Empire of the sun

Christian Bale's finest performance, arguably, thus far - in his debut film as a 13 year old. To put a 13 year old through every scene of a film, through a range of emotions that even the best would struggle with and essentially carry a movie of scale, needs balls. Steven Spielberg manages to do so in 1987 - and with some fine photography & direction. 

Christian Bale plays Jim Graham, a young British boy who has grown up in the Shanghai expat bubble scene as WWII enters its end game. Loses his parents through a tragic turn of events and spends the next 4 years more than surviving through all kinds of John Malkovich type hooligans. 

Outstanding.

Rating: * * * +

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The legendary prof is back and running after this crystal skull along with the Russians. There is also his possible successor in tow - in the form of Shia LaBeouf. Found it a bit of an ask to enjoy the movie whole heartedly - action sequences were imaginative & fine, but it wasnt as funny as I remembered these movies to be.

Rating: * *

Munich

Steven Spielberg's take on the witch hunt for the parties involved in the killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The film keeps you engaged but I found the choice of actors to be very poor. Daniel Craig does not make for a very convincing Jew. Spielberg also pay scant attention to the planning that goes behind each assassination, making it feel as if it was a fly by night job. I expected more from this film.

Rating: * +