Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG-13) ***1/2

He's back!

He's got the fedora, he's got the whip, he's got the gun- Damn, he left that at home. Oh, well. It's good to have you back, Indiana!

In KOTCS, Jones (still played by the rugged Harrison Ford) is forced by Soviet agent Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett, in probably her oddest role yet) to find an artifact known as the Crystal Skull. Not much is known about it except that there are thirteen of these special kinds of skull in the world and they are all extremely, bizarrely magnetic. All kinds of metal are drawn to it, even gold, which shouldn't be. Along the adventure, Indiana meets the brash, young Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) who's only to trying to find the skull to save his mom. Guess who?!

Along the way, Jones and Williams fight and outwit KGB agents, foot soldiers, and the living dead. For transportation, the two ride motorcycles, trucks, and amphibious vehicles, as well as riding rapids into and out of El Dorado! To complicate matters further, they pick up a deluded Professor "Ox" Oxley (John Hurt), a maternal Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen!), and a treacherous 'Mac' George McHale (Ray Winstone). And I can't even begin to tell you how Jones stumbles into and out of a nuclear test sight!

There was also a bit of social satire in the film that I found refreshing. When Jones and Williams are on a bike outrunning the KGB agents, they end up in an anti-communist rally. To lose the agents, Mutt kicks the wooden post holding a sign that reads "Better dead than red!" which lands on the hood of the KGB's car. I kind of wished this film had more of these sly pokes, much like how the first one skewered the Nazis. Unfortunately, it didn't.

David Koepp's script is uniformly tight, concise, and energetic. Koepp is a go-to screenwriter for big budget films like Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible. His scripts often start off well and lose their way well into the second act. But here, his writing is strong. Of course, it helps if George Lucas wrote the basic story and the script you write is about Indiana Jones.

This is a fun movie, emphasis on fun. Steven Spielberg, being the major creative head of the film, brings back a lot of the elements that made the original trilogy so winning: escalating conflict with a new predicament beginning just as another ends, strong and intriguing characters, a score by none other than John Williams, and an unnerving sense of comedic and dramatic timing. And the visuals... Oh! While some of the film suffers from what I like to call "CGI fakery," the visuals on display are gorgeous. And there is one shot at the climax of this film that is just plain... majestic.

Starring:
Harrison Ford-Indiana Jones
Cate Blanchett-Irina Spalko
Shia LaBeouf-Mutt Williams
John Hurt-Professor "Ox" Oxley
Karen Allen-Marion Ravenwood
Ray Winstone-'Mac' George McHale

Written by David Koepp
Story by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson
Produced by Frank Marshall
Directed by Steven Spielberg

21 (PG-13) ***

"21" is decent escapist entertainment. It starts off well with Jim Sturgess playing gifted mathematics student Ben Campbell at MIT who catches the attention of his professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey). Ben is inducted into a special group of Rosa's students, including Jim's crush Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth). The group is taught by the professor to work as a team in counting cards at Vegas so they can make the big bucks. The film loses it's way 2/3rds in by not handling Jim's spiral into corruptive emotions with the same kind of wit and acumen as shown in earlier in the film. Still, it is an enjoyable caper where you get your money's worth.

Starring:
Jim Sturgess: Ben Campbell
Kate Bosworth: Jill Taylor
Kevin Spacey: Prof. Micky Rosa
Laurence Fishburne: Cole Williams
Aaron Yoo: Choi
Liza Lapira: Kianna
Jacob Pitts: Jimmy Fisher

Directed by Robert Luketic
Written by Peter Steinfeld & Allan Loeb
from the book "Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions" by Ben Mezrich

I'm Back!

Sorry for such a long absence. Anyway, i've been keeping busy and I have a best (& worst) of 07 list for you, plus my oscar picks. I know the Oscars are already over, but I would still like to share them with you. I actually got 7 of them correct! I'll start including some articles that didn't get into the Echo Times, a publication I work for. Enjoy!