Considering that this seems to be the summer of superheroes and 3D turds, it was nice to hear that Jon Favreau was making an honest-to-goodness summer blockbuster with real actors (no Shia here!) and no fancy extra-dimensional trickery. Yet, I was sad to hear that many of the advance reviews of Cowboys & Aliens were largely negative. I didn’t read any of them but I can see where they probably are coming from. It’s not as good as I hoped but it was enjoyable enough. At least 66% of it was.

The late 1800s must have been a terribly interesting time what with the recent conclusion of the Civil War, a burgeoning industrial nation threatening the traditional old-timey towns, and of course those greedy, gold-seeking aliens who snatch up unwilling science project participants. But no air conditioning. That’s a deal breaker for me. When Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of nowhere, he doesn’t seem fazed by the lack of air conditioning, or even his lack of memory. After dispatching a few guys and acquiring a dog, he meanders into town where he is stitched up by the preacher (Clancy Brown), accosts the local entitled douchebag, and is arrested by the Sheriff for outstanding warrants of mayhem and murder.

Jake even has a history with the local douchebag’s father, and grizzled businessman, Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) who is still peeved that Jake ran off with something of minor interest: a booty of gold. As Jake and douchebag are loaded up for transport to the federal marshals, flying alien craft invade the town, blowing stuff up, and snatching up poor hardworking townsfolk. Jake manages to take down one of vessels courtesy of an technologically anachronistic bracelet attached to his wrist, causing the other craft to retreat. Jake, Dolarhyde, the preacher, and Sam Rockwell then set off in pursuit of the aliens to free their people.

Considering that there are no less than five credited screenwriters plus an additional screen story credit, Cowboys & Aliens could easily have been an awful mess, not unlike another based-on-a-comic western from last summer. That’s Jonah Hex in case you were wondering. But the majority of the story is pretty good, especially at the beginning as Jake and the townsfolk are scrambling to understand what the hell is going on. As everything unfolds, we get a good look at this lowly town just trying to scrap by and the people that inhabit it. Most summer movies (hell, a lot of movies period) skip any sort of characterization but we get that in spades here. It is nice to actually be able to connect with a character before they are carted off to the mothership or killed.

It is unfortunate, however, that the rest of the movie did not feel as real as the characters. Surely, no one can argue that Favreau is an incompetent director and he shows here that he has the skills to create some tense and exciting sequences such as when the band of townies run across Jake’s old gang or the remaining Apache tribe in the area. But, the fact that CG is used entirely for the aliens is disappointing. I can understand for practical purposes, a CG flying craft is much easier than a practical one. But that the aliens are entirely CG is almost inexcusable, especially for a movie that is almost positioned as the anti-2011 summer movie. The design of the aliens is a bother since they really have no defining characteristics except for their bizarre physiology. Their motive is questionable as well but that is all but called out by Olivia Wilde’s character.

The real problem begins once the human characters launch their assault on their aliens. Everything up to then is solid, if not spectacular. But the final act of the movie pulls out the cliché checklist and follows it to a T especially when it comes to the payoff to poorly written character moments, hero moments from previously less than heroic characters, and the conclusion of character arcs you can see from a mile away. For me, this was not enough to destroy the excitement up until that point, but it is a bad ending tacked onto an otherwise good film.

It’s a shame though that the film did not deliver on its promise all around. The cinematography was beautiful (in fairness, a lot of westerns are), the music by Harry Gregson-Williams was appropriate (more than I can say for that Mastadon BS from Hex), and the characters were fleshed out so you actually give a damn about them. Favreau has done well for himself with the Iron Man series and C&A proves that he can branch out successfully. Just leave the written-by-committee at home next time.

You might have noticed the western category is a bit barren. Personally, I don’t have a problem with westerns but I can probably count those that I’ve seen on one hand. When it was announced that the most always dependable Joel and Ethan Coen were gearing up for the remake of True Grit, I was worried that my lack of experience in the genre would detract from my enjoyment of the film.

The Coen’s True Grit is reportedly a more faithful adaptation to the Charles Portis novel than the 1969 movie baring the same name. Having not read the novel nor seen the original film (refrain from stoning me until I complete the review, please), I had no idea of whose words, smothered in thick accents and drawls, I was hearing coming from the characters, Portis’ or the Coen’s. It was entertaining nonetheless.

The main character Mattie Ross narrates the film telling of the time when she sought a lawman to hunt down her father’s murderer, Tom Chaney. Mattie has gumption beyond her fourteen years as she strong-arms a store owner out of money she feels she is due. She also has determination to hire the shrewdest marshal around, Rooster Cogburn who is also a heavy-drinking, one-eyed dubious fellow to boot. Along for the journey is LaBoeuf, a Texas Ranger also on the trail of Chaney for other misdeeds he has committed. Chaney is MIA for a large part of the movie, something possibly carried over from the source material. He is a man that is both dim-witted and ruthlessly cruel but this isn’t a cat and mouse thriller or in hot pursuit type of move.

While exacting revenge on Chaney sets up the story, this is more of a dramatic character study between three wildly different people united for a common goal. LaBoeuf and Cogburn have ill will toward the other in a sometimes professional rivalry and neither particularly care to have a young girl tagging along for the ride. With her dogged determination, Mattie though is able to keep the two men on the hunt when the trail grows cold after a deadly encounter with the gang that Chaney has taken to.

John Wayne won an Oscar for his portrayal of Cogburn in the 1969 movie. With any luck, Jeff Bridges will also get the honor for the same character. He almost literally melts away into his portrayal of the Marshal erasing any notion that you are actually watching Jeff Bridges playing a character. Cogburn is at times a hard-ass, others just a drunk ass, and still he manages to come around to the point of defending Mattie when she needs it. Matt Damon as LaBoeuf is not quite as commanding as Bridges but still turns in a very solid performance. Josh Brolin is limited on screen but he is able to turn from dim-witted to dangerous in a blink of an eye as was foretold earlier in the film.

The real show stopper though is Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie. She is not only able to hold her own against the other fairly renowned actors but also adds a bit of levity in the situation such as when she reminisces about her father taking her on coon hunts with a faint, warm smile. All of the leads and most of the lesser cast are able to successfully pull off the odd combination of rapid dialogue wrapped in leisurely Old West trappings but those that don’t only stand out that much more.

Longtime Coen Brothers collaborator Roger Deakins as DP is able to show the untamed frontier in beautiful imagery that does not feel as if it is plucked from a nature documentary. Carter Burwell also unsurprisingly provides the background music that fits perfectly whether its the plucky, old-timey sounds while in town to the sweeping symphonies while on horseback in the wild. Unlike many of the Coen’s movies, there is mostly a lack of quirky comic relief save for one or two fellows who jarringly pop up such as the odd man in the bearskin or one of Lucky Ned’s gang members who is like the Michael Winslow of that time. For it being 98% a straight-forward movie, the inclusion of those two characters baffled me.

Much buzz has been around the Coen’s latest work and this movie is a prime example of why they keep getting the big nominations time and time again. Add in the strong performances and you have a movie that is surely worth seeing.

After it came and epically failed at the box office this summer, Jonah Hex was branded as a grade-A turkey, damning the goodwill Josh Brolin has earned over the past few years and further nailing the coffin of Megan Fox‘s movie career. I started watching expecting a bad movie but upon it’s conclusion I wonder, did I actually watch a movie? Clocking in at a thankful, yet still puzzling 81 minutes with credits, Jonah Hex probably would have been a worse movie had it not been so hurried to its conclusion. For that we can be thankful I suppose.

From what I gather reading about the source comic series, the origin of Hex is similar but damn if we’d know it from the movie. Under the command of Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), Hex is a Confederate soldier who breaks rank after refusing to slaughter United States civilians and kills Turnbull’s son in the process. Hex is then forced to watch as his wife and son (I think?) are burned alive by Turnbull for revenge before being scarred and left for dead. Hex becomes a ruthless bounty hunter with a knack of speaking with the dead, Turnbull becomes a maniacal and fluffy-looking man who wants to destroy the United States, and Will Arnett plays some guy that I swear was going to break out dancing to The Final Countdown. Oh, and Megan Fox plays a prostitute.

Likely due to its impossibly short run-time, Jonah Hex feels nothing more than a story concocted of action pieces primarily with half-realized moments in between. The script by the absurdly named duo of Neveldine & Taylor does not wish to dwell upon the “boring” stuff like Hex being tormented over his family’s brutal killings or the oddly exposition-laced resurrection of the dead. Instead all the talky parts exist just to differentiate between which old-timey thug Hex is chucking an ax into or which town Turnbull is blowing up by some contraption called a “nation-killer.” Even the character of Turnbull is pretty interesting in theory as a Confederate general who is so incensed about the reunification of the country that he is willing to level towns or blow up trains with women and children to further his agenda. Again, all of this though is lightly glazed over in quick bits of dialog that are punctuated with explosions. Perhaps I should have watched Crank or Gamer to get a feel for what is to be expected from the screenwriters.

While my searches yielded no results, there has to be large chunks of this movie on the cutting-room floor as it makes as much sense to make a big budget summer movie that is less than an hour and a half as it does to give me $40 million to piss away. Brolin plays Hex decently although his performance here does not come close to some of his recent output (notably No Country For Old Men). While I posit it would be challenging to perform with half of your face covered in prosthesis, Brolin does it pretty effortlessly and does a good job selling a man with nothing to lose (even if the script did not help him much).

For all of his character’s intricacies, Malkovich is either bored or high on something as he looks villainous and acts villainous but there is no effort or even passion in his performance. Megan Fox is exactly how you would expect Megan Fox to be: nice to look at and borderline okay as an actor but totally superfluous in the story as the reluctant sidekick. Confusingly, some decent actors (Wes Bentley, Lance Reddick, Jeffery Dean Morgan, the aforementioned Arnett) pop up at random intervals to exist only as padding or exposition in a scene or two to be quickly forgotten. While there is technically an overarching story with Turnbull lashing out at the President and the United States, it is clear that a cohesive story was the last thing on the screenwriters’ and director Jimmy Hayworth‘s mind. Neither was an authetic-ish western movie either as the score by Mastadon (yep, as in the band) was obnoxious and out of place as I typically do not connect horse riding and screeching guitars together.

Even if Jonah Hex was a competently made movie (it’s not), its brevity and large narrative holes would leave much to be desired. But again, based on what we had in that brief film, I shudder to think of what we did not see.