Indiana Jones IV

Steven Spielburg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford teamed up for one more adventure.

This film has been years in the making. All parties involved wanted their voice to be heard in the negotiations and when a script was finished, one person would bail out. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is finally here.

Spielburg has mentioned that this film was made for the fans. Which means it's going to be a very fun movie. Watching the teaser trailer, you catch a moment of that sense of fun.

Harrison Ford returns as the title character with Shia LaBeouf tagging along. With Karen Allen returning as Marion, one gets to thinking that Shia won't be the typical side-kick but possibly Indy's son.

The time period has moved. The creators didn't want to try to keep Indiana young. So the villains are Russians. Personified by Cate Blanchett. You can see her in the teaser too.

From the looks of things, Jones will be heading into elements that haven't played much of a role in the earlier films. Looks like there will be a touch of the sci-fi element as you can see a "Roswell, NM" flit across the screen on the trailer.

Harrison is one of the greatest actors of our time. Even if this movie is bad, it'll be good because he's starring in it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes to theaters May 22, 2008.

Mark Andrew Olsen

I just finished reading Olsen's latest novel, The Watchers. I was hesitant at first. I kept seeing the book at Borders for twenty dollars but, after reading his earlier novel The Assignment, I wasn't ready to shell out that kind of money.

I found it at a local Ollies store and was surprised with how enjoyable the beginning was.

The Watchers tells the story of a girl named Abby who has had a dream where she's Anna from the Bible. It's this Anna who held Jesus as a baby (for those who care). Before we find out much about the actual plot, we read about this ruthless killer who's under orders to put Abby to death. He's already slaughtered the babysitter and he's standing over Abby's bed.

Then skip ahead; Abby's alive and decides to write on her social website not-so-cleverly titled MyCorner all about her dreams. For some reason hundreds, maybe even thousands, of girls have had the same experience.

Because of this dream, Abby goes on a global adventure to find the answers to her questions: why is she having these dreams, and -oh- what happened to her mother?

As with The Assignment, Olsen tells a story along the lines of a DaVinci Code just not as fast-paced. In both books, the story takes forever to get anywhere. He has characters give long sermons that kill any sense of timing.

The Watchers has a hidden message found within and that is the idea of spiritual heritage. Olsen wants his readers to attempt to find out how far back they can trace their family line - As with Abby she had to go to Africa, then to Israel to find the descendant of this Anna from the Bible.

Two novels from Olsen - two disappointments.
 I see he's going to create a series from this new book. The next one is called, The Warriors. I think I'll pass.