Indiana Jones makes Russian communists see red

You knew this was coming, didn't you?

What's this? Another posting tied to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Well, uh, yes...

Eric Harrison and I join forces, kinda-sorta, to preview the new Indy movie in The Houston Chronicle. If this goes over well, we'll try our luck as the next WWE tag team. Hmmmm. Maybe we could call ourselves Critical Mass?

Yet another transparent attempt to draw readers to this site by posting something vaguely connected to that new Indiana Jones movie

Harrison Ford is the narrator of Lord of the Ants, a profile of ant expert E.O. Wilson. I'm sure it's only a coincidence that PBS is airing this NOVA documentary on Tuesday, May 20, just a couple days before the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. You know, that movie where Indy and his buddies are menaced by some really, really nasty ants.

Ebert does Indy

Roger Ebert on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: "I can say that if you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you will like this one, and that if you did not, there is no talking to you." Sounds right to me.

First thoughts on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The immensely entertaining Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gives you the same sort of pleasurable rush – a potent mix of nostalgia-fueled glee and in-the-moment excitement -- that you can get from a really great concert by a favorite band that first started charting in the 1980s. That is, provided it’s a concert where (a) the original players are obviously and unashamedly older, but still at the top of the their form, (b) they play both the oldies and the new stuff with the same full-out, rock-the-house energy, (c) the new members of the group fit in seamlessly because they’ve got the same beat, and (d) a bandmate who left the group a few albums back makes a welcome return midway through the performance.

Here’s a tip of the fedora to Steven Spielberg for offering no fewer than three sly tributes to the late, great Denholm Elliott, the actor who played Indy’s friend and colleague in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And another hat-tip to Cate Blanchett, who isn’t content merely to be a good sport while playing the villain of the piece. Instead, she insists on being a good actor – and makes Irina Spalko, a Cold War-era Soviet femme fatale, an altogether worthy opponent for the whip-cracking, wisecracking hero. Take my advice: Go. Now. Enjoy.

What ever happened to Karen Allen?

The lovely co-star of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark was kinda-sorta retired from show business when Steven Spielberg called to chat about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But that doesn't mean she wasn't keeping busy with other pursuits.