‘Indiana Jones 4′ - The Old Magic Still Works - Cannes 2008
Earlier today, the world’s press in Cannes finally got to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Here is a summary of the critical reaction:
Anne Thompson of Variety sets the scene outside the screening and says the film is ‘good enough’ and ‘fun’:
”Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had its world premiere at Cannes at 1 PM May 18; the press anxiously streamed into the Lumiere early, afraid they would be shut out-and many were.
There were whoos and whistles before the screening started.The movie unspooled without the usual Cannes logo. The first hour plays like gangbusters and is really fun.
Harrison Ford has Indy down, even as a grizzled “gramps” dealing affectionately with Shia LaBeouf as a 60s greaser with a pompadour.
The movie will do blockbuster boxoffice, and whatever critical brickbats are still to come…”
Her Variety colleague Todd McCarthy says it ‘delivers the goods’:
”One of the most eagerly and long-awaited series follow-ups in screen history delivers the goods, not those of the still first-rate original, 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but those of its uneven two successors.
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” begins with an actual big bang, then gradually slides toward a ho-hum midsection before literally taking off for an uplifting finish.”
|
Karen Allen thrilled to be in ‘Indiana Jones 4′
Karen Allen has revealed that she is thrilled to be reprising her role as Marion Ravenwood in the new Indiana Jones movie.
The actress, who is now a fashion designer, said she had no idea that she would be returning to the franchise until director Steven Spielberg called her last year.
She told “There had been a rumour for many, many years that they were trying to find a script everybody was going to be happy with.
Allen played Indy’s (Harrison Ford) love interest in first instalment Raiders Of The Lost Ark in 1981, but did not feature in its two sequels.
Talking about the storyline for the new movie, she said:
“As the film begins, they haven’t seen each other for a long time, and suddenly, they’re thrust back together. They kind of pick up from where they left off. A few bumpy roads have passed between them since then that they have to work out with each other.”
The 50-year-old refused to confirm speculation that Shia LaBeouf’s character is Indy and Marion’s love child, saying: “You’ll have to wait and see.”
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens worldwide on May 22.
|
|
Steven Spielberg’s long-awaited Abraham Lincoln project after Tintin
Steven Spielberg’s long-gestating project about US president Abraham Lincoln will be the director’s next project after the first live-action Tintin film which goes into production this September.Spielberg says he will begin shooting of the Lincoln biopic at the beginning of 2009 “so that it can also open in the same year as Lincoln’s 200th anniversary which comes round then.”
Originally, Spielberg had been planning Chicago Seven as his next project about the famous 1960s trial of the protestors at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago.
However, this project had to be postponed since the screenplay was not yet ready, leading to the Lincoln project being brought forward in its place.
In an interview with the German weekly magazine Focus ahead of the world premiere of the new Indiana Jones film in Cannes, Spielberg also said production on Tintin would not be threatened by a possible actors’ strike.
“That doesn’t affect us as it is an animation film with motion capture technology,” he said.
|
|
Hollywood and Cannes Film Festival
Clint Eastwood’s film “The Changeling“, starring Angelina Jolie as a woman searching for her missing son in 1920s Los Angeles and “Synechdoche, New York,” screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut.joins a competition list.
Steven Soderbergh, who took the top Cannes award in 1989 for “Sex, Lies and Videotape“, won a race against time to complete his four-hour epic “Che“, on the life of the revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara in time for the festival.
Steven Soderbergh’s inclusion looks like a last-minute decision. He competes with two pic ”Che” bio - “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla”
As predicted, Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” world preems down on the Croisette, possibly on Sunday May 18. It promises this fest’s must-attend, highest-glam event.
Thierry Fremaux, the festival’s head said the presence of Steven Spielberg and the stars of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, which will premiere outside the main competition, would ensure “a magnificent red carpet”.
Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett and George Lucas are expected to join Spielberg on the steps outside the Palais des Festivals, guaranteeing the kinds of flashing cameras that add essential glamour to the festival’s arthouse fare.
Out-of-competition, DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda,” an adventure, comedic chop-soc tooner, promises another Hollywood red-carpet cavalcade.
Also non-competing, as is Woody Allen’s custom, is the Spain-shot “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”
After its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, the Hollywood satire “What Just Happened?” will get a second chance at Cannes - closing night, but we are not sure yet because organizers said they would announce the movies that open and close the festival in a few days.
Robert De Niro stars an embattled Hollywood producer whose life falls apart during one turbulent week. In a life-imitating-art turn, the film’s climactic scene takes place at the Cannes Film Festival, with the producer’s fictional movie-within-a-movie opening the event.
“What Just Happened?” also stars Catherine Keener as a tough-as-nails studio chief and features a number of stars, including Sean Penn and Bruce Willis, playing themselves in self-parodying roles. Barry Levinson directs from an adaptation of “Into the Wild” producer Art Linson’s memoir.
The film generated strong buzz going into January’s Sundance Film Festival, and was expected to sell for a significant seven-figure sum. But the movie received a mixed critical.
|
|
Hungry For More Star Trek Details? Here You Go!
Here are the highlights:
- The budget on the film is far below $200MM.
- The film will be rated PG-13.
- The release date was pushed back to summer ‘09 because Paramount really wants it to be a summer blockbuster.
- The intent was to re-invent the Star Trek franchise, and that is why they went all the way back to start at the beginning.
- The script was written with Leonard Nimoy in mind. Nimoy read the script and liked it. It seems he’s so pivotal to the story that they would have had a big problem if he hadn’t liked it.
- Yes, the USS Enterprise will be assembled in space, although parts of it will be assembled on Earth.
- Orci revealed that originally Steven Spielberg read the script and talked to J.J. Abrams about directing it during a set visit to the Transformers set. Abrams mentioned it to his wife, who also helped talk him into the final decision to take on the potentially scary project. Read the rest of this entry
|
|
Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford Grew Close on ‘Indiana Jones 4′
Steven Spielberg has revealed that his friendship with Harrison Ford was the best part of filming Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.
The pair collaborated on the first three instalments of the franchise but did not grow close until the latest adventure.
Spielberg said they had struck up a friendship on the set of the fourth movie, 17 years after filming Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.
The director told Empire: “We’ve gone off and made other movies which means our paths have not crossed all that often. I’m not the most social guy in the world and neither is Harrison, so we didn’t spend much time together, but we actually became great buddies on this movie.
“More even than on the first three. It’s the best thing that came out of this experience for me.”
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull opens on May 22.
|
|
New TV Spot For ‘Indiana Jones 4′
A new TV spot is now online for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and it’s moderately superior to last month’s clunky teaser trailer.
The “genius” line between Harrison Ford and a stiff-haired Shia LaBeouf has the kind of smart ass pop that the classic adventure franchise warrants. Also, notice that the scene most snarked at by fanboys in the original trailer, where Indiana Jones fell ass-first into the windshield of a moving vehicle and awkwardly punched out a goon, has been replaced, wisely, by a Steven Spielberg credit. Otherwise, nothing much new here.
|
|
