Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Cristal Skull (2008) and Sex & the City (2008)

[Incredulous] "You're named after the dog?"

I could say the real "aha" moment in this installment of I. Jones comes early on, when the aforementioned hero jumps into a lead-lined refrigerator to survive a nuclear blast. "So they really did unfreeze him for this movie," I would tell myself as he struggles out of the battered fridge.

But that's too easy. The fun of the film is in making Jones into a family man. I suppose that's like the last one, putting him in the "son" role, but it works. The lead woman is light, as is the kid, and pretty much everyone, gophers, attack monkeys, aliens and commies included. It keeps a sense of humor and doesn't go on too long, like the other film I saw last weekend, Sex & the City.

Yeah, Sex is stuffed with references and undeveloped characters, so watch the series first. Or don't, and don't. But it is generally a good time and more dramatically interesting than, say, the giant jungle car battle scene in I. Jones.

So go for the killer ants in Jones and the killer fashion in Sex, and stay for the laughs. Or go for a walk instead.

SPOILER ALERT Both of these films end in white weddings, er, weddings of whites.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

Sequel to a Nick Cage movie that I surprisingly enjoyed, National Treasure 2 once again tried to make Cage the Indiana Jones of American History. This time the same team is back: Cage, comic relief guy and the epitome of hotness that is Diane Kruger; and they must find treasure. It's all they know.

This movie, I didn't find the clues leading to the treasure to be as interesting as the original movie. Nor was the bad guy as menacing as the one in the first one. Probably because Sean Bean has a foreign accent whereas Ed Harris is the launch commander of Apollo 13. And on a minor note, that may be kinda spoiler-ish, the fire lit in this movie is weaksauce compared to the fire that was lit in the first one when they found the treasure there.

I was entertained by this movie, don't get me wrong. But it just wasn't as suspenseful as the first one. Furthermore, I did check my watch once. And one thing that was messed up in the plot was the mentioning of Olmec indians. Just for your own reference, if by chance you do read this before watching it: keep in mind that the Olmec indians resided in southern Mexico. Thank you Lisa Simpson for making me want to wiki Olmecs.

Umm, I only slightly recommend this if you're looking to turn off your brain for a not so well made action thriller. But I highly recommend it if you just want to see Diane Kruger. She's got a great scene in the White House.