Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indy 4, Harrison Ford 65. It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage! (Paramount)

The man with the hat is back but at 65 the question is, is Indy (or Harrison Ford) up to the task of anchoring yet another sequel? George Lucas and Philip Kaufman created the character of archeologist, adventurer and part-time teacher Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr., and director Steven Spielberg and actor Harrison Ford brought him to life in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The film was such a success that it spawned two sequels (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and a TV show (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) -- not to mention comic books, books, games, and toys. Talk of a fourth Indiana Jones has been circulating for years and various incarnations for a sequel have reportedly gone through quite a few scriptwriters. But now, 19 years after the last Indy film, we finally have Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (opening May 22 throughout San Diego). And the big question is, was it worth the wait? [You can listen to the debate we had about the film on the KPBS Film Club of the Air.]

Midnight Movies: Pulp Fiction

"I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction (Miramax)

What's great about these midnight movies and library screenings is that it afford me a chance to dig back into the archives and revisit films I love. This Friday and Saturday at midnight, Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters will present Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. In 1992, Quentin Tarantino burst onto the film scene with the brash, ultraviolent Reservoir Dogs. (I remembering being pregnant when the film was screened for the press and the publicist was concerned that I might go into early labor or something horrible if I saw such a violent film. I didn't but my son is now addicted to violent action films.) The film paid homage to Hollywood B movies and Hong Kong action films. It also signaled Tarantino as a talent to watch. His second film Pulp Fiction went on to win a prize at Cannes in 1994, and make clear that he was going to continue to make an impact on the film scene.

Jean Luc Godard once said that every film must have a beginning a middle and an end but not necessarily in that order. Tarantino's Pulp Fiction reaffirms that point. Pulp Fiction interlaces three stories inspired by the lurid, popular crime fiction of the 30s and 40s - but with a fresh, hip new sheen. The film opens with a couple (Amanda Plummer, Tim Roth) contemplating a career change, which involves giving up robbing liquor stores in favor of robbing coffee houses... But hold that thought... because the film abruptly cuts away from their story to a pair of hit men (Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta) who arrive early for a job and bide their time by arguing over the sexual implications of a foot massage. (Think back to a similar style of conversation in Reservoir Dogs in which a gang of crooks argue over tipping.) Next we meet a double crossing fighter (Bruce Willis), the hitmen's boss (a memorable Ving Rhames), and the boss's wife (Uma Thurman in a Louise Brooks bob). Then after a violent climax, the film doubles back to the opening scene with sly, satisfying elegance.

Forbidden Kingdom

Jet Li and Jackie Chan are kung fu masters fighting over the training of wimpy white boy Michael Angarano in Forbidden Kigdom (Lionsgate)

Forbidden Kingdom (opening April 18 throughout San Diego) is being pitched to audiences as the first film to ever pair martial arts masters and Hong Kong superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li. But there's another pairing going on that in some ways may prove more important for the industry, and that's the behind the scenes partnership between China and the U.S. that brought the film to the screen. Variety describes the co-production as a possible "blueprint for a new wave of East-West cooperation." The film boasts an American director but with many of the actors and crew coming from Asia, and most of the scenes shot on location in China. The film also had a Hong Kong press junket and an April 15 release in Beijing before opening today in the U.S. The film serves up a mix of styles and languages as it strives for the widest possible global audience. Plus, by co-producing the film with China, Hollywood gets around that Asian country's import quota (that limits the number of foreign films released in China each year). So in many ways there's more at stake than just finding out who's the best kung fu master Chan or Li.

Teen Critic Enters the Forbidden Kingdom

Jet Li versus Jackie Chan in Forbidden Kingdom (Lionsgate)

By Carlos Sepulveda

I have always wondered who would win in a fight between Jackie Chan and Jet Li. When I heard they were making a movie together, I thought that maybe my question would finally be answered. The Forbidden Kingdom (opening April 17 throughout San Diego) is a movie that mixes fantasy, action, humor and adventure. The beginning of the movie dragged a bit, until we started to see more of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The story line of the movie wasn't very exciting or original, I even found several similarities between The Forbidden Kingdom and The Lord of the Rings.

Forbidden Kingdom starts off with a boy named Jason who is obsessed with Chinese Martial Arts movies. He stumbles across an ancient Chinese bow staff as he looks for more movies at a pawn shop. After falling from a building, Jason is unexpectedly transported back to ancient China to find the owner of the bow staff. Once in China he meets a drunk Kung Fu master, Lu Yan, who is played by Jackie Chan. Lu Yan and Jason embark on the journey to return the bow staff to the Monkey King who is trapped in stone until he has his staff again. On their way to the Monkey King they meet a girl, Golden Sparrow (played by Crystal Liu Yi Fei) and the Silent Monk (played by Jet Li). The four amigos join forces to beat the evil Jade Warlord who wants to keep the Monkey King from having his bow staff again.

When I was thinking about the film, I found similarities, as I mentioned earlier, to Lord of the Rings. I saw a connection between the two movies. In Lord of the Rings, the ultimate goal is to get the ring to the top of the volcano and have it destroyed. In Forbidden Kingdom, the plot is similar. In this film, they must get the staff to the Monkey King, but first they must defeat an evil Jade Warlord who resembles the evil Saruman from Lord of the Rings. In the scene where the Silent Monk makes his first appearance dressed in white riding on a horse, he looked very much like Gandalf. Those are a few of the things that reminded me of Lord of the Rings. But even though Forbidden Kingdom lacked originality, the movie made up for it with its humor and great fight scenes.

Although the movie left my original question unanswered -- I still don't know who would win in a fight between Jackie Chan and Jet Li -- it was still worth watching. It was very fun to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li fight each other. I like watching Jackie Chan movies because he uses no special effects or flying scenes. But in Forbidden Kingdom that's not the case. Since the movie had Jackie Chan and Jet Li in it, I was expecting the fight scene of the year along with lots of humor. The movie was not exactly what I expected but was still worth watching.

-- Carlos Sepulveda is a senior currently attending Mount Miguel High. Carlos enjoys reading in his spare time and running. He is most interested in history, politics and world issues. Carlos likes to watch foreign films, comedies and dramas.

CJ7

What's in the bag? CJ7 (Sony Pictures)

Stephen Chow was a huge star in Asia before U.S. audiences finally "discovered" him in Shaolin Soccer (made in 2001 but released here in 2004) and Kung Fu Hustle. In those films, Chow emphasized his aptitude for physical comedy and delivered films in which his antics mimicked the malleability and plasticity of a Warner Brothers cartoon. In his latest film, CJ7 (opening March 14 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas), Chow sticks with the physical comedy but chooses to deliver a kiddie film in the vein of E.T.

A Valentine to Wong Kar Wai

Are you in the mood for love this Valentine's Day? (Block 2 Pictures)

Okay my idea of a good date movie for Valentine's Day is Shaun of the Dead. So maybe I'm not the best person to be making Valentine's Day recommendations. But there's one contemporary filmmaker who consistently tackles love with such lush romanticism that even I swoon at his movies. That filmmaker is Wong Kar-Wai. In person, Wong himself cuts a romantic figure with his spiky haircut, ever-present shades and a cherished cigarette smoldering between his fingers.

TONY LEUNG: "He is very mysterious on the set. I don't know what happens behind those sunglasses. Maybe he's sleeping, I don't know."

That's actor Tony Leung. He's worked with Wong for more than a decade.

TONY LEUNG: "The most interesting thing is that even though you know you character very well after you finish all the shooting, you will never have an idea what the story is about because he will do that in the editing room."

Whipping up heady romantic cocktails in the editing room is something Wong does exceptionally well. His films offer mood rather than story, and sweep you up with their  intoxicating and expressionistic images. Although each of Wong's films has a distinctly different flavor, they all expand on a similar pool of ideas -- love, loss, desire and a fascination with tangled romantic relationships. Wong says that in a sense he's just making a single epic work, with each film an added chapter.

The Eye

Jessica Alba stars in The Eye, a remake of a Hong Kong horror film (Lionsgate)

The Eye (opened on February 2 throughout San Diego) follows films such as The Ring, The Grudge and Dark Water in turning to Asian horror film successes as inspiration for a Hollywood remake. But unlike those Japanese or J-horror inspired films, The Eye draws on a Hong Kong film directed by the Thai-born Pang Brothers as source material. The story works on a very simple premise: what if you received someone else's eyes in a transplant operation and suddenly began seeing from the organ donor's perspective. Jessica Alba plays a blind violinist who hopes that a cornea transplant will change her life. It does but not in the way she or anyone could have expected. 

Screen Actors Guild Awards

The Bourne Ultimatum won the first ever Best Stunt Ensemble at the SAG Awards. (Universal)

Over the weekend, many industry guilds gave out their top awards. The Directors Guild of America honored the Coens for No Country for Old Men, and the American Society of Cinematographers bestowed its top prize on Robert Elswit for There Will Be Blood. With a waiver from the still striking Writers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild got to have an awards ceremony with a red carpet and celebrities. No real surprises as Daniel Day Lewis and Julie Christie racked up awards yet again for their respective work in There Will Be Blood and Away From Her. This looks like a preview of the upcoming Oscars. No Country for Old Men nabbed the best ensemble, which bodes well for it to grab the Best Picture Award come Oscar time. You can see the complete list of winners at the SAG website.

But there was one surprise at the otherwise predictable SAG awards, a new category for Best Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture. The nominees were 300, The Bourne Ultimatum, I am Legend, The Kingdom, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. And the winner was The Bourne Ultimatum. Are you kidding me? I don't want to belittle the hard work that went into those films but what about Zoe Bell's phenomenal stunts in Grindhouse's Deathproof? Grindhouse deserved a nomination just for paying tribute to all the stuntmen of the industry's "all or nothing" days" as Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike put it.

And what about the insanely over the top stunts in Shoot 'Em Up? And were all Asian films excluded? They must have been or there is no excuse for overlooking work from Hong Kong (Exiled and Flashpoint just to name two), South Korea (City of Violence had breathtaking stunts), Japan and even Thailand. Heck even Live Free or Die Hard had more impressive stunt work than Bourne. Only 300 brought anything new or fresh to the action genre among those films nominated. As an action film junkie, I just had to get that off my chest. On the plus side, it's cool that SAG created this award. In Hong Kong, they have a category for Action Choreography. So it's nice to see the U.S. begin to pay respect to this particular cinematic craft.

More awards to come. The Oscars -- if the writers' strike ends or they get a waiver from the WGA -- is scheduled for February 24.  You can get a printable ballot for your own Oscar event, or join Scott Marks and I at the Museum of Photographic Arts' Oscar Party. And the winner is...

10 Best of 2007

Choosing the top ten films of 2007 is like choosing which of your children you like best. I love them all but in different ways. This year the family grew larger than expected and was all over the map. You can listen to my rundown of the 10 best of 2007. I'm also including here some other noteworthy films of the year.

First, I'll mention a few films that might have made my ten best if studios had only decided to release them in San Diego. The trippy anime Tekkon Kinkreet; David Lynch's mind bending Inland Empire; the slyly ironic Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; the abortion documentary Lake of Fire; and a pair of Johnnie To Hong Kong actioners Exiled and Triad Election (known as Election 2 in Hong Kong) all dazzled in their own unique ways. But none were deemed worthy of release here. I'm particularly irked by the fact that Johnnie To repeatedly fails to get his films released here. In these two films he served up gangster tales that were darker and more existential than what American audiences probably expect from Hong Kong actioners. He manges to mix action elements with a French New Wave freshness and Wong Kar Wai's lush stylish flourishes. To delivers consistently stunning work yet has failed to convince U.S. distributors to give his films an art house release that extends beyond a few cities. This needs to change.

Shoot ‘Em Up/Interviews with Michael Davis and Clive Owen

I'm a British nanny and I'm dangerous... Shoot 'Em Up (New Line)

At this year's Comic-Con, filmmaker Michael Davis and actor Clive Owen sat on a panel for their new film Shoot 'Em Up (opening September 7 throughout San Diego). By the end of the ten minutes or so of clips, the crowd of 6400 attendees in Hall H were hooting and hollering their approval and begging for more. But can the film sustain that level of energy throughout? Listen to my radio feature or read the extended interview/review.

I spoke with both Davis and Owen at the Comic-Con about their film. Owen arrived at the round table interview looking like he had just stepped off the cover of GQ. He wore a suit and tie--definitely over dressed for the Con. But he brought a touch of class to the room of bedraggled journalists. He's also drop dead gorgeous... and a really nice guy to boot.