Variety is reporting that Spielberg has left the director's chair for long awaited Indiana Jones 5 movie, scheduled to begin production sometime this summer. According to Variety, who had the exclusive news, that "Ford v Ferrari director James Mangold is in talks to take the job. Mangold has been put in this situation before when he took over the Wolverine franchise; 2017’s Logan was a blockbuster, grossing $619 million globally, and earning Mangold an Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay."

The film has been "in the works" since Disney announced it back in 2016, and subsequently has seen many delays. It is unclear if this will cause another delay, with production only a few months away. Spielberg is still set to remain on the project as a producer, but this is the first time in 39 years he will not be sitting at the director's chair. One project that delayed Indiana Jones was Spielberg's involvement with his upcoming remake of West Side Story, set to be released later this year. Harrison Ford is still attached to the project, for now, as he has been talking about his involvement as he went on his press tour for his recent release, Call of the Wild. 

Spielberg is not the first crew member to step down from their role for this film. Screenwriter David Koepp left the project and Jonathan Kasdan, son of Lawrence Kasdan, came in to finish the script, causing another delay. Disney is also undergoing a major change with CEO Bob Iger stepping down effective immediately yesterday, and so upper Disney brass might be also influx. According to Variety's report, both Disney and Spielberg are declining to comment on the matter. 

The last film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Krystal Skull, did feature local Central Coast iconic town of Morro Bay, standing in for Cuba during it's iconic "map sequence." You can see Morro Rock and the tall smoke stacks that are a staple of Morro Bay.

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The Call of the Wild is a tremendously famous novel by Jack London and many versions have been done with this. So now, Twentieth Century Studios (formerly Fox and now owned by Disney), sets out in telling this tale using CGI animals. 

Watching this movie I felt like this movie was made specifically for substitute teachers to play during their classroom coverages. It touches, and glosses, over lots of the history behind the novel and it is obviously made with a younger audience in mind. Which is fine, only the material is very hard to adapt for a younger audience. I don't think Jack London had that in mind. It's fascinating to see how the film was marketed, showing Harrison Ford with the dog named "Buck." Ford does a good job with the screen time he has, but he's maybe in the film for about a third of the total run time. He plays an individual with a troubled past and running to the ends of the world to find peace. I wish we had that movie instead. 

This story follows "Buck" for the entire movie. From spoiled house dog, to (spoilers) becoming leader of a wolf pack. But along with all the gorgeous nature shots, the experience to me felt a little cheated by all the CGI. It was all very artificial, which still may work with younger audiences, but felt like it was almost a lazy conversation on set of "we'll fix that in post." Also, when the animals are more animated and show more emotion than your on camera actors, that's a bit of a problem if you want to have a more serious film. Also there's some great actors in this film who have a "blink and you missed it" role, which just makes them feel wasted to me.

So take it for what it is: a very mature story told through a cartoon dog's eyes. Then you'll have a decent time. 

​Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

So, I have to admit something. I went into this movie with very low expectations. The film currently has only a 64% rating on RottenTomatoes critic score, but I saw it had a 94% audience rating. I don't put too much stock in the audience score, just because of the way people can just trash (or love) movies with or without cause. And so 64% was relatively low. I had my four-year-old daughter with me over President's Day weekend and we decided to go see this movie together. I was wondering how she'd respond to the movie, being someone who played the video game as a kid I know the material well, but she's going in cold turkey. And now I'll admit something else, the movie whole heartedly deserves that audience score as well as the "A" rating on CinemaScore. 

This movie wasn't as nostalgic to the games as I had thought, but that's not bad. There was enough little nods and winks, especially at the beginning and end, to keep me happy. But for the most part it was a fresh take on this character and those around him. I was very pleasantly surprised by this movie in almost every way. I also want to especially thank this movie for giving us the Jim Carrey that we all knew and loved from his earlier career. His performance was the typical zany, over-the-top and wild character we come to love. I'm thinking like Ace Ventura, The Mask, or even Liar, Liar. Here he's the super-villain and plays to that perfectly and it's be-a-utiful to watch again. James Marsden also has a history of doing films that don't take themselves too seriously, but he does each of those roles with heart and charm and it works incredibly well in this movie. I loved his work in the X-Men series, but here it's more like Hop, 27 Dresses or Enchanted kind of charm.

Sonic himself is fine too. He doesn't have too much character arc, and it's really about the characters he's interacting with. The cast of characters that are supporting this movie are top notch. Even Neal McDonough from Desperate Housewives and Captain America had a small, throw away part in this movie. But everything is done with heart, even in the over the top zany elements. As long as the audience can suspend their disbelief, they're going to enjoy. And judging from audience reactions, they're able to do that with ease and really enjoy this movie!

The movie isn't without it's faults, and is of course a kids movie. But it's engaging, not overly on-the-nose and has great moments. Parents will enjoy this movie too as the humor is primarily in good taste, but there's plenty of laugh out loud moments. This is something that the whole family will enjoy, even if you don't like the video game, it's a fun film. Far more entertaining than I thought it would be. 

​Rating: 4/5 Stars

Last night was Hollywood history! Many stars gathered for the annual Academy Awards. Parasite, made major history with four wins, including Best Picture and Best International Feature, and took home the big wins of the night. Other films that did well were 1917 getting three awards, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Ford v Ferrari and Joker got two a piece. All other winners were the only one for their movie. Netflix's The Irishman was the only Best Picture nominated movie that was shut out with no wins in any category. But Netflix won't complain too much as Laura Dern secured the company it's first acting Oscar for Marriage Story. 

What do you think of the Academy's decision last night? Agree? Disagree? Let us know!

BEST PICTURE
Parasite
Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho, Producers


ACTOR, LEADING ROLE
Joaquin Phoenix
Joker


ACTRESS, LEADING ROLE
Renée Zellweger
Judy


ACTOR, SUPPORTING 
Brad Pitt
Once upon a Time... in Hollywood


ACTRESS, SUPPORTING 
Laura Dern
Marriage Story


ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Toy Story 4
Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera


CINEMATOGRAPHY
1917
Roger Deakins


COSTUME DESIGN
Little Women
Jacqueline Durran


DIRECTING
Parasite
Bong Joon Ho

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
American Factory


DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone 


FILM EDITING
Ford v Ferrari
Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland


INTERNATIONAL FEATURE…
Parasite
South Korea


MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Bombshell
Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker


MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Joker
Hildur Guðnadóttir


MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman
Music by Elton John, Lyric by Bernie Taupin


PRODUCTION DESIGN
Once upon a Time...in Hollywood
Production Design: Barbara Ling; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh


SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Hair Love
Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver


SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
The Neighbors' Window
Marshall Curry


SOUND EDITING
Ford v Ferrari
Donald Sylvester


SOUND MIXING
1917
Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson


VISUAL EFFECTS
1917
Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy


WRITING (ADAPTED)
Jojo Rabbit
Screenplay by Taika Waititi


WRITING (ORIGINAL)
Parasite
​Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won
Story by Bong Joon Ho

​

 As a followup to Warner Brother's attempted expansion of their DC Universe, Birds of Prey follows up directly after the events from 2016's Suicide Squad. Which almost is as insane as Arkham's inmates, if you look at the Rotten Tomatoes score of Suicide Squad sitting at a 27% fresh critic rating and a 59% audience rating. But I suppose if you see the film made over $700 million at the box office Suicide Squad brought in, I suppose you can see a sequel coming. And actually, Birds of Prey is more of a spin-off than a real sequel and to put it bluntly... it's a mess. 

It is without a doubt that Harley Quinn is one of the most popular villains of the DC Universe, and if you've ever been to any Con (convention), you will see hoards of Harley Quinn cosplays. So banking on the love of the character is exactly what Warner Brothers is doing here. They do finally seem to be taking a cue from Marvel, in that they can't be so damn serious all the time and they need to diversify their portfolio. I look to Wonder Woman 1984 as a hopeful sign this is continuing, but this movie can't seem to take anything seriously. Grant it, the movie is really called Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and so the entire movie is made with her as the narrator. This does work to benefit the movie and has some nice comedic timing to it, but most of everything else is lost.

Each of the characters in the movie feel as well rounded as a square peg. To his credit, Ewan McGregor does stand out in a predominantly female cast as the super villain, Black Mask. I always enjoy watching actors we don't normally see as bag guys really get down and dirty. And in Birds of Prey's hard R rating, you see plenty of that. Not that it's a bad thing, but many times I was just thinking, "this was inspired by Deadpool." Similar to The Gentlemen, there are no real good guys here, except for the one cop who gets fired, probably because of the obscene shirt she is forced to wear. 

There are times when I found myself enjoying bits and pieces of the movie, just because I was going on this ride. Which most of the times was literally dumb luck, or as I see it, just lazy writing. These Birds of Prey seem to just have laid a rotten egg. 

​Rating: 2/5 Stars