It has cowboys. It has aliens. It has cowboys and aliens. It’s not a bad film. It’s not a good film. It is a movie. That’s a pretty lackluster opener, but, walking out of the screening, I felt almost completely neutral about Cowboys and Aliens–it was like the things I liked and the things I disliked were in perfect balance.

The film doesn’t fail to deliver on anything the title promises, and you can lose count of the standard tropes from either genre that it hits, but it’s tough to maintain the toothy grin I expected all throughout. Though I’m getting ahead of myself.

Daniel Craig plays Jake Lonergan (one of many last names I suspect are puns but am not entirely sure), a notorious outlaw who awakes one morning with a heavy case of amnesia and one hell of a bracelet on his left arm. He makes his way to the nearest town, controlled by the gruff cattle rancher Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) and his uppity son Percy (Paul Dano), whose favorite pastime is terrifying the community at large and in particular the local bartender (Sam Rockwell) and his wife (Ana de la Reguera).

It’s not long before Jake endears himself to the locals, among them the soused preacher (Clancy Brown), the woman with a secret (Olivia Wilde), and, naturally, the sheriff (Keith Carradine) by punching out Percy, and not long after that that his identity is revealed, and he’s locked up. Still less longer, the aliens arrive, capture a handful of significant townsfolk, and everyone’s differences are set aside as they form a posse to recover the abductees. ‘round about this time, Jake discovers that his bracelet is able to sense the aliens and, better yet, can blow ‘em up real good.

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This week is a different kind of war movie, because it’s a war movie on the home front which mirrors the actions and feelings of what the country was going through during the latter half of the Vietnam War. Southern Comfort (1981) is a psychological thriller from acclaimed director Walter Hill (The Warriors, The Long Riders, 48 Hours, Streets of Fire, Geronimo: An American Legend.)

The film centers around a squad of nine National Guardsmen who are on weekend maneuvers in the Louisiana bayous in 1973. The film stars an assortment of fantastic character actors ranging from Powers Boothe (Cpl Hardin), Keith Carradine (Pfc. Spencer), T.K. Carter (Pfc. Cribbs), Peter Coyote (Ssgt. Poole), Brion James (Cajun trapper), Sonny Landham (Cajun hunter), Lewis Smith (Pfc. Stuckey), and Fred Ward (Cpl. Reece).

As the squad of men descend deep into the swamp, Cpl. Hardin (Boothe) and Pfc. Spencer (Carradine) quickly become pals and are the only two level headed individuals in this motley crew of weekend warriors. Hardin is a recent transfer from the Texas Guard who is trying to finish his stint so he can return to civilian life. He has total lack of respect for the Army and for those in charge such as Ssgt. Poole (Coyote) and Sgt. Casper (Les Lannom).

As the film progresses, the squad commandeers a few Cajun canoes in order to make their way to the other side of the swamp. In doing so they seal their fate with a bunch of Cajuns who retaliate due to their canoes being stolen, and after Pfc. Stuckey (as a prank), scares them by opening fire with his M-60 machine gun which is loaded with blanks. Terrified, the Cajuns shoot back killing Ssgt. Cribbs. The men quickly become paranoid as to their fate and have only a few precious live rounds to do battle with the Cajuns who use their knowledge of the terrain to their advantage.

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Our love for Dollhouse and all-things Whedon has no bounds. We’re big fans of pretty much everything Joss does and followed along through all the trails and tribulations during the Buffy and Angel years, with Firefly and Serenity and now with his latest TV project Dollhouse.

The show has had its ups and downs and it looked for a while that it would not be coming back for a second season at all. Fortunately, it was renewed, although a bit changed from its first season. We’ve spoken to Jane Espenson about the changes for season 2, featured an interview with the man himself and series star Eliza Dushku and now, via the folks at Access Hollywood, we’ve got another video here for you today showcasing more with Eliza about what fans can expect from season 2 of Dollhouse.

In typical cryptic fashion she doesn’t reveal too much more than what we already know such as upcoming guest stars will include Jamie Bamber, Keith Carradine and Angel alum Alexis Denisof. She did say, however, that season two will be shot entirely on HD. Dushku said the change makes the show feel more real and less “science fictiony.”

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