Review: ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Struggles to Justify Its Place

Following a fifteen-year hiatus, Indiana Jones has returned to the big screen in The Dial of Destiny. This time around though instead of being directed by the original creator Steven Spielberg, James Mangold takes directorial control. The previous Indiana Jones film, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was met with very mixed reviews as it came out 19 years after the conclusion of the trilogy.  Many felt that it was a poorly done money grab profiting off of nostalgia for the previous three films.  So, the question going into Dial of Destiny is: what is its justification for once again coming back after all this time, besides being another easy money grab?  Upon watching, it’s hard to really see a reason for its reemergence besides to once again revel in nostalgia for the wildly successful original films.  As a film based purely on nostalgia bait though, it does a decent job at giving fans of the series what they want and making the experience a relatively good time.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Struggles to Justify Its Place”

Review: ‘The Call of the Wild’ is a Refreshingly Pleasant Movie for 2020

The Call of the Wild is the first movie to be released by the newly minted ‘20th Century Studios’, fresh off of their Disney Acquisition, and it’s a lot better than most people thought. It is directed by Chris Sanders, his first live-action work after a career of animation (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon). Continue reading “Review: ‘The Call of the Wild’ is a Refreshingly Pleasant Movie for 2020”