Cowboys & Aliens

"Here Jake, don't ferget yer gun. I always liked you best."



The day I saw the trailer for Cowboys and Aliens I thought..Yes!!!
I was not disappointed. Many critics said that this did not work for them. I don't see how. I sat in the theater with my friends John, Jon and Jonathan (I could find any more people named John)and all seemed to enjoy it. How could you not there was something for everyone. For girls there was Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. For the kids there was the kid who played the Avatar in The Last Airbender (still rubbish by the way, but a little better.) and for the guys there were cowboys, aliens and... Olivia Wilde.

The story is about a cowboy named Jake(good name by the way) who wakes up in the desert. He doesn't now how he got there or what his name is. I wondered where his boots were. He has a metal bracelet on him that he can't get off. We have to wait all but two minutes before he beats the junk out of three bandits and there is action from there until the end. Jake heads into a nearby town to get some clothes and clean up a bit. Like all westerns he ends up in a bar. A beautiful Olivia Wilde walks up to him and looks at him as if she knows him better than he does. Then the usual western bar scene fight. Jake gets cross ways with the rich kid in town played fantastically by Paul Dano. He is amazing at playing a creepy, dirt bag. When his father finds out that his son is in jail he comes to get him out and then the action really starts.

The aliens show in in theirs ships and start to blow the town up. People get roped and hauled away. Jake's bracelet comes to life and he is able to shoot down a ship releasing one of the aliens. The rest of the movie is them chasing after the aliens as they try to get their loved ones back.

The area that the film was shot in New Mexico were beautiful. Some of the shots through the canyons were some of the best I've seen. The aliens looked a lot like the one from super eight. These things were fast and violent. There was humor in the film also. I mean... come on it is a movie about cowboys and aliens. There has to be a little humor involved.

I was not disappointed with this movie. I was enjoyable, a few scares and some thrills too. No a bad way to spend two hours.

8 out of 10

Winnie the Pooh

"Silly old bear"

I was watching a movie at home with my boys when a trailer for the new Winnie the Pooh movie came on. I immediately thought it was a trailer for a direct to DVD release of the old series of films, but I was very surprised and happy when I realised it was for a new movie that was going to be put in theatres. Disney was going to make a new movies based on the old series. The trailer is great set to the song by Keane. It was going to be a hand drawn not computer animated. I must say it looked great. The colors were bright but not so different as to distract from the original.

The story is a typical Pooh film. This one has two stories. in the first Eeyore has lost his tail and they hold a contest to find him a new one. It is funny to watch what ideas the come up with; a clock, an anchor or a balloon. The second is that they misread a note from Christopher Robin and assume he has been kidnapped by the Backsun (should have been read Back Soon.) The group the develops a plan to get him back. What follows is a series of mistakes and cute lines. It was fun and full of nostalgia. It remained true to the originals and the voices were great.

It was very short at just over 1 hour. I was surprised that it was so short, but think it was very appropriate that they were that short. Most kids have a hard time watching a movie much over that. I was glad to be able to share this with my kids

7.85 out of 10

Cars 2

"Do not try the free pistachio ice cream! It done turn!"

Pixar Studios has put out one amazing film after another. They can do no wrong in many people eyes. I am one of those people. I have been waiting for Cars 2, like many, for the past year. Many people said it was very different from the first because Mater seems to be he main character not Lightning McQueen. I did not think that it was as distracting as some made it out to be. I felt that McQueen was in it enough.

In this second instalment We find the Cars gang shipped across the world to Europe to help McQueen race in the World Grand Prix. It is a series of Three race spread out in Tokyo, Italy and London. Little to any ones knowledge there is a foul plot afoot. Someone is trying to sabotage the race in order to further their own agenda. Mater the tow truck is mistaken by British Intelligence agents named Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell. Both are voiced fantastically by Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer. Mater is thrown in as an unexpected target for the evil Lemons. As usual it takes half the movie for each party to realize that they are/have the wrong person. Lessons are learned as McQueen is embarasses to have the backwoods Mater making a fool of himself in front of all the cameras and must learn to appreciate him.

The jokes are pretty good as long as you have a basic knowledge of the James Bond series. My 7 yr old kept asking why we were laughing at so many parts. He did not understand why we laughed at the name Shiftwell and why the wasabi scene was so funny. I had to tell him that most of the jokes were based off of other movies he had not seen and he was a bit frustrated.

It was fun to see the gang in new places and the new cast of friends and villains were enjoyable. I loved the fact the the bad guys, known as the lemons, were a group of pacers and gremlins. Perfect. I enjoyed the race scenes with the new cars also. McQueens new rival, Francesco Bernoulli was a hoot. Each time he was on the screen he would taunt McQueen many times making a fool of himself in the process. You could never hate him, but actually loved him.

I was happy with the movie. I don't think it was as good as the first, but still good. I had heard so many people saying that it was not good that I was surprised by how much I liked it. I am a car guy so maybe I'm a bit biased. I think Pixar steak is still flawless. It was still one of the best movies of the year.

8 out of 10.