Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens: one of the worst movies ever.

No, really. It was ghastly. Murky cinematography, minimal plot, nonsenical evil aliens, pointless mumbled dialogue, and lots of slow, ponderous movement punctuated by explosions.

Why'd I watch it? For Daniel Craig, of course. Despite my current Daniel Craig pash, I'm not sure it was worth it. There were some lovely shots of him moving gracefully in rough terrain, but the script didn't give him much to work with. The only character in the movie who had any real personality was Paul Dano as the hideous brat Percy Dolarhyde, who I thought might have some interesting character development - but sadly, he was kidnapped by the aliens early on, and had no story at all, let alone a developing one.

Harrison Ford as the tough-guy town-runner simply made me think sadly of Harrison Ford as he was in Star Wars or Witness.

Between the froggy aliens, the laconic cowboys, the virtuous whore, the yelping Indians, the sad-eyed dog, and so on... there was no cliché untouched.

The idea of cowboys and aliens is terrific. Just look at Firefly. Okay, no real aliens there (and all to the better), but just think what Joss Whedon could have done with this. He might have given us characters with personality, and the occasional joke. The aliens might have been convincing. He might have made it fun.

Oh, it was so sadly lacking in fun.

You know what really bothers me? It was directed (badly) by Jon Favreau, who (badly) directed Iron Man 2. And they've given him Iron Man 3 to direct. I was really looking forward to Iron Man 3. Now I just have to hope that Jon Favreau has developed a smidge of directing talent in the past year or so. Because this was so very, very boring.

30 Days of Doctor Who: Question 11: A scene or moment that made you cry.

30 Days of Doctor Who: Question 11: A scene or moment that made you cry.

Since I already cited the end of "Doomsday"... I'll pick "The Parting of the Ways", series 1, episode 13. This bit:

Emperor Dalek: Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?
The Doctor: Coward, any day.
Emperor Dalek: Mankind will be harvested because of your weaknesses!
The Doctor: And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?
Emperor Dalek: You are the heathen. You will be exterminated!
The Doctor: Maybe it's time.

Tuesday

A funny day of random moods; couldn't settle to anything till late in the day. Did yoga, tapping (which I found surprisingly relaxing), read Get Off Your "Butt" by Sean Stephenson, and looked at a few of his videos on YouTube. Watched an episode of X-Files with maseru and Pim, "Humbug", the episode that made me a fan in the first place - and was amused to see the moment where I originally fell in love with Fox Mulder. Ahhh, fandoms of the past.