for the teaser. Yeah, that’s right – a 30 second preview for the trailer, which will air on TV durning the Heat/Celtics game on Game of Thrones Day this Sunday. Stupid, I know, but aside from some photos, this is all we’ve got so far.

Here is the Press Release…

 WORLD PREMIERE OF “TOTAL RECALL” TRAILER THIS SUNDAY

DURING CELTICS-HEAT GAME ON ABC

CULVER CITY, Calif., March 27, 2012 – Moviegoers will begin their Recall experience on Sunday, April 1, as Columbia Pictures debuts the trailer for the highly anticipated action thriller Total Recall during the NBA game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat broadcast nationally on ABC, it was announced today by Marc Weinstock, president of Worldwide Marketing for Sony Pictures. Total Recall will be released in theaters nationwide on August 3, 2012

The world premiere of the Total Recall trailer will air during the first half of the game and will be promoted with tune-ins in the week leading up to the game.

Following the trailer’s premiere on ABC, a special extended trailer will debut online at http://www.apple.com/trailers.

The trailer will also launch simultaneously in over 30 countries on broadcast and online outlets.

Commenting on the announcement, Weinstock said, “We’re thrilled to be working with the NBA and ABC to give millions of fans all across the country this exciting first look at the trailer.”

Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he’s got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) whom he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life – real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) – there is no one Quaid can trust, except possibly a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) working for the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy). The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate. The film is directed by Len Wiseman. The screenplay is by Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback and the screen story is by Ronald Shusett & Dan O’Bannon and Jon Povill. The producers are Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe.

And the synopsis teaches us that Bill Nighy is the new Quatto!!

Ok, but I know what you really want is this teaser, so behold…

The 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2012

We seem to spend a lot of time talking about the various new mind-blowing movies that come out bigger and better every year. So we figured it was time to bring out the science again and put together a list of our 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2012.

Now we are only talking about the March-September slate of movies as some haven’t received official release dates yet, so keep that in mind.

Each member of the staff made a list. These lists will be compiled from a point system determined by votes from each member of the staff. It’s very scientific, we used Excel. Our resident cinephile joey123mo will take a look at each movie and outline why it made our list of Most Anticipated Films of 2012!

Hero Express – ‘The Wolverine’ Pushed Back, ‘Secret Stash’ Comes to AMC, and ‘Deadman’ on the CW?

Welcome to Hero Express, your one-stop shop through the news filled world of superhero’s in Film, TV, Video Games and whatever else floats your boat.

This is the Hero Express for September 13, 2011:

Grizzly Review: ‘Cowboys and Aliens’

I wanted to like this movie so much more than I did, but it just wasn’t happening. Not to say I hated it, but it definitely could have used some work. That being said, let’s get to the premise of the whole tale.

Basically this fella wakes up with no memory of…. anything really. This movie probably set the record for the most times that the phrase “I don’t know” was used. One of the things he doesn’t remember is the metal bracelet on his wrist. This bracelet, as we know from the trailers, has the awesome ability to deal out seemingly endless ass whoopings to both aliens and humans alike.

He makes his way to the town of Absolution, a little place run by the Cattle Boss Woodrow Dolarhyde and his imbecile son Percy. Percy doesn’t really run anything, he’s just a downright turd who bullies everyone in the town because of who his father is. Our mystery man as it turns out is really Jake Lonergan, a wanted man for numerous crimes. After he is taken captive by the local law enforcement is when the real fun begins, because that’s when the aliens arrive. Their attack results in Dolarhyde’s dumb ass son, and many other townspeople being taken captive by the invaders, with Jake’s bracelet activating in proximity to their ships. He manages to shoot one down and the wounded pilot is their ticket to finding the captives that were taken.

 

The group to go after the alien and their people consists primarily of Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), Jake (Daniel Craig) and Ella (Olivia Wilde) who is a rather mysterious woman with a very keen interest in Jake’s past and missing memory. The tag-along company includes a Bartender named Doc who’s wife was taken, one of Dolarhyde’s cattle hands, and a preacher. Doc is played by an always excellent Sam Rockwell, and serves as a bit of comic relief as the man not accustomed to gun play or combat. Meacham the preacher is played by veteran of the screen Clancy Brown, who is a favorite actor of mine. Aside from Pet Semetary 2, Shawshank Redemption and the HBO series Carnivàle, this was the first extended role he’s had in a movie in a very long time, and it was good to see him in it.

I won’t explain anymore about the plot of the movie, so as to not give away any spoilers. The movie suffered from the many amnesia flashback scenes that Daniel Craig had. To me, the whole amnesia aspect only served the purpose of finding an excuse to put the wrist blaster onto Daniel Craig. If you look at it from a standpoint of trying to add depth to Daniel Craig’s character Jake it failed miserably. I like Daniel Craig and think he did a great job in the movie, but his character was just a shell that I really could have cared less about.

“No my name is not Indiana F–king Jones! It’s a different hat!”

Even though Dolarhyde’s son was a complete nincompoop, I still felt more sympathetic towards him because of his past as a soldier and depth of care for his son’s well being. That being said, Harrison Ford did a great job in the role of Woodrow Dolarhyde playing his usual gruff and stern self, but this time with a twinge of crazy to it. As the movie went on I liked him more and more, especially towards the end when he starts to take charge. There was a particularly touching scene with him and a dying somebody. (You’ll know what I’m talking about when it happens in the movie.)

Hell, Even Ella’s background was far more interesting than Jake’s once you find out what it is, but like I said I won’t spoil it for you guys. Needless to say Olivia Wilde was a great actress once more, while also managing to be one of the hottest women on the planet.

Kudos to her!

The aliens themselves were kind of one dimensional, but I did enjoy them. They were definitely scary enough and kind of reminded me of the Independence Day invaders the way their set of little arms emerged from inside of their large outer body. Some people though (Doc Kronner) only thought of our little disgusting friend Kuato from Total Recall.

GO KUATO! IT’S YOUR BERFDAY!

One thing that I did not enjoy about the aliens was their main reason for being on Earth. Most people would be fine with it I guess, but I just cringed when I found out. I was actually hoping that the aliens were going to have a translator of some sort so as to have some sort of communication with the humans, but they still worked fine as the more primal type of aliens who just like to kick primitive human ass.

“Come on 007. Haven’t you ever shot a wrist blaster? It’s like this!”

I wish Jon Favreau all the luck in the world, but I’m starting to think he may have just got lucky with Iron Man. Iron Man 2 wasn’t that great of a movie, and Cowboys and Aliens was just a step above that. His movies – though shot beautifully – are suffering from something I can’t quite pinpoint. Perhaps the writers (Orci and Kurtzman) were still a bit rusty from writing the piece of shit we call a movie Revenge of the Fallen. So maybe it’s really their fault.

Either way I give the movie a 2 out of 5 bears. Great presentation and cast, but it fell flat on story and utilization of the material. It could have been so much more, because it took out all of the bad from the graphic novel aesthetically, but the story from the graphic novel would have better suited the movie.