Cowboys & Aliens Countdown

By Bennett Owen

Credit: Photo by Zade Rosenthal/Universal Studios and DreamWorks II – © Universal Studios and DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC

Come here often? Then you know I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since the last pixel of True Grit faded from the silver screen, so from now until Saturday it’s ‘C & A’ as far as the ‘I can C’.

So by now you’ve seen the trailers featuring the alien space ships …

Credit: Photo by Zade Rosenthal/Universal Studios and DreamWorks II – © Universal Studios and DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC

Harrison Ford …

Credit: Photo by Zade Rosenthal/Universal Studios and DreamWorks II – © Universal Studios and DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC

Daniel Craig …

Credit: Photo by Zade Rosenthal/Universal Studios and DreamWorks II – © Universal Studios and DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC

But this is the shot that has tongues wagging all across the blogosphere …

There’s some old fashioned smolder in that look and it belongs to up and comer Olivia Wilde. Director John Favreau knew he had gold when he got that shot …

Credit: Beyond Hollywood

Wilde tells MTV, “It was kind of strange because I was half-naked in front of a bunch of people, including the crew, a bunch of Apache warriors, a bunch of cowboys … AND Daniel Craig."

Credit: Photo by Zade Rosenthal/Universal Studios and DreamWorks II – © Universal Studios and DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC

And in the UK Daily Mail she confesses to a schoolgirl crush on Craig:

“He is so fine and he doesn't even know it,' she said. 'He's such a goof, but he has a confidence that allows him to shine in the way that Steve McQueen stole every single scene in The Magnificent Seven...“

Credit: Photo by Zade Rosenthal/Universal Studios and DreamWorks II – © Universal Studios and DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC

So Wilde, my sister and about a kazillion other women think Craig’s pretty magnificent himself ... what do they see in him?

Credit: Digital Journal

An accomplished horsewoman and all-round athlete, Wilde did much of her own stunt work on C & I, including a scene where she gets ripped from the saddle by a bungee cord. She told it all to Leno last night, the story starts about two minutes in:

At age 27, Wilde is just starting to creep onto the A-List but she’s had a recurring role on ‘House’ and took on a meaty role in ‘Tron Legacy.”

When she was 18, Wilde married an Italian aristocrat she met at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada. Alas, she’s suddenly single again.

“I got a divorce and self medicated with food,'” she said. “'But I figure that's better than self-medicating with crack cocaine.”

Wilde took her screen name as an homage to the Irish playwright. And who knows … at some Academy Award ceremony somewhere down the line, she might pick up his first name too.

Credit: Photo by Zade Rosenthal/Universal Studios and DreamWorks II – © Universal Studios and DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC

Cowboys & Aliens Countdown – Just 99 Days

By Bennett Owen

Credit: Teaser-Trailer.com

It’s here! The new trailer! Two minutes and 45 seconds worth of testosterone pumping, hormonal pounding, prime time, kick-butt, John Favreau-induced genius. 

Credit: CinemaBlend.com

Watch this. When it’s finished hit replay. Thank me later:

Blog-world is abuzz on this one, with comic book connoisseurs enthused that the movie appears to do justice to the wildly popular graphic novel.

Credit: Amazon.com

Consider this from Steven Zeitchik of the LA Times:

“It's still too soon to tell if the mash-up of westerns and science-fiction conventions will come off as interesting or incongruous.  What does emerge from the trailer is that the movie doesn't skimp on the western atmosphere — something we suspect will play a lot better in a post-"True Grit" world.”

Credit: orlandosentinel.com

And the mighty Harrison Ford is back big time…thank you, John Favreau! The circle is complete. 

Credit: herocomplex.latimes.com

Back in the 1970s I was a teenager laboring in the hay field, starting right after July 4^th through the end of August. It got so tiring that some of the hay crew would go down to the meadows after supper and do rain dances in hopes of getting a day off.  One time it worked* and my Uncle Jules took the family to town to see “this movie everyone’s been talking about.” 

Credit: filmofilia.com

At the Big Sky Cinema, the lights went down…and the triumphant strains of Star Wars literally blew us back into our seats where we remained riveted for the next two hours. When it was over we all stared at the blank silver screen, not wanting the experience to be over. That’s the moment my star-struck Uncle Jules put into words what we were all thinking and uttered the immortal line, “go buy some more popcorn, we’re watching this again.”

Credit: Guy Sande

* Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance – Western saying