Brief comments on two movies I saw last weekend:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – I had fun watching this, especially at the beginning, relieved that unlike the Star Wars prequels the fourth in the Indiana Jones series did not betray the spirit of its predecessors. Still, it was the weakest link in the series’ history, saddled by an aimless script, a humdrum second act, and the presence of Spielbergian aliens – a sad departure from the reliance on religious artifacts of the earlier films.

Redbelt – I’m generally a Mamet fan, but I liked this film even more than I expected. Despite a few false notes and a dependence on an overly-serpentine twist even for Mamet, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s excellent lead performance more than compensated for any flaws. It’s a rare fighting movie (in this case, Brazilian jiu jitsu, though Redbelt isn’t a fighting movie in the traditional sense) that actually earns its climactic ending.