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Time is a strange thing. You wait and wait for something and suddenly it’s in the past. So it is with Indy 4 or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I’ve seen it, and I’m happy. Was it as good as the others? Nope.
I never thought that it would be, but it was an enjoyable action-romp that helped me grin for two hours solid. Harrison Ford rocks, that said there was a bit too much CGI, and Tarzan LaBeouf - we wont even talk about!
Anyway, it’s Weekend Movie News Wrap Up time, so we can now find some other films to jot down in our diaries.
Note - there is NO Tom Cruise related news this week. Instead we cover:
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, Dirty Harry, Richard Dreyfuss in W, a Simon Pegg and Nick Frost re-teaming and we look at how Indiana Jones is doing at the box office.
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1. We get our first look at Chun Li from Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. The film stars Smallville’s Kristin Kruek as the titular heroine. The film co-stars: Michael Clarke Duncan, Chris Klein and Moon Bloodgood. There will be no Jean-Claude Van Damme cameo - just before you ask.
Is there an audience for this? If so let me know.
Source: Comingsoon
2. We won’t be getting another Dirty Harry, at least not with Clint Eastwood.
When asked about another Magnum Opus at the Cannes film festival Clint said:
“I don’t think the San Francisco Police Department would have a 77-year-old man on the police force. It would be highly unrealistic. People have asked me over the years ‘would you like to revisit Dirty Harry?’ But everything would depend on a script. But, really, no. There’s a time to leave things alone.”
I’m going to say - five years at the most before a Dirty Harry remake.
Source: Empire
3. Richard Dreyfuss will play Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic; W.
Dreyfuss will join James Brolin and Thandie Newton in the film, that I’m sure will be a flattering and balanced account of the controversial Presidents life.
I love Stone and I love Dreyfuss, this should be a film to watch out for come awards season. Maybe.
Source: Reuters
4. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost look set to re-team for Paul. Not much is known about the project, however when probed Pegg stated:
“I just finished a script with my writing partner Nick Frost and that is called Paul and we’re going to shoot it later this year or early next year. It’s a road movie set in America about two British comic book geeks that get into an adventure across America. Write what you know as they say.”
I love Shaun of the Dead, so I’m always intrigued as to what Pegg and Frost get up to. No director is attached, but Pegg says that it will be “someone really cool”.
More as we know it.
Source: ignfilmforce
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull looks set to recoup its production budget over the films first five days on release. On Thursday the film grossed $25 million, it made a further $31 million on Friday, an estimated $36 million on Saturday and analysts predict that the Harrison Ford film could bank another $58 million on Sunday and Monday.
While the film isn’t breaking any records, it must surely have the highest opening weekend gross, where the lead actor is over 60 years old. Stick that on your poster!
I’m sure that we may even find out if Indiana Jones five is still on the agenda!
Source: Deadline Hollywood
That’s it for another week, see you at the movies!
22 Comments
INDY 4’s total gross so far is $126 million since Thursday - $101 million for its 3-day weekend. Worldwide it’s taken in $269 million.
And THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN still hasn’t even cracked $100 million - it’s currently at $91 million. Ouch for Disney!
Jamie.
I also am a big fan of Harrison Ford movies not to mention the sequels of Dr. Jones journey in lost artifacts.But taking the movie into a time where alot of doubts about Indy 4 is risky.No offense to the character and the Screenwriter but it would have been better just to have left the project at Indy 3.No matter the total gross accumulated.
There is not even a sliver of hope that W will be balanced. I would of really liked to see a balanced movie that was fair to both sides. Stone running the shows simply means it’s going to be Bush bashing followed by Bush bashing with a little Bush bashing on the side.
No Tom Cruise?! This is an outrage!
The Pegg and Frost movie sounds right up their alley, could have been an offshoot of their tv show Spaced. I do hope the director is right. Edgar Wright knows how to handle them, I don’t want some big shot come in and try to change them.
I just saw Indy IV today, and I’m pretty much where Vic is at. Seeing it once has satiated me, having found it satisfying, but without a need to see it again. (Which is somewhat disappointing considering it had a real good hook of an opening act). I could pretty much tell exactly which lines of dialog and portions of the screenplay were Lucas’ idea. There were moments that were gems but they came in fits and starts, never getting a chance to build on top of each other the way the other films did. Every time an “Indy” moment hit home, it seemed to be starting from scratch as if it was trying to get the momentum going again.
I actually had a chance to watch Indy 4 a second time on Thursday morning and I was so “un-moved” by it upon a second viewing that I left about 25 minutes in.
Vic
What happened to ILM during the making of this film. being a student of digital animation I am able to tell something about cgi. Most movies such as pirates 3 and transformers I can still watch and go wow they know what they are doing, but in Indy 4 omg. The miniatures were blanitaly clear from real stages and environments. There were certain time in the movie where the sinking of the animation of the real life video and cgi video, can’t think of the term for the life of me at this moment, didn’t seem to follow tighter well with poor lighting. It wasn’t such a bad, movie, but coming from such great names and a perfect franchise one can wonder why did they do this to us. Also it seemed to me that the best comical parts of the movie or dialog was when they were referncing orginal films.
Street Fighter, nope no interest….
A balenced film on bush, might be worse…. I have no sympathy (for the devil)!
I’ve lost all respect for it and his presidency. I only hope the worst for him…:-)
Ding Dong the Price Narnia is dead! Haahaa! Well practically.
Iron Man is only 3 mil behind Narnias weekend gross at 20mil. If Iron Man keeps this up it might still be in the theaters at the time TDK comes out??
Wow Indy is really blowing away everything. Its going to.be interesting to see the drop off next weekend. Even thought it was ok, I’m still going to get the dvd when it comes out. I didn’t see any problems with the CGI?…
BTW, I read that the Simon Pegg show “Spaced” will be coming out soon on dvd!!!!
I’m glad cause I allmost bought a bootleg of it at the Grand Slam…..
Rock on Niall!
I’m by no means a Bush supporter, but I think it’s a little idiotic to call him the Devil. You probably have no interest in a balanced Bush film because you have no idea what balanced is in todays society. Bush is neither Good nor evil. He made decisions that you and I did not like, but that’s not evil or even close.
Right,… into the….. Danger Zone,….. da da da na….. gonnna take you right into…….. the Danger zone yeah…..
O sorry I was just humming that Top Gun song.,,, because there’s no Tom Cruise info.
Daniel, what I meant was the film prob (wouldn’t be balanced), because I’m sure Stone isn’t going to show Bush praying to Morlock at the Bohemian Grove or being told what to do by his lucifarian dad. If it shows him at a Skull and Bones meeting with John Carrey I would be surprised.
Naw prob the worst thing will see is that he cant read, has 8th grade word comprehension skills, does coke, binges on whiskey and get pissed off everytime Chaney listens in on his calls with dad.
Sure hope they get the “mission acomplished” banner in there right at the end! That would be a nice touch
All right, let’s take it easy. Personally I think Bush may have made some bad decisions but he’s certainly not “evil.”
Vic
Can;t wait to see that “W” movie. It should be called “Dubya”. haha Check out a great Bush comedy show here at http://www.funwithwarcrimes.com
*some spoilers follow*
Vic,
Ouch. I guess it really doesn’t have much replay value. Though I could still watch the A-bomb scene and the entire first act unto itself again. It’s just when it gets to the movie proper that it flags - with intermittent moments that remind us of the better installments.
In all seriousness, there was a much better movie buried (pun not intended) in the final result. Aliens, Russians, ancient civilizations, etc. The way Spalko sets up the threat she poses if she gets ahold of the power she seeks is downright creepy and very effective.
It just doesn’t translate to the rest of the film for me, and the payoff - where the villain buys the farm, doesn’t really indicate or carry through on the earlier menace (it wasn’t even as dramatically impressive as similar scenes in the earlier films were - not even Crusade and nothing has yet touched the opening of the Ark for climactic finishes). Why, for example, did the reconfigured alien vaporize Spalko? How was placing the skull on the skeleton going to achieve her earlier goal of “turning you into us, from the inside out”? It was never clearly understood, partly because the film gets bogged down in too much unnecessary exposition. Just tell us the skull(s) posess this frightening power and get on with the chase - that’s what these movies boil down to.
Like most good recipes and art, simplicity will get you everywhere, overcomplicating things only tampers with the good ingredients you started out with.
These movies are supposed to be simple and effective. I can guess who’s responsible for most of the flaws.
I know I’m coming off like a hater, but I couldn’t hate it - there were some genuinely great moments in there. Overall, I enjoyed my time spent, but it was frustrating seeing so much unused and wasted potential given the overall elements involved and performances rendered (which I enjoyed for the most part). The cinematography was inconsistent - sometimes it was brilliant (the A-bomb scene and opening third of the film) but by the end it seemed lazy, just placing the camera in any old corner). Even John Williams seemed to be on recycling duty - I can’t even remember if there was a distinct theme for this film besides the ususal Indiana Jones theme, though I can recall the specific Grail theme from Crusade, the Slave March, Willie’s and Short Round’s theme from Temple of Doom.
So much potential, so much that could have been.
If this was going to be made at all, it should have been made shortly after Crusade, when all involved still had their minds set squarely in the genre.
I just want to add that the other Indy sequels used their genre elements to much greater effect, especially Temple of Doom, which I think is often underrated.
Jerseycajun,,
I don’t think the alien vaporized Spalko, the alien promised a special gift, and it delivered. Spalko is human and she couldn’t handle the knowledge that was sent into her body. She imploded from the knowledge…
(If we could go back in time)
How cool would this film be as a sequel to “Raiders?”
790,
Still, I think the sendoff they gave her was anticlimactic. If anything, the Indiana Jones villains have all met fairly dramatic ends. This one, kinda felt like a slightly different variation of the end met by Marcus Brody in Crusade.
I mean, have her brain expand outside her skull from the knowledge she was getting, or something, and haver her expire from having her brain exposed. It sounds silly, but at least it’s different. (This is the series that pulled a man’s heart out of his chest, after all.)
That said, if it was produced with better writing, consistent cinematography and a streamlined screenplay, then yes, it would have made a fine sequel to Raiders, I think.
I meant Donnovan, not Marcus,
It’s late. I’m going to sleep now…
I really hope you don’t believe half of the things yous say. You seem like a wako conspiracy nut which is disappointing.
790, Spaced has been out on dvd for ages, at least over here it has. I bought the boxset of the two series when I bought the dvd of Shaun of the Dead.
The commentaries are really good and good extras too, makings of and all that.
Maybe it has taken a long time to get going over there because there wasn’t really a fan base for it.
Well I can repay the favour and assure you it is worth every penny. The show is great fun, especially for lovers of scifi and, yes, fantasy too.
Oh, and I agree, I doubt Stone’s movie will be balanced. Bush will get demonised or derided. Poor thing!
You can take my comments or leave them Daniel…
Yeah Steven, its not out over here yet… I’m looking forward to Spaced,!!!!!!
So…who are these fools who were saying Indiana Jones will make the most money ever, will dominate the summer, and own Iron man?
thanks for coming out. This movie was not impressive at all, the CGI parts were dumb, the giant ants, aliens, c’mon it was not much like an indiana Jones movie.
You do know that I was only joking when I said “W” would be balanced?
Niall
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