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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Disappointing and truly awful.
From the opening credits this film demonstrated how poorly produced it is. Where Shia LaBeouf gets an "And...Shia LaBeouf" credit...I'm sure there's an industry term for that...but, what about John Hurt..? Isn't he a more accomplished actor? Isn't the whole plot revolving around his character? Not some MTV-input punk attempting to make this franchise more accessible to a new generation.
And surviving a thermo-nuclear blast at ground zero...by shutting himself in a supposed lead-lined..."fridge"..? What the blazes is that all about?! What would have been better...is to have Indiana Jones in more of a thriller type film now...given his age. Why not take The Da Vinci Code for example...and have Indiana Jones solving something like this.
The only dialog Harrison Ford has is in speech form. His only other coverage on camera is to give a wry, father-like smile to his new-found, annoying son. What happened to Indiana Jones being the centre of the film? Throughout this entire movie I was more interested in opening my sweets than I was in anything that happened to any of the characters.
Talk about spoon feeding. The portrait of Marcus Brody on the wall - nice touch. And just in case anyone in the audience missed it...we have the statue as well later on. Overkill.
Why were there so many many references to Raiders? We can see the hanger is where the Ark was put...we don't have to see it...just in case it was too subtle..!! Duh.
And what about Temple of Doom? There's not one reference to that. And it was a better film than Last Crusade.
The best bit in this whole film...was the Paramount mountain fading into the ant hill. Nice contrast to the opening of Raiders. And that, sadly, was it.
This is so, so very disappointing from the collective talents of Spielberg and Lucas. I wonder what we would have been given if it was just Spielberg...and not Lucas. We've already seen how George and his continental-sized chin has descended into sub-standard movie-making with the Star Wars prequels.
I cento passi (2000)
An outstanding movie with powerful performances
Since my long-term girlfriend is from Cinisi (where the film is set) I regularly visit. I also learnt on my first trip out that she is actually a cousin of Giovanni Impastato. Thus I have an interest in the history and eat at the pizza restaurant each time I'm in the area.
Not knowing what to expect from this film, I was stunned at the powerful performances and overall impact of this moving drama.
Luigi Lo Cascio, baring the chiselled good looks of a young Tim Roth, delivers an outstanding performance far superior to anything any actor produces from Hollywood these days.
The locations are beautiful and it's easy to spot the Corso Umberto main street and other sites from Cinisi used in the film.
I Cento Passi is an outstanding movie, that presents an effective portrayal of the other side of living with the mafia, far, far away from the more accepted, almost romantic, wiseguy ideals seen in Goodfellas, The Godfather and the like.
SPOILER
I also found this after trawling the web for more info on the story
BBC, Saturday, 1 May, 2004 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3675535.stm)
Gaetano Badalamenti, once known as the "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian Mafia, has died at the age of 80 in the US where he was serving a prison sentence.
Badalamenti became notorious in the US for masterminding a crime ring that distributed heroin and cocaine through pizza parlours between 1975 and 1984. He was sentenced in 1987 to 47 years in federal prison.
Born in the village of Cinisi near Palermo in 1923, Gaetano Badalamenti became a key figure in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in the 1970s.
Italy also convicted Badalamenti in absentia of the 1978 murder of a radio DJ who poked fun at the Mafia.
The remains of Giuseppe "Peppino" Impastato were found torn apart by a bomb on a Sicilian railway line. Badalamenti was finally convicted of the crime in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison.
Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed prison official as saying he died of a heart attack at a US federal medical centre in Devens, Massachusetts, on Thursday evening.
Slipstream (2005)
A low-budget but enjoyable example of the potential of David van Eyssen.
A world away from the 1989 sci-fi faux pas starring Mark Hamill and Bill Paxton that carried this movie title, this a low-budget film with an interesting cast. Most notably last seen in The Lord of the Rings, Sean Astin, Bosnian beauty Ivana Milicevic and Hertfordshire hardman Vinnie Jones.
However, despite being produced on a very limited budget, and in a remarkably short period of time (27 days according to van Eyssen), this film still remains watchable.
The script is good and delivery from Astin is excellent. Vinnie Jones plays
well, Vinnie Jones and Milicevic has her moments; only plot holes in the screenplay itself, written by Louis Morneau and Phillip Badger, let the actors down in important scenes of interaction.
This film doesn't have the same seamless flow that other time-playback movies like the fantastic Run Lola Run or even Groundhog Day or Sliding Doors has. Consequently you're never quite sure whether you actually give a damn about the characters or not.
It becomes apparent as the film unfolds that the director had to cut corners (the budget was repeatedly slashed according to van Eyssen) and gaping wide plot holes are hurriedly painted over with techno-babble and the extremely convenient occurrence of events.
However, despite these issues, the cinematography in places is excellent and van Eyssen uses inexpensive camera techniques very well demonstrating that stunning big screen effects can be achieved without a Battlestar-sized budget.
A little bit of background info putting this movie into context will make it much more interesting and it's an enjoyable example of the potential of director David van Eyssen.
Enterprise (2001)
For the love of God, change the opening music....
Well, one of the biggest events this year in sci-fi is over, the new Star Trek series, Enterprise, has now begun, and after the first episode I expect every trekkie worth their dylithium crystals has a few comments. One issue that most definitely needs addressing is the music accompanying the opening credits.what on Praxis were Paramount thinking..? I think I can see the pattern of thinking behind this.actually no, I can't. A series set 100 years before the original series, before Starfleet really had a star fleet, in an era comparable to the days of Columbus discovering the New World. So why oh why have some really very cheesy rock ballad comparable to something that would've been dragged out of a Marshall guitar amp by some long-permed-hair, sweatband-wearing Foreigner-wannabe during that hideous decade for music, the Eighties? This has got to go. Do you remember the opening music to Babylon 5: series 5..? That is probably the best opening credit music I can remember accompanying.well, any series. It stirred a feeling of adventure, a feeling of compassion for the characters.all Diane Warren's theme made me feel was an urge to wear a `Frankie Says.' t-shirt and have hi-lights put in my hair. Ugh. Aside from this very early disappointment, one of the biggest subjects of discussion will be Scott Bakula's performance as Captain Archer. Considering this is set in an era prior even to Kirk's shoot-first-ask-questions-later generation, Archer's attitude will be difficult to get right. Chronologically speaking, Kirk's approach was considerably more evolved. Remember this is a 2002 interpretation of the Seventies philosophy, so the actors will have their work cut out for them. Evidence of this shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach could be seen in the crew's attitude towards the Vulcan T'pau in the first episode, however, whether this is portrayed as believable remains to be seen as the series continues. The decontamination scene will have appealed to every adolescent Star Trek fan. Nile though her very erect nipples were, if T'pau turns into another pidgeon-holed Trek-babe-in-a-tight-fitting-costume, as I fear she already has, then this will certainly contribute to Enterprise's downfall; it will just become another Voyager. A nice little touch was James Cromwell's (very) brief cameo. Up to Star Trek: Enterprise, the pilot episode of each new Star Trek series since Kirk has included a cameo of a character from the previous series. However, because this takes place 100 years before the original Star Trek, the cameo was not of a series character, but of Zefram Cochrane (played by Cromwell), who appeared in the film Star Trek: First Contact. It would've been nice to see a few problems arising with using the transporter on a living being for the first time. Rescuing Archer by beaming him out of danger seemed to be a convenient way of ending the climax on the pilot episode. If you think of how complex the concept of a transporter is, and how movies have dealt with these problems in the past (notably The Fly and comically Galaxy Quest), then this time-saving ending seemed to instantly discard some potentially good future story material. The Enterprise herself looks nice, and there's a nice no-gloss, bare-components feel to the interior design. In addition, the costumes are great and in fact the overall concept design seems very good. Although a little less technobabble would go very well with this series, perhaps concentrating on storylines that don't require the need for technological wizardry to solve plot problems. Ultimately, whether the characters, their performances, the storyline and even the effects gel together to make a quality Trek series remains to be seen. Let's face facts, The Next Generation was by far the best, still, good luck to them. If they change the music, it has a chance.
Dune (2000)
You can't compare this to the film, the two are very different.
As anyone who has ever read the books will know, this is pretty much a direct adaptation of the book, compared to Lynch's 1984 interpretation. However, like the clichéd example of two similar yet incomparable stories such as the original Star Trek and The Next Generation, Lynch's Dune and the series cannot truly be compared.
Anyone who really appreciates Dune will know that the Lynch's film is an under-appreciated masterpiece of artistic interpretation of the book, and the series is a straightforward adaptation. I have read reviews of the series that have began `.forget the awful Lynch film.' at which point I have lost all respect for this person and not even bothered reading the rest of the review.
To respect the series for what it is, you must first appreciate the film. Dune is Shakespeare is space, however, the series (as does the book) takes the worst elements of Shakespeare such as pointless, unnecessary and over-stretched conversation that is utterly meaningless to the plot. The film has taken the best elements of Shakespeare such as the epic scripts and phrases such as `.fear is the mind killer' and `.plots within plots' and retained them, as well as powerful, memorable performances from utterly underrated and since Dune underused actors such as Richard Jordan, Brad Dourif and Kenneth McMillan, whilst skillfully dispensing with the unnecessary sections of dialogue and story.
And of course, there is the visual costume adaptation on Dune the film. Lynch's understanding was that an almost colonial feel was required, consequently the contrast in appearance from the troops of House Atreides to the stillsuits worn by the Fremen, to the uniforms of the troops of House Harkonnen, was startling and left a memorable impression. Lynch's stillsuits, quite frankly, was a demonstration of genius.
Compare it to the visual design of the series, and indeed what was described in the novel, and we have a more Arabian, flowing-cloak style, with brightly-coloured silks and cottons weaved around each character. Nice, but nowhere near as powerful. The series should be used as a device to aid in appreciation of the film. As a result of having to cut out sections of the novel in order to produce a film of manageable proportions, obviously Lynch was going to have to leave out portions from the book. The series represents a chance to see these in a visual adaptation. Granted the cast and acting isn't anywhere near as powerful as the film (the scene where Doctor Yueh is killed thinking he will meet his wife was pitiful compared to Dean Stockwell's performance in the film), but if you remember that the series should be treated as a study aid to the film, than you can appreciate it for what it is.