The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The second installment in the Narnia adventures. I liked the first one but wasn't a huge fan, liked it much more the second time I saw it on dvd. That said, I liked this new one better than the first. While true, there isn't a lot of character development, it kind of assumes you know all the set up from the first one, it still is very entertaining and has a lot of heart to it. I have to disagree with Mandy about the religious aspects being down played, I thought they were very prevalent and very well done, the ending, while a bit abrupt was particularly emotional. I will agree however on the soundtrack, very powerful. There is quite a bit of fighting and battle scenes and I'm a little surprised it didn't earn a PG-13 rating because of it, although there's not blood and guts, most of it is hidden from the camera. All of the actors do a great job and I found the four kids to be much more believable this time around, especially in battle scenes. The special fx are truly top notch. A movie of this scale and imagination simply could not have been done and done well without the technology we have today. Weta, Peter Jackson's fx company, continues to be tops in the business. Apparently this movie isn't doing quite as well at the box office as Disney had hoped, probably from being sandwiched in between Iron Man and Indiana Jones, but it's definitely worth a trip to the theater. Next up...Kung Fu Panda...

***1/2 out of 4

Indy's back...sort of.

The fourth installment of the Indiana Jones adventures. This is a fun movie, but it's not great. The first two acts are very fun, fast and very Indiana Jones. During certain scenes I found myself smiling because it was just fun to see Indiana Jones back in action. But the 3rd and final act kind of slows down and as Mandy said, there's not a real sense of danger, especially from our villains. And although the previous 3 films deal with something fantastical, as this one does, the whole alien thing was a little weird. But I actually kind of liked it, it's something new and different. It's just I always think of Indiana Jones as looking for some very important religious artifact, like the ark of the covenant or the holy grail. Harrison Ford just is Indiana Jones and, for the first hour especially, feels right back at home as Indy. Shia LeBouf continues to impress with his acting talents and does a great job as Indy's....uhmm...new sidekick. The actress that plays Marion is great when first re-introduced and for the next 10 to 15 minutes following, but then becomes uncomfortably cheesy. Speaking of cheese, there are a few moments that got a little too cheesy and a little rushed towards the last hour of the film. And the ending scene, which is way too cheesy, is somewhat redeemed at the end of the scene by one of the coolest moments in the movie, which could suggest the Indy legacy will continue with more films. Also a few of the cgi elements are a little too obviously cgi, which is due to bad lighting. The cgi elements lighting done in the computer doesn't exactly match the lighting shot on set. But other fx scenes look amazing. While there are fun moments tying into past Indy movies, there wasn't as much nostalgia as The Last Crusade, which was the perfect ending to the trilogy. This is more of just another fun, and ultimately unnecessary, addition to Indiana Jones' many adventures.

**1/2 out of 4

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones returns! In the forth installment that takes place 20 years after The Last Crusade, Dr. Jones has been kidnapped by the KGB and is forced to help them find US Governments secrets from Roswell, New Mexico. This leads to a race against the Soviets to a lost city in South America in search of a mystical Crystal Skull.

Admittedly I went into this movie as a skeptic. I was certain that they wouldn't be able to live up to the original trilogy and this forth attempt would be mediocre at best. So going in my expectations were already very low... I was still disappointed. My complaints are surprisingly enough not about the storyline, nevertheless, the previous films were all about religious artifacts that Jones simply sees as historical finds and is then humbled by their powers. This one is more supernatural...and that's fine, I can deal with that. In fact I thought that it was clever, as the movie is set in the 50's...made sense. What was awful was the dialogue. The on the nose, campy, corny, almost talking to the audience dialogue. You are spoon fed every step of the way. Also I understand that this is not a new character--so people may think character development is not needed...but we haven't seen this character for 20+ years. What happened to the reluctant hero? Suddenly we are watching a movie where there is never once a sense of urgency or real sense of danger. Also as NONE of the endearing sidekicks(Marcus Brody, Sallah, or Professor Henry Jones Sr.) return in this episode, (not even Short Round) how about a little character development on the new guys? Make me care.

I get that people will argue and say that the earlier Jones movies were also a little campy and designed to be "B" action movies. But they took themselves a tad more serious. This one was almost like watching a cartoon. The reunion scenes between Indy and Marion (sorry if that is a spoiler) are so painful to watch--stupid, silly, forced banter that doesn't even come close to the chemistry that they had in Raiders.

I knew going in that it wouldn't live up to the originals, but I had no idea how bad it really was. It's almost as if Spielberg and Lucas were afraid of really trying. I went to the 12:01 AM showing on opening night, I got home around 2:30 and was so distraught that I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark just to make sure I wasn't over reacting........ I wasn't.

** Rentable

Rated PG-13 (I guess Violence? I know I said this before, but for a movie with such a legacy, to have invented the PG-13 rating, I expected a little more sense of urgency, a sense of danger--I mean come on, scare me.)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The two sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve return to Narnia after being back in London for a year. Upon their return they find that hundreds and hundreds of years have passed in Narnia. Everything is foreign to them and they find themselves in the middle of a war.

This wasn't, in my opinion, as good as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Mind you I watched this on the tails of the Jazz/Laker game so admittedly I was a little out of sorts when I saw the movie. Nevertheless even in my state of sorrow I was still able to detect the severe lack of character development in the second installment. Long stretches of battle scenes that are not really necessary tend to pull you out of the story. It also plays down the religious/spiritual aspect so much so that I didn't really get the ending--as it is very abrupt--granted I didn't read the book, so there may be parts that I am missing. Still despite its flaws, it was entertaining and had a great soundtrack.

*** (Not really a Must See, but one you want to see on the big screen)

Rated PG (Violence)

Go Speed Racer Go!

Speed Racer, the movie version of the 70's (I think) cartoon.  Directed by the Wechowski brothers, the duo that brought us the Matrix trilogy.  Apparently if you were a fan of the cartoon you'll love this movie.  I knew nothing of the cartoon, besides the catchy theme song, (which is cleverly incorporated into the score) but I was still very much entertained. 

This is visually the most amazing movie I've ever seen.  The bright colors, stylized special fx and action are amazing.  It creates a world that is complete eye candy and a joy to watch.  The actual races are adrenaline pumped and very exciting.  The Wechowski's, as they did in the Matrix, create a world with it's own laws of physics and gravity, and you completely buy into it.  However, that being said, Speed Racer does have it's flaws.  There is a fine line of cheesiness that is walked almost perfectly through the first hour or so, yet it annoyingly crosses the line in two kung-fu fight scenes and a few other scenes with Speed Racer's little brother and sidekick/pet chimpanzee.  The length of the film is also an issue.  It clocks in at 2 1/2 hours, about 30-45 minutes too long, especially for a PG rated, Saturday morning cartoon inspired movie.  Which brings up another thing I noticed, the PG rating.  With quite a bit of swearing and voilence and some bird flippage, I'm surprised this wasn't PG-13.  All in all it's a fun time at the movies.  

*** out of 4

Next up....The Chronicles of Narnia 2 and Indiana Jones 4...

Iron Man

Being a lesser known superhero, I knew nothing of the history or back story of Iron Man going into the movie. Usually only the big name superhero's turn into big screen hits, ala Batman, Spiderman, Superman, XMen. Lesser known's such as Dare Devil, The Punisher, Ghost Rider, etc, usually aren't well recieved. Iron Man reverses the trend. "Iron Man", much like the first Spiderman and Batman Begins, explains how the hero came to be super, although Iron Man is much like Batman in that he has no superpowers, but instead a lot of money and a purpose for protecting the people. Robert Downey Jr. is the perfect actor for the role given his own history. Tony Stark, our hero is a very wealthy, very intelligent man that runs his fathers company that bascially supplies the world with weapons of destruction. Stark loves what he does and loves to party and doesn't care much for the adverse effects of his company, only the profits it gives him. Events are set in motion that effectivley change Starks views.

The special effects are well done and unnoticeable, aka you don't step out of the movie and say "Cool special fx", it's just "Cool scene" "Cool movie". Very important in cinema fx. The only complaints I would have are that we don't actually see Iron Man in action for quite a big chunk of the movie, but that actually adds to the character development and you're never bored. The other would be the climax needed to be a little more, oh what's the word.....epic? But I think that feeling comes from not knowing the franchise, the villains, etc. The ending is very fun. It definitely takes a different twist on superhero identity and anonymity. Oh, and stay after the credits, you'll see a little setup for Marvel's three recently announced films; Iron Man 2 (April 2009), Captain America (2010) and The Avengers (2011). Which apparently all tie into one another, The Avengers being the sequel to Captain America. The summer blockbuster season, my favorite time of the year, kicks off with a bang! Hopefully it continues. Next up...Speed Racer...


***1/2

Iron Man

Tony Sparks (Robert Downey Jr.) is a multi-millionaire arms dealer. His company makes weapons and sells them to the US government. On one of his many trips to the middle-east to demonstrate to the army his newest weapon of mass destruction, Sparks is hijacked and held hostage by a terrorist group.

I really don't want to give away anything more than this, however to those of you that, like me, know nothing about the Iron Man story/comic book series I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I don't know how close this is to the comic book, Iron Man zealots--let us know. Nevertheless this is not your typical super hero movie in that there is very little super hero action--don't let that sway you--this movie is very smart, funny, great dialogue, and even though our hero doesn't really show up until an hour into the movie--the character development is really well done and FUN!

Hopefully this is indicative of the summer blockbusters to come--Iron Man has set the bar and was a great kick off.

***1/2 Must See

Rated PG-13 (Violence and War)