Why cowboys and aliens failed

The fact that not one of them could come up with one single line of memorable dialogue in a movie that starred both James Bond and Han Solo , however, is still utterly baffling. It pushes the limits of its PG rating in a way that most movies don't, large budget or no, and it makes the experience a uniquely satisfying one.

Punches, explosions, and gunshots feel forceful thanks to the editing and Favreau's blending of practical effects and computer effects, which all helps to make the movie's situations feel genuinely dangerous for the main characters.

From that jumping-off point, the movie begins to immediately raise its threat level and each twist in the story can be felt by the audience all the more strongly thanks to our next point Whether the movie keeps its promises is, however, another matter The pace of the story starts to grind to a halt as the heroes find themselves dealing with side situations that you know are merely detours from the main plot and Olivia Wilde's wild card character slips more into the role of a conventional love interest to be sexualized and rescued.

The less-interesting side characters that are introduced in the second act get folded into the final battle and all of the emotional stakes in the story are each given a satisfying payoff before the end credits roll. Her career will be defined by what she does from here. They will all lose money, but there were three financiers on it, so nobody will get killed.

Watch Real Steel in October. There will be a lot of pressure to make that one work. To comment on this story through Facebook, click here. Archive andygreenwald. See all from Andy Greenwald. See all Hollywood Prospectus. Boggs Spur-winning novelist. At the beginning, it was beautiful, gritty, flawless, a good window into the late s in the Southwest. I readily admit I enjoyed the whole thing, but maybe this concept was too much of a jar to the public.

I think they tried to hit two target audiences and missed both. Costuming and tack were inaccurate for them. That all being said, I enjoyed it for what it was…it was fun and different. I took it for what it was, not a traditional-type Western, but a new way of looking at adventure, humor and escape movies.

My only complaint was they killed off Buck Taylor in the first few frames.