I just got the opportunity to interview him at Comic-Con and it was a dream come true.  Well, I only got to ask one question, but still.  This man has been part of so many films I love.  I mean, he’s a genius.  He’s a big part of my childhood.  And…AND…I actually loved Cowboys & Aliens.  I think it was a bad idea to premiere it at Comic Con when almost every single reviewer was exhausted/hungover/brain dead.  I think it might have been over-exposed, which builds up expectations to a fever pitch.  Nothing could possibly live up to the hype.  I thought it was fun.  I thought the cast was amazing.  I had an absolute blast watching it.  I just think we have a bit of alien fatigue.

Get The Alien Cribs Tour In 'Cowboys & Aliens' Trailer

We’re not innocent enough to believe in the goodness of the world anymore.  Not when profit or death is involved.  It’s why Super 8 was one of the only alien films this year that worked.  It played on the nostalgia of a more innocent time.  (Wrote a little piece on it.  Take a look.)  But there are only so many ways to do aliens in a film.  Steven is an expert on all things alien (he even gave Jon Favreau some tips on the alien design for Cowboys & Aliens), but even the great man himself can give us too much of a good thing.  This year alone, he’s got Super 8, Cowboys & Aliens Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and the TV show, Falling Skies.  There are other topics!  And Steven, haven’t you done enough with aliens?  Robot aliens, aliens in mech suits, aliens mining for gold, aliens whose ship building blocks look like little silver Rubik’s cubes…I still haven’t forgiven him for the aliens at the end of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  And all of this in addition to all the non-Spielberg alien films out recently.  Battle: Los Angeles Paul I Am Number Four, Mars Needs Moms…the list goes on.

New 'Tintin' Trailer Proves Mo-Cap Doesn't Have To Suck

The introduction of Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) is all silent behavior, so you get a sense of who this guy is visually. Jake suits up as a cowboy in the cold open, and Craig makes a great man with no name. It’s not that different from his rough and tumble James Bond, but I want to see that guy in the old west too.

Get The Alien Cribs Tour In 'Cowboys & Aliens' Trailer

Jake shakes up the town just like any western hero would. Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano) is used to making trouble and endangering civilians with no one standing up to him. Jake humiliates Percy in a badass way. Doc (Sam Rockwell) is just a saloon owner with a dream, Meacham (Clancy Brown) is the preacher who still knows he needs a gun and Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine) sees outlaws all the time and recognizes how flexible the law is in the old west. Meanwhile Jake keeps beating dudes up.

Woodrow Dolaryde (Harrison Ford) has a stronghold on the town and Ford is having fun scowling it up. Unfortunately, once the town goes looking for the aliens, Mr. Dolaryde is just along for the ride. He gets some good character moments, especially with he and Jake sizing each other up, but it’s not a fully developed part. Ella (Olivia Wilde) is saddled with all the exposition, and I’ll embrace that pun in all its glory but I would have said the same thing if she were in any genre explaining all the backstory.

7 photosOlivia Wilde

Perhaps some of the bad buzz has come from people’s expectations of western. This isn’t the Oscar-y western like True Grit or Unforgiven. It’s like the real westerns of old Hollywood and the Italian era, just a great yarn with cool characters. They still run into bandits and natives, build legends like Woodrow’s war history, ride through the plains on horseback and bond over the campfire.

The little bit of sci-fi is still in the western mold. Jake chases after a spaceship like it’s a runaway stagecoach. In the climactic battle, Nat Colorado (Adam Beach) lassos an alien like cattle. The aliens resemble a combination of Giger, Predator and Blade 2. They look good, although I forgot about their mouth arms until they use them again in the end.

The McGuffin on Jake’s wrist still rubs me the wrong way. It’s a totally artificial mystery. It’s like oh, look, what is this crazy object on his wrist? It exists only to reveal backstory later in the film, and to make it easier for Jake to shoot down alien ships. Other characters come up with creative ways to use their bare bones western tools to fight aliens, but the script hinges a mystery on this artificial device

For me, Cowboys & Aliens is what I wanted in a summer movie. It’s a grand, fantastic world full of big adventure and high concept. Probably not a memorable classic but damn good fun. I hope there’s a porno parody of it. They can call it Reverse Cowgirl & Aliens.

4 photos'Immortals' Is Looking Pretty, Pretty '300'-y

Disney, Warner Bros., Dreamworks, The Weinstein Co., and maybe Marvel won’t be making the trip this year, which means you won’t see any precious footage from The Dark Knight Rises or The Man Of Steel or The Avengers which seems like BULLshit. But don’t worry. You’ll be able to see scenes from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I and Shark Night 3D, so that should keep people from stabbing one another with pens, right?

Oh okay. Well, I guess you’ll also have a chance to see promotions for The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn, Cowboys & Aliens, The Amazing Spider-man, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Hobbit, and The Immortals. And if all those panels are full, you can check out The Raven or “Terra Nova.” So don’t worry, there will be plenty of stuff to act nerdy toward. (NY Times)

8 photosNew ‘Super 8′ Stills Show Everything (But The Monster)

Cowboys & Aliens starring Daniel Craig, naked Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, and Abigail Spencer opens on July the 29th.

“‘Alien At Large’ tells the story of Earth’s first interstellar ambassador, who is not the brightest star in the galaxy. Although he means well, he has the uncanny ability to turn a harmless situation into utter catastrophe. Yet his bumbling might just save our planet, as his arrival unwittingly disrupts a nefarious alien conspiracy.”

6 photosThings Are Looking Quite Jiggy On The 'MIB III' Set

We also catch a glimpse of an alien this time around. It’s what you’d expect. We only catch a gnarled, boney Joan Rivers hand with reptilian skin gripping a rock while it lifts itself out of frame. It’s the only confirmation that we need that there are actually aliens in this movie. Up until this point, I was sure that jet from Stealth was up to its old tricks.

Now that New England has been knocked out of the running, I guess the only reason I have to watch the Super Bowl is for the commercials. A lot of big films will run previews during this year’s game, so it looks like there’s something for everybody. Unless you were hoping to see mutants. Despite expectations, X-Men: First Class will not air a Super Bowl trailer.

Here’s a rundown of the movie trailers that will air in between talking baby ads, Doritos wannabes, and horses farting:

Super 8

Captain America: The First Avenger

Thor

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Rango

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Cowboys & Aliens

Limitless

(THR)

Harry Potter fans are having a strange reaction to the trailer for Cowboys & Aliens. The comical title is causing viewers to break out into laughter, similar to the way that the name M. Night Shyamalan causes audiences to break out into “Awww, what dah fuh’s?!?”

This concerns Universal because the film isn’t a comedy whatsoever. Rather, it’s an awesome mash-up film where cowboys fight for survival against alien invaders. Now they’re scrambling to find the proper way to sell the film. Could a title-change be in order? Either way, the Deadliest Warrior movie is totally screwed. (NY Times)

Yahhaw! Here we go with anuther Non-Monumental News Round Up! And this one is rootin’ tootinier than the last. We got a lot of non-monumental items to glance at in our boredom, so let’s git to it!

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – has a teaser poster featuring a metallic, pirate skull. It looks like The Expendables teaser poster dressed as Capt. Jack Sparrow for Halloween. (IMP Awards)

John Cusack Is Dressed Like Edgar Allan Poe - Here’s a snapshot of John Cusack on the set of James McTeigue‘s The Raven. It looks more like John Cusack dressed as Johnny Depp for Halloween. (Daily Dead)

First Look At Cars 2- Pixar provides the first official image from Cars 2, showing Lightning McQueen and Mater the Tow Truck participating in the World Grand Prix — an international race to determine the fastest car in the world. While overseas, Mater gets caught up in the world of spy espionage. A backward hillbilly getting mistaken for an international spy? That sounds more like the plot of a Larry the Cable Guy movie. Oh. (Hey You Guys)

Cowboys & Aliens teaser poster - Those aliens don’t stand a chance against Daniel Craig’s boomstick and Nintendo Power Glove. Sadly, no naked Olivia Wilde. Now THAT would be a tease. (Yahoo)

Cat Dressed As A Taco - And here’s a picture of a cat dressed as a taco.

^{Like this but nakeder.}

We’ve been writing about Cowboys & Aliens for a little while now, but haven’t really formed an opinion on whether or not we’re looking forward to it. Until now because Olivia Wilde is appearing naked again. Adam Beach (who plays Nat Colorado) was recently interviewed and began describing the on-set experience of Olivia Wilde‘s nude scene.

"We just finished shooting Olivia Wilde naked in front of a bonfire in front of 500 Apache warriors. That was beautiful. You won’t get to see what I saw, but you’ll get a glimpse."

First of all, that’s going to make things awkward for Adam at the wrap party. Secondly, big deal. We’ll probably only get to see her back and maybe a slightly moon-lit ass. Thirdly, I’d call standing naked in front of 500 Apache warriors a pretty intense experience. But if you’re Gary Busey, you’d call it Tuesday. (Jam)

Jon Favreau tweeted this little morsel from the set of Cowboys & Aliens to get your appetite so whet your superiors are wondering why the mop handle in your grip is covered in drool. Though can we really be sure this is official just because the director of the movie released it?

My overbearing paronia insists that the pic could be a clever marketing campaign by Disney for Toy Story 3. If Woody was flesh and blood THIS is how he would look, always hauling a backlight around with him so we could never be certain of his identity. Oh no, you’re not pulling the wool over my eyes, Lasseter. First the subliminal Nazi propaganda shorts before the main attraction and now this? If you weren’t so damn awesome at what you do I’d have a good mind to shake an angry fist at your visage. That and my angry fist in buried deep in a tub of animal crackers at the moment. I know there’s an elephant in here somewhere…