Shoup Airlines

Indiana Jones and The King of Kong

So of course in typical Army fashion I haven’t had as much free time as I thought I would have.  But I have found some time to squeeze in a movie or two.  What, you’re surprised?

First up, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  It’s been 19 years since the last time Indy cracked his whip and the age is definitely showing.  Lucas and Spielberg’s aim with the series was to be a polished version of the swashbuckling tales of pulp comics from their childhoods.  Crystal Skull heads for that same target and punches right through it headed for nostalgia-ville.

The movie felt like one of those times you and your friends get together and try to recreate some exciting event from the past only to learn that it fails, and miserably at that.  All the key players are there and it might even be the same location, but there’s just something keeping it from firing on all cylinders that ironically ends up causing you to yearn even more for the original event.  Lucas claims the storyline is supposed to be a nod to the campy sci-fi B movies of the 50s and to a point the film does just that but it felt like someone learning a new foreign custom and not truly grasping it while performing it.

My biggest complaints? Where was Sallah? He always had the best one liners.  Crystal Skull has one or two, but they seemed forced and I swear there’s even a wink and a nod to one of them.  Lastly, the musical score was really lacking, considering it came from John Williams.  This is the guy that created not only the original Raiders theme, but Star Wars, Close Encounters and Jaws as well.  His scores are notoriously known for becoming a main character in each film.  Here, it just seems like someone had the radio on in the background and left it in the final copy.  Very subdued and chopped up.

In the end, I think Crystal Skull will become one of those B movies instead of appreciating them and demonstrating what they could have been on a grander level.  But there will always be Raiders…”bad dates.”

In the rental queue, there’s The King of Kong, a well put together documentary about the classic arcade game Donkey Kong and the rivalry between its two top scorers.

I really only wanted to see this for the inner geek in me but it ended up being a great story.  You couldn’t have asked for a better plot and characters had it been scripted.  The filmmakers seem to be in all the right places at all the right times catching the triumphs and pratfalls of these guys while trying to best each other.

I thought the same thing you’re thinking right now, there is no way this can be anything more than just a finger pointing laugh at a couple nerds and their unhealthy love of old games.  But the way the story unfolds as they’re documenting it has to be seen to be believed.  You have the classic good guy vs. bad guy story with action, drama and a lot of comedy at the expense of others.  But most importantly you get sucked in quickly and find yourself pulling for the underdog.  It’s definitely worth the rental.

Make sure you stick through the credits, they do the usual “where are they now” summaries.  And definitely peruse through the special features on the DVD.  There’s a lot of follow up on the story that occurred after the movie came out, plus some other interesting little tidbits.

Done!

IERW is finally finished as of today. It has been a fast but intense five months. I think Pixar summed it up better than I ever could.

Now I sit and wait and then wait some more and when I get bored with that I guess I’ll sit and wait a bit more for that elusive Blackhawk. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually go back to writing regularly on this thing.

Nah, who am I kidding!?