1/25/12

Blood Capsule #4

COWBOYS AND ALIENS (2011)

People who know me have this misconception that I abhor any and all big-budget blockbusters. That's simply not true. I love rowdy, headlong popcorn movies when they are handled with care. Cowboys and Aliens was handled with care. I'm not even fond of westerns, but I dug this rustic take on "alien invasion" prosaicisms. The action is brisk, Harrison Ford plays a badass, the CGI is well-rendered (!) and plot twists give the script little shots of adrenaline at just the right places. A word of warning...if you insist on rifling through the storyline in search of lapses in logic, you'll find them. But it's a sci-fi flick. Relax.

I do have one bone to pick with director Jon Favreau. By extension, this applies to most of the alien-themed genre films that have been cranked out in the last twenty years, give or take. Can you knock if off with the plagiaristic creature designs? It was cute in the 80's, but how many variations of the titular monsters in Alien and Predator do we need? I realize that it's not Jon's fault. I'm addressing Hollywood as a whole. Super 8 was excellent, but could you draw a rough sketch of the intergalactic beastie that the less annoying Fanning sister crossed paths with? I doubt it. Hell, describe it to me. You can't!

Sorry, that was too much rambling for a Blood Capsule. I must learn to keep my venting in check.

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