I have some good news and I have some bad news. You want to hear the bad news first? "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is not "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It's not even "The Last Crusade". Maybe my perception of both of those movies is so tainted by childhood and fond memories that it is unfair of me to compare them to the newest film, but I can't help it.
The good news is that it's Indiana Jones, through and through. Now sure, we get to see Indiana do some stuff we never expected to see him doing (and to be any more specific might ruin some suprises, so I won't). But even in these new developements, he handles them like Indian Jones would. It's never been the years acording to Indiana, rather the mileage, so don't let any detractors or Indy-bashers keep you from seeing this movie. It is fun, and in keeping with the spirit of the series. As I just left the theater an hour or so ago, I find that the film is already growing on me. I especially liked one of the closing scenes, and I can imagine what Spielberg's intent was in shooting it the way he did. What'll be best about this movie in the long run is finding ways to argue both sides of the "Was it a good or bad Indiana Jones movie?" question. Sometimes the most entertaining films are also in some ways the worst, if you don't believe me, watch "Jurrasic Park" again. And I don't mean that in a bad way, perhaps we (and when I say "we" I mean myself) take movies too seriously, and every once in a while we need a great director along with a great actor to make a fun movie, like "Indiana Jones 4".
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Speed Racer
The Wachowski brothers made changed movies forever when they made "The Matrix". I'd never seen a film like it before, and nothing since has made such an impact. I'm not talking just about a specific special effect, but rather how the special effects were used to contribute to the story. The action, costumes, visuals, dialouge, and special effects all worked together to create a great film. Unfortunately, as with most sequels, the Wachowski brothers lost sight of their vision and the subsequent movies were bogged down with trying to be bigger or more convoluted or something I can't explain that just didn't work.
I talked about "The Matrix" because when I was watching "Speed Racer" last night I felt as though the brothers had recaptured that same energy. This is an exciting movie, full of energy, vibrant colors and speed. It also is a well made film, flowing smoothly, giving us dynamic characters and a good story. Notice that this isn't a great film, in the sense that the story definitely is there as a vehicle for the visuals, but that's not a bad thing. I hated "Bewoulf" because it showed us things that should have been shown with real actors instead of some animation gimmick. Here in "Speed Racer" the style used is right on. The Wachowski brothers and the artists involved have created brought a cartoon to life like never before. I was reminded of "Sin City" sure, but that was a dark comic book, and here is a bright Japanese televison cartoon on the big screen.
Last week I criticized "Iron Man" for its lack of something. That 'something' is sometimes difficult to explain, but let's just say that "Speed Racer" has it. Maybe this isn't the right word, but 'soul' comes to mind. You know how you can tell the difference between a movie made by people who just want to reap the profits, and a film made by people in love with filmmaking? That's the difference between "Iron Man" and "Speed Racer".
Finally, I want to be sure when reviewing movie under the "R" rating to note the appropriateness for younger viewers. I sure don't want to do a Focus on the Family bad-word/cigarette-lit/talking-back-to-parents count, but like I said last week, it's not cool that Hollywood targets kids with unsuitable movies. That being said, I did take Jude and Ashley to "Speed Racer" and there were really only two things that I had a problem with. One was a scene that combined Piranhas with the 'Little Dutch Boy' fable, and another negative use of a finger later on in the film. If I had made the movie I wouldn't have included either of those scenes, but I feel as though in this case the good-natured spirit of the film far outweighed any knocks against it.
Less than two weeks until Indiana Jones, I'm so excited.
I talked about "The Matrix" because when I was watching "Speed Racer" last night I felt as though the brothers had recaptured that same energy. This is an exciting movie, full of energy, vibrant colors and speed. It also is a well made film, flowing smoothly, giving us dynamic characters and a good story. Notice that this isn't a great film, in the sense that the story definitely is there as a vehicle for the visuals, but that's not a bad thing. I hated "Bewoulf" because it showed us things that should have been shown with real actors instead of some animation gimmick. Here in "Speed Racer" the style used is right on. The Wachowski brothers and the artists involved have created brought a cartoon to life like never before. I was reminded of "Sin City" sure, but that was a dark comic book, and here is a bright Japanese televison cartoon on the big screen.
Last week I criticized "Iron Man" for its lack of something. That 'something' is sometimes difficult to explain, but let's just say that "Speed Racer" has it. Maybe this isn't the right word, but 'soul' comes to mind. You know how you can tell the difference between a movie made by people who just want to reap the profits, and a film made by people in love with filmmaking? That's the difference between "Iron Man" and "Speed Racer".
Finally, I want to be sure when reviewing movie under the "R" rating to note the appropriateness for younger viewers. I sure don't want to do a Focus on the Family bad-word/cigarette-lit/talking-back-to-parents count, but like I said last week, it's not cool that Hollywood targets kids with unsuitable movies. That being said, I did take Jude and Ashley to "Speed Racer" and there were really only two things that I had a problem with. One was a scene that combined Piranhas with the 'Little Dutch Boy' fable, and another negative use of a finger later on in the film. If I had made the movie I wouldn't have included either of those scenes, but I feel as though in this case the good-natured spirit of the film far outweighed any knocks against it.
Less than two weeks until Indiana Jones, I'm so excited.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Iron Man
I'm going to do this review a little different, I'm going to try to address a bunch of issues real quickly, so here goes:
1. "Iron Man", although it's being advertised quite a lot durring kids tv programming is not for little kids. It's got some subject matter that is a little too mature for children, think James Bond and you'll know what I'm talking about. But that's alright kids, because we've got "Wall-e" coming out soon, and that'll make up for any and all movies you may feel like you're missing out on.
2. Ben completely ruined "Iron Man" for me because of the Onion web clip he posted over on the family site. It was unavoidable to compare the "feature length film" to the trailer, and let's just say that the trailer was better. The trailer was like the Cliff Notes of the movie. You get all, and I do mean all the best stuff without the boring character developement filler. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, go to the link for trailers to the right of this blog, and save yourself 8 bucks.
3. It's kind of hard to appreciate "Iron Man" on any level after you've just seen the new Batman trailer. Am I doing it again? Am I building up too much anticipation in my own mind for this movie? I sincerely hope not, but it feels like the days are dragging so slowly waiting for July 18th.
4. Maybe you shouldn't be thinking about the trailers you saw before the movie while you're watching the movie, but I don't know if I could be more dissapointed than I am with this "Prince Caspian" .... ( I used the "...." because I was going to say "crap", then I thought I'd say "excrement", perhaps I'd even shock some people by using a real bad word, but I decided to leave it up to your own discretion. Anyways, how can a group of filmmakers get so much so wrong? I am sad. Perhaps this just means that the BBC version it, and I need to realize that the best way to enjoy this series is the way it was meant to be enjoyed, in my own imagination.
5. In closing, the best part of "Iron Man" was Robert Downey Jr's final line, and the second best was the action scene towards the end of the film because I actually drifted off for a few minutes and felt well rested for the drive home.
P.S. I was just thinking that it would have been a better movie if they would have had Harry Connick Jr. and Robert Downey Jr. playing brothers, one being Iron Man, the other maybe as Skillet Man or something like that.
1. "Iron Man", although it's being advertised quite a lot durring kids tv programming is not for little kids. It's got some subject matter that is a little too mature for children, think James Bond and you'll know what I'm talking about. But that's alright kids, because we've got "Wall-e" coming out soon, and that'll make up for any and all movies you may feel like you're missing out on.
2. Ben completely ruined "Iron Man" for me because of the Onion web clip he posted over on the family site. It was unavoidable to compare the "feature length film" to the trailer, and let's just say that the trailer was better. The trailer was like the Cliff Notes of the movie. You get all, and I do mean all the best stuff without the boring character developement filler. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, go to the link for trailers to the right of this blog, and save yourself 8 bucks.
3. It's kind of hard to appreciate "Iron Man" on any level after you've just seen the new Batman trailer. Am I doing it again? Am I building up too much anticipation in my own mind for this movie? I sincerely hope not, but it feels like the days are dragging so slowly waiting for July 18th.
4. Maybe you shouldn't be thinking about the trailers you saw before the movie while you're watching the movie, but I don't know if I could be more dissapointed than I am with this "Prince Caspian" .... ( I used the "...." because I was going to say "crap", then I thought I'd say "excrement", perhaps I'd even shock some people by using a real bad word, but I decided to leave it up to your own discretion. Anyways, how can a group of filmmakers get so much so wrong? I am sad. Perhaps this just means that the BBC version it, and I need to realize that the best way to enjoy this series is the way it was meant to be enjoyed, in my own imagination.
5. In closing, the best part of "Iron Man" was Robert Downey Jr's final line, and the second best was the action scene towards the end of the film because I actually drifted off for a few minutes and felt well rested for the drive home.
P.S. I was just thinking that it would have been a better movie if they would have had Harry Connick Jr. and Robert Downey Jr. playing brothers, one being Iron Man, the other maybe as Skillet Man or something like that.
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