Features

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
By Michelle Groene

Modern day swashbuckler/archeologist/serial film character, Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones Jr., makes an attempt at a valiant return to the silver screen nearly two decades after the world was left with the filmic masterpiece, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. With so many expectations to live up to and obstacles to overcome [the amount of time that has passed since the last installment, George Lucas’ freakish obsession with computer graphic special effects and referencing his own films, and Shia LaBeouf whom everyone seems to hate as Jone’s bastard child], it is then understandable why the new Indiana Jones offering seems to fail at topping the classic Last Crusade. I will say this, however as a film among every other film out there today (especially this summer of ‘08) this film is pretty good. As an Indiana Jones installment, it seems lacking.
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Planet B-Boy


Dance films are the perennial guilty pleasure of American moviegoers, and despite overwhelmingly embarrassing outcomes (You Got Served, Step it Up, Honey, Save the Last Dance) they keep getting made. There is something about the promise of a stellar finale that persuades us to suffer through the cardboard dialogue and contrived drama that usually precede it. In 2005, two independent films offered a more attractive formula with Mad Hot Ballroom and Rize documenting urban youth transcending troubled neighborhoods by way of dance. Aiming the camera at real-life characters gave the genre the shot of humanity it needed and allowed the dancing to take center stage. Planet B-Boy uses this approach to explore the contemporary relevance of breakdancing, but instead of zooming in on one community, its story spans continents.
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