THAT EVENING SUN (2009)

Legendary actor Hal Holbrook plays Abner Meecham, an old man who, after a fall was placed in an assisted living home by his son. Abner doesn't like it there, so one day he says "Deuces!" and walks out. He catches a ride back to his farm only to find that his son has rented his homestead out to a white trash family headed up by Lonzo Choat. Unwilling to give up the home he's worked his entire life for, he moves into a small shack off to the side of the big house and refuses to leave. What follows next is an increasingly volatile standoff between Meecham and Choat.

So close to being awesome. The first two acts of the story were really good. Excellent character development, lots of tension building, but then it seems the writer wrote himself into a corner because the ending, at least to me, was a major letdown. I was hoping for something explosive and memorable. Instead THAT EVENING SUN drops with a thud.

Worth a watch for sure, if only for Hal Holbrook's performance. I'm kinda surprised that he didn't receive an Oscar nomination for his performance, but then again the Academy has never been known for making smart decisions. The entire supporting cast was very good also.

COWBOYS & ALIENS (2011)

Hollywood cowboys vs. Hollywood aliens.

Cowboy Daniel Craig wakes up in the middle of nowhere. He has amnesia and some metal contraption clamped on his left wrist. Before he can even get his bearings, three scruffy looking dudes (who probably smell like poo-poo) ride up and start talking shit. Craig beats the crap out of them...so obviously, he knows how to fight. He then travels to the nearest town where it becomes apparent that he is a wanted criminal. After some more fighting, he's arrested and then while being loaded up into the paddy wagon...aliens attack!  During the attack the metal device on Craig's arm activates and he uses it to shoot down one of the alien vehicles. The next morning, Craig joins a posse and they head off in search of the aliens who kidnapped some people during the attack.

With a title like COWBOYS & ALIENS, I was expecting the film to be a little campy, like TREMORS, but instead C&A comes across like it almost wanted to be serious...I think. What do I know? But with the torture scene, the deaths, the alien experiments, the ominous lighting and the semi-gritty tone, I think the film was going for a serious mood. Even worse than the mixed tone signals is the slow pace. Jesus Christ, I was damn near going into a coma waiting for something to happen and then when it did...it was still boring!!! And who came up wit the idea of gold rustling, shell-less turtle aliens? What the fuck? Ahhhh, fuck it. Watch the movie if you want, it's not horrible, just completely lacking in imagination and cleverness. I could have written a better script than this soulless snoozer without even breaking a sweat.  It did have a great cast though.  If you need me I'll be in my room watching TREMORS and THE LAST STARFIGHTER.

One interesting thing the filmmakers could have done, but I guess it wasn't legally possible, was have Harrison Ford's character lose an alien artifact and then have Indiana Jones find it in the next Indy movie.