By George, I Think He's Lost It ...

May is the kickoff month of the Hollywood blockbuster season ...

This month, I went and saw all 4 of what I considered to be the movies to see that would fit that mold ...

Iron Man ... Holy Moley Andy! ... a good movie that happened to be a comic book movie with real actors, an intelligent script, and good effects that did not completely dominate the film in order to take away from what had been accomplished by the good acting and script ... the bar has been raised ...

Prince Caspian ... a bit slow and plodding, but better than the next two ... I did enjoy it and it felt like an installment but it is what it is and would not stand alone ... I am looking forward to the remaining films in this series ...

Indiana Jones 4 ... very disappointing ... the crystal skull looked like the same plastic used for 2 liter bottles and distracted from the film every time it was on screen it was so bad ... the acting and chemistry and direction were fine and they did a nice job of clearly placing it in the 50s ... but in the end the movie was a big waste of time ... there was nothing resembling drama or peril; in fact the sequences sometimes made me cringe and laugh (I am referring to the 3 waterfalls and the flying refrigerator here) ...

Speed Racer ... it is a sad day for the legacy of George Lucas (he had screenwriting and production credit on IJ4) when Speed Racer was a more enjoyable movie experience than an Indiana Jones film ... not to knock Speed, but this clearly should not have happened ... I almost enjoyed this more than Caspian for its sheer audacity in going for the anime world the way it did ... this is a classic case of the directors really enjoying the source material and trying to use TLC ... kick back with some popcorn and root beer and just be entertained by seeing your favorite childhood cartoon come to life and this is totally worth the time and money ...

In all ... a decent start to the summer season with a number of fun ones to come that I have to hope are at least Speed Racer good ... and I never thought that this would be the bar ...

But George ... stop ... just stop ... the Star Wars prequels were not a fluke ...