Synopsis:
Everyone’s favorite whip-toting, hat-wearing archeologist is back for a new adventure in the popular franchise envisioned by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. Years after his Last Crusade, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is older, but still getting in to trouble. This time, he’s being pursued by the Soviet Dr. Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) as he searches for the lost city of gold. Guided by a crystal skull and aided by the young greaser, Mutt (Shia LeBeouf), son of his old flame Marion (Karen Allen), Indy must beat the Russians to the lost city and prevent its secrets from falling in to their hands.

Review:
I have to admit, I liked this movie, but I was still disappointed by it. If I had viewed this movie without any nostalgia for the original films, I would have probably given this movie a better rating. I think that’s the risk you run with reviving any classic film series so long after it’s last installment. We saw this with the Star Wars prequels and (though I didn’t see it) the Rocky series. Interestingly, I think it was the Die Hard series that didn’t fall victim to this problem with Live Free or Die Hard.

Plot: I think my first complaint has to be with the plot. The film reveals pretty early on that the crystal skull and the lost city of gold are all linked to aliens, or “inter-dimensional beings” to be precise. Not to nitpick, but the three previous films were all in some way about mystical elements of history. I would call them historical fantasy. This film became historical science-fiction. It might seem like a small distinction, but in the world of Indiana Jones, I think it’s an important one. That took a little magic out of it for me. Other than that, the rest of the story unfolds much like you would expect it to. Though I guess I also wished he had a few more puzzles to solve (like he did at the end of The Last Crusade).

Acting: The cast was solid and the acting was fine. I especially enjoyed John Hurt as the mentally disturbed Professor Oxley. As I’ve said in some of my other reviews, Shia LaBeouf has talent and it shows. A little less then it would if this were a drama, but he still gives a good performance. Cate Blanchett is an amazing actress. I think she has real talent, but somehow, I didn’t enjoy her Dr. Spalko. Maybe it was because I knew the accent was fake. Of course, the question of Harrison Ford’s performance is an interesting one. I personally think he played the aging Indy quite well. He seemed like an adventurer who’s reaching the end of his run (just like Ford, check out Firewall for proof). I think anymore Indy films would be pushing it for Ford as a believable hero.

Effects/Action: The action in this movie is great. All the fights and stunt sequences are in tune with what you’ve come to expect from the series. The problem is the effects. Like I mentioned before, if I had seen this movie without nostalgic sensitivities, I would have been thoroughly impressed by the intense CGI-driven effects that are common in today’s movies. The problem is that I remember Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the effects are over a quarter of a century old. It just doesn’t work when you want to remember the movies that have become modern classics.

Media: Of course this review is also about the Blu-Ray release, so I should spend a little time talking about the media itself. This is a wonderful HD presentation of the film. The picture and sound were great on my 1080i LCD (have to wait until I can allocate funds for a 1080p screen). The 2-disc release is packed with special features, all in HD. I found the making of’s quite interesting and I also liked the Indiana Jones timelines feature found on the first disc. Another good one is how they actually made the crystal skull and the skeletons.

Fuzzworthy?: This is a bit of a challenge. Its an Indiana Jones movie, so how can you not own it? But on the other hand, it just doesn’t feel like the Indy of old. I own it and I definitely believe its worth a rental, but I think there are a great many people who wouldn’t find it fuzzworthy. The truth of the matter is that as a standalone adventure flick, it really is pretty good. It only suffers from having a much-loved legacy that it just can’t live up to.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [Blu-ray]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Synopsis:
A naive but brilliant weapons manufacturer has his eyes opened when a missile demonstration leads to a life-changing experience. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is all about weapons, girls, and money. He’s never questioned the direction of his company, Stark Industries, which was founded by his father, a scientist on the Manhattan Project. While in Afghanistan for a weapons demonstration, Stark is seriously injured during a kidnapping. Now he requires an electromagnet to repel shrapnel from one of his own weapons from reach his heart. Seeing the error of his ways, he develops mechanized armor (the Iron Man suit) powered by the small and ingenuitive arch-reactor to free himself of his captors and right the wrongs his weapons have brought upon the world. At his side are his computer AI, Jarvis, his military-liason-best-friend Rhodey (Terence Howard), and his lovable assistant Ms. Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Review:

Seeing as its a little late to review the movie, I’ll keep my likes and dislikes about the film itself brief, ok, maybe not that brief.

Acting: This by far is the strongest aspect of this movie. Robert Downey Jr. (let’s call him RDJ for short) is great as Tony Stark. Though I’m a semi-Marvel junkie (Amazing Spider-man, Ultimate Spider-man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, etc…), I’m not too familiar with Stark’s character. I can’t speak for the trueness of the portrayal, but I can say that RDJ makes Stark the center of this film, not Iron Man. RDJ is funny, but beyond that, you can see Stark’s problems with drinking start to show. You can also clearly see the character’s transition from genius playboy to superhero.

Gwyneth Paltrow is nothing more than window dressing for the cast. She’s a good actress, but her character didn’t have to do much. Terence Howard on the other hand was perfect as the sidekick, with just enough seriousness to make it funny. The reference to War Machine was fun. Of course, the little cameo at the end was also great but I’ll save that for those who haven’t seen the movie yet.

Effects and Action: I can’t complain about the effects. Most of the films today have a certain CGI clean look to them. Its hard to say that this is superb effects, but they’re in no way shabby. Iron Man looked impressive in every battle sequence. The sequences with Iron Man and the jets was incredibly fun and the fight with Iron Monger was intense, albeit short. I guess that would be my one comment, the movie was light on the action, or at least it felt light on the action. Its not like I was left feeling like I needed more, but if you look at the number of fight sequence in the film, there weren’t a lot.

The Media: By media, I mean the actual Blu-ray discs (BD). The BD version of the movie comes with a host of featurettes and extras. Because I’m a little dorky, I bought the special edition from Target that looks like the Iron Man mask. It sports a bunch of making of documentaries (all in HD), the film of course, and deleted and extended scenes. I have to say, some of the deleted material was fun to watch, and the making of had some interesting facts. In the suit-test sequences, they had RDJ in a wire rig that held his arms and legs as opposed to his waist. This gave the scene a touch of realism, because he was balancing himself with his hands and legs, just like Iron Man.

Fuzzworthy?: Most definitely. For a Marvel fanboy, RDJ stalker, or BD collector, this is a must own. If you don’t like comics, action movies, or anything staring Robert Downey, Jr. then stay away. I definitely recommend the purchase, its all around fun, with good effects and some nice acting. Not HD’d yet? No worries, single- and double-disc SD dvds are available everywhere.

Iron Man (Ultimate Two-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray]

Review:

What can I say, this movie is a new look at a classic part of my childhood. How am I not going to enjoy this film? This was an awesome version of the 80s cartoon. I must say that all of the kids in the movie theater probably had no clue that this movie really is based on an old cartoon show. Here is what I thought about the robot movie of 2007:

Plot: The plot is interesting, but not overly complex. Mystical box of power lands on Earth, bad guys want it, good guys want to stop them. There is a bit of intrigue when it comes to Sam’s history and how his family is linked to the Transformer war. In the end this is a big action flick and the plot is meant to facilitate that. There is some humor in the movie, largely around Sam and Bumblebee.

Action/Effects: This movie was visually impressive. The Transformers are clearly CGI, but who cares. They just look really, really cool. I think that the movie is intended to wow you and it definitely seems to accomplish that goal. I don’t think the visuals are the only merit the movie has, but it is clearly one of its strong points.

Acting: I think Shia LaBeouf is a pretty good actor. He is a kid and he hasn’t been in that much, but everything I see him in, I’m impressed. I saw him in Disturbia and I really liked his performance there. Of course his character here is a little weaker than in that movie, but this is just an action flick. I thought that John Turturro was a little over the top in this movie. I think he’s a great actor (I love his character in Monk on USA), but he seemed too goofy, almost childish and out of place. The rest of the actors are not worth mentioning (including Jon Voight). I should note that some of the original voice talent from the cartoon reprised their roles, so that was cool.

Overall: This movie is a must-see for the big screen. I don’t think it was the greatest movie you’ll ever see, but it was definitely fun to watch. I’m on the fence about this being worth a primetime ticket, but I’m definitely for seeing it at the theater.

The Transformers – The Movie (20th Anniversary Special Edition)

Synopsis:
Retelling of the classic action film from the 30’s. This time the big ape gets a face lift with 20th century effects and script that’s a lot longer than the last one. When an ambitious movie director, Carl Denham (Jack Black), gets in trouble with the studios, he’s forced to rush his trip to a lost island filled with mystery. He convinces an aspiring actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and the famous writer, Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) to join him as he heads towards the unknown. What they find on the uncharted island is a lost world and one hairy ape.

Review:
This one is a tough one. I really struggled with how many stars to give this movie. King Kong is a classic. You have to do it right and I’ll be honest. I don’t know if Peter Jackson got it right this time. This movie was long! Three hours and seven minutes long! It was all good stuff. But was it all really necessary?

I’m assuming most folks know the basic plot. It took over an hour to get to Skull Island and find Kong. You then spend about an hour on the island. The final hour is in New York. Of course, the most fun in the movie is during the middle, on Skull Island. That one hour is non-stop action. You don’t rest from the minute they set foot on the island to the moment they capture Kong. There are some slight luls, but they are very very short. The effects are solid, from monster bugs, giant dinos, and spectacular scenery. But as amazing as it was, I think Jackson made a mistake here. He set out to wow the audience and he did that, but its during these sequences you kind of lose the focus of the movie. Everyone in the theatre starts waiting for the next big creature or the next amazing effects shot. Don’t get me wrong, like I said before, I had fun watching the sequences. But the truth is, you don’t need special effects to tell a good story.

The writing and general plot were good. I think that the plot could have been seriously trimmed, both in the beginning and middle of the movie. I think the ending in New York was just about right. There wasn’t too much dialog that was cheesey, so I give them credit for that. One thing that I noticed was they tried to add subplots, for example the young boy on the ship, Jimmy (Jamie Bell) has a mysterious past. He started on the ship as a stow-away. Now, why tell the audience that when we won’t find out his subplot by the end of the movie? There are more, but I won’t list them here.

The acting was pretty good. Black did a great job, considering this is the first serious role I’ve ever seen him play. He was well suited for the part. Adrien Brody was excellent as always. I must admit, I even thought Naomi Watts did a good job, and I don’t consider her that great of an actress. The supporting cast was good also, especially Thomas Kretschmann who plays Captain Englehorn.

Overall, a good movie. I recommend you go see it at the theatre if for nothing else but the cinematic experience. This film is a little too big to get any justice from the small screen. But it is not without its faults. If you do see it, go for a matinee and don’t drink too much, its a long one.

Synopsis:
Unexplained solar phenomena allow a son to speak to his father, who died thirty years before, by means of an old CB radio. But when Detective John Sullivan (Jim Caviesel) helps Frank (Dennis Quaid) survive the fire that should have killed him, the repercussions ripple through time changing the present. Now can John and Frank fix the past and save all the innocent victims of a serial killer, including his mother? The race is on as the clock ticks on the longest radio signal of all time.

Review:
I have to say that I enjoyed this one. I think mainly because I like the concept. The idea is time travel but not really. This father and son can communicate, but they don’t physically travel back in time or anything. Influence without interaction. Its a little different from your typical time warp sci-fi movie. They do get a little creative when Frank sends John evidence.

Ok, enough about the novelty. The plot was pretty well written. You have a decent mystery here. Its not too complex and the culprit is easily revealed, but proving his guilt is the challenge. I think its the mix of mystery and sci-fi that I like. the plot also keeps moving. I never felt bored during this movie. The acting is pretty good too. I’m not a huge fan of Quaid, but I think he played the role well. Caviezel was a little more convincing though. You see John’s life in shambles at the beginning of the movie and you quickly realize that its the loss of his father that begins his downward spiral.

One thing is that the movie tends to lose continuity near the end. One of the principles of the movie is that as things are changed in the past, things change in the future. Unfortunately, when the true culprit’s guilt is proven we see no impact in the future. Not a major problem, but if you really consider the ending of the movie, it doesn’t quite make sense. That’s ok. I still enjoyed this one. Its definitely worth the rental. I considered it a good purchase as I own a copy. Check it out.

Synopsis:
An interplanetary government will do anything to kill a young psychic who knows their darkest secret. The only thing standing in their way is the self-preserving captain of the Serenity. A small agile little ship with a crew determined to survive and reveal the truth. This is the continuation of the short-lived sci-fi series Firefly(2000/01).

Review:
I’m going to start off this one by saying that I went in with low expectations, but came out pleasantly surprised. It had everything it needed to make it a good movie, but it fell short of a great movie. I was going to give it three out of five stars, until somebody pointed out that relative to other recent space operas (i.e. the Star Wars prequels), it stood out. I have to wonder if I would have thought more of it had I watched the show, but I’ll leave that for later.

What was good? Well I liked the plot. The story was interesting and seemed to move fairly well. There were a few details that would have helped, but over all the story worked well. The introduction to the Reavers could have been done a little better. When they’re introduced in the film, I got a little confused. I wasn’t sure who they were and why they looked so freaky. It became clearer as the film progressed, but I think Joss Whedon (director/writer) may have been banking on Firefly fans watching. I also didn’t like the character Inara (Morena Baccarin). Not only was she not a terribly strong character, but the actress wasn’t all that great. She also didn’t serve much purpose in the plot.

One of the things that helped this movie was the pace. Things kept moving which is critical for a movie. Compared to a TV series where you have time to develop complex plot lines, a feature film is a bit of a squeeze. The movie didn’t feel rushed and the plot was intriguing enough to keep me interested. I never felt bored during the movie.

River Tam (Summer Glau), the young psychic girl, added the right amount of mystery and little bit of creepy to the movie. The hero of the movie, Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), is witty and entertaining. Fillion brings a wittiness to Mal that reminds me of Jack Oniell (Richard Dean Anderson) from Stargate: SG-1 or John Chrichton (Ben Browder) of Farscape. And the comedic relief for the movie comes in the form of Kaylee Fry (Jewel Staite), the rowdy but cute (if I do say so myself), engineer. I found it amusing that she appears sweet and innocent, but is quite the deviant when she wants to be.

I think some of you may be wondering if watching the show Firefly is critical to getting the movie. I’d have to say no. It isn’t essential that you watched the tv series or that you have any prior knowledge of the show. That is one thing that made me respect this movie a little bit more. It is pretty good as a standalone self-contained movie. I had no clue that the movie was related to the show until I was walking out of the movie theatre. I never watched the series, but I’m sure that that movie builds on whatever was developed in the first and only season. Of course, this isn’t to say that watching the show wouldn’t help you to get more out of this movie. Perhaps you should check it out. Now, after seeing the movie, I’m tempted (only just a little) to watch the show. Firefly is currently running in syndication on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Overall, I’d say its worth a matinee showing, and definitely worth a rental. It makes an iffy primetime movie and definitely not a purchase when it comes to DVD.