Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Indiana (Harrison Ford) is forced to find a box that is hidden in a U.S. facility by a group of Russian soldiers, headed up by Dr. Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). The box holds a corpse that appears to be from out of this world. Indiana at first attempts an escape that is foiled by Mac (Ray Winstone), whom he thought was his friend. The professor is not stalled for long, and he manages to get away, even getting out of being harmed by a bomb dropped on a nuclear test site. Unfortunately, this puts Indiana under suspicion of being in cahoots with Communism. It's 1957, and anti-Communist sentiment is high.

Indiana is forced to take a leave from absence from his professor's position. On the way out of town, he meets Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), a young man who needs a favor. A professor friend of his, Oxnard (John Hurt) has been kidnapped. When Mutt's mom went to find him, she ended up in trouble, too. Oxnard was in search of the Crystal Skull, which is rumored to have great powers. Mutt shows Indiana a letter of what Oxnard had found so far. Indiana and Mutt travel to Peru, where they encounter a lot of dangerous situations, as Dr. Spalko stays on their trail. Indiana is surprised to find Mutt's mom is Marion (Karen Allen), a former girlfriend who was introduced in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

This film is not as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it's not the weak entry in the series that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was. It has flashes of what made people admire Indiana Jones, and Mutt is not a bad sidekick.

Shia LaBeouf was in Transformers (2007). Ms. Allen was in Animal House (1978) and Scrooged (1988). Ford has been in many movies including American Graffiti (1973).

Transformers (2007)

My stepmother, 19 year old niece and I saw this a few days ago. Before we went inside the theater, my niece kept telling my stepmother that she would like the movie because of all of the action. Oh, there was plenty of action, all right. But there wasn't enough of a decent storyline or script.

Sam (Shia LaBeouf) gets a used car in the early scenes. His goal is to use the car to attract girls. What Sam doesn't know is that his car is Bumblebee, one of the Transformers, a race of alien robots who have the ability to disguise themselves as cars, planes, trucks, even boom boxes. Luckily for Sam, Bumblebee is one of the good Transformers. Bumblebee and his friends, including Optimus Prime (voice of Peter Cullen), are in search of a cube that posseses great powers. Unfortunately, an evil Decepticon is also looking for the cube. It also has a mission to restore Megatron (voice of Hugo Weaving), the top evil Transformer, to glory. Megatron wants to conquer the universe.

Some of the actors play for laughs. Bernie Mac is the dealer who sells the hero the car in the beginning of the movie. LaBeouf has some nice moments fumbling in front of Megan Fox, who plays Mikela, the obligatory love interest. John Turturro has fun as a member of a covert military team. Jon Voight, portraying the President of the US, and singer Tyrese Gibson, playing a soldier, play it straight. I especially liked a scene where the President pulls up a shotgun to help fend off an enemy.

The last hour or so of this movie is nothing but non-stop fighting, and it is loud and annoying. I suppose those who were kids when the original "Transformers" (1984-1987) cartoon was aired, might get some nostalgia value out of this film. Other audiences will find this movie lacking on so many levels.

Shia LaBeouf was in Disturbia and was a cast member on "Even Stevens" (1999-2003). John Turturro was the racist son of a pizza restaurant owner in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing (1989). Jon Voight was in the much better Conrack (1974), and Midnight Cowboy (1969). Tyrese Gibson was in Baby Boy (2001), and appeared in a popular soft drink commercial as a guy singing on the back of a city bus.