.: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :.

In 1957, Indiana Jones is thrust back in action, venturing into the jungles of South America in a race against Soviet agents to find the mystical Crystal Skull.

So Indy is finally back with the 4th part and high expectations with the first Indiana Jones movie back in 1981 being one of the best movies ever made (Raiders of the Lost Ark - #16 on IMDB). The Last Crusade was good too, Temple of Doom wasn't so great but was still enjoyable. All in all a great trio of movies..I was excited about Indy 4 coming out since it was rumoured then announced..

Finally I got the chance to watch it!

All in all it was good, it wasn't fantastic...it won't go down in the archives as a classic like Raiders of the Lost Ark but it was pretty decent.

Does Harrison still have it as Indy? Yeah he does! He kicked butt. I have to say the humour of the earlier films wasn't there in this one. It seemed a little too polished and a little less fantastic.

Our man held his end up tho, old he may be he still rocked and he was still pure Indy!

Shia LaBeouf was actually pretty decent and far less annoying than I expected him to be, Ray Winstone was far less of a bad-ass than he usually plays.

The rest of the cast were good, not a lot of depth to the characters though and I think the first time I've seen Cate Blanchett playing a real baddy.

The action sequences were good although the ending was a bit 'WTF is this ID4?'

It's certainly lacking the magic and suspense of the earlier 3 movies..I'd have to say so far this is the worst Indy.

Direction was good of course by Spielberg but mainly I think it's the script that let it down, should they have made this movie? I guess not...but they did, I hope they don't make another. Let Indy live as a legend!

All in all I'd give it a worth watching 6/10.

In the remote sands of the Moroccan desert, a rifle shot rings out--detonating a chain of events that will link an American tourist couple’s frantic struggle to survive, two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children and a Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo.

This is a movie I've heard a lot about, Oscar winner and various nominations up the wazoo, I wasn't really sure what it was about though. It's got a very strong 7.8 on IMDB (BTW as a side note, IMDB has gone all web2.0 and I couldn't even find the score on the new page, took me a while to spot it, I think partially because I've blocked the ads it ends up in a weird place).

From the name, Babel, I implied it might be something to do with language, or at least some kind of divides between humans.

I was right in a way, it's more about cultural divides though.

To surmise I would say the movie is about other people's stupid mistakes can effect your life so much..one small mistake or one oversight or one bad decision can totally change your life.

The examples in the movie are of course exaggerated and dramatised.

From the tag-lines, the movie is more about being lost, lost in the desert, lost to yourself or lost the world.

It an interesting concept though and bridges English, Moroccan, Japanese, Mexican and I think even a bit of French.

Must be a nightmare for the translator!

It's a beautifully directed movie with excellent cinematography, the composition of the shots are excellent, like perfectly taken photographs.

Brad Pitt put in a good performance, to be fair Cate Blanchett really didn't have to do anything except look pale, which she does just fine without the help of makeup.

The Japanese part of the story was a bit more confusing and I don't really see how it was linked to the other two parts (the whole gun thing with a bit spurious).

It would have made a good stand alone story though and was a strong part of the movie.

Somehow the movie reminds me of Crash as it deals with race, family issues and other hard hitting topics.

Anyway if you haven't watch Babel I highly recommend it, it's a pretty intense movie though so don't watch it if you feel like something light.

I'd give it a strong 8/10.