The Golden Skulls
Posted on | December 24, 2008 at 11:21 am | 5 Comments
Movie Mention Christmas Eve!
For those of you complaining that I haven’t watched enough action movies lately, I just did a double feature over the last two nights. Some spoilers await below.
The first was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I didn’t think it was as bad as people said, but it wasn’t that great either. An enjoyable little romp. In the extras, George Lucas says that since the original Indy trilogy was a homage to the serials of the 30s and 40s, this new one was supposed to be a homage to the SciFi B-movies of the 50s. Well, okay. Then it all makes a little more sense. Or not. It still seemed a lot like an Indiana Jones movie than a 50s schlockfest to me. Simply putting aliens (excuse me, “extradimensionals”) into your movie does not make it a 50s B-movie, especially when said aliens don’t really do anything except merge together, turn Cate Blanchett into her component atoms, and disappear in a big saucer. That’s more like a Steven Spielberg movie than an Ed Wood one. Although having Indy survive a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator, and having Indy and the gang survive multiple spills over very high waterfalls, does definitely land the movie into B-movie territory.
Much better was Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. It just did everything better than IJ4. Even the requisite emotional subplots (”Liz is pregnant!”, “Abe’s in love!”) somehow seemed more engaging and “truer” than the ones in IJ4 (”Indy has a son!”, “Indy’s old!”). And of course it was much more of a feast for the eyes. Guillermo del Toro knows a lot about putting fantastical creations on the screen. I thought the the humor was… funnier, too. The sequel was definitely better than the original. Kudos for giving the supporting cast, esp Doug Jones’ Abe Sapien, more to do this time.
The Blu-Ray HiDef presentations of both were spectacular, but I again have to give the nod to HB2, in both the visual and audio departments. The picture for IJ4 looked a little washed-out, not so sharp, like it was done on purpose to look more like those old 50s movies and like the original Indy trilogy. HB2 is one of those movies you could watch over and over again and see or hear something new in the details.
I think Spielberg and Lucas (not to mention Ford) are just getting too old for this sort of thing. Luckily, there’s a lot of torch-passing going on.
Have a great Christmas, everyone!
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “where are they now loud family”.
Videogame(s) Played Yesterday: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
Comments
5 Responses to “The Golden Skulls”
December 24th, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
Merry Christmas Roger! I hope Santa stuffs your stocking full of new video games. My son got a Playstation 3 for birthday two days ago but we can’t get him to stop playing “Little Big Planet” long enough for anyone else to have a turn.
December 24th, 2008 @ 9:26 pm
Crystal Skull was genuinely awful. I’ve decided that I hate movies where the heroes spend the last half hour of the movie standing around slack-jawed watching special effects.
December 24th, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
No more video games, Zuzut! I’ve got more than I have time to play already. LBP is aces and I’m glad your son enjoys it. The PS3 needed a good exclusive all-ages game, and it fits the bill nicely.
December 24th, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
Yellojkt, you’re right. There wasn’t a lot going on in the climax of that movie, though I didn’t realize it at the time. I think I kept dozing off.
December 25th, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
My reaction was exactly the same as the South Park kids. I’m finally getting better thanks to intensive therapy!
Just kidding. It was a nice nostalgic moment seeing Indy and his one true love reunited, but that was about it.