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[Theblazeuk]

My favourite aspect of Crystal Skull is the KGB's psychic femme fatale, whose powers are mostly understated from what I remember.

[TordelBack]

My favourite aspect of Crystal Skull is the KGB's psychic femme fatale, whose powers are mostly understated from what I remember.

She just 'knows theenks before anyone elsk', I believe. And would pass for Lulu Romanov on an off day, which is enough to grant her considerable power over me at any rate.

[JamesC]

My favourite aspect of Crystal Skull is the KGB's psychic femme fatale, whose powers are mostly understated from what I remember.

She just 'knows theenks before anyone elsk', I believe. And would pass for Lulu Romanov on an off day, which is enough to grant her considerable power over me at any rate.

Doesn't she fry the lock on the warehouse door with telekinesis or did I imagine that?

[shaolin_monkey]

My favourite aspect of Crystal Skull is the KGB's psychic femme fatale, whose powers are mostly understated from what I remember.

  She was psychic?  How did I miss that?!

[TordelBack]

Doesn't she fry the lock on the warehouse door with telekinesis or did I imagine that?

I must have missed that! Seven times!  Obviously distracted by the gophers.  I had thought her powers were just a mild telepathy thing.

[Tiplodocus]

Didn't Marion scope the edge of the cliff, notice the tree and then come up with her ker-azy scheme to drive off the cliff?

Anyway, I liked the opening but the DUKW chase, Ray Winstone, standard issue big tough guy, CGI jungle chase, the whole "the crystal skull told me to" and lots of other niggles (were those guys in the final temple really bricked up behind walls every day as a security measure?)  turned me off this movie.

Crystal Skull? More like "Kingdom of the Crystal Shit".

I think, even though I'm not a religous or spirtual person, found the science fiction ending at odds with the more spiritual endings of the other three movies.  It just seemed like two different universes; one where it's all about Gods and one where it's all about science and aliens.  I know the two aren't mutually exclusive but I think I'd have still preferred a proper "ancient god" based solution to everything.


In other news MILIUS - a glowing documentary about the films of John Milius which is rather fun if completely uncritical. 

[Theblazeuk]

Doesn't she fry the lock on the warehouse door with telekinesis or did I imagine that?

I must have missed that! Seven times!  Obviously distracted by the gophers.  I had thought her powers were just a mild telepathy thing.

That's the moment that made her my favourite bit, that it was so low key.

[TordelBack]

I know the two aren't mutually exclusive but I think I'd have still preferred a proper "ancient god" based solution to everything.

This was certainly my reaction when I heard about the plot - but ask yourself this, would the God of the Ark and the Grail have permitted the proto-Incan gods, or any other gods, to exist at all?  (Leaving aside that whole business with Kali Ma and Shiva, obviously).  In a world where the protagonists know that the Judeo-Christian God is real and acts in the contemporary world to smite Nazis and heal professors of medieval literature of their mortal wounds, aren't beings from another dimension a safer bet than the rivals of the famously jealous Yahweh?

[Theblazeuk]

My usual interpretation of such things is that these relics are not proof that the God of the Ark or the Grail really exists - but that there are strange artefacts that Christians have built their religions around. The crusader at the end of Indy 3 tests this a little.

[JamesC]

I know the two aren't mutually exclusive but I think I'd have still preferred a proper "ancient god" based solution to everything.

This was certainly my reaction when I heard about the plot - but ask yourself this, would the God of the Ark and the Grail have permitted the proto-Incan gods, or any other gods, to exist at all?  (Leaving aside that whole business with Kali Ma and Shiva, obviously).  In a world where the protagonists know that the Judeo-Christian God is real and acts in the contemporary world to smite Nazis and heal professors of medieval literature of their mortal wounds, aren't beings from another dimension a safer bet than the rivals of the famously jealous Yahweh?

The thing is, if the Christian god wasn't making himself known to the Mayans (or Egyptians, Greeks, Norsemen) he can't really complain if some other deities set themselves up for a bit of love.
At the end of the day gods are like sextuplets children - there just ain't enough tits to go round. Share the love!

[TordelBack]

The thing is, if the Christian god wasn't making himself known to the Mayans (or Egyptians, Greeks, Norsemen) he can't really complain if some other deities set themselves up for a bit of love.

My usual interpretation of such things is that these relics are not proof that the God of the Ark or the Grail really exists - but that there are strange artefacts that Christians have built their religions around.

I urge you both to put this point to Him as you writhe in torment eternal.   

It's time to ask yourself what you believe, Dr. Jones.


(It felt as if someone had hacked my account there for a minute...)

[CrazyFoxMachine]

X-Men 2 From just over a decade ago 

I used to think this was the best superhero film ever made. I would say that it's probably one of the better of the first 'wave' of them in the early noughties - with plenty going on and lots of room for all the characters to muck abaaahhht.

There are far more cliches than I remember though, lots of tired lines and teen concepts. Setting up plots that were never in the source text for the want of a clean story and for mass audience consumption. Something that is just the tiresome consequence of any adaptation of anything sprawlingly massive I suppose.

Like anything you adored in the past, the things that you lovingly mocked about it are unfortunately the things that haven't changed and every dumb line still rings out. There are still some great setpieces though and the McKellen/Stewarting is always good - looking forward to some continuity cake in Singer's upcoming new 'un which I've just learned has Stryker in it again (although not the brilliant Brian Cox unfortunately). On watching it again for the first time in two years I was unexpectedly hit by a strong memory of how excited I was in the cinema in 2003 as a young (slightly lapsed in favour of the prog) Marvel fan. That's time passing for you.

[Tiplodocus]

In other news MILIUS - a glowing documentary about the films of John Milius which is rather fun if completely uncritical.

The last twenty minutes of this came as a surprise to me. I must have missed the news about his stroke and his slow rehabiliation. Testing stuff for someone with such an obvious love of, and gift for, the gab.

BIG ASS SPIDER
A fantastic opening (hero walks in slow mo towards unseen thing as chaos erupts about him and a slowed down cover of Pixies "Where is my mind?" plays) but this deteriorates so rapidly that we gave up after forty minutes once the spider got really big.  Any attempt at making a serious film thrown away and I don't have time for "so bad it's good". It did actually have potential - if no budget.

[JamesC]

After Earth

I think this got a bit of a slagging off on its release but I'm not entirely sure why. I quite enjoyed it myself - it certainly didn't offend as a Friday night flick with a couple of beers. It has a very simple plot which I think works in its favour (basically a straight forward rites of passage story) and some nice design work. I always find Will Smith to be a likeable screen presence (although he was a bit dour in this) and his son did a solid job as far as I could see.
Definitely worth a watch.

[Hawkmumbler]

Forgive me, James, but are you high?