Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

In a fit of honesty I'm going to admit it... I don't really remember much of the old Indiana Jones films. I think Indiana Jones is cool but honestly, I really don't remember what happens in any of the films and I never really watch them when they're on TV. There, I said it, I'm not really a fan. With that out of the way, on to the review...

I was looking forward to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I was quite disappointed with Iron Man and it's going to be a while till a new Transformers movie (yay!) so I was hoping Indiana Jones would do the business... It kind of does, I liked it anyway, it was a big bag of popcorn fun but it was no Transformers, no siree.

Anyway, to be honest, there isn't that much I can say about Indiana Jones I think. I'm sure you all know the story by now, an intrepid professor who globe-trots around the world stumbles into trouble and then takes off to try and solve the great mystery. Unfortunately for him he keeps bumping into people who want him dead.

Reviews on the whole have been quite mixed I think, quite a few people don't seem to like the end, not the very end... the other bit... and it's really put them off the film. Personally, I'd read a good bit about crystal skulls a few years ago from a variety of sources so I was fairly familiar with where the legend goes so sure, no bother. Also I'm ready to forgive all kinds of outlandish stuff and even inconsistencies as long as it's entertaining and Indiana Jones fits the bill there.

What did I like about it? I liked the relationship between Marion, Mutt and Indy, I thought that was done well. Shia LaBeouf was great... and I'm not just saying that because he was in Transformers. Not really sure what Indy's buddy was doing there (the guy at the start, I forget his name) but sure whatever... I don't really let surplus characters annoy me too much either. There were also a good few great action scenes, some people were saying it looked over CGI'd, personally I didn't notice that much and apparently there was less than in the usual blockbuster so I've no complaints there.

Oh, I never commented on Harrison Ford! He totally still has it. ;)

Anyway, I'm waffling again... final score - a solid 7.5/10.

Iron Man (2008)

My my, I have been lax lately, I really need to write more reviews... it's not like I haven't seen any films lately... it's just that I haven't had a chance to write any reviews...

Anyway so... I saw Iron Man the other day. You may have heard of it, it's directed by the multi-talented Jon Favreau (Jon Favreau is great, you should watch Swingers, everyone should watch Swingers.) and one Mr. Robery Downey Jr. as Tony Stark - inventor, industrialist, womaniser and part-time superhero, Iron Man.

It's important to note part-time there...

Look, don't get me wrong, I liked Iron Man. It was an entertaining film. I enjoyed it, I thought it was good. It's just that it was no Transformers. I loved Transformers, it really set a standard for me... Transformers was everything a film with giant robots should be... and may I point out that there pretty much is a giant robot in Iron Man.

To be entirely fair to Iron Man though (because it just can't compare to Transformers - edit re: comment - and yeah, it's not really the same kind of film) I'll put it on the scale with some other superhero films... It was vastly better than all the Spider-Man films, not to mention what little I saw of Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer before I fell asleep. It was also better than Superman Returns and Batman Begins but no way was it as good as the X-Men films. I'd say it was on par with Hellboy. Entertaining but not amazing.

I hate to say it because I'm not all about the huge action scenes and great effects but Iron Man could have done with bigger and better action scene and special effects. There's nothing wrong with an origin story, everyone likes a good origin story, but mostly what we saw was a guy hanging out in a cave building a suit... then hanging out in a basement building a suit... this is not an origin story, it's a guy building a suit. Tell us a bit about his dad, tell us a bit more about the villains... you could even tell us a bit more about Pepper Potts! I mean I couldn't really give a crap about her but maybe if you'd told me something I might, she was as bad as Rachel Dawes. I just thought that there could have been more to Iron Man... watch it again and tell me where the actual story was because I certainly didn't see it... and if I'm not getting a story with real characters and emotion then damnit, I wanna to see big explosions!

Anyway whatever, it just didn't do it for me... I realise there are lots of people out there who did think it was great and I'd love to hear what you liked about it... so please... let me know!

Oh I forgot to mention one thing that was amazing about this film. The car - the Audi R8... what a car... where can I win one...