Monday June 09, 2008

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie review

The Indiana Jones 4 movie had been so widely anticipated that, just like Star Wars 1, some expectations might have been running slightly ahead of reality. But no matter, as reported on variety.com : the opening of Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" crystallized into a $311.1 million behemoth at the worldwide box office. Performance marks a triumphant return for the classic action-adventure film franchise after an 19-year slumber, and for topliner Harrison Ford.

Cate Blanchett came in as the mind control villain with a really over-the-top Russian accent, for which she reportedly apologized to "the entire Russian population". Shia LaBeouf, as Indiana Jones' son, Henry "Mutt" Jones III, is obviously being set up to be the successor to the franchise, but I still remember him most vividly as the guy in Transformers, such that when I saw the trailer, my very first reaction was, "What is Sam Witwicky doing in an Indiana Jones movie?!!"

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a fine movie on its own, though you do have to keep your own expectations in check. The plot is rather, how shall I put it, X-File-ish - an alien crystal skull with mind control abilities? And so was the ending. Especially the ending. Recommended, but only if you are a fan of both Indiana Jones and the X-Files.

(2008-06-09 08:48:47 SGT) [Watch] Permalink

Tuesday May 06, 2008

Marvel plans Iron Man sequel

news.yahoo.com :

Buoyed by the blockbuster success of "Iron Man" over the weekend, Marvel Studios on Monday [5 May 2008] announced plans for a string of superhero properties, including an "Iron Man" sequel set for April 2010. "Iron Man 2" will be followed in June 2010 by the big-screen adaptation of another of Marvel's popular comic book characters, "Thor". "Captain America" and "The Avengers" are next in line for the summer of 2011.

The nearly $99 million opening weekend of "Iron Man," Marvel's first fully self-financed production, gave Hollywood's summer movie season a solid star. Kevin Feige, head of production for Marvel Studios, said Downey would return in the sequel as part of his three-picture deal for the franchise. Feige said the gifted actor deserved much of the credit for the film's broad appeal. "It's great to see a sold-out audience that you know is made up of comic book fans and people who had never read an 'Iron Man' comic in their life," he said.

- Yup, count me in as one of those who've never read an Iron Man comic before. I was only vaguely aware of this character as being part of the Marvel Universe. So, we can look forward to more "arc reactor" action in 2010. I'll be looking forward to Iron Man 2.

See also :

(2008-05-06 15:09:20 SGT) [Watch] Permalink Comments [1]

Saturday May 03, 2008

Iron Man movie review

Just came back from watching Iron Man. I wasn't all that familiar with the Marvel character itself as most of my attention in the Marvel department has been (and still is) on Transformers. Talk about having no expectations. But coming out from the cinema, I can say that Iron Man is surprisingly good for a superhero-type action movie. It's got a tight story, good pace, action, glitzy tech, and Robert Downey in his role as the Iron Man delivers humour in the right places.

And I'm not alone in that assessment. Yahoo News reports that : ... most of the "Iron Man" reviews have been raves, and the Rotten Tomatoes Web site calculates an impressive 95% positive rating among critics. That makes "Iron Man" the best-reviewed film of the year and gives it the site's top rating ever for a superhero film.

Meanwhile, the folks over at Slashdot are gawking at the snazzy tech depicted in the movie : flying exo-suits, AI robots, slick UI interfaces. Myself, being an energy aficionado, I'm much more impressed with the so-called "arc reactor", which looks very much to me like Tony Stark has got a miniature fusion reactor right on his chest pumping out megawatts of energy. Cool stuff.

By the way, if you are going to watch the movie, you can try looking out for some of the subtler details, such as the way the Stark Industries logo looks a bit like that of a certain real-life company (I should know, I work for them). Watch for Stan Lee's cameo. And watch for the end credits to finish rolling. Also note the name of Tony Stark's father, Howard Stark, which kind of reminds people of Howard Hughes, the eccentric billionaire and ladies' man whose real-life character could have fit right into the depiction of Tony Stark on the big screen. In fact, according to the Wikipedia entry for Iron Man, filming was done at the former Hughes Company soundstages in California.

It's a great movie to kick off the 2008 summer blockbuster movie season. Highly recommended.

(2008-05-03 01:00:51 SGT) [Watch] Permalink

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