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Western meets sci-fi flick is full of 'nifty scenes,' but 'unappealing' overall, critics say.
By Terri Schwartz

Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in "Cowboys and Aliens"
Photo: Universal

With a concept as inspired as "Cowboys & Aliens" and an A-list cast that brings together James Bond and Indiana Jones themselves, it's hard to imagine what could possibly have gone wrong between bringing the movie from the production room to the big screen. MTV's Splash Page blog found a lot to love about the movie despite its flaws, but other critics have not been so kind.

Maybe it was the fact that director Jon Favreau took the summer blockbuster too seriously. Fans hoping for a tongue-in-cheek mash-up of a Western and an alien movie are in for a straight-laced action flick without a lot of room for humor, like in Favreau's "Iron Man" films. Even the movie's charismatic leads couldn't rescue "Cowboys & Aliens" from its identity crisis, critics are saying.

Still, there was plenty to love about the movie as well. "Cowboys & Aliens" is certainly a fun ride to take this summer, so before you head to the multiplex this weekend, take a gander at the "Cowboys & Aliens" reviews we lassoed up for you.

The Story "The whole aliens-on-the-frontier incongruity never comes to much, really. There are nifty scenes, like the horseback riders battling silvery skeletal airplanes, but what 'Cowboys & Aliens' lacks is a good story. Basically, the characters — [Daniel] Craig's enigmatic outlaw, [Harrison] Ford's scowling boss, a tribe of Apache — must put aside their differences to form a posse and defeat the invaders. Who do we care about onscreen? For all of Craig's edgy charisma, no one. 'Cowboys & Aliens' has fun moments, but it's a plodding entertainment because it mostly tastes like leftovers." — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The Leading Men "In Daniel Craig, the movie has what feels awfully like the second coming of Steve McQueen. Maybe it's the laser blue eyes under the broad forehead, or the laconic refusal to speak except when absolutely necessary, but Craig has a presence here that feels downright mythic. ... The chance to be as mean as he wants to be energizes [Ford], whose storied crankiness finally finds a home. It's a character part, and you can sense Ford's relief at letting another man shoulder the load. Consciously or not, there's a generational passing of the baton just under this movie's surface, and it helps immensely that Craig's up to the task." — Ty Burr, The Boston Globe

The Cowboys and the Aliens "In Hollywood's ancient prime, maybe a third of all movies were Westerns. But those days are as dead as the horse-mounted cavalry; in the past 30 years, the genre has been resuscitated only when some powerful director wanted to make a movie like the ones he grew up loving. So 'Cowboys & Aliens' has got to get to the aliens pretty damn quick. Even here, Favreau and his crew sprinkle a few memorable moments: the aliens' low-flying scout planes, looking like 10-winged titanium dragonflies and lassoing the townspeople for abduction; a desert vision of an upside-down steamship, which momentarily summons the ghost of Werner Herzog's 'Fitzcarraldo'; and the recurring image of Craig retrieving his cowboy hat, whether he's fighting off human varmints or escaping from the aliens' stronghold. A man ain't a man without his Stetson." — Richard Corliss, Time

The Concept "Cowboys versus aliens is a concept that may make you smile in anticipation, but wipe that smile off your face before buying your ticket, because the film takes its subject seriously — deadly seriously in the case of Harrison Ford, who plays a nasty rancher with the snarls and scowls that have become his trademarks, as if in penance for being so charming in the past. One interesting twist has a posse of cowboys teaming up with the Apaches they fear in order to vanquish the aliens, but the storytelling, punctuated by incoherent flashbacks, is often inscrutable." — Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

The Final Word "A leaden mash-up of western and science-fiction elements that ends up noisy, grotesque and unappealing, this Jon Favreau-directed film features five producers (including Brian Grazer and Ron Howard), six executive producers (Steven Spielberg and Ryan Kavanaugh among them) and six credited writers, led by 'Star Trek' rebooters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and 'Lost's' Damon Lindelof. No wonder the film plays like a business deal more than a motion picture. Listed as a producer, not a writer, is Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, whose concept for the original graphic novel inspired the film. That's right, 'Cowboys' doesn't even retell the story the graphic novel does; it sets out on its own. This is not a satisfying journey." — Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times

Check out everything we've got on "Cowboys & Aliens."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

• MTV Rough Cut: 'Cowboys and Aliens'

• 'Cowboys & Aliens'

Lady Gaga, unofficial headmistress of Twitter, has reached yet another milestone on the ubiquitous social network. The “Born This Way” songstress now has over 12 million followers. (Justin Bieber is hot on her heels with about 11.3 million.)

So congrats to Mother Monster on amassing one of the biggest fan communities on the Internet. In the spirit of having a little fun, we decided to crunch the numbers and see where else in the larger culture that big total arises.

Gaga’s Twitter following tops the populations of Cuba (11.204 million) and Greece (11.283 million), and there are only six U.S. states that have populations exceeding 12 million (California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas).

While 12 million is a towering number, it represents just 3 percent of the total number of views for her “Bad Romance” video on VEVO.

When you apply the figure to money, you get to have all sorts of fun. For example, when you go back to your tiny apartment this evening to spray cheese out of a can onto a cracker for dinner, think of Nicole Kidman, who was paid $12 million for a two-minute Chanel No. 5 directed by her “Moulin Rouge” helmer Baz Luhrmann in 2004. Take a minute (or two!) and let that sink in.

When it comes to real estate, two famous blondes have tossed $12 million at some pretty fancy digs.

Elin Nordegren, former wife of reformed sex addict Tiger Woods, purchased a beachfront home in North Palm Beach, Florida, for a cool $12 million earlier this year. Her cabana is over 17,000 square feet in size and feature eight bathrooms.

If you’ve got it, spending $12 million on a house seems like a reasonable investment, but what about a $12 million gym?

Madonna’s got one of those. (Note: While our jaw spent plenty of time on our desk while Googling the figure “12 million,” we were not at all surprised that Madonna has a $12 million gym.) In 2008, The Material Girl bought a 10-bedroom Georgian townhouse next door to her fancy digs in London with plans to knock down the interior walls separating the residences to create one large mega-mansion.

Unfortunately for Madonna, her plans were shut down when she was denied a planning permit for the construction. Can you imagine how that meeting went?

So what’s a global superstar known for being fit and fabulous at 52 to do with a big empty fantasy mansion in one of London’s best neighborhoods? Turn it into a gym, of course. You see, M once worked out at the studio of trainer James D'Silva, but her sessions become so routine that fans began to form a daily crowd to watch her arrivals. But there will be no more of that for her, because all she now has to do now is go next door … to the personal gym she converted the entire mansion into.

If you’d like to get a feel for what 12-ish million people feels like, visit Sao Paulo, Brazil; Moscow, Russia; Beijing, China; Mumbai, India; Delhi, India; Istanbul, Turkey; or Karachi, Pakistan (each of these cities, the eighth through second most-populous in the world, respectively, contain somewhere between 11 and 13 million people).

What we’re trying to say is, it’s a lot. Twelve million is a lot of people.

By Christina Garibaldi

Many artists aspire to have a career like Britney Spears. Earlier this year, she released her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale, she’s currently on her seventh concert tour and recently she picked up two more MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Pop Video and Best Choreography (that’s 28 total VMA noms!). Not a bad resume for someone that’s not even 30.

Yet, with so many artists wanting to emulate Spears, we wanted to know who inspires her. So when we sat down with Brit recently, she revealed which artists she admires.

“To this day still, Madonna. I’m a huge fan of her,” Brit said about the pop queen, who she infamously shared a kiss with at the 2003 MTV VMAs and collaborated with on the hit song “Me Against the Music.”

But that’s not all. Britney used to un-break her heart listening to a little Toni Braxton. “I grew up listening to Toni Braxton,” Spears told us, “and now I think she has a reality show that she does. I love her.” (She’s right, Braxton stars with her sisters on “Braxton Family Values.”)

Britney’s love for divas doesn’t even end there – she’s also a big fan of Beyonce.

“Anytime Beyonce performs, it’s a really big spectacle,” Britney said. “I’d love to see her perform. That would be fun.”

Since Britney is such a huge fan of Beyonce, is there a chance we could see these girls collaborate?

“That would be fun, that’s a good idea!” Spears said.

By Zachary Swickey

Heavy metal juggernauts Metallica have revealed they will celebrate 30 years of thrashing mayhem with a week-long residency at San Fransisco’s historic Fillmore Auditorium. Yes, a band that formerly went by the nickname “Alcoholica” not only survived the ‘80s and ‘90s, but today the group is as relevant as ever.

Of course, that’s something worth celebrating, so Metallica is truly giving back to the fans with the intimate residency that is going down December 5, 7, 9, and 10. The ticket prices are heading back to the ‘80s too, with single tickets priced at only $6 each or a four-pack for the clever price of $19.81 (to spell out it – the year the group was conceived). Making things more special, Metallica promises rare songs, varied set lists, and surprise guests (here’s hoping for Lou Reed). There is a catch, though – in an attempt to give back to the fans (rather than the scalpers), tickets are only available through a reservation system that is exclusively available to members of Metallica’s fan club.

If you’re not a So-Cal resident, Metallica also have another stateside “Big 4” show (with Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax) lined up for September 14 at Yankee Stadium after finally bringing the special metal bill to the West Coast earlier this year.

According to a recent Billboard interview with Rick Rubin, the group is also about to commence work on their 10 studio album, which he will once again be at the helm of. Rubin states the group is about to start writing and he has already had a meeting with Metallica’s most business-savvy member, drummer Lars Ulrich, about what the “focus was going to be this time around.”

“We’ll probably listen to some of the riffs that they’ve been writing,” Rubin says of the process. “Usually I’ll hear something that will sort of indicate the direction and then we’ll talk about it from there.”

As of now, there is no timetable for the group’s new album or for their special Lou Reed collaboration. If you want to catch them before they hit the studio, hopefully you’re a fan club member or have Swiss bank account to pay astronomical Ebay prices for the long sold-out show in New York.

Barrymore jumps behind the camera for Best Coast's new 'Our Deal' clip.
By James Montgomery

Chloe Moretz in the "Our Deal" supervideo

Ever since they released their debut disc, Crazy for You, last summer, Cali fuzz-poppers Best Coast have become your favorite "cool" celebrity's favorite "cool" band, championed by celebs from Miranda Cosgrove to Jimmy Fallon (and just about everyone in between).

So, it should come as no surprise that the Coast's new supervideo for Crazy for You track "Our Deal" is quite the celebrified thing, featuring cameos from the likes of Donald Glover, Alia Shawkat, Chloë Moretz and Tyler Posey ... and as an added bonus, it's directed by the long-reigning Queen of Hollywood Cool: Drew Barrymore.

And while the full "Our Deal" video won't premiere until Tuesday, we're proud to present you with a 30-second sneak peek of the clip right now. And judging from what we've seen so far, much like Best Coast's music, the vid pulls heavily from '50s-style teen dramas — everything from "Rebel Without a Cause" to "Grease" — with Moretz (the breakout star of "Kick-Ass") and Posey (he's the dude from MTV's "Teen Wolf") portraying starstruck lovers who just happen to be members of rival gangs, the "Day Trotters" and the "Night Creepers."

Will Moretz and Posey's love prove stronger than their colors? How many switchblade fights will we see? And how awesome will the inevitable "drag race through the L.A. riverbed" scene be? You'll just have to wait and see, when Best Coast's "Our Deal" video premieres in full Tuesday on MTV.

• Supervideo | Tyler Posey and Chloe Moretz Featuring Best Coast's 'Our Deal' | Directed by Drew Barrymore

• Best Coast