Best of 2011

2011, as a whole, wasn't a great year. With 27 sequels, who could blame it? Certainly Hollywood needs some fixing, but I still think it has some life left in it. Why? Because these movies rose from the dark and gave me laughs, cheers and smiles. Here they are, my best of 2011

10. Real Steel

As I said in my review, this is Shawn Levy’s big breakaway from comedies into more serious territory. Nice guy Hugh Jackman delivers a fine performance as not-so-nice-guy Charlie Kenton. The boxing robot effects are great, a nice blend of practical effects and motion capture. For a much derided film, it builds its premise up fairly well.

9. The Green Hornet

It’s not the sturdiest of superhero movies, but it’s plenty better than another “Green” superhero (who would’ve guessed?). A film that pays respect to its predecessors in radio, comics and television while also working for a modern audience, Michel Gondry’s first major mainstream film swiftly mixes comedy and action. It’s got to be given props for coming up with some pretty outlandish set pieces – most done practically (such as the opening club explosion). It’s clear that Seth Rogen did his homework on all things Green Hornet, from the look of the Black Beauty to a small nod to the original Kato, Bruce Lee. The only nitpick I would have with it is that barely any of the characters are remotely likable. Also, I have never seen a worse candidate for an IMAX 3D film. I saw this in 3D, and I saw nothing that would be worthy of an IMAX 3D release. Absolutely nothing. If you saw it in IMAX, you have no soul.

8. Super 8

Ever since Iron Man 2, we were waiting on Super 8. J.J. Abrams’ first original film as director gets a lot of praise for being a great proponent of do-it-yourself filmmaking. The performances from the children are fantastic, not to mention Kyle Chandler. Where this film gets a lot of hate is the “half-hearted and uneven” depiction of the alien monster with unsympathetic goals. Personally, I’m a fan of Abrams’ films. I think he’s an interesting filmmaker to keep an eye on. The action and suspense were thrilling, especially the train crash sequence which was amazing. It seemed like much of the effects were done for real; for instance, the tipping bus. In the production design, Abrams masterfully recreates a Spielbergian town that looks truly authentic as though it had never been touched by modern times. In all, Super 8 is quality entertainment. It also shines a large and positive light on filmmaking, which I was very impressed with.

7. The Muppets

I know I’m gonna get a lot of flak for putting it so low on the list, but as I said in my review, I did enjoy the film. I just still could not get past the disappearing Muppets and the disappointing Amy Adams. Still, the songs were wildly enjoyable and the film’s bouncy bubbly enthusiasm will leave audiences of any age smiling. Jason Segal has done the impossible: bring the Muppets back from the brink and give them a film where they are again the stars.

6. Thor

For a superhero’s first depiction in film, Thor does leave some things to be desired that serves the purposes of linking to The Avengers but hopefully a sequel (if it can just stick to a director) will expand on the vast universe surrounding Asgard set up in this film. Chris Hemsworth shines as Thor, going from selfish to selfless perhaps a bit too quickly but believably. Although Natalie Portman is enjoyable in the film, her role isn’t particularly demanding. Everybody gives a lot of crap to the very pretty Kat Dennings and her comedy chops, but she wasn’t in the film enough to bug me. Anthony Hopkins is an inspired choice for Odin, but borderlines on over-the-top on some line deliveries. Who knows? Maybe Odin needs to be over-the-top. By far, the funniest Stan Lee cameo yet; I’m sure I was laughing louder than anyone else in the theater when he showed up. The sets are very well done, thanks to master production designer Bo Welch (who has a particular touch in his work). Kenneth Branagh does a fine job of directing, but has a much hated fascination with Dutch angles that many will be happy to see gone in Thor 2.

5. X-Men: First Class

One might think that because of the rushed production schedule that this film would be a studio controlled mess. On the contrary, this film appears to have been made by Fox throwing money at Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn and saying, “Money is no object. We trust you.” The cast -- in particular James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender -- is outstanding. Kevin Bacon plays a killer villain as eternally youthful Sebastian Shaw. The best part of the film is of course its pitch-perfect cameo of Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman (who, with this film, breaks Christopher Reeve’s previous record of most times playing a superhero). The period is used well to the film’s advantage but more recognizable songs would’ve been more appreciated.

4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

When I heard this film announced, I predicted doom right from the start. I assumed Fox had lost their minds and were flogging a dead horse. Never in my moviegoing years have I been happier to be proven wrong. After the double fiasco of the Oscars and Your Highness (but a great cameo in The Green Hornet), this is precisely what James Franco needed -- a performance that allowed him to be subtle -- though the unarguable star of the film is Andy Serkis who brings performance capture to new heights. Evolving a technique initially used in bringing Davy Jones to life in the productions of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, Serkis performed the role of smart simian Caesar live on set. This helps to give excellent performances out of Franco and John Lithgow, whose enthusiasm is unbridled. I eagerly anticipate a sequel.

3. Drive

I enjoyed this film much more than Fast Five (not that it wasn’t good, just not as great as this film). As I said in my review, I will never underestimate Ryan Gosling as an actor ever again. He delivers a fantastic performance as the mostly silent Driver who is out for revenge after a heist gone wrong. It balances sweet scenes of the Driver driving through the sunset and the violence acts he has to incur to protect the ones he cares about. I’m not gonna say much more about it, but you can read my review and then go see for yourself. It’s a fantastic drama with action that doesn’t get over-the-top like Fast Five does.

2. Footloose

I can’t think of many critics who would have this film in their top 10 lists, much less top 3. But I’m not a critic (most of ‘em are cynical). I’m a movie buff and film optimist. This film gave me two of the greatest moviegoing experiences of the year. The first time I saw it was in July, when director Craig Brewer brought the film to town for a special sneak preview. I waited in line in front of a local DVD/Blu-Ray store at 8 AM, he came and brought donuts, recognized me BY NAME (nearly lost my $#*!) and handed out tickets. I drove over to the theater and waited across the parking lot outside of a Whole Foods Market sweating to death with only my laptop, a Mexican Coca-Cola and a small cup of Ben & Jerry’s. Finally, it came time to see the movie (before waiting in another line). Mr. Brewer came out to introduce it, told us some stories about how he was offered the movie and what the original Footloose meant to him. I saw it, I enjoyed it immensely. I thanked Mr. Brewer for the opportunity to see the movie early, got a picture with him and an autograph. Then came October 14th, when the movie was released to the general public. I didn’t have the money to go see it opening day, but I heard Craig Brewer was in town to open it up locally and I wanted to wish him good luck for the movie’s opening weekend. I went by the theater where he was, bumped into him and said good luck to him. He asked me if I was seeing the movie that night. I told him, I would love to, but I simply didn’t have the money. He says, “No problem,” and he hands me a free ticket. Cue exuberance. So I brought my laptop into the lobby, sat at a table and started writing while he’s signing posters and posing for pictures with people. After about two minutes with no one coming in, he comes over and sits down and we start chatting. Then, his phone rings. He says, “I’m sorry, I gotta take this.” He then looks at the screen and says, “Look who it is.” He shows me the screen and it says “Dennis Quaid”. Cue awesomeness. He gets to talking to him and I’m just sitting in awe. So, if it’s any correlation of the man to his film, Footloose is full of great times, well-performed drama and killer dance moves (for more specific info, please read my review).

1. The Adventures of Tintin

Steven Spielberg’s first foray in 3D makes for his most fun film in years. I’m not sure what got him on the kick of doing historical dramas and dark science-fiction pieces (with the occasional E.T. re-release and Crystal Skull thrown in), but it is so refreshing to see something so new and inventive from Spielberg. There was clearly a lot of care taken with the characters, the story and the partnership with Peter Jackson is unbeatable. See my full review.

Honorable mentions:
I hated to put these movies here, because they are very, very good, but I simply ran out of room in the top 10. By no means do these omissions mean I like them less or more than what is on the list.

Captain America: The First Avenger
The Tree of Life
30 Minutes or Less
Attack the Block
Source Code
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Drive Angry

Worst movies:
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Green Lantern
The Smurfs
The Dilemma

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: Steven Spielberg Gets Animated

Coming off the massive success of 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, filmmaker Steven Spielberg was at the top of his game. He was reading glorious reviews from all around the world until a certain French newspaper review puzzled him. Unable to read French, he was trying to comprehend the meaning of the word “Tintin”, which was used several times in the article. With a translator, Spielberg discovered that the review was comparing the character of Indiana Jones and his globe-trotting adventures with a well-known European character named Tintin. He immediately asked to see what this Tintin was and was given several comic books of “The Adventures of Tintin”. These issues were also in French, but Spielberg fell in love with the artwork. He admired how even though he didn’t understand the language, the artwork could still tell the story for him.


Seeing a possibility of making an “Indiana Jones for kids”, Spielberg contacted Tintin’s creator Hergé. Because of Hergé’s declining health, Spielberg could not meet with him face-to-face, so they spoke only by phone. Spielberg detailed his enthusiasm for making a film adaptation of Hergé’s works but Hergé had his doubts. He had already tried to make an animated Tintin film by sending a letter to Walt Disney himself and received no response (there was never any confirmation that Disney read the letter). There were low-budget live-action Tintin films but they were not up to Hergé’s expectations. However, Spielberg intrigued him. Clearly, this was a man who got the clear idea of the character, expressed a love for the world depicted and would be true to the tone of the stories. Hergé gave Spielberg his blessing. Within months, Hergé passed away.


Spielberg began development of a Tintin film in 1983, planning to have Jack Nicholson play the irascible yet lovable drunkard Captain Haddock. Then, Spielberg realized something drastic: how could a real dog believably portray Tintin’s faithful companion Snowy? Snowy is meant to be a lot smarter than the average dog and would need to be able to express more thought. Faced with this prospect, Spielberg shelved Tintin until he met an up-and-coming New Zealand filmmaker named Peter Jackson. They met for the first time literally on stage at the Academy Awards when Spielberg handed Jackson the Oscar for Best Picture (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). When he wasn’t watching the 1933 classic King Kong (which had a massive effect on him), Jackson had grown up reading the Tintin books. He too loved the artwork and understood the social satire and commentary within the adventures. After executive producing Jackson’s drama The Lovely Bones, Spielberg asked him if his effects company, WETA Digital, could make a digital Snowy for a live-action Tintin movie. Jackson shot test footage of himself “auditioning” for the role of Captain Haddock (in full costume) while being constantly upstaged by a dancing CG Snowy. Although Spielberg loved it, Jackson suggested that by making the film in performance capture (ala Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and King Kong in King Kong). Spielberg was initially wary – he had executive produced animated films like The Land Before Time, An American Tail and We’re Back!: A Dinosaur’s Story but never made one himself. To do an animated film, he would have to get rid of his beloved celluloid film. However, he was drawn to the technology because, as he said, “it would allow me to become more of a painter than ever before”.


Because of their collaboration and the amount of money it would take to make the film, Spielberg and Jackson had to bring together two studios -- Paramount (with Nickelodeon Movies, furthering Spielberg’s claim that Tintin was “Indiana Jones for kids”) and Columbia -- and shot the film in nearly 30 days (Jackson himself was there only for approximately 2 of those days; he oversaw the remainder of production in New Zealand at WETA Digital). Because Spielberg was an American making a Tintin film, he wanted the film to have a uniquely European voice so he hired three British screenwriters: Steven Moffat (show-runner of “Doctor Who”), Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead) and Joe Cornish (the much-praised Attack the Block). When Jackson finishes his two Hobbit films, he is supposedly ready to move into production of Tintin 2 and then Jackson and Spielberg are supposed to team up and co-direct Tintin 3, at which time the center of the Earth will crack open, the seas will boil and mountains will speak.


Tintin (Jamie Bell) is an intrepid young reporter who always gets himself into massive adventures by simply chasing a good story. He and his loyal dog, Snowy, are out shopping at a flea market when Tintin spies a model ship for sale. Immediately after purchasing it, Tintin is accosted by two individuals for possession of it, but he refuses to give it up. When he goes home, he uncovers a hidden scroll inside the ship that leads him to discovering the legend of the Unicorn (the real version of the model ship he purchased) and the hidden treasure it carried. Tintin gives the evidence to bumbling investigators, Thompson (Simon Pegg) and Thomson (Nick Frost). However, Tintin has put himself in the middle of a quest headed by the evil Sakharine (Daniel Craig) and is kidnapped and thrown onboard the captured ship of Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), himself a prisoner. Haddock and Tintin team up to escape the ship and Sakharine’s clutches. Once free, Tintin realizes that Haddock is the last surviving descendent of the captain of the Unicorn. The scroll that Tintin has refers to a mystery that only Haddock himself can solve, but unfortunately is too reliant on alcohol and whiskey to keep his memory straight. Tintin, Haddock and Snowy travel the globe literally by plane, by sea and by land in order to stay one step ahead of Sakharine, unravel the mystery of the Unicorn and uncover the Haddock treasure.

In one movie, Steven Spielberg has shown a better handle of performance capture than Robert Zemeckis has in three (it hurts to say). Zemeckis used performance capture to reinvent stories we all know. Spielberg uses performance capture to bring to life ambitious artwork and also move the camera around in ways that would be impossible in live-action. This is Spielberg’s most visually insane movie; in a good way. There is a whole entire action sequence that mirrors the bike chase in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but practically does it all in one take and involves a tank, a dam and chasing a hawk. It’s incredibly massive and complex but visually exciting to watch. It’s good to see that Andy Serkis, who has been getting massive (and much deserved) praise after his performance as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, has a more playful role here as Captain Haddock. His delivery is quite funny and his movements are fantastic. He also gives a great monologue to Tintin about not letting failure define who you are.


Many have claimed that this is Spielberg’s “apology movie”, after the dismal fan reception of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. They like that Spielberg has teamed with Peter Jackson rather than the “evil” George Lucas. While I would agree that this film is better than Crystal Skull, Indiana Jones as a character is larger than just one movie. He’s certainly a better character emotionally than Tintin. Tintin is a bit bland, running mostly on enthusiasm. We don’t know a thing about him, how he became a reporter, who his family is. We’re just introduced to him, although the nice Catch Me If You Can-esque title sequence tries to explain visually what he does and the type of adventures he’s pulled into. Granted, you could say the same thing about Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but he’s given a much broader scope. Harrison Ford is charming (back in the day when he wasn’t Mr. Grumpy Gills), intelligent and tough. I know it’s not quite fair to try to compare a legend like Ford to an up-and-coming actor like Jamie Bell, but if people are making the Indiana Jones connections they need to set the record straight.


Still, Tintin is quite an enjoyable film. It’s certainly Spielberg’s most genuinely fun film in quite a while. It’s good to hear John Williams back in action who apparently only does scores for Spielberg and Lucas nowadays. After the disastrous results of Mars Needs Moms, it took a master to make a much derided evolving technology get some respect from the film community (not to mention WETA’s work on Rise of the Planet of the Apes). I can’t wait to see more from the team of Spielberg and Jackson.

THE FRIGHTENERS: Who Ya Gonna Call?

RETRO REVIEW

In one decade, Peter Jackson has gone from a little known New Zealand director of gory, scary (but with a dark twisted sense of humor) films to one of the living legends of modern filmmaking alongside Steven Spielberg. Of course, everyone knows him from his beloved Lord of the Rings films which have become Oscar-winning epics. In between those films and his ongoing Hobbit two-parter project he's directed two films -- King Kong and The Lovely Bones -- and produced another, the upcoming The Adventures of Tintin. However, there is one of his previous films that I don't think gets the fandom it deserves. That is The Frighteners.


On the surface, I can see how the one-sentence concept would sound like a rip-off of Ghostbusters: a man, specializing in professional paranormal investigations and eliminations, goes around ridding ghosts out of people's houses but gets caught up in a case that puts him way over his head. However, this film has enough new and interesting ideas that it can easily differentiate itself from its more popular American cousin. For example, all the ghosts in The Frighteners are human or human-like rather than gruesome creatures as in Ghostbusters. All the technological whizbangery that Dan Aykroyd loves to write so much for Dr. Ray Stantz to use is nowhere to be found in The Frighteners.

The movie is centered around Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox, in his final live-action feature film performance) as a shady guy who runs a ghost-removal/psychic-communication business. The locals in this small, American town hate him vehemently, mostly because he goes around funerals and hands out business cards. However, a local doctor named Lucy Lynsky (Trini Alvarado) starts to believe him when unseen ghosts infest her house. Calling him in a panic, Frank arrives and using what looks like a toaster eradicates the invisible ghosts. However, her sports-nut husband, Ray, (Peter Dobson) thinks he is nothing but a con artist and demands he leave his house. Before leaving, Frank spots what looks like a number 13 carved into his forehead. As Frank arrives home, it is clear that Ray is somewhat correct. The ghosts that haunted the Lynsky house actually work for Frank (who, after a car accident, can see and hear ghosts), scaring people in the houses so they call him up and he can charge an exuberant fee. The three friendly ghosts that live with him are '50s nerd Stuart (Jim Fyfe), '70s pimp Cyrus (Chi McBride) and an Old West gunslinger known only as the Judge (John Astin; famous for playing "Gomez Addams" in "The Addams Family", his son Sean was cast by Jackson as Sam in The Lord of the Rings).

However, Frank and the town of Fairweather are about to be haunted by a not-so-friendly ghost. The next morning, Frank discovers that Ray is now a ghost. Ray tells him that the last thing he remembers was feeling his heart being crushed. Because he was the last person to see Ray alive, the local sheriff (Troy Evans) targets Frank as the prime suspect. Later, at a group "seance" with Lucy and Ray, Frank stumbles upon the true murderer, a ghost that takes on the appearance of the Grim Reaper (called in the movie "The Soul Collector"). The Collector has been killing people with the intent of pinning the crimes on him. Frank has to team up with Stuart, Cyrus and the Judge, keep Lucy safe, face not only his tragic past but Fairweather's, and -- most importantly -- stay alive.

"'Go ahead. Make my day.'"

This was Michael J. Fox's final live-action feature film starring role; he has since moved to guest-starring on TV dramas and animated films (including one of my all-time favorite Disney films, Atlantis: The Lost Empire). What better film to end his feature film career on (thank God it wasn't The Secret of My Success)? Not to mention, it was Peter Jackson's first film to get a wide American audience. Unfortunately it was released the same weekend as the opening of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but the film was picked up on VHS/DVD. It also introduced the world to WETA Digital, the New Zealand effects company that rivals Industrial Light and Magic for imagination domination. The effects that began in The Frighteners led to use in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, The Lovely Bones, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. Fox was joined by his Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis (credited as executive producer), who brought his own special effects team (after they had made a similar film Death Becomes Her) to help with WETA.

"Doc? Doc, is that you?"

All in all, The Frighteners is a scary yet silly film. Michael J. Fox stepped out of the box to play in a genre he hadn't before: horror. It wasn't given much notice at the time of its theatrical release, but like its ghoulish inhabitants, it came back from the dead as an example of the genius of Peter Jackson.

The Learning Curve

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

- Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) Ratatouille (2007)

I've been garnering a lot of approval of my positive review of Drive and my negative review of Yogi Bear. However, I've also gained highly negative criticism for my positive review of Footloose. This is not to say people can't enjoy one film and not another. This is America, the land of opportunity. Anybody can say whatever they want about a film they enjoy or don't enjoy.

I can't change my opinion of Footloose. It is a highly entertaining, wonderfully charming and all-in-all sweet film. Many, including film fans that I have deep respect for, have flat-out told me that Craig Brewer should not have wasted his time on this "stupid remake of that $#*!ty-ass '80s movie". Others have said:

"He has NO valid artistic reason for doing this!"

"If you think Footloose is a good movie, then I think drug testing is in order."

"Here's how much [I] want to see Footloose..... ZERO."

"Why anyone would want to remake a piece of tripe like Footloose is beyond me!"

I would imagine you get the point. If Footloose was as painful-looking as Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star, I would gladly join them. But enough care and time was given to it by Craig Brewer to elevate it beyond the simple title of "unwanted remake". It includes a lot of warmth and love to soften even the hardest critic's heart, if they are legitimately open to it and not let cynicism rule their lives. Filmmakers often get too much anger over their projects and when they come out to explain their choices, fanboys often rip them to shreds and want to string them up by the celluloid strips of their most-hated films.

As I've said before, Steven Spielberg received a lot of anger and hatred from displeased fanboys over elements (and to some, the whole) of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg did his best to douse the flames by proclaiming that the Blu-Ray of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial would only include the original 1982 version of the film and not the 2002 Anniversary Edition featuring digitized walkie-talkies replacing shotguns. And now, Spielberg has finally answered the damning 2008-era critics.

"I'm very happy with the movie. I always have been... I sympathise with people who didn't like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin. George and I had big arguments about the MacGuffin. I didn't want these things to be either aliens or inter-dimensional beings. But I am loyal to my best friend. When he writes a story he believes in - even if I don't believe in it - I'm going to shoot the movie the way George envisaged it. I'll add my own touches, I'll bring my own cast in, I'll shoot the way I want to shoot it, but I will always defer to George as the storyteller of the Indy series. I will never fight him on that."

"Hey, George? George! Watch me invent the troll face!"

Now, granted, I can see how easy it would be for Spielberg in his position to say, "IT WAS ALL GEORGE'S IDEA! IT WASN'T MY FAULT! I SWEAR!" Especially when most people are seeing red after the double-whammys of the altered Star Wars Blu-Rays and the upcoming release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D. I'm sure he's received a damn decent share of death threats (maybe even from people I consider friends).

"Man... I'm standing next to Steven Spielberg. My life has meaning!"

May 22, 2008: When many people claimed their childhood was raped. When their hero was seemingly destroyed across a vast cinematic canvass. Indiana Jones, to them, was dead. The blame game had started. In 2010, during press tours for Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, Shia LaBeouf was reportedly prodded about his role in Crystal Skull and its derided place in pop culture. LaBeouf was said to have gotten heated over the question and said, "I think the audience is pretty intelligent. I think they know when you’ve made (slop). And I think if you don’t acknowledge it, then why do they trust you the next time you’re promoting a movie. You can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven.... We [Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn't happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn’t universally accepted….We need to be able to satiate the appetite. I think we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate. I’ll probably get a call. But he needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven that supersedes our business work. And believe me, I talk to him often enough to know that I’m not out of line. And I would never disrespect the man. I think he’s a genius, and he’s given me my whole life. He’s done so much great work that there’s no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball you drop the ball." A year later, during his own press tours for Cowboys & Aliens, Harrison Ford had simply this to say, "I think he was a f*cking idiot. As an actor, I think it's my obligation to support the film without making a complete a** of myself."

So who is really at fault here? Many would scream their heads off saying, "LUCAS!" Others would vehemently say, "SPIELBERG!" Still few would say, "LABEOUF SUCKS," and not even be referring to Crystal Skull (while they beat him up outside a bar). Personally, I don't know why anyone hasn't blamed Jeff Nathanson, specifically by name. Oh wait. Cause he only wrote Crystal Skull, Catch Me If You Can, Rush Hour 2 and 3, The Terminal, Speed 2: Cruise Control and the upcoming Tower Heist (and we all know there's plenty wrong with that movie). Not the best track record ever.

I would like to think Steven Spielberg is one of those rare directors who learns from his mistakes. Take 1941. Yes, 1941. This was after Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He was on top of the world. This was his chance to do a real big-budget comedy epic. About the day after Pearl Harbor. Yeah. Though he was smart to make fun of his own movie Jaws in the opening scene, Spielberg was dismayed to see that no one was laughing in a test screening. Although the film was a financial hit, it did not make the same amount of money that Spielberg's previous films made. Spielberg was practically defeated. Until he was sitting on a beach in Hawaii with a friend of his who had a new idea for a film that would feature America's version of James Bond. That friend was George Lucas and the movie was Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I would take Spielberg at his word here and trust that he will not lead audiences astray with The Adventures of Tintin. And from all the reviews coming from overseas, it appears that we Americans have quite a treat coming in December. And if you don't like that... hey, you get a drama from Spielberg. War Horse.