Cowboys And Aliens (2011)

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Cowboys & Aliens is a very strange genre mix. Many years ago I read that Hollywood was adapting the “graphic novel” (I hate that term, just call it a comic book) and I wondered how it would work without being ridiculous. It seems that the many writers had the same problem.

With numerous rewrites and writer changes, the film itself has been in development hell for many years, so much so that even Ace Ventura and Evan Almighty scribe Steve Oedekerk had a stab at it! Now that we have the film, it proves to me why the studios continue with making rubbish like this, utter greed in cashing in on the “comic book” craze before the next big thing comes along.

Cowboys & Aliens is perfect brainless fare for your average teenager who prefers explosions over a coherent story line. When I saw the first trailer for this, I was intrigued, because at first this looked like a perfectly cast rip roaring western with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, then we got to the bonkers bit of the trailer where the aliens attack the town and the idea of an enjoyable classic style western went with it.

As the film opens, we find Craig waking up in the middle of nowhere with no recollection of who or where he is and a strange bracelet attached to his wrist. After a short scuffle with bounty hunters he wanders into a small town and is approached by Ella (Olivia Wilde), a woman who not only knows who he is, but what is about to happen. We discover he is Jake Lonnergan (Daniel Craig), a wanted outlaw who is soon to be arrested by the local constabulary.

It’s after his arrest that things start to take a twist, we find that land baron Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) also wants Lonnergan for his own reasons, but before the situation is resolved the town is attacked by Aliens. In the aftermath the townsfolk realize that a lot of its citizens, including Ford’s imbecile son Percy (Paul Dano) have been taken by the aliens for an unknown reason, now adversaries must become allies in order to get their people back. During our heroes search for their lost, we discover that the aliens have come to enslave earth of the past because they are unable to do it in the future because of our supposed technological advancement. Now this ragtag bunch of Cowboys must overcome the odds to not only get their people back, but defeat an enemy vastly superior to them.

Cowboys & Aliens isn’t a bad movie in the scheme of things, its a slickly directed, well executed and technically impressive film. The acting from the main leads is excellent, as its the production design. It’s just a damn shame then, that the foundations of the film, ‘THE SCRIPT’ are so, well, stupid!

There is no denying that John Favreau is very good at directing big budget films, he’s earned his stripes on films like Zathura and Iron-Man for example, but a director can only do so much with the story he’s been given. While Favreau gives it his best effort, it ultimately falls short. There are also moments where the film works quite well, for example the whole opening act up until the aliens arrive is good western fare, but all of that is forgotten once we get into the meat of the story and it’s that meat that is the disappointing part.

I’m sure that if I was 14 I would have lapped this up, but at 34 I’m afraid it just doesn’t cut it for me and I’m guessing a majority of people my age will feel the same. If Cowboys & Aliens had been just a full blown western without all the sci-fi dribble, this stood a chance of being a great example of the western genre, as it stands though, it’s just a very average run of the mill sci-fi film.

Australian Flags Make Us Racist…Apparently.

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Since when has flying the Australian flag been a sign of disrespect for ones country? I find it amusing when universities publish “research” that is dubious in nature. It makes me wonder why research as shoddily obtained as this would even be needed. Apparently researchers at Curtain University have concluded that people who have Australian flags on their car are apparently more racist that people who don’t have an Australian flag. What a load of nonsense!

Thanks to a miniscule 513 people in the sample group, it has been determined that the majority of the population is more racist if we have an Australian flag, because those surveyed believed Australia had less problems under the now defunct “White Australia Policy” than today. This has to be one of the most preposterous findings I’ve ever heard. Not being an “academic” I would have thought more qualified research would have been required before conclusions like this could be entertained by an establishment such as this.

As an Australian I’m personally sick and tired of the politically correct brigade calling Australians “racist” because they have an Australian flag or for whatever other reason appears popular at the time just because they want to pander to some minority group. Now I don’t have an Australian flag on my car, at my house, or even wear Aussie flag undies, but if it’s racist to love your country, than call me a racist.

Here in Australia we’ve always had certain freedoms to say what we think or how we feel without persecution. In fact you’ll find that this is the main reason many refugees come to our country also. But herein lies the problem. While refugees come to this country for freedom, in turn our freedoms are being threatened due to the fear of offense we might cause to these refugees and in turn these divisions grow and cultures clash due to modern immigrants not wanting to assimilate into the culture they now live in.

Whatever peoples modern thoughts are on the “White Australia Policy”, history shows that it worked. There was much less cultural conflict between ethic groups such as the Italians and Greeks during the 50′s, 60′s 70′s than there are now, because they did want to fit in with the Australian way of life as best they could and in turn, they introduced us to some wonderful parts of their culture as well.

Today though things are much different, with newer ethnic groups not wanting the assimilate into the Australian way of life, it creates a divide between all parties that is only going to grow deeper thanks to “research” like this. If its racist to think that people should adapt the Australian values when living in Australia, then I must be racist, but I’m sure there are many millions of others who must be racists too.

New F1 Film Has A Title “RUSH”

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A little while ago I wrote about the possibility of a new feature film directed by Ron Howard based around my favorite sport, Formula 1. Now word comes that the film is now in production with filming commencing around The Nurburgring in Germany. While details of the script are still a little bit light on, what is known is that the film is a biopic set in the 70′s that revolves around the famous rivalry between Nikki Lauda and James Hunt.

Presumably the film will, or at least should focus on the 1976 Formula 1 season where Lauda suffered a near fatal racing accident at the Nurburgring only to make a comeback later in the season and only lose the title by the the slimmest of margins – 1 point.

While the track record of good Formula 1 films made in Hollywood is shaky to say the least, I remain hopeful that this will be a competent film seeing as it’s in the hands of Ron Howard and Peter Morgan. In fact I’m pretty excited after the brilliant Senna documentary from last year.

84th Annual Oscars Trailer

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Any self respecting film fan would enjoy the annual Oscars telecast. Sadly though over the last several years they’ve been a hit and miss affair because of terrible hosting choices. Thankfully this year the academy have decided to go back to multiple time host Billy Crystal to make up for last years dismal effort by James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

Personally, Billy is a good choice as he’s brilliant at handling the crowd which makes for a fun show over the notorious running time of each Oscar show. To announce Billy’s return to the Oscars, a new TV trailer starring quite a few excellent actors and Megan Fox has been commissioned and it’s quite a hoot to view. See it embedded below.

Goodbye Kodak?

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Many Gen-Y’s that are going around aimlessly in this digital world, wouldn’t know the word Kodak and if they did it probably wouldn’t mean much to them. But in the days long before digital photography, Kodak was the king of photography, Kodak gave us the tools we needed in order to capture those cherished family memories. I remember in the early 80’s when I was 7 and got my first Kodak instamatic camera to take photos with and I loved it and it’s that little instamatic I was given all those years ago that began my love of photography.

Of course it’s been many years since Kodak have released an instamatic, but over the years their many film types would have captured many amazing images which to me are more impressive and lifelike than a digitally modified image created today.

When Kodak’s famous Kodachrome film was discontinued several years ago, it was to me to was like a death in the family, no more would we truly have photos with the life and characteristics of what Kodachrome film could achieve or any real film for that matter no matter how much digital photo editing software tries to mimic it’s effect. Film to me is a life of it’s own and no two rolls of film were the same, just like no two photos were the same either.

Now comes the sad new that Kodak is potentially looking at bankruptcy protection. How sad it is that one of the titan photography companies could be no more very soon. Sadly it appears that Kodak hasn’t been able to adapt to this soulless digital world. It makes me wonder how much longer we will have the iconic “Kodak Moment” as part of our vernacular too.

The Ten Best Films Of 2011

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Another year has passed by yet again and with it more great films. I’ve been doing these lists for a few years now so I’m sure you know what to expect from these. Here is my list of the ten best films released in Australia during 2011. Sadly many of the apparently great releases of 2011 like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy, The Descendents and Girl The The Dragon Tattoo have yet to be released here in Australia sadly. Maybe they’ll make my 2012 list?

  • 10. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.
  • 9. The Adjustment  Bureau.
  • 8. Midnight In Paris.
  • 7. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
  • 6. Drive.
  • 5. Source Code.
  • 4. Moneyball.
  • 3. Red Dog.
  • 2. War Horse
  • 1. Senna.

Christmas

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Another Christmas has come an gone and with it another year. I enjoy Christmas for the time it allows my family to get together and see each other. It’s a small amount of time where the World can take time out and appreciate what they have when it comes to loved ones instead of chasing the dollar for the rest of the year. I still remain convinced that if the world had one day per week where everything shuts down to allow people to take stock of everything around them, this world wouldn’t be such a screwed up place.

Anyway, that’s just a pipe dream. On a related note, one of the presents I received this year was STIG shower gel and STIG soap, so I could experience “the great smell of STIG”….. Now I apparently smell like engine oil, brake fluid and strawberries. Weird!