COWBOYS & ALIENS - 120 Days and counting
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 8:48PM Tweet by Bennett Owen
Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com
Following hot on the heels of True Grit comes a summer blockbuster with all the trappings of a classic western, and just may rescue Harrison Ford’s career. This movie will get plenty of my money based on the title alone. The Super Bowl spot was magnificent:
And again, the full-length trailer. This won’t be the last time you see it posted here:
As this is posted I must wait only another 120 days to see it on a giant silver screen. Am I premature in my enthusiasm? I think not! Here’s the synopsis, lifted directly from Cowboysandaliensmovie.com:
1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It's a town that lives in fear.
But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.
Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he has been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella, he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents - townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors - all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.
Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com
Marauders from the sky. Ya gotta love it. Now Park City has its Sundance Film Festival but Austin, Texas is gaining fame for the BNAT…the Butt-numb-a-thon, brainchild of Ain’t it Cool News creator, and Head Geek, Harry Knowles.
It’s a 24-hour film marathon held at the Alamo Draft House.
Here’s what one lucky attendee had to say about Cowboys & Aliens:
“Jon Favreau, Roberto Orci, and Ron Howard brought {the first 40 minutes of C&A} to BNAT and without going into spoilers I'll simply say that this movie is going to #$%& ROCK. Favreau has done something that can simply not be repaid - he brought Harrison Ford back. And not just stuck him into the film, either. He's #$^% BACK. He gives a rich, layered, complex performance and commands attention as soon as he takes the screen.”
Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com
Oh right. And it stars James Bond, which means my sister will be sitting right next to me on opening night!
Photo courtesy of CowboysandAliensMovie.com
Like so many other recent blockbusters, Cowboys and Aliens first saw life as a hugely popular graphic novel. Director John Favreau knows his audience and caters to it big time. He’s a regular at Comic-Con where the incomparable ‘Weirdo Super Fan’ Matt Zaller caught up with him and co-star Sam Rockwell:
OK, time for some fact checking and soul searching. True Grit has grossed $250 million dollars worldwide on a production budget of just $38 million. Rango is also well over the $200 million mark. Cowboys & Aliens this summer and the Lone Ranger is going into production, not to mention a revival of the genre on TV. The western is well and truly back in the saddle.