Saturdate

Today, my dad and I went on a date. He wanted to watch movies - note the plural form- and I wanted to eat. So to the mall we went.

Surveying the movies being shown, we trimmed our list to the following: Crazy Stupid Love (with Steve Carell), Conan The Barbarian, Cowboys vs. Aliens, and The Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was a no-brainer: of course we chose Cowboys vs. Aliens since it had the "biggest" stars (my dad's basis for choosing).

My dad is a lover of Hollywood superstars and upon finding out that this movie, which reeked of sci-fi tales, had Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in it, he chucked his anti-sci-fi principles out the window and lobbied for Cowboy vs. Aliens. I was more than happy to oblige, as I had just decided then that it was the only movie in the list we COULD watch together without me flinching at any given time.

You see, I WANTED to watch Crazy Stupid Love as I think Steve Carell is just hilarious but the movie poster showed a pair of nice legs spread apart in front of the movir's main man. From the poster alone, I could foresee scenes with nudity, although I was pretty sure those scenes would have a punchline somewhere. There would be scantily clad women. There'd be a lot of kissing. And I'd be squirming in my seat with my dad tsk-tsking away beside me.

I remember the time I watched "Shakespeare in Love" with my dad anad my late uncle. They were trying to cover my eyes when Gwyneth Paltrow and Ralph Feinnes were getting it on while exchanging literary quotes. After that first rather intimate scene, they'd tell me to cover my eyes whenever the two actors would do. So much as look at each other. Needless to say, we did not get to finish the entire movie. Yeah. We walked out on Gwyneth. 

Then we watched Brokeback Mountain. that was fairly recent - heck, I was already in my twenties then. My uncle, God bless his soul, was already amongst the angels then. So, my dad and I watched with my nephew, who's about 7 years or so older than me. When Anne Hathaway's boobs came dangling before Jake Gylenhall's adorable face, my dad bolted out of his seat and declared the movie to be ugly and downright improper. Again, we walked out. This time, it was while Anne was busy riding Jake - not the horse, but Jake.

That was why I didn't fight for Crazy Stupid Love. As for Conan the Barbarian, well, we know Conan. But the the actor playing Conan and the actress playing his love interest (there's bound to be a love interest) were not on my dad's list of watchable actors. In fact, he has never heard of them. With that, we flushed Conan's movie down the loo.

The second Apes movie got included in the short list just because it was the only other 'safe' movie to watch. Also, it had James Franco and my dad liked him in Spiderman. But it was a movie about apes and we really didn't want to watch that.

So, Cowboys vs. Aliens it was. And, although it was a wee bit disgruntling to reconcile two 'worlds' - the Old West and the technologically advanced Aliens - I found the movie highly entertaining. (This is a mighty significant compliment coming from a woman who has always despised sci-fi films and who has never really liked Daniel Craig.)

I went inside the movie house without any expectations: hey, I was only obliging my dad. But throughout the movie, I was snickering at the sheer idiocy of the spoiled Percy and racking my brains for what could possibly be the next scene. Nevermind the loose ends.

 Daniel Craig was such a badass in the movie - well, save for his moments of weakness towards all things female and beautiful (sheesh) that I'm now on the brink of considering a change of heart.  He was believable as a memory-impaired cowboy with an  oddly modern bracelet on his arm. 

As for that weird bracelet, how come other aliens did not have that? Was that only reserved for the Dr. Frankenstein-alien? Also, how come Olivia Wilde (man, she was scorching) knew how to figure it out, so much that she even got to turn it to a bomb of sorts? She was from another planet (or something) and either she was very intelligent or that alien bracelet thing was standard issue in all worlds but the Old West's Earth.

How did she manage to resurrect from dead? Jeez, the movie expected viewers to just accept all happenings without raising ny eyebrows, as if we all knew the reasons behind every mystical or weird thing. This was its major flaw, in my opinion. They could have had Oilvia Wilde's character explain herself and her origins more - what her powers, if any, were, how she knew Daniel's character was THE cowboy at first glance, where she got the human body to hide her true form with, blah blah blah - but of course, the bonfire chatter was kept to the minimum. 

Amid all these questions and curiosities, still,  the movie did not fail to entertain. My dad, who would normally punctuate every other scene with questions on why a scene happened, or why the actor was shitting in his pants,so to speak, was silent all through out, save for some guffaws at specific scenes. He also did not ask his usual clarificatory questions after the movie (or maybe that was because he was rushing to get his ticket to Crazy Stupid Love - which he was watching by himself right after Cowboys vs. Aliens - and the movie was beginning 10 minutes after Cowboys ended).

Oh, and my dad hated Crazy Stupid Love. He said he should have watched Conan the Barbarian instead.