Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull... Some Thoughts (spoilers)

I just came back from watching Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and being a noob of the Indiana Jones flicks (didn't watch the first three), it seemed okay at best. It is a good movie filled with flaws, but it still did 100+ million in the box office. I'm going to go straight to the point that this week's 1up Yours podcast nailed it perfectly on the fact that most of the movie is like a video game. Nearly all the action scenes are CG to the extreme (my favorite being the whole jungle car chase scene). Actually all the chases can be played in a game in many ways as well as some of the puzzle scenes. Then again, if this movie was a game, it would be filled with cutscenes and quicktime events. Even some of the scenes just seem unreal like Indy surviving the nuke and when they were falling off three waterfalls and I was like how can they survive that?? (One example of the overblown CG).

As for the acting, I would say before watching this movie that Harrison Ford still has it in him like that wrestling chant "You still got it" when some wrestler returns to the ring after a long hiatus. Yeah Ford still has it after watching it, but all those action scenes are not designed for him specifically, so they had to CG it out as well as having stunt doubles. The dialogue seems mostly cheesy with Ford saying many variations of "This is not good" every time something bad happens. As for the supporting cast, I'm starting to hate Shia LeBouf even more if they continues to hog big summer movies that started with Transformers. I don't know if he was the perfect choice to be Indy's son, but he did okay I guess. Kate Blanchett as the antagonist seems weird at first and didn't really play one since she always had her goons ready. Even Mary's positive attitude during the action and near-death scenes is really awkward. Plus, how many times can Indy's long-time partner double-cross him in one movie?

Lastly, I like to rant about John Williams's score for the film. I know that theme song is very symbolic with the franchise, but it was way overplayed in many variations throughout the movie. Then again, that theme song is probably the only good song for the whole franchise compared to the many symbolic hits in the Star Wars flicks he made.

If I would score this, it would be a 7/10 at best. Steven Spilberg did some things right and wrong with this long-awaited flick. At least Indiana Jones is relevant again for people who appreciated it back in its day, but it is likely for the last time. I don't see any opportunity for the franchise to continue with Ford continuing to be Jones, but crazier things have happened in the movie industry.

More Street Fighter 4 Footage at Japan

This weekend was a 5th location test for Street Fighter 4 (my most anticipated game still) which didn't any new stages or characters, but changed some stuff for some characters, some for being nerfed or beefed up. Over at the Shoryuken forums for this game, Bison (Dictator) seems nearly god tier with Scissor Kicks and Slide Sweeps being way better again since u can't really get punished for it if they're blocked. Psycho Crusher is still the cheap move we know and love and the Head Stomp is still the Head Stomp, but imagine EX versions of Bison's specials (I haven't seen his Ultra yet).

Rufus, one of the new characters, is improved significantly and maybe high tier for the moment. Zangief is also considered nearly god tier especially in close range.

Here's Vega in action on this video and similar to what he plays in Super Turbo, which is good, adding along EX specials. That means u can fly around like crazy again as Claw (what the hardcore peeps call Vega these days) with those airborne specials even though Rolling Claw sucks now from what I seen in this video. All of the other characters seem the same with Chun-Li no longer having man hands as people complained about that, Crimson Viper still has the worst Ultra Combo in the game, and the combo system is getting towards Capcom vs. SNK 2 territory from what I read especially for Ryu and Ken. Anyway, here is some more footage from the latest location test for SF4 (Supposedly this is the last location test before its July release at Japanese arcades with more characters and stages still waiting to be revealed).

A Day in the Life of Liberty City (Beaten the game!!!)

Earlier today, I finally beaten the story in GTA4 and it felt really good doing the Revenge ending (no spoilers). So now I'm at 78ish precent after playing for 45 hours. I didn't really care about trying to beat it in less than 30 hours for 30 achievement points. Now I can play multiplayer without worrying about beating the story (I'll play it for a week). I still expect myself to do more of the side missions like car thefts and most wanted as well as find as many pigeons and stunt jumps as I can. Next week, might be my review for the game before Ninja Gaiden 2's release, so wait till then for that.

A pic from the Chun-Li Street Fighter Movie

Here's a pic of Kristen Kreuk as Chun-Li in the new Street Fighter movie. Who knows if the producers / directors are going to make Chun-Li faithful to the games, but likely they are not. Will we see the signature hair and big thighs Chun-Li is known for? I won't mind checking this one if it is any good.

Soul Calibur IV Direct-Feed Footage

This is like the first direct-feed footage I seen for Soul Calibur IV and one thing I instantly annoyed is that Namco needs to fix the health meter displays a little bit. They seem kind of bland to me, but I'll probably get over it if they don't change it. Other than that, the gameplay is pretty SC with the increased boobage that message boards have complained about with the majority of the female characters. This footage at least shows one of the new characters, Hilde, in action as well as Raphael, Sophitia, and Voldo. I still have high hopes that SC4 will be way better than 3 being back to what was great in 2 and even the first one on Dreamcast (which is still coming to XBLA).

Another Capcom crossover fighter, but not what u think..

Famitsu has revealed a new Capcom crossover fighting game, but it is not the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 we have been waiting for throughout this decade. Instead, Capcom stars will face off with characters from Tatsunoko like Gatchaman and others I don't know. For Capcom, only Ryu, Chun-Li, and Servbot (from the background) have been revealed. According to the first pics, the gameplay might be reminiscent of the Marvel vs. Capcom games with tag team fighting / assists plus super moves as seen in Ryu's Shinku Hadoken. I won't mind another Capcom crossover with Marvel and SNK done already (Mortal Kombat vs. DC out this year), so I'm curious how this one will turn out (That Sammy vs. Capcom game never happened and that Namco X Capcom was a decent Japan-only RPG) even though it may not make it here in the States because the Tatsunoko franchises are not known here.

Music Roundup for 5/21/08

This week is a biggie for the Music Roundup with three albums and more.

I'll start off with a highly anticipated album of mine for the year, which is Usher's Here I Stand. This one is out next week and for Usher, how can he really top his last album, Confessions? That is something tough to pull off especially and his new one is not as good as his previous hit album with all those banging hits from "Yeah," "Burn," and "Confessions Part II." Even though it is not Usher's best, it is still pretty good. Of course, his current hit single, "Love in This Club," is the jam these days and the remix, or Part II, featuring Beyonce and Lil' Wayne is actually better even though I don't know what is the big deal with Weezy and why everyone likes him. I'm currently a fan of the up-tempo stuff in Here I Stand with "This Ain't Sex," "Moving Mountains," "What's Your Name" featuring Will.I.Am, "Best Thing" with the Jiggaman, "Before I Met You," and "What's A Man to Do." I'm not so much on the slow songs yet, but "His Mistakes" is the decent one I like so far. Usher's latest album would likely not have the same success Confessions had with that platinum debut, but it is still pretty good to check this out and not as disappointing as others expected.

Next up this week is We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz. Sure, his first two albums had that mainstream appeal, but it is more Jason Mraz and that's fine by me. This is just a chill album to blast because of his style of sound still staying the same. Even though I listened to this one once so far, it is also a recommendable album to check out.

Lastly is Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs and it has received numerous critical praise. The album definitely lives up to all that praise being more Death Cab with their style of rock. This also is worth a download or purchase.

That's it for the Music Roundup and next month is going to be nuts with albums from Coldplay, Ne-Yo, and N.E.R.D. out at that time, so maybe music will be good again...