Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

I’ve heard a few negative reviews of the “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“, so I wasn’t particularly rushing to see it.  I have the box set DVD collection of all previous Indy films and I’ve seen them a few times by now - they are good, but the age shows.  I like them, but you can’t call me a fan yet.  With that, I went to the movies today.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the film.  It was in exactly the same style as previous ones, but a bit refreshed.  I think it feels exactly like the other ones felt back when they were just released.  However if this film was shown 20 years ago, it would have blown the minds of a much wider audience.

In short, the film has everything it should have had - Spielberg’s directing, Ford’s acting, tonnes of action, a quest for something cool, much greater scale than anybody can imagine, and a few jokes here and there.  Good value for money and not a time waster.

One thing that I particularly liked, how it was done for the PG-13 rating.  There is a lot of action and a lot of people get killed in a lot of different ways, but there is no focus on that.  There is not much blood or suffering.  The scariest of the dead bodies are in bones, all over catacombs full of treasure - something you can’t take away from an adventure movie.  Family-friendly and kids-recommended.

Overall, quality entertainment.  8 out of 10.

If you walk into a DVD rental, pick up four movies without much consideration for your choice, and the worst one is the James Bond movie, you know you are out of touch with cinema.  Have things changed so much?

Seriously.  I am not a big fan of Bond movies.  I like a good action and a good spy movie, but I don’t like extensive advertising and propaganda in my entertainment.  Also, I think if the actor isn’t very good at holding dramatic pauses, then he shouldn’t be forced to do so.  There are enough evil guys to kill for any James Bond.  There are enough ways to kill them with.  And there are enough camera angles to show it from.  That’s all there is to it.  Run, shoot, drive, shoot, kick, shoot, cut.  Done.  Add a little bit of style, a few gorgeous women, and some gadgets - and you got yourself a nice James Bond movie.

“Casino Royale” failed at that. Daniel Craig is a good guy, but he isn’t a James Bond kind of good.  Even Matt Damon taken directly out of his Bourne trilogy would have made a better James Bond. Craig is a better substitute for John Rambo. Here, insert a lot of gadgets.  Didn’t happen in this film.  Guns with silences, a couple of bugs, and a CD-player like electric shock.  At least the ladies should have saved the situation…. But not for me.  All the women which were featured in the film, aren’t my types.

The best scene of the film is in the beginning.  Chasing the parkour guy down to the embassy and then a huge gun fight.  After that it was all downhill.  Almost like they were out of budget.  But I doubt that they were, because then they wouldn’t have made a film 144 minutes long.  Two and a half hours is just too much for what was going on in this movie.

6 out of 10.

Recently I said that I had a bunch of good movies to watch. Well, I do. But bad movies have this tendency of getting in between. “The Dukes of Hazzard” managed to succeed in setting me off of a good movie.

Directed by: Jay Chandrasekhar
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Cast: Johnny Knoxville, Elton LeBlanc, Seann William Scott, Alice Greczyn, Steve Lemme, Michael Weston, Mitch Braswell, Michael Roof, Jessica Simpson, Rusty Tennant, Dolan Wilson, James Roday, Heather Hemmens, David Leitch, A.J. Foyt IV
IMDB raintg: 4.6
My rating: 4.0

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I was thinking if I should or shouldn’t spend the rare chance of going to the cinema by watching “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe“. I haven’t heard anything about this film before, except for a trailer that I saw once and didn’t particularly make anything of it. The rating on IMDB seemed high. So I decided to check it out.

Directed by: Andrew Adamson
Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Cast: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Kiran Shah, James Cosmo, Judy McIntosh, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Patrick Kake, Shane Rangi, Brandon Cook, Cassie Cook
IMDB raintg: 7.3
My rating: 7.0

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Movies! I love movies! I got home from the cinema just in time to see “Back to the Future Part III” on TV.

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Western
Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson, Elisabeth Shue, James Tolkan, Matt Clark, Dub Taylor, Harry Carey Jr., Pat Buttram, Christopher Wynne, Sean Gregory Sullivan, Mike Watson, Marc McClure
IMDB raintg: 6.7
My rating: 6.0

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