Anybody see the new Indiana Jones movie yet?

[Katuluu]

The trailers for Get Smart are terrible. They lack any of the polish or biting satire that made the TV show so much fun. I'll be stunned if it is anything but aimless filler.

Tropic Thunder, OTOH, just released a redband trailer that is outstanding. It's risky as hell, and Robert Downey Jr looks like he is going to give a comedic performance of epic proportions. It looks like a film that is going for broke and trying to push boundaries, where as Get Smart just seems like a tired recycled concept hoping to cash in on nostalgia.

[splitterpfj]

I liked Indiana Jones enough to recommend it, but there are certainly some things I could have lived without. I didn't hate the ending, I thought the entire sequence around the Tarzan thing was a mess, the film would have bet much better without that whole segment.

[davebobn]

I just saw it with my wife and would have left the theater had I been alone. She wasn't enjoying herself, but doesn't really believe in leaving. I really wish George Lucas would stop pissing on my childhood memories.

[sgtcluels]

I went and saw Ironman last night. Out of that or Indy I'd easily say Ironman. Downy Jrs roll as Stark Industries, Tony Stark was simply perfect. Jr plays the roll of vanguard hipster cocky guy perfectly, I found myself wanting him to get into situations where he'd come off the jerk. He owns the roll so well, that even hokey parts come off not as bad as they could. It's a good time waste, and one of the better Comic book movies to be released for some time.

 

And Paltrow in red hair is simply hot. I've never had a thing for her, but she was Trenni-licious in the film.

[sgtcluels]

Not sure why so much hate for Episode I, as Episode II was by far the worst of the prequels.

For me, it comes down to Jar Jar Binks. I just couldn't buy him as a character, and since he was so involved in the film it spoiled it. When II came around, you already knew that it was going to be filled with a cheap character and expectations were just so low. They were all just bad, it's just that the last 10 minutes when they had their big homage to the originals in 3, some what made it ok to like star wars. For 10 minutes.

[bjkrautk]

For a film that was 19 years in the making, I felt the script was very weak.

Spoiler [+]

Aliens? Really? They never explain the death of the apparently-immortal Henry Jones, Sr. who drank from the holy grail in the last crusade.

The Russians break into Area 51, holding place of all of America's unexplained scientific secrets....and only take the one thing. Last I checked, that Ark of the Covenant thing was pretty powerful, too. Why not bring a few trucks, and add on to the shopping list?

And what was the deal with the CGI prarie dogs? (I think the monkeys will get enough condemnation without my adding to the discussion.)

I can almost deal with the villains' inability to hit anyone with a fired gun, but it only highlights the lack of any real sense of peril for the characters.

 

I liked the chemistry between Karen Allen and Harrison Ford, probably for nostalgic reasons. Shia LeBouf was in the unenviable position of having a role in many of the unfortunate script decisions.

 

Finally, this is what a real crystal skull looks like:

Spoiler [+]

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/crystal-skull-3.jpg The British Museum's skull.

http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2005/10oct/crystalsun01.jpgThe Mitchell-Hedges skull mentioned in the film.

 

Notice anything missing? Here's the movie version:

Spoiler [+]

http://www.vintageculture.net/images/the-crystal-skull.jpg

Unfortunately, I can't find a side-profile online just yet. Never let the real thing get in the way of the story you want to tell, I guess.