Reviews

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

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.

Iron Man

Yesterday I went to the cinema to watch “Iron Man“. I was a bit worried that it would be based on yet another comic book or something. But either it wasn’t, or the comic was pretty good.

The movie turned out to be solid entertainment. It was very much in the style of “Transformers“, but with more style and better special effects. It was complete even with Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” song in the soundtrack.

Recommended. 7 out of 10.

21

I got really surprised today. I was checking out which film should I go and see, and out of five movies that I checked, none had an IMDB rating of less than seven. That’s a hard choice! So, I asked a friend to come with me. I couldn’t decided which one of the top three films I wanted to see. He wanted to see only too. Only one was common, so we got in and watched “21“.

Do you know those films where a bunch of guys think up some sort of system to beat the casino and win a lot of money? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where a girl falls in love with a guy for how nice he is, and he starts walking a dangerous line and she tells him so, but he responds with something like – “that won’t affect me”? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where they show good friendship of really weird people, and then some of those people make some huge mistakes and let their friends down, but after, when they realize that they were wrong, and they are sorry, their friends let them back in? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where they cast one or two celebrities and surround them with a bunch of unknown but really nice actors and it all plays out nicely? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where they have some really nice photography, especially if any scenes take place in Las Vegas? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where … eh, enough.

This is a really nice movie which is mostly entertaining, but reminds of a few things that we should never forget about. There is some really nice photography and sound. There is enough good acting to make it really enjoyable – Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne are on the opposite sides of the fence, surrounded by a few young actors and actresses. There is a bit of drama in this film, and there is some sense of humor. There is nothing major about this film, but it’s made of quite a few small and nice bits.

Overall, 7 out of 10. Good entertainment.

Smokin’ Aces

$Smokin\' Aces$

I just watched a criminal action with a bit of drama – “Smokin’ Aces“. And I liked it. There were some really good things about. The photography was creative, fresh, and interesting. Costume design as a part of character development was outstanding. Especially those Nazi punks … they looked and behaved like they were no less than “Rammstein” band. Bloody scenes were as bloody as they should be in such a movie, and the humor had a nice black scent to it.

One other thing that well was the cast. There are a lot of characters in this movie, and there is not much time to develop them or to go into depth with each. But it wasn’t a problem – everyone performed really well. Sometimes it felt like the good old “Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels“. It wasn’t that good though.

Overall, a very decent movie for the fans of the genre. 7 out of 10.

Black Snake Moan

I just watched a really powerful movie – “Black Snake Moan“. High quality, and I’m not talking about the DVD copy.

I liked this film from the first seconds. Before it even started, it positioned itself as a blues movie. And I love blues. Gladly, the blues vibe, the atmosphere, and the soundtrack lasted through the whole film. Some great stuff there, with the “Black Snake Moan” song scene being one of the best music scenes I’ve seen in the movies.

I liked the story and the way it was told. It was very worked through. Sometimes predictable, sometimes unexpected, but really followed through. Probably the fact that the director Craig Brewer was also the one who wrote the script has something to do with it.

Also, there was really good acting. Samuel Jackson played a character who was (or at least looked) much older than he is. He did a really good job at that. Christina Ricci, that little girl from the “Adams Family” … well, she’s not little anymore. And she’s steaming hot. But not only that, she is a good actress too. Her character in this movie was rather complicated, but she managed it just fine. Justin Timberlake pleasantly surprised too. I just recently watched a film with him, and he is so different here that I didn’t even recognize him until the closing titles. This guy too can act. And he seems to be picking up quite a lot of practice recently. Also, there were quite a few good supporting actors in the film, so that the whole thing felt like real, like they are indeed inhabitants of a small rural town.

This film, although entertaining, is not purely entertainment. It feels like it was done, because the filmmaker had something to say, something to show. There are a few things to think about during and after the movie…

Overall, a really nice film. Strongly recommended for any fans of good acting, drama, and or blues music. 8 out of 10.