Indy 4 / Wall-E / Dark Knight
I used to really enjoy going to the movies. Before I could even drive myself to the movies, I think I spent every weekend at the movie theater escaping what I felt was a miserable childhood due to being picked on daily.
The movie theater was a wonderful place. It was dark, so I didn’t have to worry about being seen and picked on, and for a couple of hours I could escape and be someone else. Back in those days I watched a lot of bad action movies, as well as sci-fi and dumb comedies.
If not for seeing Pump Up The Volume just before starting college, I may not have even gone into radio. That film changed my life. Soon after I saw Slacker, and then I was watching every art house/indie film I could.
These days I don’t find going to the movies the same magically experience. Ticket prices have gone way up, jackasses are constantly talking on their cell phones during the movie, the seats just aren’t that comfortable, and I just don’t enjoy a lot of what plays at the multiplexes by me.
I am lucky enough to have an HD projector so I can watch movies at home and get a full theatrical experience, without all the bullshit. And the price of a DVD is generally cheaper than the price of my wife and I buying two tickets to a movie theater.
All of that said, a few “summer blockbuster” films got me out to the theaters this summer, and here’s my thoughts on them.
~~~
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Once again, as he did with Star Wars, George Lucas has tainted my childhood joy for Indiana Jones. For those unaware, a few years back Frank Darabont wrote an Indiana Jones script that Stephen Spielberg and Harrison Ford loved…Lucas did not and therefore the film was never made. The film that was made, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is about as good as any of the Star Wars prequels, i.e., not very good. While there were moments where I wasn’t appalled by the film, the film left me screaming, “fuck you Lucas!” Frank Darabont’s script is all over the internet, and I highly recommend fans of Indy search it out and see the film that should have been made. I’m done with Lucas. His upcoming Clone Wars film and series I can review for you right. It will suck, just like everything he has put his hands on since Greedo shot first.
~~~
Wall-E
Just when I thought Pixar/Disney was done making good films (the last one I liked was Monsters Inc), they drop Wall-E on us. To my amazement, this is one of the best films I’ve seen this year. Much more art house than anything Disney has done since Fantasia.
Here’s just some of the reasons I love this film:
- Practically no dialogue in the first 30 or more minutes of the film, and the only characters you see are Wall-E and a cockroach. That’s art house baby!
- This is a family film, but the glimpse of the future Earth we see is grim, and the humans we see have all become fat and lazy. Not exactly the typical family film fare.
- The robots show more emotion than many living breathing actors do, and true do make you care about them.
- It’s just all around entertaining for both young and old, and sadly far too few movies for families are.
~~~
The Dark Knight
You’ve all heard the hype, and you’ve all probably seen this already, but for the few of you that haven’t let me say that for once the hype truly is deserved. Heath Ledger is getting a lot of press for his performance as the Joker, and it is well deserved, but let’s not overlook any of the other actors in the film. Everyone does a wonderful job bringing this story to life. And what a story! This is not your typical comic book movie, this was a very complex and nuance tale that in many ways rivals epics like The Godfather, and The Departed. After seeing this film I actually started to wonder aloud that this could possibly get a best picture Oscar nomination this year. Certainly a best screenplay nomination is in order.
~~~
So there you have it, 2 films I highly recommend, and one that you should avoid at all costs (fuck you Lucas!)
I used to really enjoy going to the movies. Before I could even drive myself to the movies, I think I spent every weekend at the movie theater escaping what I felt was a miserable childhood due to being picked on daily.
The movie theater was a wonderful place. It was dark, so I didn’t have to worry about being seen and picked on, and for a couple of hours I could escape and be someone else. Back in those days I watched a lot of bad action movies, as well as sci-fi and dumb comedies.
If not for seeing Pump Up The Volume just before starting college, I may not have even gone into radio. That film changed my life. Soon after I saw Slacker, and then I was watching every art house/indie film I could.
These days I don’t find going to the movies the same magically experience. Ticket prices have gone way up, jackasses are constantly talking on their cell phones during the movie, the seats just aren’t that comfortable, and I just don’t enjoy a lot of what plays at the multiplexes by me.
I am lucky enough to have an HD projector so I can watch movies at home and get a full theatrical experience, without all the bullshit. And the price of a DVD is generally cheaper than the price of my wife and I buying two tickets to a movie theater.
All of that said, a few “summer blockbuster” films got me out to the theaters this summer, and here’s my thoughts on them.
~~~
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Once again, as he did with Star Wars, George Lucas has tainted my childhood joy for Indiana Jones. For those unaware, a few years back Frank Darabont wrote an Indiana Jones script that Stephen Spielberg and Harrison Ford loved…Lucas did not and therefore the film was never made. The film that was made, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is about as good as any of the Star Wars prequels, i.e., not very good. While there were moments where I wasn’t appalled by the film, the film left me screaming, “fuck you Lucas!” Frank Darabont’s script is all over the internet, and I highly recommend fans of Indy search it out and see the film that should have been made. I’m done with Lucas. His upcoming Clone Wars film and series I can review for you right. It will suck, just like everything he has put his hands on since Greedo shot first.
~~~
Wall-E
Just when I thought Pixar/Disney was done making good films (the last one I liked was Monsters Inc), they drop Wall-E on us. To my amazement, this is one of the best films I’ve seen this year. Much more art house than anything Disney has done since Fantasia.
Here’s just some of the reasons I love this film:
- Practically no dialogue in the first 30 or more minutes of the film, and the only characters you see are Wall-E and a cockroach. That’s art house baby!
- This is a family film, but the glimpse of the future Earth we see is grim, and the humans we see have all become fat and lazy. Not exactly the typical family film fare.
- The robots show more emotion than many living breathing actors do, and true do make you care about them.
- It’s just all around entertaining for both young and old, and sadly far too few movies for families are.
~~~
The Dark Knight
You’ve all heard the hype, and you’ve all probably seen this already, but for the few of you that haven’t let me say that for once the hype truly is deserved. Heath Ledger is getting a lot of press for his performance as the Joker, and it is well deserved, but let’s not overlook any of the other actors in the film. Everyone does a wonderful job bringing this story to life. And what a story! This is not your typical comic book movie, this was a very complex and nuance tale that in many ways rivals epics like The Godfather, and The Departed. After seeing this film I actually started to wonder aloud that this could possibly get a best picture Oscar nomination this year. Certainly a best screenplay nomination is in order.
~~~
So there you have it, 2 films I highly recommend, and one that you should avoid at all costs (fuck you Lucas!)