INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (2008)

Hmmm.  I'm a little torn on this one.  On the one hand the story is interesting (at least at the beginning) and the action is fun, but then as it goes on, things start to fall apart and you got some dude swinging through the tree with a bunch of computer-generated monkeys!

1957.  Indy is kidnapped by some evil Russians and brought to a gigantic government warehouse in the Nevada desert.  Stuff happens and next thing you know Indy's involved with a nuclear explosion!  Once back at his teaching job, he learns from a Marlon Brando impersonator that there's some shenanigans going on with a crystal skull in Peru.  Indy goes to investigate.  All kinds of crap happens: Indians, lens flares, spaceships, floods, computer-generated ants, lens flares, sword fighting, bad accents, a graveyard, motorcycle chase, car chase, lens flares, auto-writing, dry quicksand.

I understand that the filmmakers were going for a kinda 50's sci-fi feel, but it didn't really settle all that well with me.  Fun first half, but it loses steam towards the end.  Worth watching for sure, but my least favorite of the series, so far.

Part 1 - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Part 2 (prequel) - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Part 3 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (2008)
Part 5 - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

LAWLESS (2012)

Three "lawless" brothers run moonshine off in the deep woods during the Prohibition.  Being "lawless" they use nothing but child labor to run the stills and only use the tears of the children, instead of water, to make the shine.  They also pass the time by raping everybody...wait, what?  Oh, they're not that "lawless" after all?  Well shit.  The only laws these "lawless" criminals actually do disobey are the manufacturing & selling alcohol and then getting violent when they have to.

Enough  about the misleading title.  The real story is about three good ol' boys, never meanin' no harm, makin' their way the only way they know how but that's just a little bit more than the law will allow.  There's also some stuff about the different women in their lives, but it all goes exactly as you would expect.  Actually the entire film goes pretty much by the numbers.  Mild violence, pretty women, potentially epic story material told with a pathetically average script, good acting by supporting actor Dane DeHaan, pretty scenery and a disappointingly small role by Gary Oldman.

When I heard about this film I was imagining all kinds of exciting gun battles, old timey slang and ultraviolence with a breakneck pace, but instead LAWLESS just putters along and never really goes anywhere.  Worth a watch, but just barely.  I know I'll never watch it ever again.  If you need me, I'll be in my room drinkin' some corn squeezin's.