Indiana Jones and the Kindom of the Crystal Skull

First Hit: It definitely has the look and feel of the first three, but it starts out real good, falls a bit flat in the middle and has a reasonably good ending.

In brief, Indy has been captured by Russians who want the autopsied body of the alien stored by the US Government at area "51". Why? Because the head Russian scientist Irina (played by Cate Blanchett) believes that “knowledge” is the true power and not the power created by the atom bomb (effectively portrayed in this film by Spielberg).

Irina believes that by having this alien body will lead to finding the Crystal Skull which embodies powers from outer space and provides the power to control everyone’s mind.

Indy (played by Harrison Ford) gets caught up in this because his old friend has been captured as well and has been chasing the Crystal Skull for years. So Indy, Irina, Mutt (played by Shia LaBeouf), and Marion (played by Karen Allen in a reprised role) end up in South America trying to find, capture or return the Crystal Skull to its rightful owner (skeletal body).

Director Steven Spielberg shows his deft hand it keeping the campy and stylized congruency between this film and the first three. It is a wonderful thing that there was reliance on real stunts and stunt people and less on computer generated stunts. The opening and first hour are filled with typical Indy action and pitfalls. My only criticism of the first hour is that it was way too hard to believe that Indy, at his age, could do any of the whip swinging fighting actions he was portrayed as doing. However, all this action does make you want to watch the remaining 1 hour. But this is where the film falls and loses its luster as well. As we enter South America the story appears to be lost and tries to make up for this by creating more complicated scenes than needed. There are just too many cave openings, dark passageways, and explanations. When a film relies on telling versus showing it is a mistake. My sense is that all the action and complications are here to make up for a weak middle story, script and attempts to make the story line more interesting than it is. The ending although unexpected is sweet and works.

Overall: This isn’t a great film; but it is very good for a sequel and has a high entertainment factor. It is worth the price of admission.

Iron Man

First Hit: A funny, well executed, action filled film which young and old will find satisfying.

I love Robert Downey Jr. as an actor and it is so satisfying that he’s made the choice to stay sober and bring us his gift of quirky intelligent acting.

As Tony Stark, a very intelligent and billionaire quirky arms dealer, he is excellent.

The film begins with a demo of Stark’s newest destructive device called Jericho which flattens whole mountains. After the demo to military brass, he is kidnapped by a terrorist who wants Jericho for himself and tells Stark he has a certain amount of time to build this device for him or he and another captured prisoner die.

While making the captors believe he’s building another Jericho, Stark actually builds a crude Iron Man suit to escape his captors. The suit works but gets wrecked along the way. Being imprisoned was a terrifying experience and makes Stark realizes that making weapons of destruction isn’t what he should be doing, so he decides to do something about it.

This runs counter to his clients, the US Military, and the Stark Enterprises CEO played by a shaved headed Jeff Bridges. This puts these two on a path for the ultimate fight between Iron Men.

As I previously said, Downey is top notch as Tony Stark. It would be hard to believe that all of his lines were scripted, therefore his impromptu dialogue, off the cuff lines, and remarks created a smart irreverent character that embodies a purpose, was brilliant. He brings a true sense of genius to the Stark role. Jeff Bridges was an interesting choice as the CEO who turns on Stark. There is an intensity with Bridges that was well used in this part. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Stark’s right hand person, possible love interest, and is enjoyable upon her return to the screen after having two children. The glue that held this all together was Jon Favreau’s direction. It made excellent use of the story line, special effects, and the characters. Also, I really enjoyed the scenes where Stark was testing the new Iron Man suit with all its pitfalls.

Overall:  \Fun filled entertaining film for everyone.

Deception

First Hit: There are interesting moments and uninteresting moments in this story which could have been more intriguing and telegraphs its ending.

Ewan McGregor plays Jonathan an accounting auditor who goes from client to client (“not even a desk marks my existence at the office”) bringing good or bad news to his clients. He likes the rhyme and reason to the numbers and they tell the story by the way the pieces fit.

This skill is used as the film wears on after he meets Wyatt (played by Hugh Jackman) an attorney in the firm he is auditing. Wyatt sees Jonathan as this milquetoast guy and decides to bring some excitement into his life through the membership into a sex club where names and discussions of work are not exchanged, only sex.

Contact to meet for sex is simply a phone call to a someone on a list and the statement "Are you free this evening". If the answer is "yes", the initiator tells where to meet and what time. One of the women Jonathan meets is someone he met in the subway one prior evening.

Michelle Williams plays “S” and when Jonathan gets her to the hotel room he confesses he’s been thinking of her since he first met her on the subway platform and he wants to break the rules, he's fallen for her. From here there are twists, turns, and manipulation between all the characters to an end you knew would happen.

The interesting moments are when McGregor and Jackman are on the screen together. The juxtaposition between their characters is, at times, fun and has some power, strength and energy. Additionally, the scenes between McGregor and Williams were intimately enjoyable. However, the rest of the film was cold and I suppose this was on purpose because Jonathan is an auditor and the storyline meant the sexual partners don’t engage in any personal information, just sex.

Overall: Mostly this film was a disappointment and probably will be forgotten shortly after it leaves the theaters.

10,000 BC

First Hit: It was simply hard for me to believe that people speaking English, sporting perfectly arranged dreadlocks, wearing fashionable goatees, having closely shaven heads, and having straight white teeth were part of the world in 10,000 BC.

The film is unbelievable from the very beginning.

I am not sure if Roland Emmerich was actually serious about making this film or if he wanted to pull our legs (tongue in cheek) to see if we would pay money to see this fiasco. There are so many inaccuracies in this film (He is off by thousands of years - the Pyramids weren’t built in 10,000 BC) that the whole thing is simply laughable and ridiculous.

The story line is Hollywood specific: A young boy, who is struggling because he has questionable warrior and family status among his fellow villagers, goes out to save the girl of his dreams. She was taken from him by a raiding party of mean people on horses.

On the way to find his love, he and three other warriors climb incredibly high mountains, cross stark deserts, pass through lush valleys, and walk across a plain sagebrush strewn high desert. Along the way he befriends a Saber Tooth tiger (more footage with this animal and less with the woolly mammoths would have been nice) and some very large hyper active chickens with hooked beaks that were the most fearsome creatures in the film.

They meet some other villagers who had also lost loved ones to the mean people on horses so they join forces to get their loved ones back.

Anyway, you know the ending, boy saves girl and they will live their lives happily ever after – the end.

Overall: Cannot imagine someone paying good CGI money for a film that flaunts history and reality so badly.

Vantage Point

First Hit: After the 3rd review of the same event through a different character’s perspective I wanted the film to just get going, but no we were subject to the same scene again and again and….

This could have been a good film. It certainly had some wonderful actors including Sigourney Weaver, Eduardo Noriega, Dennis Quaid, Matthew, Forest Whitaker, and William Hurt but the misuse of this stellar cast is extraordinary in its failure to make a cohesive film.

It is painful to sit in a theater and after the 3rd rewind to have the audience collectively sigh, grown, and giggle proves the director missed the target.

I suppose Pete Travis felt that to explain this complicated intricate plot he had to show all the characters involved and their relations to the two bombings and shooting. I’m not sure how I would have approached it, however, each time I started to get into the character on the screen; the film rewound and started all over again with a new character.

It is as if each character needed to be the lead character. By the time the film finally moves along there was this anxiousness that we’d have to go back and sit through the opening scene again. When the film takes off it is a pretty good action film.

The best acting in the film was done by a resurging Dennis Quaid. It would have been good to focus on just this character and build the film around this.

Overall: Could have been a good film but it flopped simply because the director ignored his audience.