Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast

New Releases 5/22/08

Indiana Jones returns with the crack of his whip in theaters and DVDs

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG-13)
Starring: Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen
Director: Steven Spielberg
Story: George Lucas, Jeff Nathanson
Producer: Frank Marshall
It’s the early fifties, and Indiana Jones is 20 years older than we last saw him “20 years older and suspected of having Communist sympathies in Eisenhower’s Cold War America. What’s a fellow to do but get a younger sidekick who understands what all this new Elvis Presley music is about, and manages to smile even harder as Indy gets grumpier. The film opens in the same gigantic Federal warehouse where the Lost Ark was sent for storage, and careens around South America in search of bigger and better snakes, ancient ruins and even carnivorous ants. It’s not perfect, but its still damn good.
3 and 1/2 pieces of Lucas and Spielberg toast

Mary Poppins (G) (Special 1 week showing at the Rialto in Santa Rosa)
Starring: Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley
Director: Robert Stevenson
Producer: Walt Disney, Bill Walsh
Now’s your chance to see this 1964 classic on the big screen. I’m not sure everything holds up as well as it should (for instance, Dick Van Dyke should never have cast as an English chimney sweep), but Mary (Julie Andrews) seems to get better and better and overall, it’s a suprecalifragilizticexpialidocious (if that’s spelled right) treasure
4 pieces of classic toast

New on Video/DVD

The Flock (R)
Starring: Richard Gere, Claire Danes, Avril Lavigne, KaDee Strickland
Director: Andrew Lau
Since Clint Eatswood says he’s never going to play Dirty Harry again, it’s up to other aging actors to play similar characters. This time it’s Richard Gere who (surprise) goes against the wishes of his New Maxico superiors to treat sex offenders like he thinks they should be treated. As we know, tired, formulaic, oh-so-graphic thrillers often manage to make it to movie theaters but this one didn’t show up because of a financing and distribution fiasco. If you are soon tired of all the reruns of TV cop shows this summer, here’s more in the same vein complete wilh CSI-type sex scenes.
Unavailable for preview

Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection (PG-13)
Starring: Hrrison Ford etc.
Director: Stephen Spielberg, etc.
A special, remastered version of the three original Indian Jones movies has been collected with some nifty extras into a great collectors pack.
? “Raiders of the Lost Ark“(1981) Pits Indy (Harrrison Ford) and his hard-drinking female sidekick, Marion Ravenwood, (Karen Allen) against evil Nazis. An extra called “The Melting Face” goes into detail how the villain was dispatched at the end of the film.
? “The Temple of Doom” (1984) is my least favorite of the set because of scenes of child torture and the death of the bad guy when his beating heart is ripped from his chest. It earned a well deserved PG-13 rating. The extras on this disc are kind of ordinary, with Lucas, Spielberg and Marshall talking about creepy crawlies like bugs, rats and snakes
? “The Last Crusade“(1989) has Sean Connery playing Indy’s mercurial father and the original James Bond steals the film away from the others. The extras include “The Woman” (Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw -who became Mrs. Spielberg, and Alison Doody)., and “Friends and Enemies,” which contains a discussion about how the villains were created including those in the new move “The Crystal Skull.”
4 pieces of Indiana Jones toast