Close Encounters of the Indiana Jones Kind

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was disappointingly mediocre.

Coming off of my Iron Man high, I hit the cineplex with big expectations for my second major blockbuster of the summer, the latest installment in the Indiana Jones series. I’m a huge fan of the trilogy, particularly Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade. I loved Raiders so much that it inspired me to dress as Indy for Halloween one year, complete with bull whip, pistol and leather fedora. Even Temple of Doom has steadily improved upon repeat viewings to acquire the same timelessness as the rest of the Indy catalog.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will not be joining those ranks. Here's a rundown of Indy 4's hits and misses:

Hits

• Nostalgia factor: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull makes some clever and not-so-clever references to the previous films, all of which were generally appreciated - particularly the opening sequence in the warehouse from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.


• Harrison Ford: Ford plays Indy with the same attitude and swagger I loved in the previous films.


• Shia LaBeouf: LaBeouf holds his own with Ford, despite being given horrible dialogue and a ridiculous hairdo. His attitude and humor definitely make the franchise more relevant to a new generation.


• Filmmaking Style: Spielberg and Lucas are masters of the epic blockbuster with elaborate sets, exciting special effects, and larger than life characters.

Misses:

• The Plot: It doesn't make sense. The beauty of the plots in the first three Indy films was their simplicity. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is hard to follow. Unlike the past films, there is no magic in the revelation of clues and puzzles. We don't really know (or care) why Jones is heading to a particular locale.


• The Skull: The film's namesake looks like a cheap plastic Halloween toy.


• The "Interdimensional Beings:" Since when did "Interdimensional Beings" have a place in an Indy film? So as not to completely spoil the plot for you, I'll just leave it at that.


• Cate Blanchett: Her villian is neither intelligent nor intimidating.


• The Russians: Indy's foes in this installment are seriously wimpy. Where are some creepy Nazis or monkey-brain-eating cultists when you need them?


• Shia LaBeouf''s Hair: Seriously, it looks ridiculous. I assumed the hair was a wig, but apparently not.

Overall: Mildly entertaining but not memorable. A disappointment. 1.5 PB Jars

Wall Painting Animation

Quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen. Enjoy!

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Flying High

Iron Man rocked!

I'm excited to return to PB & Movies on this note after an extended hiatus where you have been subjected to P's X-Files countdowns and Anthony Edwards stalkings (please accept my humble apologies). I've been keeping busy on the movie-watching front and have a post brewing with all the random stuff I've seen over the past couple months, but Iron Man was too good to wait on.

With Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man) and crew have set the bar high for the slew of summer blockbusters to come, particularly those of the superhero variety. It nearly all of the key criteria:

Badass Superhero Protagonist: Check

Cheer Inducing Special Effects: Check

Alterego Nearly as Entertaining as the Superhero: Check

Cool Superhero Outfit and Gadgetry: Check+ (he builds the first Iron Man suit from scratch!)

Megalomaniacal Villain: Check (Jeff Bridges, aka "The Dude," hams it up nicely)

Entertaining Fight Scenes: Check

Adrenaline Pumping Soundtrack: Check

Unnecessary Sidekick: N/A (thankfully, Iron Man holds his own solo)

Humorous One-Liners: Check+ (RDJ is hilariously snarky)

Superhot Female Interest: Check- (Gwyneth Paltrow is great in her role, but does not satisfy the "babe" quotient, and neither does the annoying reporter who Tony Stark nails at the beginning of the movie)

But beyond checking off all the formulaic "musts," Iron Man also brought a surprising relevance to the table in a way few superhero fantasy shoot-em-up blockbusters do. At a time when the daily headlines are chock full of war and corporate greed, the story of Tony Stark does not seem very out of place. Iron Man is easily just as relevant a character today as he was when Stan Lee invented him in 1963. So, start your summer off right and check out Iron Man before the cineplexes are overrun with blockbuster wannabes. This one is the real deal.

3 PB Jars

Summertime

And the movies are cheesy
Made of Honor
Just ain't a film that I'll try

But Indy's back
And Robert Downey is cookin'
So hush little baby
It's blockbuster time.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

May 02 - Iron Man
May 09 - Speed Racer
May 22 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Jun 06 - Kung Fu Panda
Jun 13 - The Happening
Jun 13 - The Incredible Hulk
Jun 20 - The Love Guru
Jul 18 - The Dark Knight
Jul 25 - The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Dead Alien Baby Countdown: Update #4

The X-Files: The Complete First Season, Discs 4-6 (Episodes 13-24)

Just finished Season 1 and I have to say, it holds up surprisingly well after 15 years. Unfortunately it looks like my X-Files-marathon plan was a bit too ambitious, considering how long it took me to re-watch the first 24 eps. That being said, it was a fun nostalgia trip that definitely got me in the mood for the new movie.

[07/26/08 Update] So I attended an opening-day screening of The X-Files: I Want to Believe. A fitting title, but unfortunately "wanting to believe" a movie will succeed doesn't guarantee success. I don't think this movie will do well financially or critically; it just felt stale, and uninteresting, and not even on par with run-of-the-mill episodes from the middle of the show's run on Fox. I'd give it 1 PB Jar at best, despite my fanboy love for the series and these characters. I wish Chris Carter would take one more crack at an X-Files feature film, perhaps bringing in the screenwriters and a director from the show's heyday, but I wouldn't put money on Mulder and Scully ever gracing the big screen again.

PB EXCLUSIVE: Behind-the-Scenes Photos of "Motherhood"

New York City, May 5th, approx. 9:00 a.m.

During my morning walk to work, I spotted a film crew on 9th street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue. Though it's almost commonplace to see a film crew in Greenwich Village these days, most of the time they're working on a low-budget indie, or shooting a scene with secondary actors and extras only.

Today, however, I had the privilege of seeing one of my all-time favorite actors in person - an actor who starred in some of the defining movies of the '80s and the highest-rated TV drama of the '90s. That's right, folks...

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire!
"Goose" is loose in Manhattan!

Anthony Edwards (Revenge of the Nerds, Top Gun, "ER"), fresh off his supporting role in the acclaimed 2007 drama Zodiac, is here in NYC working on his next project, Motherhood (set for 2009 release). The film stars Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver, and Edwards in what IMDB tells me is the story of "a mother of two preparing for her daughter's sixth birthday party" with "no idea of the challenges she's about to face in order to pull off the event".

As these exclusive photos of the Motherhood shoot reveal (below), it looks like the new film will give Edwards plenty of opportunities to show off his maternal... er, paternal side:

Gotcha!

I caught the Revenge of the Nerds star (left, sans glasses in real life) checking me out between takes. Besides playing Gilbert in Nerds I and II, Edwards also played a small role in another defining '80s comedy: Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

"I feel the need...the need for speed!"

As Edwards rushed down the sidewalk to reset for a second take (right), I couldn't help but remember this iconic scene from Top Gun. Don't forget that Edwards has some experience playing a family man; though Goose is best remembered for being Maverick's class clown wingman, he was also a devoted father and husband (to Meg Ryan in the film). In real life, Edwards left the cast of "ER" in 2002 in part to spend more time with his family.

It ain't easy being Greene

While waiting for a line of garbage trucks to pass by between takes (left), Edwards strikes a very Mark Greene-esque pose. To me, Anthony Edwards will always be synonomous with Mark Greene, the heart and soul of the once top-rated NBC medical drama "ER". At the start of his eight-season run on the show, Edwards' Dr. Greene often played straightman and second fiddle to George Clooney's fun-loving Dr. Ross. Though Dr. Greene spent most of his ER shifts furrowing his brow and looking miserable, he eventually emerged as the show's leader and most beloved character. Of course, Dr. Greene went through a helluva lot of grief along the way: divorce, custody battle, bathroom beatdown by a patient's brother, drug addiction by his protege (Dr. Carter), teenage daugher drama, near death of his baby, and ultimately a fatal brain tumor. And you thought Goose had a rough ending!



Mystery woman

Perhaps Minnie Driver with a blond dye job? The woman in the shadows (right) doesn't look like Uma, but then again, the very inconspicuous brown trenchcoat and Nicole Richie sunglasses may be throwing me off.

Ready for my close up

A makeup artist (left) applies some powder.

Katherine Dieckmann

The writer-director of Motherhood (right) gives notes to Edwards between takes. Dieckmann doesn't have an extensive directorial resume according to IMDB, but she did helm two of my favorite R.E.M. videos, "Stand" and "Shiny Happy People". Dieckmann also directed the 2006 film Diggers.

Stay tuned for future updates and movie exclusives here on PB & Movies.

What Happened In Piedmont? Debunked

I was walking to work in the East Village of Manhattan this morning when I noticed a billboard similar to the one on the right. The "ad" - with white lettering on a black background - included a single question: "What Happened In Piedmont?"


My curiosity piqued, I did a google search and found http://www.whathappenedinpiedmont.com/,

which appears to be a blog written by a resident of Piedmont, Utah. Apparently something strange happened in Piedmont: all the townspeople disappeared.


Ok, so if this is all sounding a little too "Blair Witch redux" for you, then you're on the right track. Apparently A&E Network has taken a page out of the Cloverfield playbook (remember those "What is it?" ads?). And like in Cloverfield, the danger that A&E hopes to expose is extraterrestrial in nature...

The Andromeda Strain


...an alien virus carried to earth (Piedmont, to be specific) in a meteor. This should all sound familiar if you're a fan of Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Sphere), the author who started his fiction career with a novel entitled "The Andromeda Strain" (1969). Crichton also wrote the screenplay for the 1971 feature film adaptation (which currently has a 7.3 rating on imdb).

Having read the novel and seen the film about 10-15 years ago, I can tell you that the story is decent - definitely worthy of a 2008 TV miniseries retelling. I'm intrigued by the fact that Ridley and Tony Scott are producing. A&E has definitely assembled an intriguing cast, including Benjamin Bratt ("Law & Order"), Eric McCormack (Will from "Will & Grace"), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin from "Lost"), and Andre Braugher ("Homicide: Life on the Streets"). We'll see whether the 4-hour Memorial Day weekend event will attract enough critical acclaim and ratings success to justify their viral yet not-so-original advertising campaign.

For more on the mini-series that premieres in 3 weeks, check out http://www.aetv.com/the-andromeda-strain/

Happy GTA Day!

Dead Alien Baby Countdown: Update #3

The X-Files: The Complete First Season, Disc 3 (Episodes 9-12)

Midway through Season 1, and here's where we stand:

9. Space [standalone episode]: Though it's one of the weirdest, least plausible episodes ever (a Martian ghost is sabotaging the space program?), it's definitely spooky. 1.0 PB Jars

10. Fallen Angel [mythology]: Finally the series returns to the alien abduction arc, only this time it's us (or I should say, the military) trying to abduct an alien. I love Mulder's Bond-esque infiltration of the army perimeter set up to hide a UFO crash site - so much so that I can forgive the episode's B-movie special effects. The episode also introduces fan-favorite Max Fenig, a self-described UFO expert with mysterious metallic implants to prove it. All of the X-Files series tropes are at work here: extraterrestrial life, government coverups, military hubris, and grassroots crusades. 2.5 PB Jars

11. Eve [standalone episode]: A classic X-Files standalone episode, "Eve" centers on two young girls with more in common than meets the eye. The girls - and their psychopathic "aunts" - provide standout performances here. (Love the scene in which the girls slip poison into Mulder's and Scully's Diet Cokes.) The subject of eugenics will return to play a major role in the alien mythology arc later in the series. 2.0 PB Jars

12. Fire [standalone episode]: A British serial killer who can control fire with his mind? It's a decent idea, but this isn't one of my favorites. The most memorable scene is definitely Scully walking in on Mulder and his Oxford ex-girlfriend reigniting an old flame (see what I did there?). I'm not sure if this episode started the debate about Mulder's and Scully's relationship (should it remain platonic or not?), but "Fire" certainly threw some fuel on the...well, you get the idea. By the way, in the Shipper vs. Noromo debate ("pro relationship" vs. "no romance"), I have to admit I always sided with the Shippers. 1.5 PB Jars

Dead Alien Baby Tally

Star Sightings: 3

Seth Green as a UFO freak [Ep. 2]; Felicity Huffman & Xander Berkeley as scientists trapped in the Arctic with extraterrestrial worms [8]

Monsters Of The Week: 6

liver-eating mutant [3]; female bigfoot [5]; self-aware computer [7]; extraterrestrial Arctic parasites [8] ; Martian ghost [9]; psychokinetic pyromaniac [12]

Dead Alien Babies: 0

Tonight's Menu: Good Morning Vietnam Spring Rolls, with a side of Willy Wonka Wasabi

I'm a big believer that movies and television are inexorably linked, and we need look no further than this week's episode of "Top Chef" for proof. To impress film critic/guest judge Richard Roeper, the chefs had to work in groups to create movie-inspired dishes:

Team 1 - Andrew, Dale, Richard - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Team 2 - Spike and Manuel - Good Morning Vietnam
Team 3 - Jen and Nikki, Il Postino
Team 4 - Mark and Ryan, A Christmas Story
Team 5 - Antonia and Zoi, Talk to Her
Team 6 - Stephanie and Lisa, Top Secret!

An eclectic selection of movies, for sure...and the culinary choices were just as strange. Some contestants, such as Spike and Manuel, came up with a food idea and then tried to fit a movie title to their creation. For some reason, Good Morning Vietnam isn't really the type of movie to get me thinking about eating spring rolls. On the flip side, Mark and Ryan struggled to think of a movie title at all. Yet once they remembered the classic A Christmas Story, the idea for a dish fell right into their laps: Chinese-style duck (which the family in the movie resorted to eating when their Christmas dinner plans went south).

If you haven't seen "Top Chef", I highly recommend you catch up with one of Bravo's frequent TC marathons.