Ah, the sequel no one is clamoring for has reared its head again. To be fair, some people enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and with worldwide gross receipts totaling nearly $800 million, the only question that remained was when Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford would be ready to give it another go. (Our own poll last year suggested that it was time to retire the franchise.) Reportedly, Lucas favored the idea of continuing with old Indiana Jones as the lead character rather than handing things over to young Mutt Williams, played by Shia LaBeouf. Research was being conducted to find an artifact that the movie could be based on.

In the UK to promote Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, LaBeouf talked to the BBC and revealed that he had spoken recently with Spielberg about another Indiana Jones movie: "Steven just said he cracked a story on it before I left. I think they're gearing that up." Spielberg is busy filming The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, so maybe he talked with Lucas between shots: "Hi, George, it's Steven. What if Indy searches for a shabti?" "Steven, what's a shabti?" "You know, George, the Sorcerer's Apprentice, the inspiration for that segment with Mickey Mouse in Fantasia?" "Of course, Steven, who do you think you're talking to?" "Well, George, the shabti was a figurine that was buried with the dead and performed hard labor for the deceased in the afterlife." "Ooh, I know, Mutt could try to get to it first, so he would never have to do manual labor for Indy any more!" "George, I think we've cracked it."

We'll wait to see if an official confirmation seeps out. Are you holding your breath for Indy 5?

In an interesting video game/movie tie-in, GameStop has a promo running until June 30, 2009 ("or until all e-Movie Cash tickets have been distributed, whichever comes first," natch) called "Love the Movie - Live the Game," and it's definitely a mixed bag.

Basically, if you buy one of the following games, you can get a $10 voucher for select movies at participating theaters that's only good until July 31, 2009. That's a lot of ifs, especially if you check out the games they're offering, which are not all tied in to current releases. And some of them will make real gaming geeks bleed from the eyes. Take a look.

Finding out how your favorite movies came to be is generally very rewarding and educational. You seek out The Seven Samurai, and thank the film gods that a robotic shark failed to work. At the very least, you can win trivia contests by knowing what Rosebud was, and impress your friends by telling them who was originally cast as Aragorn.

And then there's the stuff you wish you had never known. This week, you may have been one of the Indy fans who eagerly downloaded the Raiders of the Lost Ark transcript, where George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan hashed out ideas for one of the greatest film characters of all time. Cool stuff. Useful if you aim to write books or movies someday. Then I read this bit about Marion and Indy, and their ideas for their early love affair gone wrong:

GL: I was thinking that this old guy could have been his mentor. He could have known this little girl when she was just a kid. Had an affair with her when she was eleven.

LK: And he was forty-two.

GL: He hasn't seen her in twelve years. Now she's twenty-two. It's a real strange relationship.

SS: She had better be older than twenty-two.

While Oscar was planning to hand out golden statues to the best films of the year, the 29th Annual Golden Rasberry (Razzie) Awards were being handed out to the year's worst. The big winner (or loser) this year was The Love Guru, which not only took home Worst Picture, but Worst Actor (for Mike Myers) and Worst Screenplay (Mike Myers and Graham Gordy). The Hottie and The Nottie nabbed two Razzies, with star Paris Hilton taking home honors in the Worst Actress category (for Hottie and the Nottie), as well as Worst Supporting Actress (in Repo: The Genetic Opera). Ms. Hilton also shared the spotlight with Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore for Worst Screen Couple.

Indiana Jones' return to the big screen garnered a whole bunch of negative reactions, and the film did little to impress the Razzie voters since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull won the award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel. Wow, there's a lot of room in that sucker ... and it went to Indy? Let's just say Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jessica Alba both got away with one there. Rounding things out, Uwe Boll won for Worst Director and Worst Career Achievement, with the tagline "Germany's Answer to Ed Wood".

Check out the entire list over here, then let us know what you think they got right or wrong. Was The Love Guru really the worst picture of the year? Did Indy deserve worst sequel/remake/prequel status?

Sean Connery did it, Joaquin Phoenix apparently did it, and countless other actors, actresses and filmmakers have talked about it at one point or another -- leaving us, along with the pages of People Magazine, to wonder when, how or what if. It's funny, too, because you don't find many people who want to retire from the entertainment business, simply because most either never make it, fall out of the spotlight or wind up overdosing on drugs, their own ego or something along those lines wayyy before they'd ever reach an age to retire at. But here's a good question: Could the fans at home ever force someone into retirement?

Our good friend Jenna Busch wrote a little thing for Sci Fi Wire on nine reasons why George Lucas should retire ... like, now. Say what you want about Lucas and his career choices, but the man definitely still has his fans -- as poor Jenna is feeling the fanboy wrath in the comments section of her post. Her reasons, of course, mention Lucas' "additions" to the original Star Wars films, the fact that he refuses to release any of his flicks in hi-def, his work on both Willow and Howard the Duck (two awesome guilty pleasures, in my opinion), etc ...

While I've thrown more than a few internet punches at Lucas over the years, I have to say I'm really enjoying the Clone Wars animated show on Cartoon Network (seriously, watch it), I didn't loathe Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as much as the rest of you did, and I feel Lucas still has a few good chunks of awesomeness left in him. That said, you all (including the lovely Jenna) may feel differently. So have at it below: Should Lucas retire?

The original title of the post over on The Toy Zone is '20 Classic Films Recreated in LEGO', but when you have stuff like Serenity, The Ring, The Life Aquatic and Men in Black -- well, do we really consider those to be classic films? I sure don't, but that doesn't mean they're bad movies ... just not classics. Casablanca, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey ... I give you those. But the rest? Eh. Nevertheless, they have up scenes from 20 "popular" films recreated in LEGO and some of them are pretty damn cool -- like the one above which recreates one of the opening scenes from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

We snagged a few of our favorites for the gallery below, so check them out and let us know which ones you like the best. Personally, for me it's a tie between Star Wars, Alien, Casablanca and The Ring (I never thought a LEGO image would creep me out, but there you have it -- creepy indeed). Enjoy.

Our brothers and sisters over at TV Squad have busted through the boob tube and brought with them the following juicy bits of must-see eye candy:

• The cast of The Family Guy has booked two nights at Carnegie Hall, where they'll perform two uncensored episodes and a few different musical numbers. We've seen them on stage before (the month before they returned to Fox), and we certainly recommend for anyone who's a fan.
• Win a copy of Back to You -- Season One on DVD or, alternatively, a copy of That '70s Show - The Complete Series Stash box set.
  
• From the Nah, Really? department: Paramount is pretty upset over the fact they weren't warned about that South Park episode featuring Indiana Jones being raped (literally) by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Viacom, Paramount, Comedy Central -- it's just another dysfunctional family.
• Here are five shows Sarah Palin should appear on, other than Saturday Night Live.
• After previously canceling and causing quite the uproar, John McCain has decided to appear on Late Night with David Letterman this Thursday.

If you believe what you read on the message boards, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (262 screens) is just about the worst movie ever made. There are a few recurring comments, which I will hopefully address one at a time. But first I just want to say three things. One, I loved the film. I saw it twice, and it made me very happy both times. Secondly, I'm not working for George Lucas or Steven Spielberg, and they're not paying me to write this. (If they were, I'd probably be vacationing right now.) Thirdly, I want to argue that most of the disappointed reactions to the film had to do with two elements that are not actually in the film. (More on this later.)

Released in 1981, 1984 and 1989 respectively, the first three films are high on my list of the greatest summer movies of all time. I love them dearly; I yield to no one in my love for them. Raiders of the Lost Ark is certainly the best of the series, but truthfully, beyond an unmatched level of craftsmanship and enthusiasm, it's not exactly a work of art. It doesn't have much to say about the human condition except possibly for something about the juvenile repression of grown men -- but even that much is indirect and unintended.

The second and third movies lost the serious, professional edge of the first, and concentrated a little bit more on cartoonish non-reality. Pauline Kael made a passionate defense of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in her 1984 New Yorker review, arguing that Spielberg opened himself up more and directed it with more unbridled, infectious fun. But whereas Indy's relationship with Marion Ravenwood in the first felt grounded, Indy's relationship with Willie Scott in the second is straight out of bad screwball. The Last Crusade makes improvements with the additions of the "Young Indy" character (River Phoenix) and Indy's father (Sean Connery) but adds an even worse female lead (Alison Doody) and even more bad jokes; it feels even less "realistic" than the second entry.

Finally, the DVD you've all been waiting for (yes, you, in the "Give Short Round a Spin Off Movie" t-shirt): Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will arrive on DVD and Blu-ray this October 14 (and not November 11, as previously reported). Indeed! Paramount Home Entertainment has announced that Crystal Skull will hit in single disc or two-disc form on DVD and a two-disc Blu-ray edition. Additionally, a DVD boxed set called The Complete Adventure Collection (featuring the first three movies and the two-disc Special Edition DVD of Crystal Skull) will also go on sale. Unfortunately, there's no word on when the first three Indiana Jones films will be released on Blu-ray. So, pony up -- who'll be giving this one a second chance on DVD?

Full specs on both the two-disc Special Edition DVD and two-disc Blu-ray edition listed after the jump ...