pop-o-matic Reviews ... Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Critic's reviews have never influenced my decision to see or avoid something. Thumbs up or thumbs down, five stars, four apples, or ten rabbits - I don't care what someone I've never met thinks. The largest influencers of my viewing consumption are friends and fellow bloggers. In other words, you.

So here is my new review section in which, I'll share my thoughts on something and hope you chime in with your opinion in the comments section. Don't expect anything well thought-out or in depth from me. What you will get is whether I liked it or not.


Last night I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth installment in this series that I have grown up with. I was a little nervous heading into the theater since it's been almost 20 years since the last Indy flick. Would Spielberg and Lucas still have what it takes to produce a great action adventure movie or would Crystal Skull become the Phantom Menace of the Jones series?

I'm happy to report that Crystal Skull is a great addition to the previous three films. This latest film takes place in 1957 and finds an older and more cantankerous Dr. Jones still traveling the world in search of artifacts and adventure. Crystal Skull has all the action, excitement, and humor of the previous movies and is definitely the most far fetched, however, you could argue that all these films are complete fantasy.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the perfect summer flick - there is nothing to think about and plenty of over the top visuals. In other words, I loved it!

The NYTimes Needs A Dictionary

Dictionary.com defines the word "Funny" as the following:

fun·ny[fuhn-ee]
1. providing fun; causing amusement or laughter; amusing; comical: a funny remark; a funny person.

Completely missing from that definition is any mention of slaughter houses or actual footage of cows being killed, mutilated and processed for cheap burger meat. That definition also leaves out the plight of Mexicans walking through the dessert in an attempt to find a better life in America only to be forced into horrible jobs with nothing to look forward to but crank addiction once they get here.

Apparently someone at the New York Times finds the above scenarios from the movie Fast Food Nation to be "Funny".

Fast Food Nation presents an entirely humorless look at the fast food industry through the eyes of several different socio-economic groups ranging from industry executives to illegal immigrants forced to work in meat processing plants. Its a wonderful, eye-opening film written and directed by Richard Linklater. I went into the movie feeling smug self righteousness because I don't eat fast food. I left the movie feeling icky and considering becoming a vegetarian - sounds funny right?

This seems like one of those important films that you should see and I'm glad I watched it. I just want to spare anyone out there who is in the mood for a National Lampoon style funny movie with lots of fart and boob jokes from making the same mistake I did. I thought a movie with the word "Funny" printed on the cover of the DVD case would have a few jokes and gags or at least a little less slaughter and oppressive life stories.