Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was fun to watch. Is it worth full-priced admission, or should you wait for a cheap matinee or for it to hit a dollar-theater??? Well, that's up to you I suppose.
It IS a big screen movie for sure. There is a lot of great action, starting pretty early on and continuing with great regularity throughout.
Harrison Ford delivers. He just IS Indy, and the guy has some of the best facial expressions in the business. All of the other characters carried their own weight as well. There really weren't any slacker performances to be had. They also did a nice job of addressing the real-life death of Denholm Elliot (Marcus Brody), and the absence of Sean Connery (Papa Jones).
So, what'd I think of the movie then...after all, dear reader, that's presumably why you're here.
It is, at least at this point in time, my least favorite of the Indy flicks. Raiders and Grail were just better, more engaging movies. They seemed better fits for the character. Ancient religious lore just worked really well. Temple, well, it had the ancient mysticism bit, but just didn't feel quite as well done as the other two. This fourth one, well, if just didn't scream Indy. Spielberg, yes, but not Indy.
What follows contains spoilers. If you haven't watched it yet, and don't want to know anything about it, above this line is a great place to stop. You've been warned...
The plot line of this installment would've been better suited for X-Files. Spielberg does like his alien movies, and I realize Lucas is probably the guy responsible for the story, but I wish they had reconsidered. The Mayan bit, great. I just wish they would've found some better storyline than they did.
The quick synopsis...after a highly improbably nuclear explosion survival, Indy is drawn into the search for, and mystery behind, a legendary crystal skull. Upon first real glimpse, you can surmise pretty quickly that the thing is alien in origin and that's where this is all heading. Apparently aliens were responsible for the at-the-time ultra-advanced lifestyle of the Mayan population, and this skull, if returned to its original location, would unlock an ancient power. They of course do all of this with the expected results...ie. the bad guys (Russians this time) chase 'em all the way, eventually get what's coming to them, and there is no proof left at the end that any of this happened.
The lead-up to the nuclear blast was action packed and great fun. There is an excellent chase leading up to departure to South America. There are mysterious tunnels, caves, and such. A great chase through the jungle. Big frikkin ants. Waterfalls galore, and an intricately designed Mayan pyramid and chambers. Fun to watch, just not as memorable as the others. Just not as...Indy.
Sunday, 6 July 2008
SiCKO
Rent this. Seriously.
I'm not a Michael Moore fan boy, nor would I suggest you watch this and take it as absolute truth. With any documentary there are biases that will creep in, and surely this one isn't the exception. That said, Mr. Moore isn't really center stage here. He asks some big questions, and we're treated to answers from various practitioners of various medical systems around the world, including the likes of the U.S., Canada, England, France, and Cuba.
Much of what I saw was shocking, and as a U.S. citizen, often disappointing. Medical conglomerates that, in addition to fleecing the everyday citizen, also screw their own employees (well, the lower minions anyway, the top shelf bunch get superior care), medications costing hundreds of dollars for U.S. citizens (many who can't afford to buy them, but also can't afford not to) sold for, literally, dollars in poverty stricken countries like Cuba. Yes yes, I'm sure there are some behind-the-scenes accounting practices, subsidies, and the like that may be able to explain away a portion of these huge cost discrepancies (a SMALL portion), but the bulk of it is outright corporate greed.
The lengths insurance companies will go to shirk their duties is absurdity at its highest level. This is of course, stuff most of us already knew to some extent, and this flick does a nice job of bringing it together and presenting it. It also brings into serious question the myriad excuses presented as to just why socialized health care "just can't work", and leads one to hope for some drastic reform.
I'd highly recommend giving this a view, particularly if you reside in the U.S. and depend upon its health "care" system.
I'm not a Michael Moore fan boy, nor would I suggest you watch this and take it as absolute truth. With any documentary there are biases that will creep in, and surely this one isn't the exception. That said, Mr. Moore isn't really center stage here. He asks some big questions, and we're treated to answers from various practitioners of various medical systems around the world, including the likes of the U.S., Canada, England, France, and Cuba.
Much of what I saw was shocking, and as a U.S. citizen, often disappointing. Medical conglomerates that, in addition to fleecing the everyday citizen, also screw their own employees (well, the lower minions anyway, the top shelf bunch get superior care), medications costing hundreds of dollars for U.S. citizens (many who can't afford to buy them, but also can't afford not to) sold for, literally, dollars in poverty stricken countries like Cuba. Yes yes, I'm sure there are some behind-the-scenes accounting practices, subsidies, and the like that may be able to explain away a portion of these huge cost discrepancies (a SMALL portion), but the bulk of it is outright corporate greed.
The lengths insurance companies will go to shirk their duties is absurdity at its highest level. This is of course, stuff most of us already knew to some extent, and this flick does a nice job of bringing it together and presenting it. It also brings into serious question the myriad excuses presented as to just why socialized health care "just can't work", and leads one to hope for some drastic reform.
I'd highly recommend giving this a view, particularly if you reside in the U.S. and depend upon its health "care" system.
Robinson Crusoe
This interesting book by Daniel Defoe took a bit to get into, but after getting used to his writing style, proved to be a pretty good read. I think people are pretty familiar with the basic storyline. It's the story of an Englishman gets marooned on a deserted island, and details his time spent there.
A bit more about the writing style... What made this a challenging read at first was the way Defoe would take something as straightforward as He walked up and said, "Hi.", and turned it into a paragraph-length affair, with thesaurus at the ready to bring out the big words. My initial thought, re-reading some of this was, surely he didn't make it this wordy...I must be missing some deeper meaning here. After surrendering to the wordiness, and dropping the over analysis, the story clipped right along.
I'd recommend it. It was a pretty interesting read and gives a lot of thought to what it might be like to be stranded. What kinds of things might a person miss? What skills would be particularly useful to know? Etc.
A bit more about the writing style... What made this a challenging read at first was the way Defoe would take something as straightforward as He walked up and said, "Hi.", and turned it into a paragraph-length affair, with thesaurus at the ready to bring out the big words. My initial thought, re-reading some of this was, surely he didn't make it this wordy...I must be missing some deeper meaning here. After surrendering to the wordiness, and dropping the over analysis, the story clipped right along.
I'd recommend it. It was a pretty interesting read and gives a lot of thought to what it might be like to be stranded. What kinds of things might a person miss? What skills would be particularly useful to know? Etc.
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