Saturday, May 31, 2008

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



If we judge based on the performances of past resurrected franchises such Rambo, Rocky, Terminator, and Die Hard, the Indiana Jones sequel would be on top. It came off in a shape fairly resembling its former self. I guess we can thank almighty Steven Spielberg for that feat. But then again, even Spielberg has his limits.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)


 
Compared its Da Vinci Code riding predecessor, National Treasure: Book of Secrets is more appropriate of being called ‘national treasure’, because this time the treasure searched for was entirely American. Allusions to American Revolutionary figures in part one I believe were merely a side story as the fabled (and more European) Templar Treasure and mysterious organizations such as the Freemasons were the true crowd drawers.

Awake (2007)


There is a joke that goes: ‘Doc it hurts when I do this’; Doctor answers, ‘stop doing it’. Corny yes but what if you can’t do anything. What if you can’t stop that pain and it’s your own doctor that is giving it to you.

The backdrop of the story of Awake is a phenomenon called Anesthesia Awareness. The name itself betrays what is wrong with experiencing the phenomenon; when you are under anesthesia you shouldn’t be aware.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Iron Man (2008)


Except for mild surprise that Tom Cruise was not able to lock on the Iron Man movie, I had no opinions of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark when the movie was just green-lighted for live action production. Honestly, I had Patrick Bergin in mind for the role back in the mid 90s when Marvel seemed to be hot on making a movie of their characters. The mustache was the clincher.

Thankfully I had no Hollywood producer to hear my choices because I loved the performance of Robert Downey, Jr.