I watched the new Indiana Jones movie last weekend. Here are some thoughts…

- they shouldn’t have mixed Science Fiction with Indy
Indiana Jones is traditionally known for mythical or biblical adventures, not SciFi. That is what makes him different. You’ll know what I mean when you go see it, there won’t be any spoilers here. Steven Spielberg has to learn to leave SciFi out of his movies especially one of this nature.

- good special effects, exciting scenes but the story seemed pretty light

- the villain looked more like a Nazi type German than Russian

- they should tried to bring back Jonathan Ke Quan (the little Asian boy from Temple of Doom)

- the villain died too easily

Is it worth watching? Definitely. But you might be a little disappointed if you went in with high expectations of it being like the previous three installments … it didn’t stick to a traditional Indy type adventure.

Interesting trivia: Tom Selleck was originally supposed to play Indiana Jones but backed out because he had commitments with the Magnum PI television show. I can’t imagine Indiana Jones with that moustache, can you?

I was watching the third installment of Blade yesterday and it got me thinking about the best and worst trilogies I’ve watched.

Here are my picks (in order)…

Best 10

1) The Godfather (they don’t make movies like that anymore)
2) Star Wars (the original three)
3) Lord of the Rings
4) Indiana Jones
5) Back to the Future (I love the concept of time travel; so I may be biased here)
6) Die Hard (pointless over the top action but you can’t help but be pumped when you see it)
7) Alien Bourne 1,2 and 3
8) Spiderman
9) Blade (very underrated but all three were nicely made; one of the better vampire movies)
10) Lethal Weapon (you can’t help but love the Danny Glover and Mel Gibson combo)
10) Mission Impossible (over the top action, lots of over acting but still pretty amusing to watch)

Worst 10

1) Matrix (classic way to spoil something good; the second one was just ok; the third one was just terrible)
2) Pirates of the Carribean (they should have left it at just one movie; the 2nd and 3rd ones were just sub standard)
3) Star Wars prequels (lots of hype, special effects were nothing we have not seen before and storyline was mediocre)
4) Rush Hour
5) Scream
6) The Fast and the Furious
7) Look Who’s Talking
8) Evil Dead
9) Species
10) Robocop

Honorable mentions

- Terminator (strong first two movies; would have been in the best ten if not for a subpar third installment)
- XMen (the first two movies were strong but killing off key characters just spoiled it for me)

Forgetables

- Beverly Hills Cop
- Austin Powers (it was just too much after the first one)
- Shrek (lost the plot after the first movie)
- Jurassic Park
- Highlander
- Aladdin
- Silence of the Lambs

Haven’t been this excited over a movie in years. Finally my all time favorite Marvel superhero is making it to the big screen and it looks mighty fine! You know where I’ll be on May 2nd, 2008.

“Heroes aren’t born, they’re built”

Interesting trivia from IMDB:

# In October 1999, Quentin Tarantino was approached to write and direct the film. Later, Joss Whedon, a big fan of the comic book, was in negotiations to direct the film in June 2001. In December 2004, Nick Cassavetes was hired as a director, with the film to release in 2006, but everything fell through. Finally, Jon Favreau was hired as director.

# Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise were interested in playing Iron Man. Cruise in particular was going to act in and produce the film.

Managed to catch the 15 second new Knight Rider series clip on TV yesterday. It’ll be a 2 hour first episode — testing the waters so to speak. If it is well received, we’ll see a whole season of it.

As a huge Knight Rider fan, I’ll be anxiously waiting for the NBC premiere on February 17th. My first thoughts… they should not have chosen a 2007 GT 500 Mustang to replace the KITT Trans Am of old but instead something more unique (and flashy) like a Lamborghini Reventón, Pagani Zonda, McLaren F1 or Bugatti Veyron. Maybe it wasn’t in their budget to use those expensive cars and the producers wanted to keep it within an American brand (i.e. Ford) but why a Mustang??

Executive Producer Doug Liman (’The Bourne Identity’ Franchise and ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’) and Executive Producer David Bartis (’The O.C’ and NBC’s ‘Heist’) have joined together to bring back the 1980’s television classic “Knight Rider.” The two-hour movie event brings KITT and a talented cast of young and seasoned actors into the 21st century with speed, drama, love and triumph. David Hasselhoff as a special guest star returns as Michael Knight.

From NBC’s description above, I can only assume that we will see a next generation Knight Rider crew with Michael Knight stepping aside for a younger crime fighting guy that drives KITT. KITT (from the pictures below) has a makeover similar to the GT Mustang in the Transformers movie and body style reminiscent of a Fast and Furious movie car. The trademark red moving light in the front of the car is still there but not as distinct as in the old TV series.

KITT will be voiced by Will Arnett, husband of SNL’s Amy Poehler. The rest of the cast include Justin Bruening (Michael Knight’s replacement named Mike Traceur), Deanna Russo, Sydney Tamiia Poitier and Bruce Davison.

Update (12/31): Justin Bruening will play Michael Knight’s son

It remains to be seen how many episodes the aging Michael Knight will be written into the script (personally the less we see of “The Hoff” the better!). It’ll be great to have a different take on Knight Rider and hope the producers can take it to new levels in the way the new Bionic Woman and Battlestar Galactica TV series has.

Here is a look at the new Knight Rider car:

(Photos courtesy of Autoblog)

They really could have done a better job in choosing the car manufacturer and model to be the *new* Knight Rider (like the cars below).

(clockwise L to R: Lamborghini Reventón, McLaren F1, Bugatti Veyron and Pagani Zonda)

Here is the 15 second trailer if you haven’t seen it yet.

We watched Blades of Glory on the weekend, the one starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite). The movie is about 2 skating rival superstars with opposite styles being stripped of their medals and banned for life. Years later, they find a loop hole in the skating regulations and realize that they can still compete but only as pairs. Without partners to skate with them, they look to each other to form the first male-male skating pair. Being enemies on and off the skating ring, it tells of how the two skaters learn to live with one another and slowly form a brotherly bond.

This rates right up there with the classic comedic combinations like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Ferell and Heder didn’t disappoint. We rented the movie hoping that it wasn’t one of those movies where all the funny parts were shown in the previews. I didn’t think it would be this funny and was pleasantly surprised. They played the type of characters that are known for — Ferell the idiotic, fiery and thinks he is God’s gift to the world but has a soft heart; and Heder a role reminiscent of Napolean Dynamite, the weird, nerdy and sheltered guy. There were also some notable real life skating stars making cameos as well as like Nancy Kerrigan and Scott Hamilton. The supporting cast (i.e. Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Jenna Fischer and Craig T. Nelson) did a good job although some of their characters could have been developed a little more.

You do have to like this kind of humor to enjoy this film. This is not a film you would watch for the quality of acting or one that would win an academy award. Then again, I hope you know that already watching a Will Ferrell type film. Though the ending was a little far out, I think this is Will Ferrell’s funniest movie yet. I’ll give this movie a strong B+.

I am a big fan of martial arts movies. I did Taekwando years ago getting a blue belt (with a red stripe), should have gone on to get my black belt and am kicking myself for it now. If I were to do it again, I’ll have probably to start from the very beginning (I think).

I am a big fan of Steven Seagal as I like his style of martial arts i.e. Aikido (he has a 7th Dan Black Belt in Aikido). However, in his last 10 movies or so, he has somehow changed his way of fighting — to a more Kung Fu way. My question is… why? He looks real stupid fighting in a style that he is unaccustomed with and with that really makes him look like an amateur martial artist.

Got to admit that kick-em-up martial arts fighting movies are so 80s and 90s, the movie industry is just not interested in it anymore. I think the only person that can make decent money on making martial arts films right now it Jet Li. Even he knows it as he claims to have made his last true martial arts movie last year and concentrating on just action movies.

I looked up Steve Seagal on Wikipedia and it seems that he is making his comeback on the big screen this year. Lets hope he goes back to basics of what made him a unique action movie star - his slick Aikido moves that really kicks butt.

I love the Simpsons! Managed to find this on YouTube. This happens to be the same one I saw at the movies last weekend.

We went to see Ben Stiller’s Night at the Museum on the weekend and I was actually pleasantly surprised. We nearly missed this one because we had read in the newspaper and on the web about how bad it was. One critic also went as far as to say that it was his worse film ever.

My response to the critics is — what movie were they actually watching? I thought it was very entertaining and funny, a good family movie. Critics need to keep things in proper perspective. Honestly, if you are going to watch a Ben Stiller movie and critic the acting, you are really watching the wrong movie.

If you haven’t watched it, this is about a jobless guy who is forced to accept a job at a museum as a graveyard shift security guard. Little does he know that when the sunsets, all the museums wax figures and exhibits actually come to life. Throughout his experience, Larry Daley (Stiller) will figure out how to improve himself as a security guard, show that he is a responsible dad to his kid and learn how to handle the true to life museum characters — Attila the Hun, cowboys, Roman soldiers, wax figures, mummies, and of course the Tyrannosaurus Rex. He also finds out the main reason to why they come alive with some quite hilarious and chaotic problems associated with it.

Go see it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Forget the critics and judge the movie for yourself.

Also, the *before the movie* trailers were awesome. This is going to be a good year for movies with my favorite comic/tv characters coming to the big screen … Ghostrider, Fantastic 4: The Birth of the Silver Surfer, Transformers the Movie, Spiderman 3 and Simpsons the Movie. Can’t wait!

Mark your calendars, Spiderman 3 is out May 4th, 2007.

Here is the official two minute trailer. Enjoy!

Links:
Video Source - Ifilm
Spiderman 3 plot and character spoilers: Click here
The Official Spiderman 3 Site

Saw Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan on the weekend. If you are easily offended with those making fun of religion, Jews, homosexuals, African Americans, feminists and jokes on stereotypes - don’t bother going to see it. This is a pure toilet/potty humor movie. It was funny in spurts, with some pretty disgusting parts (as you may find out if you see it).

Although not the funniest movie I have ever seen, I’ll still give it the thumbs up because it gave me a good laugh. I did see quite a number of people walk out halfway through the movie in disgust. Nevertheless, looking at the box office ratings, it is doing quite well… approximately $26 million for one weekend, surpassing Santa Clause 3 (and other big budgeted movies), even with only limited showings of 800+ cinemas across the country.

(If you don’t know who Borat is, read my previous post here)