max-787 Reviews

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

Good I guess, but now i'm looking forward to the Dark Knight more

[7/10 · 23 May 2008]

Indiana Jones 4 (I'm not going to call it Kingdom of the Crystal Skull because that's such a bad title) has been canned quite a lot so far, but it doesn't deserve all the criticism it's received. I thought that there was another great Indiana Jones movie in there buried beneath weird alien subplots and too much odd 50s nostalgia.

It was pretty lame at some points and ridiculously cartoonish at all points, but Steven Spielberg managed to stomach nearly all of the George Lucas poison and make it enjoyable. I was excited when I heard it was going to be about the Mayans or Aztecs or whatever they were, but the whole aliens thing killed it. I had faith that Steven Spielberg was better than that, but I guess not. They should remake this movie without the aliens. Also what was with the nuclear explosion????? It was a good scene, but did not fit in Indiana Jones AT ALL. And please cut the "Shia swinging with monkeys" scene.

I loved the South America tomb raiding part with Harrison Ford and Shia Lebeouf and the motorcycle chase and I felt like there was a really great film buried in there.

Overall, despite being entertaining and very clever at points, Indiana Jones 4 was just a frustrating movie, mostly thanks to the aliens.

21 (2008)

It is BAD

[6/10 · 29 March 2008]

21 had huge plot holes, (why did Cole, the casino man, send his henchmen after Ben if they were actually working together all along?) it had terrible morals, (at the end it turns out that the whole gang will keep cheating anyway), the acting was choppy, and it glamorized Vegas, casinos and strip clubs like they're the best things in the world. Please don't see this movie, because if its successful, they'll make a sequel or a remake or something, and the movie fans of the world deserve better than this rubbish. And in case I wasn't clear, it isn't terrible as a film but it had evil morals. Don't don't don't don't don't see it, I made the mistake of going, don't make that mistake.

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

War from the point of view of the 'Bad Guys'

[9/10 · 28 February 2007]

Letters from Iwo Jima begins on modern day Iwo Jima. The island is completely abandoned except for a group of archaeologists searching for remains and valuables from the battle of Iwo Jima. It must have been a somber mission, for out of the 20,000 Japanese who fought on Iwo Jima, under 600 survived. They are digging in a man-made cave, one of the many the Japanese dug, when one of them finds a bag. Then the movie then cuts back to 1944, where Saigo, played by Kazunari Niromiya, is complaining to his friend Nozaki, (Yuki Matsuzaki), about the conditions of their labor. "Why don't we just let the Americans have the island?" he asks. "Then we can go home." Unfortunately, his "honorable" captain hears him and asks him what he said. "I said that... if we beat the Americans, then we could go home," stammers Saigo, obviously afraid. Meanwhile, the new General, Tadamichi Kuribashi, arrives on Iwo Jima and sets off on a tour of the island. He finds the captain beating Saigo and his friend for "un-patriotic thoughts". He stops him and suggests he take away their lunches instead. They are very grateful as the food them "sick" anyway. As the movie progresses, we find that General Kuribashi is not a traditional general. Although he loves his country and will die for it, he thinks that things like suicide in the face of defeat is a silly and wasteful idea. He goes about his duties in a less organized way; at one point commanding his assistant to "pretend to be an American", as he finds the best place to shoot at him with his cane. The soldiers up higher on the beach laugh, see his gun and notice it is American. They conclude that he took it off the body of a dead soldier. The movie explains later that he got it as a gift from and American officer while on a diplomatic mission. The movie is reasonably peaceful until the first attack by the Americans, an air raid. As they are cleaning up, Saigo spots a figure sitting with his back to the camp, as if he was asleep. "Hey, lazy, come and help," Saigo says, annoyed, and walks around him to find that he is dead. Saigo eye's widen, then shut quickly, and he turns away. From the start of the movie, it has been evident that he doesn't want to be in a war. He wishes he was back in his bakery. And as the movie progresses, everyone he knows is killed. He watches them all die, every single one, and has to keep on going. As luck would have it, Saigo is the last one alive at the end. He fired his rifle only once. Some people might think that Clint Eastwood is a 'Japanese sympathizer', or too much of a message giver. But I can see, this being the first Eastwood film I've seen, why he's won two directing Oscars. Even though he looked older than I remembered at the Oscars, his age apparently hasn't changed the way he makes film.

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

Actually a Pretty Uplifting Movie

[8/10 · 25 February 2007]

I'm amazed at some of the other users who panned this. Maybe they were just looking for cheap entertainment, and were put off by having to actually pay attention. Yes, it's true that this movie is not your average Disney feature. No, that does not mean young kids shouldn't see it. If they're prepared for an unhappy ending, it might actually help them to understand what life actually is (not what you usually see in the movies).

The movie is, as you should know, is based on a wonderful children's/ adult book by Katherine Patterson about how Jess, the main character, is introduced to a whole new life philosophy by oddball Leslie. They invent an imagined land called Terabithia, of which they are king and queen. Terabithia helps them cope with a school full of bullies and especially helps Jess with dealing with his father. The whole plot was very true to the book; I flinched, however, at some of the obvious clichés that I had been hoping not to see. Examples: 1. Leslie and family dancing around their house to rock music. 2. Music swells (and swells, and swells) at the finish and the camera zooms slowly in on Jess's face.

But despite these problems I really enjoyed the movie. The acting was great, and I even got teary – eyed when, SPOILER! SPOILER!, Leslie dies at the end. The book touched me, and so did this movie.

Go see this movie. For the first time in a long time, a movie has been made for people of all ages.

8/10