ArchaeoBlog

1) I did not watch the Stupor Bowl. No, instead I was busy watching. . .

2) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on Hi-Def Blue-Ray. Yowsers. It really is an amazing picture. And, having watched it a second time, I must say that none of my opinions have changed from the first viewing: The whole aliens thing is still lame, the skulls look like plastic stuffed with Saran wrap, and Mutt swinging through the trees like a monkey is still dumb, dumb, dumb. Those and a few standard physics-defying items (which you can’t really get away from anymore) are the main drawbacks, but I still liked the way they handled most of it. I watched some of the special features and learned that Ford did most of his own stunts this time, owing to the ability to put the actors in safety harnesses and such and digitally remove them later. I tend to rag on the aforementioned physics-defying special effects that digitization has made possible these days, but that seems to me to be a largely positive result of that. Still liked the way they handled Mutt and his interactions with Indy, still liked the way they worked Marion into it, and most of the archaeology-related stuff was not too cringe-inducing either.

3) Also due to the purchase of a Blue Ray DVD player, I also indulged in the latest mummy flick, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Third in the recent Mummy series and definitely the worst. The new Evelyn is, eh, nothing exciting (albeit nicer to look at than Rachel Weisz, IMO), the new mummy, Jet Li, is not altogether scary, creepy, or otherwise icky looking, and the whole thing is way too stunt-and-effects intensive. And the Yeti are just d-u-m dumb. It’s nice to get some Chinese archaeology in there though; one gets a bit tired of the endless recycling of Egyptian themes. SPOILERS to follow: I did think it was a neat way of working the Xi’an terra cotta army into the mythology of it: a sorceress (Michelle Yeoh, which makes the film automatically worth watching, hubba) turns the Emperor (Li) and his army to clay to prevent him from killing her and her lover, and then the whole story revolves around the Emperor coming back to life, becoming immortal, and then awakening his army who will also be immortal if they cross the Great Wall.

So I’d say rent it, have fun, but don’t expect to be blown away.