COWBOYS & ALIENS

CAROLINE: That is some kind of Hollywood dream team.

RYAN: Right? And it’s an entertaining film but it’s just not great.

CAROLINE: Why?

RYAN: The story isn’t strong enough. The casting is waymazing. It’s pretty well shot and the effects are cool but the storytelling is just off.

CAROLINE: Is it like Cowboys and Indians but Cowboys and Aliens?

RYAN: Completely. I’m all for a genre blur, when it’s successful. In this case, they try to make the Sci Fi genre blend into the Western and it would have been better if it were more evenly mixed.

CAROLINE: Can you be more specific?

RYAN: Without giving too much away, it basically turns out that the aliens are after gold, so it really cheesifies would could have been a much cooler plot point and while the aliens are gross and scary and evil enough, I just don’t like how they’re forced into the simple wild-westness of the gold rush.

CAROLINE: Fair enough. How’s Olivia Wilde as the obligatory damsel in distress?

RYAN: She’s fine. She’s gorgeous in a very plain way.

CAROLINE: She’s pretty. And quite the score for her resume with this one.

RYAN: I tend to not like Westerns but do like Sci Fi and maybe since it got the short end of the stick, that’s why I was less jazzed during this.

CAROLINE: I don’t blame you. I’m not a huge fan of either genre.

RYAN: Oh and can I just say new rule for movie-going: Do not bring in fragrant food from outside!

CAROLINE: Oh no! What happened?

RYAN: Some broad next to me reached into her very loud bag in the middle of the movie and pulled out the worst-smelling fish o’ the world. I almost died. I sat there for an hour sniffing into my box of mints.

CAROLINE: That’s heinous, inappropriate and rude.

RYAN: It might be one to see on the big screen since it’s of the summer blockbuster type, so I recommend it there if you’re into Westerns. Otherwise you could live without it… just just catch it on TV someday.

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