Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

     I've put this off for too long, I'm finally writing my review of the fourth Indiana Jones Movie. I almost didn't want to review this, because I don't really coinsider this an Indiana Jones movie. I view this movie as an imitation of Indiana Jones.  
     The movie starts out in Area 51 where a band of soldiers from the Soviet Union capture Indy and they're looking for a mysterious package. One thing leads to another and Indy teams up with a young rebellous teenager named Mutt Williams. He tells Indy that his mother and one of Indy's old professors who was also Mutt's father figure have been captured by the Soviets and he needs Indy's help. Indy and Mutt travel down to South America to look for the Crystal Skull of Akator.  
      First of all, I couldn't stand Shia Lebouf I thought he was very annoying, as he is in most of his movies. The plot was not as strong as the other Indiana Jones movies. It was pretty cool to see Karen Allen back. She plays Marion once again. Also in the first three movies, Indiana Jones is a vulnerable hero. He gets beat in fights a lot. He almost always had a near death expirience in the first three movies. This movie didn't have a scene like that. It never had a scene where I was on the edge of my seat. Overall i think the first two acts of this movie are fine. The scene that ruined it for me was the scene where Shia Lebouf is swinging on the vines with the monkies. There was too much CGI in that scene which was not necessary.  
     While I believe this is a good movie by itself, it was very disappointing for an Indiana Jones film. I believe this is another reason why I'm happy with George Lucas selling LucasFilms to Disney. I feel that Lucas has been slipping over the past 12 years. It started with the Star Wars prequals, The DVD remasterd Star Wars release, Indiana Jones 4, and the blu-ray release of Star Wars. However as I said above, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a good movie by itself, I give it two and a half stars.

Disney buys LucasFilms

     With all the controversey that surrounds the decision made by George Lucas to sign over LucasFilms to Disney. A new Star Wars movie is scheduled to come out in the summer of 2015. This tells me that Disney has been planning this for quite some time. Will this end up as a great move, or will it blow up in Disney's face? 
     Personally I'm excited for this. Maybe it's the Star Wars fanboy inside me, but I believe this could really help the Star Wars franchise. I've heard a lot of people say "Oh well Disney is going to ruin Star Wars." They forget that Star Wars was ruined the day The Phantom Menace hit the theatres. The next prequal Attack of the Clones made things alot worse. Although Revenge of the Sith was a good movie, The original trilogy was still so much better. Also Lucas made some very unpopular calls for both the digitally remastered DVD's of the original trilogy, and the Blu-ray release of last year. He improved the sound and picture quality but he made some tweaks that I hated. In the scene in A New Hope when Han and Greedo are having the conversation in the bar and Han shot him from under the table, he changed that and Greedo shot first. That didn't make any sense to me. Also Disney bought Marvel comics and just this year they released The Avengers which was their best film to date. Am I saying that Star Wars episode 7 will be the best Star wars movie? No I'm not but I don't think it will hurt Star Wars at all. 
     I'll be watching for any news on the new Star Wars movie until the day it hits the big screen. the big question now is who will direct it? Personally I want Christopher Nolan to direct it. He's my favorate director right now. I'd also love it if Joss Whedon will direct it but he's locked in for the Avengers 2 which is due out in 2015 so he probably won't be able to. I'd also love J.J Abrams or Peter Jackson if The Hobbit is good (which it will be.) In summary all I can say is, 2015 can't get here soon enough.

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade Review

     Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade is my personal favorate of the franchise. Once again Indy is battling the Nazis to find the Holy Grail. The cup used by Christ in the last supper. This movie has the perfect beginning when you see young Indy on his first adventure. You see him trying to retrieve a spainsh artifact from a band of thugs. Then it goes back to real time and he's trying to retrieve that same artifact. It's one of my favorate openings to a movie.
     Later in the film, Indy is approached by a man asking him to go on a mission to find the Holy Grail. This becomes personal to him because his father had been looking for the Holy Grail his whole life and his father has been kidnapped by the Nazis. Sean Connery plays Indy's father he establishes his character so well from the moment he makes his first appearence. You can tell what kind of person he is right away.  
     The action in this movie I think is the best in any Indy movie. There's a scene when Indy's fighting aboard a tank and that was very suspenseful. Another suspenseful scene is when Indy is nearing the Grail. He's trying to prove his worth to take posession of the Grail I was on the edge of my seat on that scene. Also the humor in this movie is the best in the franchise. There are some very entertaining banter between Indy and his father.  
     Some people will say that The Last Crusade is the best Indina Jones movie. I say The Last Crusade is one of the best movies of all time. I think the best Indiana Jones movie does not do this film justice. Of course Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade gets 5 stars out of five.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom review

     This is the most underrated movie of the Indiana Jones franchise. A lot of people didn't like this movie because it wasn't based on any historical story. I don't believe it's as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it's still a fun adventerous film. The pace of this movie is great. The writers did a really good job at moving the plot along.  
      The movie starts out with Indy in China. He gets in trouble when some Chinese mobsters are after him and he escapes. His plane crashes in India and he takes a mission to free a village's children who have been captured as slaves by an ancient cult. In this movie Indy has a new assistant 5 year old Short Round. I really liked this character and the relationship between him and Indy is very entertaining. Also in this movie there is a new female accomplice Willie Scott. I thought this character was very annoying. But she did take a lot of punishment which made things a little better. One thing I loved about this movie is there's some great character development especially in Indy. When Indy was bad for about 5 minutes and then he snapped out of it and became a stronger character.
     One interesting fact about this movie is the original script had much more action than what was actually in the movie. Another thing is a lot of people were applaled that the movie had a PG rating. people wanted it to be a PG-13 rating because it was much darker than Raiders of the Lost Ark.  
     Overall This movie wasn't as good as Raiders, but still very enjoyable. There were great characters, good acting, good plot. I give this movie 4.5 stars out of five.

Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark Review

     First of all, I apoligize for how long it's been since I've posted anything. Thank you for your patience. Since the Indiana Jones movies have just been released on blu-ray, I just watched the first three movies today, so I decided to review the movies. I'll start with Raiders of the Lost Ark and I'll review the others in the next couple days 
     George Lucas and Harrison Ford teamed up again to give us another iconic movie franchise. Harrison Ford plays Indiana Jones. An archeologist who must find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do. Indiana Jones is a fun character; he's smart, he's sarcastic, and funny. That's one thing I love about this movie it's an adventure/action movie but it's also a comedy. Harrison Ford was fantastic as Indiana he had that persona down. One thing I love about this movie is the action, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time the first time I saw it. It's a great thriller. Another thing I love is the villian. A lot of people think that Belloq wasn't a good villian because he was not a physical threat to Indy. But he was very good at manipulating a situation and getting the outcome he wanted.
      John Williams' score for these movies is iconic and remains one of my favorate movie soundtracks of all time. It makes you feel like you're actually in these enviornments. When a soundtrack does that, you know it's great.  
     This is a movie I would really want to see in theatres. I'm not sure if it has ever been released in 3-D, but if it hasn't I'd love to see it. I'm not even a fan of 3-D. I'd just love the scene when Indy is running from the boulder because it would look like the boulder is rolling towars you. Overall, I love this movie it's one of my favorate movies of all time, of course it gets five stars out of five.

The Dark Knight Rises Review

     I give Christopher Nolan credit for 2 reasons; first of all, he made Batman awesome again. The Batman movies that were made in the 80's and 90's wern't that good. Also, he was able to keep important spoilers from leaking onto the internet. Was The Dark Knight Rises an amazing end to the saga, or was it a major disappointment?   
     Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne and he was amazing as he was in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Micheal Caine returns as Wayne's trusted butler Alfred. This was the best performance Caine gave in this series. Tom Hardy plays Bane and he was absolutley menacing. He was intelligent, he was powerful, and he was the biggest threat to Gotham in the series. Joseph Gordon-Levitt played Blake, a Gotham City police officer, I think he had one of the best performances in the movie. Gary Oldman was fantastic as Comissioner Gordon, I believe this was his best performance in the series as well. The one question I had about this movie was Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. In the trailer, it didn't show her doing too much, but she pulled it off. I couldn't have been any happier with the acting.  
     I've heard some people complaining about the special effects in this movie. They said that in some of the fight scenes, you could tell that it was staged, but I didn't see any problem with it. I think the fight scenes were fantastic.
     Overall, this movie was very compelling. It's exactly what you want in a Batman movie. It's what I was expecting with this final chapter in the series. Batman Begins was emotionally compelling, The Dark Knight was even more so, The Dark Knight Rises wasn't as compelling as The Dark Knight but it was still very good. It gets five stars.

Joe Paterno's True Legacy

     For years on end, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno ruled supreme as a great coach and overall good person. So when the sex scandal involving his long time assistant Jerry Sandusky first came to light, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know if Paterno was innocent or just as guilty as Sandusky. After reading the headline in the newspaper today, I know the truth. And it's disturbing. 
     It turns out Joe Paterno knew full well what Sandusky was doing. He knew full well all the horrible things that Sandusky had done. Even ttehough he knew that Sandusky was destroying the lives of many people, Paterno covered it up to protect himself, and his football program. I can't believe that the students at Penn State rallied in attempt for him to keep his job. Paterno had many chances to stop Sandusky. In 1998, A mother claimed Sandusky molested her son, Paterno lied to a grand jury and said he didn't. In 2001, Penn State president Graham Spanier, Vice president Gary Schultz, and athletic director Tim Curley were going to call child services on Sandusky, but Paterno talked them out of it. Paterno wasn't comfortable going to child services. That is the most selfish act I've ever heard of. lives of young boys and their families ruined to protect their comfort, and their football program. Joe Paterno protected a monster the way I see it, that makes him a monster as well. 
      The statue of Paterno on the campus of Penn State must be torn down for starters. The NCAA needs to deal out the largest punishment it can give. Spanier, Schultz, and Curley should go to prison for perjury. That school of monsters should be punished severely.