New Indiana Jones Film.

[Smokey]

As you all are aware, the new Indiana Jones movies (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) will premier next month on May 22 in the theaters. The old trio gang is back (Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, George Lucas) and the main question on everybody’s mind is will this movie be a blockbuster or will it just fizzle away?

The director Spielberg may have lost his touch as his last few movies have failed to make big impression with movie goers, and the same thing can be said about Harrison Ford. But with George Lucas abroad on this movie, their luck may change.

To accommodate the movie release, last three Indiana Jones movies are being re-released again on DVD with additional extra features not included on the previous set on May 13.

http://www.filmbuffonline.com/uploaded_images/Indy4Cast-740857.jpg

[budgetaudio76]

is this the one where harry dyes is hair black and has some one 25 years younger than him play his charactor? even if it isnt so id like to watch it as well

[Smokey]

Anybody going to see this movie this weekend. The reviews seem to be positive and some say it might break the weekend opening record.

Btw, who is this Shia LaBeouf guy who is new Indiy movie. I saw him in Transformers and was not too impressed with him.

[emaidel]

Anybody going to see this movie this weekend. The reviews seem to be positive and some say it might break the weekend opening record.

Btw, who is this Shia LaBeouf guy who is new Indiy movie. I saw him in Transformers and was not too impressed with him.

I'd like to go see it, but my wife wants to wait for the crowds to die down somewhat. And insofar as Shia LeBeouf goes, I thought he was the best thing about Transformers. The endless mechanized mayhem was a bit too much for me, as most of Michael Bay's movies are. LeBeouf was also excellent in another film, a horror-stlye remake of "Rear Window" called, "Disturbia."

[RGA]

I felt it was the weakest of the four. It felt tired - kind of the way Indy looked. perhaps I was too hyped but it was often too silly, a tired plot, not a memorable villain despite a world class actress, and great looking special effects sequences but forgettable. Still it held my interest much of the time but just seemed flat overall.

Raiders is on my list as one of the best 20 films of all time.

Raiders 10/10
Temple of Doom 6/10
Last Crusade 8.5/10
Skull 6/10 (Marginally Recommended)

[thekid]

Family outing today to go see it.
I would rank it 3rd out of the 4. Shorty from "Temple of Doom" still grates on my nerves even after all these years.

I caught my self almost dozing during the first 20 minutes or so and the ending just seemed a bit over the top. Of the 3 summer blockbusters so far this year I'd put Iron Man #1, Prince Caspian #2 and this one last with a few more to go.

[kexodusc]

Wow. This was surprisingly good. It's not as good as Raiders, but it's at least as good as the other two. Everyone probably has their favorite but I easily enjoyed this more than any Pirates Of the Caribbean flick. Started a bit slow, but finished very strong. We saw Narnia 2 yesterday, that was a snoozefest the whole way through, so this was a nice way to rebound. By #4 of anything you have to accept certain truths and lower the expectation for originality overall, but it was a different Indiana Jones movie and it was very well done, IMHO. Worth seeing.

[s dog]

Seen it today, darn near fell asleep, Just didn't have it for me. The action was so far out at times it could have been used in a batman movie.

[RGA]

Kex

Are you quoting Martika?

[Smokey]

Thanks RGA, Kid, Kex and S Dog for reviews. As it is evident, having high expectation fo this movie might have weighted in in the review also. The first one (Raiders) seem to bloom large in defining other movies (including this one) in the series


And insofar as Shia LeBeouf goes, I thought he was the best thing about Transformers. The endless mechanized mayhem was a bit too much for me, as most of Michael Bay's movies are. LeBeouf was also excellent in another film, a horror-stlye remake of "Rear Window" called, "Disturbia."

I saw part of Disturbia last night on Cinemax and he was pretty good in that movie. But am still holding my reservation about him untill I see the new Indy movie he is in.

And you sure discribe the Transformers movie to the T, "mechanized mayhem" :)

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I saw it on Saturday first show. It was really good IMO. It was definately a indiana jones movie. My only complaint, the soundtrack was a little weak in the low bass department. It lacked impact and pop! Everyone in the theater clapped like crazy when it was over. That's a good sign.

[Groundbeef]

I saw it on Saturday first show. It was really good IMO. It was definately a indiana jones movie. My only complaint, the soundtrack was a little weak in the low bass department. It lacked impact and pop! Everyone in the theater clapped like crazy when it was over. That's a good sign.


Turn up your hearing aid?:thumbsup:

[Smokey]

It was really good IMO. It was definately a indiana jones movie. My only complaint, the soundtrack was a little weak in the low bass department. It lacked impact and pop.

Hopefully that deficiency won’t get passed on DVD or Bluray soundtracks. Or maybe the theater sound system need calibration :)

Btw, this movie snatched the second-largest box-office total ( $151 million) for a Memorial Day weekend opening, just $2 million shy of the record set last year by "Pirates of the Caribbean".

[emaidel]

Just saw it this afternoon - absolsutely terrific, from start to finish. Had there not been "Raiders of the Lost Ark," this would have been tops. It's certainly better than either of the other two sequels, and in many respects, at least the equal of the original. Stephen Spielberg at his top form, with a terrific supporting cast, especially Shia LaBeouf, who couldn't be better as a wise-cracking smartass teenager. I"m already getting anxious to see it again!

[kexodusc]

Kex

Are you quoting Martika?
....Like toy soldiers....:yesnod:

[AncientWalkman]

# 2 is still my favorite. :) Kalli-Maaaawww!! :-p This movie was simply the happy ending for Indiana (wife and kid). He didn't need to end it this way, but I'm sure we all agree he deserves to be happy with family after all the adventures he has gone thru!

[Woochifer]

Finally got around to watching it last night (the little one's grandparents are in town, so mommy and daddy got the night off). Overall, I pegged this one below The Last Crusade, but definitely a lot better than Temple of Doom. It was a nicely done bit of escapist entertainment. It was fairly well paced, with a lot of great action sets -- very much getting back to the series' roots as an homage to the old weekly short film serials.

A couple of things though shot the movie down a peg or two ...


SPOILER ALERT


First off, the whole angle of Indy and Marion's son was poorly developed, all too obvious, and not very believable.

And the central storyline merging the Roswell incident with the El Dorado legend was also pretty weak. Maybe I've been watching too much Discovery Channel, but it seems that references to Area 51 and Roswell have become so cliched, that I thought the movie would have been much better off with just the search for El Dorado. In much the same way that Raiders of the Lost Ark focused on the Ark of the Covenant, and The Last Crusade focused on the Holy Grail, I thought that adding the alien dimension just seemed odd and out of place, and muddled the narrative.

[Smokey]

Thanks emaidel, Walkman and Wooch for the movie review.

Haven’t seen the last three installment of this series in a long time, so probably when seeing this new movie, it will be judge by its own merit.

[Kam]

i'll chime in on the other side and say, if the other 3 movies didn't already exist, this one would never work on its own. as it is, it just stands as a nice lil epilogue to tie up some story points from the previous 3.

without the nostalgia factor, this movie, as a stand alone movie, is not good imo. it ONLY works by standing on the history laid down by the previous 3. something the previous 3 did not do. Sure, they USED the prior history (even when it was in the future, Temple was the first of all the movies time line wise) but they used it and built upon it.

it's not horrible, it's not the worst movie out there, but it's a far cry from the prior 3 imo.

ok.... i've thrown the chalice, let's rumble now!!
:D

[RGA]

Kam

I agree with you - Temple of Doom was a big let down at the time but it has grown on me over the years such that I think it's better than this last one. This last one was the first time I was bored by long exposition and not really inspired dialog or effects (that seemed lifted a bit from the Mummy(an already seriously watered down Indy series copycat).

Temple had problems - Short Round was just irritating, and the ditsy blond was too incompetant for words. Nevertheless it was pulled along by sillyness and solid dialog. The Last Crusade was elevated by Connery and Ford's dialog and it was well paced. Raiders was easily and by far the best because of Marion - a strong intelligent female character to go toe to toe with Jones. The Nazis were evil and differentiated and Beloc was almost Jones' archeological equal It was and is about as perfect as the genre gets.

The last one had a tired opening act - Roswell and the idiotic fridge thing and gophers smiling at the camera - UGHH. The bad guys were not developed here in the least bit - in this regard the weakest villains in the entire series. It got off the religious theme for aliens which is fine I suppose but there is enough lala land stuff in Christianity that we don't really need aliens (who are more likely to exist).

John Hurt's role and that whole telepathy thing was weak, and Marion, Indy, and the kid just didn't really work for me.

[Kam]

my biggest problem with the movie was i felt both the spielberg and the lucas influences on it, and unfortunately, the two did not mesh together.

as well as what the hell was the reason for the opening? we see that group of kids race the jeep for a while and then take off. quite a lot of time is spent on said chase/race sequence for what story purpose exactly? other than to introduce us to the essential plot point character of the gopher.

i did like the indie 'reveal' of the dropped hat and then the tracking shot as he picked it up and put it on his head, that was pretty badass to be fair. and then the stupid alien crap cgi started up (lucas).

the broken family dynamic (spielberg) i thought was great except for the fact that as RGA mentioned, the best female character of Marion has now all of a sudden changed completely. now sure, motherhood excuse can be given for 'softening' her up. but leopards don't change their spots, and this is still the same gal we were introduced to by showing her at a table with about 40 shot glasses drinking a dude under the table, literally. now she's a cardboard cutout mommy character with none of that spunk that made her slap indie and kiss him within the same second.

and then all the crap with the cgi aliens (lucas) and the cgi ants (lucas) and cgi rivers (lucas) and all that junk just became so bored and overdone and worse, done like everyone else. the only action sequence i liked was the motorcycle chase scene (spielberg). if cgi was used in that, then it was used well because it felt like a real chase with real cameras and real vehicles being used.

and cate blanchett, who i normally love and think is an amazing actress couldn't do much with her russian cardboard cutout. even freakin' belock was more evil, but then again, nazi's are inherently the best villains to make in a movie.

EDIT: reread wooch's review above and i think there's the dichotomy. Search for el dorado (spielberg) with an alien civilization buried underneath holding the secret to life (lucas).