Continuing my plan to watch every Clint Eastwood movie in order, I come to a new millennium and Space Cowboys (2000)Plot In A Paragraph: When Frank Corvin (Eastwood) a retired engineer, is called upon to rescue a failing satellite, he insists that his equally old teammates accompany him into space.I love this movie. OK, its plot is more than a tad silly and unbelievable, but I find it so enjoyable, so charming, and damn it, it just makes me smile!! In his 5th decade of being a leading man in movies, Clint is makes a few jokes about his age, and for once he is a settled family man. No love interest for him this time, that's left to Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland who (like in Kelly's Heroes) steals every scene he is in. James Cromwell does his usually solid performance and William Devane is impressive too. One problem I do have with the cast is that Tommy Lee Jones seems so much younger than the other three, but it's a minor gripe, and doesn't ruin anything, and his sub plot is a touching one. Lennie Niehaus's score is as superb as always, and I'll probably be singing 'Fly Me To The Moon' by Frank Sinatra for the rest of the day. Clint went into the new Millennium with his highest hit since In The Line Of Fire in 1993, as Space Cowboys grossed $90 million at the domestic box office to end the year the 25th highest grossing movie of 2000.

This is a joy of a movie. Light, very light amusement, but made but with pleasant enthusiasm and irony. Sure, the actors go overboard. When Donald Sutherland shows his fake fake-teeth, when Tommy Lee Jones' tears start to flow every time his wife is mentioned... gross. But hey, this is a feelgood movie and so what. Four egos, for lead actors, and still there seems to be real chemistry. A steady roll of jokes well told, ironic situations, soft spots exposed keeps the viewer amused while the big question is: will they go up in space? Cleverly plotted out, this story. Sure, drumming up befriended senior actors for action encores is becoming a formula in itself, but so what if done well. Where Clint Eastwood formally has the lead role, it is Tommy Lee Jones who gets the love interest. And Donald Sutherland gets the prize for most obvious flirts with the camera, Interestingly, Will Devane shows much character development is his role as the man from mission control, he outshines the main actors in the last part of the story. It even gets exciting up there in space. Well done. Incidentally, Chris Nolan's widely acclaimed mega-production Interstellar was showing on TV the evening I watched this. Why that movie is an 8,5 and this one a meager 5,5 I just don't understand...

SPACE COWBOYS is an astronaut picture with a simple premise: a quartet of old-timers are sent up into space to repair an old-fashioned satellite whose technology is so obsolete that they are the only ones who know how to fix it. Interest is piqued by the presence of Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and Jim Garner in the cast, and the addition of Eastwood himself as director. How could the film be bad with all that talent behind it? The answer lies in the script. This is an oddly uninvolving story that's never quite sure what it wants to be. There's plenty of humour and the natural camaraderie between the old-timers works well; it's great to see these guys on the screen again. The attempts at high drama and action don't work so well, however, and there's never a real sense of danger coming from the predicament. The dated CGI effects don't help much either. This is better than GRAVITY, although not by much; somehow Hollywood seem to struggle a bit with making convincing astronaut movies.

What movie with Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones. James Garner, James Cromwell, Donald Sutherland, and Marcia Gay Harden wouldn't be worth a look. This one has it all, but mostly laughs. This Clint Eastwood produced and directed movie is great simply because the cast doesn't appear to take it seriously. They are just having fun. And special effects? They are better here than other movies like Armageddon and Deep Impact. If you like movies where people are considered outdated or replaceable and prove the experts wrong, then this is the one. I watch it and keep getting reminded about all those COBOL experts who were back making the big bucks just prior to the millennium change.