Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Starring Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone, John Hurt. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by George Lucas and others
It’s been a few years since Indy went on his final film… err… crusade, so instead of Dr. Jones getting kicked around by Germans, it’s the Ruskies. You need to know that because, well, it’s completely unimportant, but everyone else seems to be making a big deal about it. It might as well be Indy vs. The Amish or Indy vs. The Easter Bunny. We really don’t care. They’re all enemies of the American way of life, which is the important thing. But I digress.
Indy in introduced by being slapped around at the same warehouse where the Årk is stored. (Yes, the one from the closing of Raiders. It’s Area 51, silly!) For the Ark? Nope. For some highly magnetic artifact, that he managed to help find. As usual, he scrapes by, gets blown up by a nuclear bomb and gets interrogated for helping the commies. OK, maybe not so usual. All of this to find out that our comrades are looking for crystal skulls - magical, mystical, psychic power-having skulls, which are elongated. Not to spoil anything but I think you can do the math on where the film head(s). Yes, and Marion (Karen Allen) pops up and, yes, LaBeouf’s “Mutt” is her son. But the question is not “Was there a point to their roles?” It’s, “Does Harrison Ford still look good in that hat?” Well, yeah. I won’t lie, he’s still Indy.
Crystal Skull is not a bad movie by any means, but it doesn’t exactly rank in the top three and breaks from a lot of things that made Indy great. You’ll laugh and enjoy yourself all the way through (especially the special effects), but you’re likely to leave asking, “Did that just happen? I thought we supposed to see an Indiana Jones movie.” B- (Joe Allison)

Speed Racer – Starring Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon and Matthew Fox. Directed by the Wachowski brothers
Speed (Hirsch) lives, breathes, swims and eats racing. (I’ll bet you gathered that from the trailers. I’ll bet you also gathered that it’s a big, sprawling, brightly-colored movie with a good deal of posing and mugging.) When it turns out Speed is an ultimate racing god, a big bad evil corporation devil wants to buy him out and slap the company’s branding all over his rear end. So Speed races to show ‘em who’s boss. He gets approached by – who cares. Let’s be honest.
The movie is about slapsticky, over-the-top car insanity, impossible physics, racing, senseless fights and a car that does friggin’ flips and has gigantic saw blades. Which is exactly what “Speed Racer” (we’re talking the cartoon, now) was about. It was made by people with a lot of appreciation for Speed Racer and targeted to people with a lot of appreciation for “Speed Racer.” Chances are, all you remember about “Speed Racer” is that it had a fun car. That’s OK. I won’t sell the movie to you. If you loved the cartoon, you’ll love the movie. If you didn’t love it or don’t really remember it too well, the movie will not do a thing for you. I’m not going to cry myself to sleep over it while I cuddle with my replica Mach 5. B+ (Joe Allison)

Kung Fu Panda - Voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu and David Cross. Rated PG for Panda grippiness
Po (Black) loves Kung Fu almost as much as he likes to eat. Or likes to eat as much as he... Whatever. There’s news that the evil Tai Lung is coming back to town (reach, um, town), and, yep, they need a Kung Fu master. There’s the Furious Five (animals by their styles - Mantis, Tigress, yadda, yadda, yadda), but why go for the obvious choice? Pick the chubby stumbling panda! The Five think the same thing and go off to save the day on their own, leaving panda boy to be trained in the art of whoopin’. It comes down to this - Kung Fu Hustle meets Jack Black. If you like Fu flicks or Jack Black, you should be pretty well off. For everyone else - go see it! It’s awesome! A (Joe Allison)

Sex and the City - Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cantrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Chris Noth, Jennifer Hudson, David Eigenberg
They’re all back - the four gal pals: Carrie (Parker), Miranda (Nixon), Charlotte (Davis), and Samantha (Cattrall); Big (Noth), Steve Brady (Eigenberg) plus most of the regulars: Hunk Jared Smith, Troy, Stanford and Anthony. Of course it also stars New York’s skyline, trendy restaurants and clubs, loads of beautiful clothes, $500 shoes and bags, sex... and more sex. After six successful seasons on HBO, continual reruns and a hiatus of five years, life takes up where it left off. Only Samantha is in Hollywood with now movie star Jared (getting back to NY whenever she can). Carrie is still on again off again with Big (Noth), with a spectacular wedding in the making. Charlotte and Miranda are still married - though not without problems for Miranda. The film starts with a montage of each friend, to remind regular viewers and play catch up for anyone not familiar with the series.
Jennifer Hudson (Dream Girls), as Carrie’s assistant Louise, does an outstanding job. (Expect to see her in more acting roles). She also does the closing song on the soundtrack.
There’s love, sex, heartbreaks and, in the end, forgiveness. If you were/are a fan of the series, you’re gonna love the film. If you’re a newbie, still see it. It’s fabulous! A (Linda Hollar)