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For Joss Whedon's lawyers: Cowboys & Aliens

Okay, there technically were not any aliens on Firefly but the premise still seems a bit...familiar. Cowboys & Aliens may prove to be Harrison Ford’s last hurrah as an action hero. The mega-expensive $160 million production needed over 80 days to reach $100 million domestically, eventually eking out $175 million worldwide. Stating the obvious, it is a huge box office disappointment and not a particularly well received film, either. Most Rotten Tomatoes critics dislike it while the Internet popular opinion of the project is tepid at best. For my money, it is a visually interesting project that merits a viewing (this is becoming a staple of co-star Olivia Wilde’s career given the quality of Tron Legacy), which is why I currently have it sitting on the TiVo but did not catch it in theaters. If you are like me, home video is the perfect time to give it a shot then probably forget it ever existed. Stating the obvious, Daniel Craig desperately needs The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be a hit.

For Occupy Wall Street picketers: The Debt

Perhaps I should have saved that joke for Margin Call. Ah, I’ll just recycle it then. Anyway, The Debt was a 2007 Israeli film with a sublime concept. A Nazi doctor who performed malevolent exercises in human anatomy is hunted down by Mossad agents. During the capture attempt, he makes an unlikely escape, causing the agents to agree to claim he was killed during the skirmish. They receive accolades for years after the fact but then as they grow older, they are made aware of the fact that the man they claimed was dead is in fact alive and healthy and claiming to be reformed. Also, he wants to get chatty with the media about what transpired and thereby invalidate all of the presumed heroism of the agents. If this concept doesn’t sound like something you would enjoy, you and I are quite different. Of course, even if you aren’t sold on it, a cast anchored by Tom Wilkinson, Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Ciarán Hinds and Ms. Omnipresent 2011 Jessica Chastain may change your mind. The movie is not without its flaws but I maintain it is one of the most engaging titles of the year due to the cast and premise.

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