DVD Savant, Glenn Erickson's Review Column at DVD Talk

Tuesday May 20, 2008

Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are

Baby It's You
Legend Films

and
The One That Got Away
MGM / Fox

It may be a subjective delusion, but I try not to bore my readers with too much Savant-centric news. Well, today is a somewhat exceptional case that I feel compelled to, uh, share. As I write, this is actually Sunday the 18th. I've just returned from a screening on the Paramount lot (all of four blocks away) for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Paramount had press screenings all day long in their large theater, a real beauty that I've only been in three times in the last ten years, starting with Sleepy Hollow. It's simply the best theater I know of, tuned to perfection for every performance. The 'Press Screening' seemed overloaded with Paramount personnel, their families and friends of friends of friends, but once we got past security everything was fine. Shock of the day -- the little kid I sat next to came in wearing an Indiana Jones hat, but he was perfectly behaved!

(no spoilers) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is more of the same for this franchise, with an older Harrison Ford. Kids will love the movie, along with confirmed Indiana Jones fans. Although Ford's in fine shape the formula is very tired; several of Indy's set-piece action scenes have been recycled for the 3rd time. The screenplay is a wildly eclectic grab-bag of ideas from a couple dozen 50's Sci-Fi and adventure movies, only a couple of which are developed to any extent. There's enough here for six movies, or a better-paced trilogy. The video game notion of packing in 50 ideas when one will do doesn't really pay off. And when something really cool comes along (and there are many very cool things here) it's frustrating knowing that the idea has been 'used up' for another 20 years. To quote only one example, the scene recreating the 'marabunta' plague from The Naked Jungle is really great, but far too brief.

On the plus side, the movie has many wonderful designs and clever mechanical gags. The CGI effects are exciting but also sort of a downer ... the impossible action scenes never have an impact, even though dozens of stunt men are credited. Indy and company hardly get a scratch and are more fall & punch resistant than cartoon characters. It's good, up-to-date ADD fun, but curiously un-engaging. The script has a typical Lucas case of the cutes, but lacks a general sense of humor and tries to compensate with a constant flow of inside gags. The villains aren't very interesting; after touching all the right liberal bases vis a vis the HUAC years, etc, we get Russkies as cardboard baddies. The exciting Cate Blanchett is given a part not unlike a bad girl in a new Bond film ----- except sexless. One aspect that succeeds when I didn't think it would work is Indy's relationship with Marion Ravenswood (Karen Allen) and a new youthful sidekick Shia LeBeouf. Some of their scenes are quite touching.

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Another subject: I received a screener of the Blu-ray V for Vendetta a few days ago, which turned into an odd episode. I'm writing about it here because I already whined to my understanding Warner Home Video contact and wrote several email exchanges with reader and friend Jeff Swindoll.

I popped the disc in my two-month-old player and unhappily watched as it froze up between the MPAA card and the 2nd Warner logo. Gulp. Warners sent me another copy, and it didn't play either. That was Savant's cue to panic, and jump to the conclusion that my 1.0 Sony Blu-ray player had been sold to me under false pretenses. Even though newer and perhaps less expensive players are due this summer, I decided that I couldn't wait to start reviewing Blu-ray discs. Various resources claimed that the generation 2 players would mainly add computer and game playing features. Playing the discs might mean only that an extra or two wouldn't work occasionally. I of course assumed that because V for Vendetta locked up, all the discs from here on out weren't going to play in my machine. Yes, I was to become a (gasp!) Victimized Early Adopter.

My producer, who has a level head, has a machine similar to mine. He downloaded firmware updates from the web and I installed the one appropriate for my machine. I had to install it twice to get the proper result but now V for Vendetta plays perfectly ... with an odd pause at that 'freeze up' spot. So until the next crisis, all my paranoia was in vain for nothing. I'm composing my apology note to my Warner Home Video contact now. Moral of story: those Home Video Forum techies can be a royal pain with their oscilloscopes and statistics, but unlike me I bet they know how to properly set up their machines. Pretty soon we'll have toasters and toothbrushes that need constant upgrades from the manufacturer. -- Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson