Thursday, May 29, 2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (review/addendum)
It's taken me a week to get myself to really sit down and write this review of the new Indiana Jones movie. Since I already posted a big blog entry about Indiana Jones here, I'm not going to post the trailers or pictures like I usually do in blog entries such as these.
I'm going to do my best and not post any spoilers for any of you out there that have yet to see this.
Plain and simple, I enjoyed this movie. I had a lot of fun in the theater. It may have been mostly because of nostalgia but that's fine. It was great seeing Harrison Ford back as Indiana Jones. 19 years later and I think it still works. I think everyone in the movie did a decent enough job for the movie as a whole. My least favorite was Cate Blanchett, to my surprise. I love her as an actress but her performance in this movie was borderline kabuki theater for me. I'm sure this is what George Lucas and Steven Spielberg wanted.
It's no surprise to me that George Lucas still has a tendency toward the hokey dialogue and the far fetched in regards to story. But all that aside, this movie still moved like an Indiana Jones movie to me. It resonated from the original concept that the story was derived from the 1920s and 1930s cliffhanger serial comics.
Some of what happens in this movie is indeed outlandish and far fetched. But if we really dissect the past Indiana Jones movies, there's very similar outlandish elements to those stories.
The one thing I could have probably had less of was the CGI. There's a certain scene with monkeys in the jungle that was a bit distracting. But it wasn't THAT bad.
There's something about Shia LeBeouf that I don't like. I'm not sure what it is. I believe he's a pretty good actor. My best friend thinks I don't like him because he is the actor I wanted to be 10 years ago. As if I were jealous. I'm not sure if that's it. I think it's safe to say that's not it.
He does a good job here in keeping up with the chemistry with Harrison Ford. I've even heard rumor that they will be making another Indy movie with Shia starring. We'll see. I hope not.
Bottom line, I enjoyed the movie. There were definite Spielberg moments that called back to different cinematic 80s movie moments. I'm thinking of the bike chase sequence in particular.
Sure, different choices could have been made but given the fact that this script went through 5 different versions and 5 different screen writers, I think the overall package was done pretty well.
I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5....if I had stars of course.
Evil Dead The Musical Posters
The link below is to teknohed's blog who got this from Neatorama
who in turn got it from Ads Of The World
So here's the link I am referring to, even though you can find the same content in the links above.
The Evil Dead Musical Has Funny Posters
Is that the layers of internet echo you were referring to, Ryan?
Saul Williams
I recently found out an old friend of mine who is an actress and singer just got married to Hip Hop Artist/Spoken Word Poet Saul Williams. I was surprised and thrilled by this. Saul Williams is one of those few hip hop artists that always blows me away with the words he speaks.
Friday, May 23, 2008
John McCain on Ellen
If I have an argument with someone on opposing views, the least I'd do is have my own sense valid reasoning and points to make to back up my side of said argument. John McCain chose the 'sweating balls' approach.
What a douche.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
I feel like a kid again
I remember when I was a kid, feeling an air of excitement that made it difficult to go to bed. This usually happened the night before a trip to Disneyland, the last day of school, on my birthday, and when I knew I was going to see certain movies.
Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark came out in 1981 and I was 5 years old. At that point in my life, I only knew Harrison Ford as Han Solo and just barely. I was only 5! The way my memory works, my early childhood movie experiences are a Steven Speilberg/George Lucas/Robert Zemekis clusterfuck. There was Jaws and E.T., which I had both seen in the theaters around the same age. There was the Star Wars trilogy. There was the Back To The Future movies and the Amazing Stories television series. I didn't know Harrison Ford as Deckard from Bladerunner. I had never seen American Graffiti by that age. But, I have come to understand this love of movies I have now had started at that age.
Indiana Jones and Han Solo melded together in my head as one person. This great cocky funny hero. I wanted to be both of them. I had a list of things I wanted to be when I grew up. I remember on my list was Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, and Indiana Jones. 
So now here we are, two days away from the 4th Indiana Jones movie, and I'm feeling a familiar sense of excitement I haven't felt in quite some time. It's the feeling of excitement I was looking for when I went to see The Transformers movie last summer. It's the same feeling of excitement I will probably be searching for when The G.I. Joe movie ends up coming out. But...I am pensive about that. The Transformers and G.I. Joe hold a place in my heart as an integral part of my childhood...but in the realm of make-believe and toys. I am an only child and a lot of my time was spent by myself playing with these toys. I wrote the script in my mind as the action played out in real time. Needless to say, I did enjoy the cartoon yet I am concerned a big budget movie for G.I. Joe may fall short of my expectations.
Indie, on the other hand....well it's a reunion of sorts for me. I can only really compare this to the excitement I felt when Star Wars Episodes 1-3 were released in theaters. Yes, I was one of those people who saw them each at least three times in the theater. All of us adults sitting there trying to reach out and grasp pieces of what made our childhoods grand while seeing kids enjoying it now as we had in the 80s.
The other day, they had a Indiana Jones marathon on The Sci Fi channel. I had plans that day. Things I needed to get done. Yet, when I heard mention of "The Ark" and "Abner Ravenwood", those plans seemed obsolete and I was stuck on the couch watching this movie that is now 27 years old. Entertained like it was the first time I had seen the film. Recalling the year I had seen it in the theater and the subsequent years I had watched it Pinecrest Summer Camp during the extra hot smoggy San Fernando Valley days.
Today, I spent a good portion of an hour searching for information on the new Indiana Jones movie online. I made it a point to not read spoilers but get a general idea of the how people who have seen it, view it. I then decided that a great way to spend my Thursday night after work is to see the movie.
As soon as I bought a ticket online, I felt butterflies in my stomach. It's weird, I wasn't expecting that. I have a ticket. The theater is so close to being sold out already and I know I will at least see this movie three times in the theater.
Star Wars and Indiana Jones were the movie going beginnings of my childhood. They mean the beginning of the blockbuster to me. I don't remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater that gave me the thrill and excitement that Indiana Jones did throughout the 80s and early 90s for me. Iron Man and Batman came close, but in different ways.
So here I am, two days away from seeing the new Indiana Jones movie, and I'm feeling like that 7 year old kid who could not fall asleep the night before a big trip to Disneyland.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Showgun Assassin
I just recently finally watched Shogun Assassin. You can see in this film the elements that were later used in Big Trouble In Little China and Kill Bill Vol.1 and 2.
Bad ass movie!
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