Category: Movies

As I mentioned in my last post, tickets to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull were given to me for my birthday. I saw it in the amazing Uptown Theatre in Cleveland Park (Washington, D.C.).

Let me start by saying my favorite Indiana Jones movie is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I have been watching obsolete HD-DVDs recently, when I turned on the dvd changer to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it was already in the playing position which reinforces my favorite movie status 🙂

Okay….so…here come the spoilers…..aka don’t read past here if you don’t want to know the ending.

I was at a sold out showing in the largest single screen theatre in the area. The lights dimmed, the fandango jingle concluded, cell phones were silenced….the Lucas Film logo appeared….it was starting! Dum Duh Duh Duh. Dum Dah Dah Dah…Doo Doo Doo Doo….okay..so I am trying to imitate the theme song. Hum along if you like.

Before watching the most recent film, I would recommend that you watch the previous 3 movies. There are references to them which make more sense and also keep you laughing at jokes with the die hard Indy fans.

Like the Last Crusade, there are tons of anecdotes which make the movie great. One that was rather odd, but made the animal lover laugh, was the presence of Prairie Dogs which seem to be in the wrong place a few times in the movie.

I am sure this is in an attempt to bridge the generation gap, but the first 3 movies were relatively believable. This one….as we have seen in the leaps between sky rise construction cranes in the new James Bond: Casino Royale, unbelievable stunts have become commonplace. In the secret government warehouse, Indy is trying to escape from his Nazi captors by running across the roof support beams. No need for a whip, just a perfect stride at a running pace. So aside from that unbelievable scene, most of the movie was believable.

Marion……What a great person to bring back! While she has not aged well, the familiar face and voice brought me back to the Raiders of the Lost Ark! The fact that Indy was the father of her son, Indy’s side kick, was a surprising, but not overly chick flicky! This does remind me of my favorite TV series of all time MacGyver. Check out the last episode if you are interested. You will see a very similar situation. In the last episode of MacGyver, while his side kick was not as much of a trouble maker as Indy’s, they both rode a motor cycle and had a strong willed personality. I guess that is where the similarity ends, but it hit home for me 🙂

Mr. Lucas….. I would have liked to see Sean Connery in the movie as a grandfather just for a moment at the beginning of the movie. Secondly, could you have not picked aliens? Or keep the aliens but discard the 60s looking metal space craft? A shooting star would have worked as they departed the earth, but that space craft….even the TV series Lost in Space had a better one. I will be looking forward to the DVD release and checking out the alternate scenes. Who knows, maybe we had some of the same thoughts 😉

So, my overall opinion….the theme song lives on as do the Nazi’s and anecdotes, but the alien space craft needs to go!

Musical score… 10 Cinematography (aside from the space ship)… 9 Plot (Why Aliens!)… 4 Overall 8/10 4/5 stars. I will of course get it on DVD to complete my collection, but will have to watch it a few more times before I can decide if it will become my favorite Indiana Jones….but at this point… “goose-stepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them.” tops my list of great Sean Connery lines which were missing from this movie.

What is your favorite Indiana Jones?

Warning….I spoil the ending here….so stop if you are planning on watching and not wanting to know the ending.  If this is you….it is better than AI in my opinion, check it out!

It seems that both “AI: Artificial Intelligence” and “Bicentennial Man” came out around the same time.  I think my feeling of unhappiness with “AI” dissuaded me from viewing “Bicentennial Man.”  A friend has his movie list online and I thought it be good to borrow it since I had not cared to rent it.  While it was slowly paced, I found that it kept my attention, and unlike “AI,” did not seem to have a better stopping point.  In my opinion, the future in “AI” when discovered in the ice was a bit much with the sort of “back flash” segment.

Here comes a little synopsis… Family gets a robot as a surprise.  Called a “Household Appliance” by the manufacturer, the robot is to perform any duties requested.  This one, who was named “Alex,” is malfunctioning according to the manufacturer who wants to dissect and “fix” the malfunction as a learning and feeling robot could indeed cause harm, especially to children and the entire series would be recalled.  Alex quickly becomes adopted by one of the daughters and father of the family who helps Alex by providing him a job and a bank account to earn wages and “pay his own way.”  All of this is in an effort to become “free” and human.  He eventually does earn freedom and is sent away by the family to live on his own though the robot still feels inclined to serve the family, but not necessarily feel like he is obligated.  Alex seeks out his maker and looks for others like him and finds none that are “thinking.”  He finds the son of the creator of robot company who has been doing research into expression upgrades as well as tactile response with a more human “Skin-like” exterior.  As the movie progresses, with the help of Alex and his strive to become human, artificial organs, a nervous system, and eventually a digestive system are developed and many parts used in humans.  This inclusion helps Alex become declared “Human.”  He wanted to marry the grand daughter of the girl who he came to love and cared for him back.  After one final upgrade whereby an erosive poison is injected into his system so that he can “Age” and eventually cease function, their marriage is finally consummated.  Alex “dies” just before, never knowing he was ruled a human, and his wife shortly thereafter to be with him.

There you have it, the movie in a nutshell.  Robin Williams adds to the movie in his typical comical way which adds a little extra to the movie making it truly enjoyable.  I only wish he was able to hear he was a human….but that seems to be Hollywood. 🙂

Got my hands on Michael Clayton tonight from a local movie chain sure to be eliminated in the next year or 2 as high speed internet connections continue to spring up and more movies become available for online download.  If it weren’t for my free movie rental card, I would not have even rented it.  Call me cheap, but $5 for a movie rental seems a bit excessive.

Anyway…back to the movie…I read that it was by the director of the Bourne series so I had high hopes for a action packed thriller.  Besides the flashback much like that of Swordfish, the movie was not all it was stacked up to be.  It was very slow moving and while I did not fall asleep, was not captured by the film and did not bother to pause it when getting up.  I had the movie on order from Amazon as it was a HD/DVD Combo disk for my obsolete HD DVD player, but am considering canceling my order, perhaps I will give it another watch to see if it intriguing enough to  warrant purchase in the future.  I welcome your thoughts and comments.

I watched “August Rush” tonight.  What a stunning soundtrack!  There were a few occasions when I was so moved by the movie that the hair on my back stood up and “it brought a tear to me eye.”  Something about accents…one of the main characters was an Irish Man I believe.  Robin Williams acts very well, but this time plays a bad guy, not my favorite character.  So crank up your surround sound and sit back and enjoy this great movie.  For those macho men out there, yes, it is a bit on the chick flicky side.  For you single guys out there, pick up the movie and call that girl you have been wanting to ask out for a date and enjoy 🙂   Please let me know your comments if you have seen the movie.