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Harrison Ford Returns for Close Encounter in Revival of Indiana Jones Franchise

Like the Beatles’ melancholy refrain in the song “When I’m 64,” Harrison Ford was probably wondering whether his fans would welcome back an “older” and “losing my hair” Indiana Jones after a 19-year hiatus. For that’s exactly how old the veteran actor was when Steven Spielberg started filming the fourth installment in the fabled adventure series.

The good news is that Harrison has aged gracefully and is up to the challenge of his physically-demanding role. However, the overall production is slightly lacking somewhat in terms of generating a certain intangible we’ll call movie magic. Maybe the problem lies in the fact that the film will automatically be measured against the three earlier installments, and that it pales in comparison to those vintage screen classics.

Most folks associate the storied franchise with carefully-choreographed, death-defying stunts you can’t get out of your mind long after you’ve left the theater. Although this endeavor does feature several escape and chase scenes, none in this critic’s opinion would be considered unforgettable.

Gone is that palpable sense of urgency which kept you glued to the edge of your seat, a failing perhaps due to an increased dependency of the special effects on computer-generated imagery. So, instead of seeing our hero actually running headlong in front of a careening boulder, riding under a truck, or swaying on a ripped rope bridge over a swarm of hungry crocodiles like before, he spends a lot more time making believe in front of a blue screen. At least he’s still sporting his trademark whip and fedora.

The story is set in 1957 at the height of the Cold War, unfolding in the Nevada desert where we learn that Indy has been kidnapped by Russian spies led by the steely Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), an Eastern European villainess cut from the familiar mold of Austin Powers’ Frau Farbissina and From Russia with Love’s Rosa Klebb. Tied up in the trunk of a car, Jones is driven to Area 51, a top secret U.S. Air Force base about to be commandeered by the Commies.

Area 51 served as the site of numerous nuclear bomb tests, but even today many UFO conspiracy theorists believe that the location contains the corpse of an alien removed from a spaceship rumored to have crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. This is what is of interest to the KGB which wants Dr. Jones to lead them to the Martian’s mummified remains. For legend has it that it might contain the mysterious Crystal Skull, an ancient artifact said to be capable of unlocking limitless powers, provided it is taken to El Dorado, a lost city made of solid gold.

Of course, ingenious Indy escapes from his captors in spectacular fashion (including surviving an atomic blast inside of a refrigerator) and the race is on to find the priceless icon. Along the way, he teams up with Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), a Harley-riding, rebel without a cause, as well as with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), an old flame he hasn’t seen for several episodes, since he was looking for the Lost Ark.

The ensuing expedition to the jungles of Peru is less edgy and dangerous than it is comfy and nostalgic, partially because the transparent plot is telegraphs its punches and is outfitted with a complement of the franchise’s usual suspects, from the maniacal henchman (Igor Jijikine) to the back-stabbing, effete double-agent (Ray Winstone) to the obsessed field researcher (John Hurt) to the weak-willed, bureaucratic academic (Jim Broadbent) who plays it by the book.

Just thank your lucky stars that Harrison Ford has the charisma to reinvent one of the most-beloved characters in screen history. Indiana Jones, AARP edition: too spry for a rocking chair, but too ossified for much more excitement than a close encounter with E.T.

Rated: PG-13 for violence and frightening images

Running time: 124 minutes

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Iron Man

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Downey Delivers As Cerebral Superhero In “Marvel”-Ous Adaptation Of Classic Comic Book Series

Created by Stan Lee in April of 1963, Iron Man was first introduced in Marvel Comics’ “Tales of Suspense” (issue #39). By the legendary animator’s own admission, his crime-fighting superhero’s alter ego, wealthy industrialist/ inventor Tony Stark, was partially inspired by eccentric millionaire playboy Howard Hughes.

The character proved popular enough to warrant spin-offs not only into his own comic book series but into a TV cartoon as well. Now, with Iron Man, the movie, the product line benefits from a further extension into the realm of cinema.

This live-action adventure features Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role, with the oft-troubled star exhibiting an impressive range in an endearing performance guaranteed to resuscitate a career once on life support. For Downey manages to humanize Iron Man to a degree rarely, if at all, previously witnessed in such adaptations of macho superheroes to the big screen. Considerable credit in this regard must go to unheralded director Jon Favreau whose kiddie sci-fi, Zathura, was likewise sophisticated enough to engage the imaginations of children and adults.

Iron Man unfolds very much like the first installment in a pre-planned franchise, taking its own sweet time to acquaint us with the protagonist’s background rather than rush headlong into elaborate fight sequences. Along the way, a few subtle hints are also dropped about what might be in store in IM2 and beyond.

It is established at the outset that Tony Stark, the CEO of Stark Industries, is a filthy rich, womanizing genius. For he is conspicuously absent from the festivities at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas where he was supposed to be receiving an award for his company’s service to the Military-Industrial Complex as the country’s leading weapons manufacturer.

But the AWOL bon vivant was more interested in impressing and seducing an attractive reporter (Leslie Bibb) at his sprawling, oceanfront Malibu estate. Fortunately, his faithful, frustrated woman servant and secret admirer, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), is always around to get her boss’ nose back to the grindstone.         

The plot thickens soon after he lands in Afghanistan to demonstrate his latest invention, the Jericho Missile, for the benefit of the U.S. military brass. En route, the Humvee in which he’s riding is hit by a roadside bomb, and he ends up in a cave controlled by terrorists. Tony can’t help but notice that his captors are already somehow wielding weaponry produced by his company. And worse, they now want him to put his brain to work on their behalf to build the next generation missile.

What the insurgents don’t know is that Stark’s more worried about the life-threatening shrapnel permanently imbedded in his chest. So, instead of working for them, he secretly uses the next few months to build himself a suit of armor containing a mammoth electromagnet to prevent any metal fragments from reaching his heart. Eventually, he uses this outfit to morph into Iron Man, escape, and return to the States where he makes the shocking announcement that Stark Industries will be shutting down its munitions manufacturing division.

This decision doesn’t sit with his possibly double-dealing, right hand-man, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), and it also strains his longtime liaison with Lieutenant Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard) from the Department of Defense. But Stark remains resolute and determined to learn exactly how his guns landed in the hands of the enemy, even if that means he must reluctantly don that Iron Man suit one more time to kill in the name of peace.

A ‘Marvel’-ously cerebral superhero with a functioning conscience. 

Rated: PG-13 for intense sci-fi violence and brief suggestive content

Running time: 126 minutes

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Battle for Haditha

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Docudrama Reenacts Marine Massacre Of Innocent Iraqi Civilians

On November 19, 2005, a roadside bomb detonated by Iraqi insurgents exploded under a vehicle killing Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, while wounding a couple of his comrades. The IED attack outraged about a dozen of the other Marines from Kilo Company riding in the convoy, and later that same day they allegedly went on a rampage in the vicinity, slaughtering 24 innocent civilians living in the City of Haditha.

Though the incident was originally covered-up, it came to light about four months later only because part of the massacre had been captured on videotape by a student with a camera. As a result, several soldiers were relieved of duty, court-martialed, and shipped back to Camp Pendleton where they are currently facing murder charges.

But was their overreaction warranted, given the stress they were under from the day-to-day rigors of patrolling the streets of a village where they were treated as invading enemies rather than like liberators as promised by Vice President Cheney? And wasn’t their predicament compounded further by the military’s use of stop-loss order as a hidden draft to force soldiers to re-enlist and serve longer tours of duty? Aren’t all things now fair in war, anyway, given America’s recent disavowal of the Geneva Conventions?  

These are the fundamental human rights questions posed by Battle for Haditha, a super-realistic docudrama which takes a long look at ethnic cleansing from both the perspective of the cleansed and from the point-of-view of the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity. Shot in Jordan, the film stars numerous veterans of the Iraq War, so it has a feel so authentic, I initially believed I was watching actually footage shot on the front lines of the conflict.

A patriotic reminder to support the troops, regardless of the transgression, since it’s Bush fault that they’re sitting ducks in a godforsaken desert where they’re the only available outlet around for every terrorists’ anti-American impulse. What’s next, a picture suggesting that we have to excuse the Abu Ghraib excuses, too, as reasonable interrogation tactics?    

Remember when your mother warned that playing all those gruesome video games would desensitize you to violence? Now witness Exhibit A: Battle for Haditha, showcasing Generation Kill’s all volunteer army in all its glory.

Unrated 

In English and Arabic with subtitles.

Running time: 93 minutes

Studio: HanWay Films

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

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Praiseworthy Sequel Sends Pevensie Siblings on Second Magical Adventure

Between 1949 and 1954, C.S. Lewis penned a captivating series of illustrated children’s novels referred to collectively as The Chronicles of Narnia. The first book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was brought to the big screen in 2005, grossing close to $300 million at the box-office, domestically, a sign that Disney had the makings of a franchise on its hands.

That initial adaptation, began in Great Britain shortly after the outbreak of World War II, and introduced us to the Pevensies -- Lucy (Georgie Henley), Peter (William Moseley) Susan (Anna Popplewell) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) – a tight-knit quartet of siblings evacuated from London to the country to avoid being bombed by the Nazis during the Blitz.

While exploring their new surroundings, they find a magical closet through which they travel to a faraway realm known as Narnia. And before they finally return to England, the kids embark on an eventful adventure which has them fulfilling an ancient prophecy by breaking the spell cast over the peaceable kingdom by an evil witch (Tilda Swinton).

Set a year later, Chronicles 2 opens with the nattily-attired Pevensies standing on the Strand subway platform in their school uniforms waiting for a train when they are suddenly transported to Narnia again. Upon their arrival, they are dismayed to learn that their beloved utopia’s Golden Age has been disrupted by the rise to power of merciless King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), a madman who rules with the help of a race of warriors called the Telmarines.

Furthermore, because Queen Prunaprismia (Alicia Borracherro) has just given birth to a son, the King hatches a plan to kill his nephew, the unassuming Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). Apprised of the crisis, the Pevensies pledge themselves to another noble enterprise, namely, the perilous effort to bring harmony back to Narnia again by helping the exiled rightful heir ascend to the throne.

This is far easier said than done, but at least our intrepid heroes are ably assisted in that endeavor by the ingenuity of Trumpkin the Dwarf (Peter Dinklage) and a coterie of anthropomorphic animals, including Aslan the Lion (Liam Neeson), Trufflehunter the Badger (Ken Stott), Reepicheep the Mouse (Eddie Izzard), Pattertwig the Squirrel (Harry Gregson-Williams) and Bulgy the Bear (David Walliams).

Reminiscent of such storied, cinematic epic fantasies as Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, the saga inexorably builds to a familiar, cataclysmic battle royal that’s simply a marvel to behold. It may lack the element of surprise, but it more than makes up for that failing with the visually-enchanting treat of eye-popping panoramas plus the seamless interaction of the human and animated characters.

Along the way to a satisfying sendoff, this Biblically-themed morality play pauses periodically to deliver a litany of universal messages about faith, courage and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. In sum, Chronicles 2 proves to be a praiseworthy sequel aided immeasurably by the continuity and chemistry of the return of all the principal cast members, and above all by the sort of special effects spectacles the tykes are likely to want to see again and again.

Rated: PG for violence and epic battle scenes

Running time: 144 minutes

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Mister Lonely

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Michael Jackson Impersonator Takes Refuge In The Company Of Other Wannabes

A Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) has been eking out a living in Paris by dancing in parks, on the streets and any place his agent (Leos Carax) can book him. However, other than perfecting a few of the Prince of Pop’s trademark moves and donning a felt fedora and one glove, he doesn’t really look anything like him. Consequently, the best gigs he can get are jobs like his current one, performing for the elderly at a senior citizen center.

As fate would have it, also entertaining there that day was a hauntingly-beautiful Marilyn Monroe look-a-like (Samantha Morton). Sensing that Michael is a lost and lonely soul, she invites him to accompany her home to a castle tucked away in the Scottish Highlands where she lives with a host of other celebrity wannabes, including her mustachioed husband, Charlie Chaplin (Dennis Lavant), and their mop-topped, six year-old daughter, Shirley Temple (Esme Creed-Miles).

Michael takes her up on the generous offer, as much because he was instantly smitten, as for the company of like-minded oddballs. Upon their arrival at the seaside estate, Marilyn matter-of-factly announces, “I found a Michael,” whereupon the stranger finds himself welcomed into a community of losers pretending to be everyone from Madonna (Melita Morgan) to Sammy Davis, Jr. (Jason Pennycooke) to James Dean (Joseph Morgan) to Abraham Lincoln (Richard Strange) to Buckwheat (Michael-Joel Stuart) to the Pope (James Fox) to Little Red Riding Hood (Rachel Korine) to the Queen of England (Anita Pallenberg) to The Three Stooges, Moe (Daniel Rovai), Larry (Mal Whiteley) and Curly (Nigel Cooper).

The grand plan of this motley crew is to attract a big crowd of the curious to the vaudeville show they plan to put on, ala the Little Rascals. Meanwhile, a subplot revolves around the simmering sexual tensions which arise between Michael and Marilyn after she informs her hubby that he reminds her more of Hitler than Chaplin.     

Unfortunately, writer/director Harmony Korine runs out of ideas of what else to do with his assemblage of familiar faces. Instead of a sensible storyline, he settles for visually-bracing cinematography, courtesy of a collage of wide-angled mob scenes along with equally- arresting land, air and seascapes. At the 11^th hour, Korine pull a rabbit out of his hat via a development so shocking it doesn’t quite fit with the picture’s previously relatively light-hearted tone.

And neither cameos by magician David Blaine and director Werner Herzog nor the haunting strains of Bobby Vinton on the title track prove to be enough to make the meaningless meanderings of these famous-faced misfits worthwhile. For, once the novelty of all the celebrity impersonations wears off, the film never gives you much of a reason to care about the predicaments of its cardboard characters.

Unrated

Running time: 113 minutes

Studio: IFC Films

War, Inc.

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John Cusack As Mercenary On Mission To Kill Middle East Oil Minister

In the not too distant future, if it hasn’t already transpired, mega-corporations might replace nations as the world’s most powerful political entities. This is the state of affairs contemplated by War, Inc., a sophisticated satire directed by Joshua Seftel (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy).

The story reads like a logical extension of what some cynics say we have unfolding in Iraq, as it revolves around the efforts of a former U.S. Vice-President (Dan Aykroyd) to monopolize the economy of a mythical war-torn country, Turaqistan, on behalf of Tamerlane, an American company to which he has close ties. This scenario amounts to a thinly-veiled allusion to Dick Cheney’s ostensibly engineering lucrative no-bid contracts in Iraq on behalf of Halliburton and its subsidiaries.

The fun starts soon after the ex-VP hires a mercenary, Brand Hauser (John Cusack), to kill Omar Sharif (Lyubomir Neikov), no, not the actor, but a Middle East oil minister representing Tamerlane’s primary competitor. Hauser is a burnt out hit man in need of a break, having just come from an assignment where he had to waste a bunch of beer-swilling Germans in a bar.

Upon arriving in Turaqistan, he is ushered into Emerald City, a heavily-fortified sanctuary suspiciously similar to the Green Zone. There, he is given a position with Tamerlane and a secretary (Joan Cusack) to provide a cover for his real reason for his being in the region. While awaiting an opportunity to eliminate Omar, he divides his time between wooing a leftist American journalist (Marisa Tomei) and planning the wedding of Central Asia’s current singing sensation, Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff).

Like a campy cross of Dr. Strangelove and Wag the Dog, this celluloid anti-war screed serves up a mesmerizing mélange of action, romance, slapstick, intrigue, gore, sentimentality, sensuality and sleight of hand when not offering pointed insights about the dire prospects for a corporatized planet. Fortunately, front man John Cusack’s face has finally matured to the point that it no longer has that boyish look about it. His ever-underrated sister, Joan, turns in one of her trademark nonpareil performances, and not to be outdone are either Marisa Tomei or the barely-recognizable Hilary Duff in her capacity as a musical Muslim moll.

As humorous as it is thought-provoking, War, Inc. is chock full of memorable moments, perhaps the best being the hand-to-hand showdown in the belly of a garbage truck between our reluctant hero and a worthy adversary (Ben Kingsley). Ever seen a villain trash compacted into submission?

A preposterous, impossible to pigeonhole spoof which somehow satisfactorily adds up to more than the sum of its seemingly incompatible parts.

Rated R for violence, profanity and brief sexuality.

Running time: 107 minutes

Studio: First Look Studios

What Happens in Vegas…

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Kutcher And Diaz Match Wits In Battle-Of-The-Sexes Comedy

New Yorker Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) has just been unceremoniously dumped by her fiancé at a surprise birthday party she threw for him. Meanwhile, somewhere across town, slacker Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) is being fired from the family business by his bitterly disappointed father (Treat Williams).

Both of these sad sacks venture to Vegas to lick their wounds, Joy accompanied by her best friend, Tipper (Lake Bell), Jack by his buddy, Hater (Rob Coddry). Fate conspires to have the four cross paths when their hotel accidentally assigns them to the same room.

And although misogynistic Hater and man-hating Tipper instantly dislike each other, Joy and Jack hit it off so well that they impulsively decide to get married after a night of imbibing and debauchery. However, by the time their hangovers wear off the next morning, they realize they have nothing in common. So, saner heads prevail and the newlyweds agree to get a quickie divorce.

But as they are about to go their separate ways, Jack deposits one of his bride’s quarters in a slot machine, and wouldn’t you know he hits a $3,000,000 jackpot. Because they can’t agree on how to divvy up the cash amicably, the greedy couple ends up in divorce court where the judge (Dennis Miller) sentences them to live together for six months before he’ll render a decision.

Joy reluctantly moves into Jack’s apartment and the two proceed to drive each other crazy in a standoff with nothing new to offer to anyone already familiar with The Break-Up, The War of the Roses and the rest of the battle-of-the-sexes genre. He gets under her skin with such alpha-male antics as urinating in the sink, leaving the toilet sink up and taking popcorn from a bowl after scratching his genitals.

She’s no angel either, and gets advice on how to torture her hubby from the shrewish Tipper. Hater serves the same function for Jack, with Dr. Twitchell (Queen Latifah) being left to referee intermittently during the troubled couple’s court-appointed marriage counseling sessions.

The colorful second bananas’ bawdy badinage turns out to be a lot funnier than that of the co-stars who have little more to offer than their looks and sexual chemistry going for them. A recycled romantic comedy best left in Vegas.   

Rated PG-13 for sexuality, profanity, crude humor and a drug reference

Running time: 99 minutes

Studio: 20^th Century Fox

Baby Mama

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Barren Businesswoman Seeks Services Of Surrogate Mom In Fish-Out-Of-Water Comedy

Despite proudly rising to the rank of Vice President of Development at Round Earth, a growing chain of organic supermarkets, Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) isn’t totally emotionally fulfilled. It’s readily apparent that the 37 year-old workaholic’s successful career has come at a considerable personal cost.

For she now hears her biological clock ticking and is desperate to start a family, although she doesn’t even have a man in her life. To top it all off, she’s just learned from her gynecologist that she only has a one-in-a-million chance of becoming pregnant anyway.

Fearing that she might never have that kid she craves, Kate decides to enlist the assistance of Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver), the owner of Philadelphia’s most reputable surrogate mother service. And after receiving adequate assurances that the agency has the perfect candidate lined up, she pays the $100,000 fee to have her fertilized eggs implanted in the womb of Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler).

Then, after receiving word that her supposedly model surrogate is, in fact, pregnant, Kate starts preparing for the impending arrival of her little bundle of joy by reading all the right childcare books and by baby-proofing her apartment. Soon, however, when Angie shows up at the door unannounced needing a place to live, the truth about her begins to emerge.

Turns out that she isn’t happily married as billed, but has just broken up with her slacker boyfriend, Carl (Dax Shepard). Relatively-refined Kate lets Angie move in and belatedly gets to know the gum-snapping, fast-food junkie carrying her infant.

The ensuing yuppie-meets-blue collar tensions which arise provide the bulk of the yucks in Baby Mama, a fish-out-of-water comedy marking the directorial debut of Michael McCullers. The film pits Saturday Night Live’s Amy Poehler against the show’s former star/head writer Tina Fey in a surprisingly-subdued, estrogen-fueled class war.

The picture’s only weakness is that the pair’s antics pale in comparison to those exhibited by the low-class trash you can find making fools of themselves any day of the week on the average episode of the Jerry Springer Show. Amy’s lame portrayal of Angie proves to be an unconvincing example of art imitating life so consequently, Baby Mama is a flick without any real baby mama drama.

Gratefully, this deficiency is slightly offset by several inspired performances sprinkled among a stellar supporting cast, including Steve Martin as Barry, Kate’s aging hippie boss; Greg Kinnear as her love interest; Romany Malco as her affable doorman; and Maura Tierney, as her concerned sister. Still, about the best that can be said for this formulaic, instantly-forgettable romp is that it’s above average for an SNL alum vehicle.  

Rated: PG-13 for profanity, sexuality, crude humor and a drug reference 

Running time: 99 minutes

Studio: Universal Pictures

The Pact

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Black Doctors’ Overcome The Odds Story Set To Air On PBS

Rameck Hunt, Sampson Davis and George Jenkins grew up in a Newark ghetto where only about 3 percent of the kids went on to college. And their own prospects probably weren’t any better, given that they were each raised by a single mom in a broken home in a neighborhood blighted by gang violence, drugs, poverty, unemployment and crime.

Yet, this enterprising trio of best friends had the wherewithal to sense that a ticket out of their bleak surroundings might only be an education away. So, before the streets could gobble up their future, they made a mutual pact, promising to support each other in their shared dream of becoming doctors.  

Against the odds, all three succeeded in that quest, Sampson and Rameck, as MDs, and George, as a dentist, and this uplifting bio-pic highlights the considerable hurdles they had to overcome on the road to success. For both of Rameck’s parents were crackheads, and he recounts how he’d pray to God everyday asking that just one of them be able to kick the habit.

Sampson, we learn, did a stint in juvenile prison for armed robbery, and had a sister who was HIV+. And George talks about how the absence of a male role model meant he never learned how to do many things most boys take for granted, such as how to shave or tie a tie.

But ultimately, all three came through with flying colors and, despite their busy medical practices, remain very committed to creating academic opportunities for kids still stuck in the slums. In this regard, the film frequently focuses on the fortunes of Malique, their 12 year-old protégé who also serves as narrator.

Overall, an inspiring affirmation of the power of friendship, courage, determination, hard work and faith to sustain even those seemingly trapped in the direst of circumstances.

Unrated

Running time: 84 minutes

Studio: Spark Media

The Pact will be airing on PBS stations across the country during June. Check your local listings for airtime in your area.