Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Action, action, action, action, adventure, romance, comedy and... action! From the first scene to just about the last scene, there is nothing but action. It has the same magic and mysticism and ritual religion-like themes as the first three, but it mainly revolves around an "alien" skull made out of some magnetic crystal-like substance. Like the ghost of the Holy Grail, there are the same sort of spirits lingering among the remains. I appreciated the Greasers... the comb bit and even the fight. It was a role reversal for Indiana Jones in this movie (spolier alert), but you've probably already have heard. If you haven't, I'm surprised the media months ago hadn't done it for you then. Lucas always seems to need to have a beginning and an end to the storyline's he creates. It wasn't the same for two reasons: Harrison Ford is much older and isn't as attractive anymore and I'm not a huge alien fan unless its done by M. Night Shaymalan. The alien psyche reminded me of a Stephen King book. It was all in all a pretty good movie. I'm looking forward to other movies coming out this summer more than I was looking forward to this. A classic in its own right and not a terrible sequel.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Not quite as good as the first, but any action adventure movie about history is always appealing. I didn't like the whole family thing going on in this one, must be because its a disney film. I wish it hadn't have been about a book and the answer to the Licoln assassination which then turned into some aboriginal ruins. I can almost guarantee you that there are lots of American historical mysteries they could have picked instead. I guess American freedom is America's biggest accomplishment in centuries. Good for laughs and sexual tension and some new knowledge or if you are American, you probably knew all these things. The desks were definitely interesting. The "Book of Secrets" tends to tie in with a bunch of things going on in the movie. Does this book really exist?

Fairly recent DVD's that have been overlooked

  This year with all the Oscar fever and blockbusters during Christmas, some really good movies got overlooked. Some good movies with great acting and plot's that are a must to see compared to the fluffy stuff coming out of theatres right now. Its hard to find something that actually makes you think, has relevant themes, points out human nature and reflects what is going on in the world right now. I recommend these to you. Boleyn and Smart People are not yet out on DVD but when they are, check them out.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I liked it a lot. Its not as good as the first one though, probably because the magic and characters were fresh. The bad guy was certainly on a humanly scale of greed and cowardice. Moral of the movie: a moral backbone is honourable and backing down is not seen as cowardly, but brave and noble. In real life, it is completely true. What entertained me was that the actor who played Willow, was also in this movie. The movie was missing something. The romance was cheesey. I haven't read the book and it makes me wonder if there is more to it than there was being shown in the movie. I think reading "Prince Caspian's eyes melted into mine and made my heart beat faster... (what a hottie!)" sets the mood more for romance than just picturing it. Too funny. The trees seemed very much like the last battle scene in LOTR. The CGI was way better in this movie, because Aslan's eyes looked very real. This sequel was much better than Disney's attempts at sequels for Pirates. I liked it and it really did not feel like I sat through a nearly 3 hour movie. Always a plus when you're too entertained and not thinking how long is this movie it keeps dragging on and on. I could have waited to see this on DVD, but its nice to see the action on a big screen.

Untraceable

I probably would have like this film over a year ago, maybe even back in January. It was a bit slow paced, and thank heavens is was only about 90 minutes. I appreciated that it took the view of the FBI from within and the geeks who could be brilliant hackers used their brilliance instead to catch other hackers. 

This movie was okay. It didn't suck, but it made me feel sick that right now there are a lot of movies focused on torture- Saw series and Hostel I and II- its great to be scared like No Vacancy, but actually having to watch fake toture is getting to be a bit much. The killer in the movie says something really naive. People will pay to see capital punishment for only 10$ and share the experience with thousands of other people. To be more fact based, the world or the Western world is completely more censored than say 400 years ago. What about all those people standing to watch royalty -French royalty- being guillotined. Is this not the same thing? This movie makes no new insights on human nature at all and the taste for murder whether we cringe or cheer, its been going on for who knows how long. Maybe the statement should have been more based on the idea that media and the internet gives people access to watch anything they want regardless if its moral or not. This movie was n0thing new except for the IT FBI agents.

Iron Man

Is it just me or is Robert Downer Jr. amazingly sexy? I loved the movie. The effects were good. The only thing falling short was a thicker plot... it was well... flimsy. Great humour, great cast and great effects. What can I say, I like watching hero movies. I love even more that Tony Stark admits that he is Iron Man instead of playing it incognito like every other Marvel action hero. Since I'm not a huge comic book reader, I have noticed that the lead girls in these comics have very simple names that make suggestion to how the hero views them. Examples, Lois Lane, Mary Jane and Pepper Potts. Suspicious really. Like everything, no story is completely original anymore, and all stories become predictable. Either way, I'm a fan of the movie. It still doesn't make my top 10, but like Ebert, he caetgorizes movies in his collection as good and great and this would be under great.

Leatherheads

Another George Clooney (disaster) movie. Yes I did appreciate the feeling of a 1930's movie, with a dash of charisma of Carey Grant and Catherine Hepburn. It may have been because I was tired, but I fell asleep. I have only fallen asleep three times in a movie theatre: Good Will Hunting (I was a kid and I didn't get it), Summer Catch and Blades of Glory. The football was boring... no... very boring. I only wanted to see it because of John Krasinski, and like his other movie License to Wed, and other B movies, it was also awful. I'm sure someone loved it. I didn't. It had potential, but it fell short of dazzling. George Clooney maybe be sexy, but his directing skills and choice of scirpts are not working for him as a man behind the scenes giving and not taking direction. I hope his next project he directs will hit on the money, because at this point, his career in directing is looking bleek.

P.s. I Love You

Since I read the book first, I'm completely biased about this adaptation. I will try my best not to beat it to the ground. I honestly did not like the cast. Gershon and Kudrow were great. Kathy Bates and Harry Connick Jr. fail to create a realistic portrayal of their characters. Downfall of this movie: the annoying sister. They should have chopped off all her speaking parts and left them on the cutting room floor. If you haven't read the book then maybe you'll like it.

Over Her Dead Body

This movie was okay. I didn't hate it nor did I love it. It seemed like a B movie, but it was in theatres. I think had it have had a different cast and was in a different setting, it probably would have been better. It reminds me of that Reese Witherspoon movie, though it is no where near being the same thing. It was kind of funny, especially the sex scene. If I were Rudd, I would be totally scared off.

Introduction

Hello...

You have stumbled upon my movie review blog. I have always wanted to be a movie critic, I would love to get paid to watch movies, but that's not the case. So to put good educated knowledge to use, I have decided to review movies since I watch way to many in the first place. Talking about something more useful than talking about myself, seems productive and filling my movie critic desires.