TNMC Recent Reviews

Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“  (Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone, John Hurt).

If this had been the first movie of a new franchise, I might have thought it was fabulous.  But it wasn’t.  It was the fourth, after a nineteen year absence.  And after all that time, I figured, if they had something new to say, it must be pretty damn awesome.  Well, it wasn’t!  It was okay, it was even pretty good, but gimme a break!  After nineteen years, I expected something more than just one more mediocre installment of the same old shit!  It was good shit, to be sure, but nothing new.  So ultimately, I went home disappointed.

Basically, it was the same old Indiana Jones: strange happenings, requiring his special blend of arcane knowledge and physical, gutsy presence, which ultimately save the day and solve the mystery.  The plot (involving a mystical pre-Columbian crystal skull from South America, his old girlfriend Marion who has been kidnapped, and her (and his) son, Mutt, who is along for the ride and possibly to inherit the famous fedora for future films) was pretty much full of holes, but there were some exciting chases and nice bits of humor and excellent cinemetogaphy along the way.  But when all was said and done, my main feeling was, “been there, done that.”  I kind of wish that the filmmakers would have turned their considerable talents to something new and fresh instead of just one more rehash of the Indiana Jones franchise.

But… for a bit of mindless entertainment, it was definitely fun and worth a few bucks and a couple of hours of my time.

We saw John Favreau’s “Iron Man” (Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard (no, not Cuba Gooding Jr.), Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and of course Stan Lee).  Very good, rousing “super hero” movie, although the main character isn’t really super, and not that much of a hero, either.  But he is a billionaire industrialist inventor, weapons merchant, and class-A smart-ass, so what’s not to like?  The juxtaposition of Downey’s sardonic sarcasm and the gee-whiz special effects was just off-beat enough to give the movie a unique and fun feel.  And it’s great to see an engineer getting the glory and the chick for a change!  (I’m an engineer, BTW.)

Basically, Downey’s character gets kidnapped by terrorists in the desert while he is making a weapons sale, and forced to build them a missile.  Instead, in order to escape, he builds a primitive Iron Man suit and flies the coop.  But he soon learns about all the troubles his weapons have caused over the years, and decides to mop up some of the bad guys himself.  This doesn’t sit well with some of the board members of his company, causing him trouble from other areas as well.  Much flying, fighting, and blowing shit up ensues.

My only quibble: they didn’t use the iconic Black Sabbath song until the very end, during the credits.  But the music they did use was quite good and appropriately ass-kicking.