BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Indiana Jones

 
  

Page: 12(3)4

 
 
TeN
20:34 / 22.05.08
sooooooo.... what did everyone think?
I enjoyed it.
but everyone I was with hated it.
could have done without the nuclear explosion scene, that's for sure.
longer writeup here: http://www.brrrptzzapthesubject.com/?p=409
 
 
Spyder Todd 2008
00:51 / 23.05.08
Spoiler, obviously...

The first five minutes? Freakin' awesome. But by the atom bomb, I was losing hope. And by the monkey scene, I just was ready to leave. The movie has some redeemable points, certainly, but I just felt no suspense at all during the action scenes. Lucas and his obsession with CGI only made matters worse, and frankly I didn't need Indiana Jones and Son. At the end of the day, I'm glad I saw it, but I'm thankful I already have the DVD box set with the first three movies. I don't need to see this again.
 
 
yichihyon
01:38 / 23.05.08


I just saw Indiana Jones the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and I must admit Steven Spielberg and George Lucas has done it again with another fun filled popcorn adventure rollercoaster ride of a film and show that this is not just another adventure ride. They continue to amaze me showing another facet of Indiana and taking Indiana to another dimension without giving up the tricks that Steven Spielberg has learned and grown over time as a film maker. All the fun parts of Indiana Jones is there. The obscured visual views and classical visual introductions of Indiana thats in all the films. The bold new visual framings of classical action sequences that move along and are literally poetry in motion that classic action films are really strong for. The cliffhanging and clifffallings from steep cliffs thats in all the films. The totally inventive and innovative action sequences that rock with brillant sound design that with just a sound exude impending doom which rock it out of this world! The only thing that is missing is the kissing games Indiana does so well in the past with his heroines that is excluded this time round.

I prefered this Indiana to alot ot the others because they added alot of texture and show historical Americana as only Spielberg and Lucas knows best thats prevalent in all of Spielberg's great works and like in all of his works it makes me ache to see America in a more innocent time even though this time round it is a bit more skeptical and more balanced in seeing the harsher shadow realities fused with the innocence. But that shows the strength of a stronger film maker present that only a Steven Spielberg can do, update Indiana for the late 50's with a view and mindset of a more modern sensiblity.

The great things of the film far outweight the bad things of the film and I think so far this is the film to beat for the 2008 Summer. The action sequences are a dream and they show the amazing stuntwork again that the series is known for and you have to give props to Harrison Ford doing some of his own stunts in this film. He is amazing and really shines in the film easily overshadowing Shia LeBeouf with his amazing reaction shots to on coming danger and the hands on physical nature that Harrison does so well in his films as well as exuding some of his father Henry Jone's traits in the Last Crusade.

Some of the bad things are some of the things I relish as well. The Fantasy Adventure type plots that Indiana has been steeped in from the beginning with a historic hero discovering amazing artifacts of history that is meshed in history and like a professor teaching us new meanings and interpretations of history while structured in a fun filled adventure that everyone can enjoy. Not only is it Entertaining it is educational showing us some mysteries of our past can be explained in the realm of believe it or not type stories that we loved in the past and what makes some of Steven Spielbergs canon of films so interesting to watch but this time the more realistic tone and camera work sort of conflicts and sometimes diffuses the fantasy adventure type wonder and awe of his past works but it works well in showing that this is an aventure movie with a mind.

All in all though this is a worthy new brave addition to the Indiana Jones series that has always been something special and takes it to new bolder braver dimensions that levitate it out of this world!
 
 
FinderWolf
05:12 / 23.05.08
OK, so I just got back from this -- had a blast. I really loved it, even with its few flaws. Overall, it was a joy to see a new Indy movie, and a pretty well-done movie at that.

I would say (and I think many will feel this way) that this film is on a par with Last Crusade and a little better than Temple of Doom. It doesn't touch Raiders, but what really can - since Raiders is a perfect film (in my opinion) and one of the greatest adventure films of all time.

The good: Spielberg's direction. Minimal CGI and lots of practicals (watch cave doors slide open and notice that they are actually mechanical doors that catch a little once they are done opening, just like in The Goonies or something!!). Marion is back, of course, and although Karen Allen doesn't give us any stellar acting moments (the script really doesn't give her any opportunities for doing anything other than bickering with Indy and giggling and smiling that he's back in her life). Shia LaBouf is actually surprisingly non-annoying as Mutt.

The script is actually pretty tight, with some clever exchanges between Indy and Mutt, and some great exchanges/dialogue bits throughout. Indy shows his professiorial knowledge off at opportune moments, and for the most part (see below) Harrison Ford recaptures the character very well. The writing was a lot better than I expected it would be; many snappy bits and situations, cleverly handled with more fluidity than the many negative reviews I'd read had led me to expect.

The not-so-good: At times (esp. in the first scene), Harrison Ford's acting seems a little....act-y. A bit self-aware of what he's saying and doing. However (and I'm not sure if this is due to most of the film being possibly shot close to in-sequence; as I think the first scene of the movie was the first scene they shot), he gets into the role much more about 1/3 of the way through the movie and stays firmly in that world, in that character, in that unique Harrison Ford delivery, for the rest of the film.

Also not-so-good: towards the end, a few unnecessarily long CGI scenes of buildings falling apart, cosmic stuff happening as the characters watch in awe. Also not-so-good: Shia as faux Tarzan being taken in & supported by monkeys in the forest, who seem to serve as surrogate Ewoks for one brief scene and help him fight his battles -- bizarre, but it was so random & hilarious in the middle of an otherwise well-done chase/fight scene that the whole theater just laughed at how bizarre at was and went with it (and this utterly weird bit is thankfully over almost as soon as it began, and then never mentioned again).

Also good: Nods to Marcus Brody (character from Raiders) and Sean Connery-as-Dad, although there are repeated nods to Marcus Brody that get a bit weird (one would think that the rolling head of a statue of Marcus would get to deck some bad guys, and it almost happens, but doesn't quite get there - and an amused look from Shia's character gets a stern "This isn't funny look" from Indy, which is odd because we, the audience, were about to laugh just like Shia until Grampa Jones glares us into silence to honor the dead).

The terrific: bits like Indy entering a car through a window from another car, punching a few people out, and then emerging out of the other side window of the car to join his compatriots, who have manuevered their car to the other side of the road. It was effing brilliant.

Cate Blancett was fine, although she never really gets to sink her teeth into her villainy beyond being the caricature that I'm sure she was directed to be. (She said in a press conference, laughing: "I apologize to all Russian people everywhere" [for being such a shameless 'evil Russkie' stereotype]

All in all, a terrific time at the movies. John Williams' score does all the right things, the 1950s period is well-captured and accented with 50s doo-wop songs, and Indy's connection with Mutt has something more than just a surface cheesiness (shades of Short Round, but a little better). Spielberg seems to be experimenting with soft-focus/glare lighting; whether it's to make our leads look less old or to give the sense of the 50s period is unclear.

I'm surprised that it got such a frosty reception at Cannes, opening night at the Ziegfeld in NYC with a crowd packed full of 20 and 30something was a raucous, fun, clapping & shouting bunch. Probably not something you need to watch repeatedly or see more than once in the theaters, but after seeing it this week, when this comes out on DVD in December I bet you'll be tempted, and many may actually plunk down the cash to relive the Great Indiana Jones Reunion of 2008.
 
 
FinderWolf
05:15 / 23.05.08
and yeah, the atom bomb scene was pretty unnecessary, but I figure they put it in there to serve as a climax to a huge chase scene (this was literally the 'button' to a vintage Spielbergian peril-stacked-upon-peril-while-being-chased-facing-impossible-odds chase) and to show that our hero is so freakin' resilient and resourceful, he can even survive an ATOM BOMB!!! having come out with only a few scratches and bumps, none the worse for wear, ready to mouth off to some Red Scare FBI agents after being scrubbed down for radiation (ha!). Gleefully silly.
 
 
FinderWolf
05:16 / 23.05.08
....and it is amazing how many fun variations they found on chase/fight scenes while driving cars & trucks (evoking the famous car/truck caravan chase/fight in Raiders without feeling like 'oh, crap, ANOTHER chase scene'). I felt that Spielberg's direction and suspense-building muscles were still very much in good shape here, for the most part.

oh, and any movie with Jim Broadbent has its value increased by his presence, IMHO.
 
 
Spaniel
10:09 / 23.05.08
Eh, you think Last Crusade is better that Temple of Doom? Really? For the love of God, man, why?
 
 
buttergun
12:44 / 23.05.08
Last Crusade had a bit more of the madcap dash of Raiders than Temple of Doom did. Don't get me wrong, I love Temple, remember clearly watching it in the theater when I was 9 years old (on the day of an equinox no less -- I remember the teacher pleading with us kids not to look directly at the sun, or we'd go blind). I know Temple gets a bad rep these days because Lucas himself claims it's not as good as the others, and that he wrote it during a desultory spell immediately after his father had died. But then again, Lucas is the guy who gave us the Star Wars "Prequels," so how far can we really take his word?

Also, Crusade has my favorite line in the Indy franchise: "X marks the spot." And the Indy/Father duo was very well written and played, with great and memorable lines like "We named the DOG Indiana." Temple on the other hand had the mega-annoying Kate Capshaw character, who screamed and whined throughout the pic.
 
 
FinderWolf
13:28 / 23.05.08
What butternut said above - I second that emotion.

Also, TeN's review (linked above) is pretty spot-on and hilarious - and yet, like me, he still enjoyed the movie. There are enough really funny/clever moments to make it more than worthwhile - and it FEELS like an Indiana Jones movie through and through. Spielberg's style and strengths are very much in evidence.

[a girl behind me noticed something that I noticed too - Harrison Ford wears what she called "Grandpa pants" - baggy trousers or whatever. I chimed in and said that I figure that was them trying to a) not have clothing that was too form-fitting, since hey, the man IS in his 60s, even though he's in great shape for that age, and b) the time period's clothes did not at all favor the current, slick 'slim cut' that we have now -- end fashion segment]
 
 
Spaniel
14:08 / 23.05.08
Well I'm not at all interested in Lucas's word. I think Temple is much more entertaining than Crusade, especially the end. The end of Crusade commits the cardinal sin of being boring, whereas ToD gives us that bloody amazing mineshaft chase, and a showdown with a (memorable) baddie that actually feels like a threat. Okay, it's writ much smaller than the other two, but I say Temple has its own Indy-flavour, whereas Crusade feels like a poor man's Raiders.

Sez me.
 
 
Seth
14:44 / 23.05.08
Saw it earlier today and was grinning like a loon throughout, largely due to Spielberg's stunning directorial choices which for me hit me with much more nostalgia than the more obvious references. He's on record as saying that he rewatched the original trilogy and tried to direct this as he would have done thirty years ago, and it really shows. The movie is like a love letter to a style of film making that you just don't see any more, without any of the fast paced editing and a real sense of geography to the action.

Special mention has to go to the special effects. I'm convinced that Spielberg asked ILM to make their CG elements appear deliberately retro, with many of the backdrops feeling like animated matte paintings, particularly with how the live action elements work in conjuction with what was added in post. There's a beautiful sense in which many of the scenes feel just that bit clunky, with the set and miniature work being obvious to the eye and things just not sitting quite right in a way that evokes the earlier trilogy. Many people might feel these are bad choices, but to me they worked like gangbusters. It feels like an Indy film.
 
 
FinderWolf
15:00 / 23.05.08
For fun and nostalgia, here are two appearances of Indy from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles -- one with Ford himself and one with another actor who was hired to play Indy at age 90 (when Ford himself turned the role down, since the Young Indy show wasn't doing very well and Ford said that television work would do nothing for his career at that point).

George Hall as "Old Indy":

He has an eyepatch like a pirate when he's old!! AArrrrr!!!

Ford himself guest starring as Indy at age 50 while filming The Fugitive (which is why he has a beard here):

Throw me the blues saxaphone, I throw you the whip!
 
 
buttergun
15:49 / 23.05.08
>>Ford himself turned the role down, since the Young Indy show wasn't doing very well and Ford said that television work would do nothing for his career at that point).<<

This from the guy who starred in the "Star Wars Holiday Christmas Special" in 1978.
 
 
iamus
16:36 / 23.05.08
Thought it would probably be a week or so before I saw this, but I realised last night that the Rangers and Celtic games were on, so the cinema would probably be comparatively quiet. I really enjoyed this a lot, though in my opinion, it's definitely the weakest of the four.

The cleverest part of it to me, was the way they justified Indy in this new age we find him in. I had no problem with the atomic bomb at all (save the main problem I have with the film). It totally grounds the new pulp sources of Indy's latest adventure, grounding him in the time he's in. I thought that shot of the mushroom cloud was absolutely fucking beautiful. It was crying out to have the title splashed across it.

The direction was so much in spirit with previous Indys, through the framing, lighting and even in all the tiny but perfectly choreographed comedy bits. Like the bit with Mutt combing with coke.

I thought Ford was great after he took a little time to warm up. I don't think he ever fully measures up to the Indy he was, but he's sure as dammit very close, and better than anything I've seen him in recently by a mile. Karen Allen was given pretty much nothing to do here at all, and didn't really have much of the Marion Ravenwood we knew from the previous movie.

The only problem I think the film had, which pulls it tonally away from the previous movies is that I didn't really ever get a sense of true peril. A lot of stuff was also larger than life in a way I wouldn't associate with an Indy movie. I mean, the man always does the impossible, but he never gets anything less than thoroughly fucked trying to do it. Here, not so much.

They can drive off a cliff into a tree and it all works out with no consequences. They can fall down three waterfalls and come out without a scratch. Indy can get blown for miles, skiting off the ground in a fridge and not suffer concussion or broken bones of any sort. Any of these things would have left him clawing to life by his fingernails in the previous movies.

Contrast the way Mutt does the comedy splits between the two jeeps with the truck sequence from Raiders (very possibly the greatest action sequence in movies). Every inch of the latter is fought tooth and nail and you can feel it. The only moment from the previous movies that has such broad comeic implausibility is where the plane follows Indy and Henry into the road tunnel in Grail, but that's isolated (and juuuuussst believable) enough to work.

It doesn't bother me hugely though, because it seems to fit within its own context... Raiders was a straight up action-adventure. Doom was an horror-adventure. Grail was much more of a comedy-adventure. And this seems, from the story and action, to be very much a family-adventure. It has the knockabout, consequence-free feel to it that I'd expect from that subgenre. If you can take your cue from the gophers and be happy with that, then you'll love it.
 
 
Colonel Kadmon
22:14 / 23.05.08
Boboss, I agree with you 100% about Temple of Doom. Last Crusade relies so much on Raiders that it often comes off as a pastiche, and if it wasn't for Sean Connery it wouldn't have worked even as well as it did.

Crystal Skull? I really enjoyed it. It's not a perfect movie by any measure, but it works on all the levels it needed to. I think, based on this one viewing, that I prefer it to Last Crusade.

The opening sequence was excellent, beautifully shot, familiar enough to feel comfortable but different enough that it felt a little fresher than I had expected. The script was good, as was the pacing. Harrison still owns the part, and Shia managed to give a pretty charismatic performance. John Hurt was fine, but wasted, and Karen Allen didn't really convince, probably due to the script, I think. I liked the way that the intervening history was alluded to, just as in the earlier movies, Jones' OSS service and his relationship with Marion failing. Fundamentally, I never felt bored, although there were a few moments that pulled me out of the story.

The nuke scene worked for me, and although the fridge thing was obviously ridiculous, there were always scenes like that - being dragged under a truck, for example, or jumping out of a plane in a dingy.

The swordfight on the jeeps didn't work for me, nor did the Tarzan scene with the monkeys. They just looked weak, the CGI work being to obvious, and as someone above pointed out, there just wasn't the sense of danger. They seemed more like something from the Star Wars prequels, frankly, than prime Spielberg.

Then it hit me - all these scenes, in fact all of the set pieces, are references to iconic fifties film genres. Tarzan is obvious, as are the UFO movies. The nuclear explosion is taken directly from public information films, and the ants are reminiscent of horror movies of the period (I can't think of a specific example right now, perhaps someone else can help me out). And it might be a stretch, but maybe the swordfight scene on the jeeps is from pirate movies. Not that any of this justifies some bad choices, but it at least illuminates why some very strange elements appear for no obvious reason.

But I don't want to give the wrong impression - I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, about as much as I ever dared hope for a film twenty years in development with George Lucas involved. I'll see it again, and probably get the DVD too. However you criticise it, it could have been SO MUCH WORSE. This is a perfectly good addition to the franchise.
 
 
Mark Parsons
02:24 / 24.05.08
I loved it from start to finish. Nice to be back in that world.
 
 
Mark Parsons
02:40 / 24.05.08
The nuke scene/shroom cloud image was ACE. Like a junglestorm skull cloud for the modern age. Very classic and old & new and mod at the same moment.
 
 
TeN
04:15 / 24.05.08
"However you criticise it, it could have been SO MUCH WORSE."
Agreed. Apparently the reason it's been in development hell for 19 years is because Lucas insisted on making it about aliens (his original title was Indiana Jones and the Men From Mars... no joke) and Ford and Spielberg weren't buying it. It took four total script rewrites before they could be won over. Maybe I shouldn't be pointing my finger so ferociously, but I have a hunch that everything I disliked about the movie was Lucas' idea, and that Spielberg had to talk him down to something less bombastic. Hence, aliens become "inter-dimensional beings," and Roswell moves from being the main thrust of the film to just a side plot that gets the movie rolling (that's all speculation, mind you). And now there's rumors that Lucas wants to restart the franchise with LaBeouf as the new Indy. The guy just doesn't quit!

So what I'm trying to get at is - I cringe to think what the film would have been like had Lucas been given total creative control.
 
 
The Natural Way
09:48 / 24.05.08
Even though I didn't love it, it certainly had good moments. The nuke scene was excellent, and if you don't agree, you are the ant-fun.
 
 
Razor Wind
23:00 / 24.05.08
All good points there. I would make the tiniest adjustment to the ending - remove the skeletons and just have them be skulls resting on pedestals. It'd preserve some of the mystery and ensure there was no 'regeneration' (you know what I mean).
 
 
FinderWolf
03:49 / 25.05.08
yep, one of the many outlandish things in the movie is 'the skeletons merge into one living alien'...? Uhh....okaaaay' *lol*

One review I read in the NY Daily News sums it up perfectly: "Sometimes thrilling, often charming, occasionally clumsy." That sums it all up in 6 words and still gives the sense that the reviewer liked it overall.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
17:46 / 25.05.08
I loved it. I loved the atom bomb (which also signposted that yes, we HAVE actually moved into a different era and the Commies aren't just Nazis in different uniforms), and there was something perfect about the knowledge that I couldn't survive one by climbing into a fridge. You couldn't. Nobody else could. But Indiana Jones can, because that's how his world works.

About the Communists instead of Nazis- disappointed though I am that they didn't use my idea of having Nazi war criminals hidden in the jungle looking for ancient artifacts, I thought it made the transition from the occult to science fiction far more plausible.

There's a whole fictional tradition rooted in the idea that the Nazis were obsessed with mythology and religion, and the Communists with more scientific marvels, so it stood to reason that the cartoon Commies would be after stuff to help them with mind control, whereas religious artifacts would have been a bit, well... unCommunist.

I also liked how the craft at the end was a VERY '50s style saucer- to do something like most modern movies or TV shows would do would have broken the frame a bit.

I was braced for disappointment, and it never showed up, which is a strange feeling! Four of us went, three of us loved it, and I'm pretty sure the other one enjoyed hating it (she did stay to the end).

Now I'm just pissed off that all my swashbuckling video games appear to have already gone to my new house. I have vague memories of doing that on purpose so I wouldn't get too distracted from packing...
 
 
Keith, like a scientist
17:58 / 25.05.08
That really is the best 6 word review of it.

One thing I wanted to mention was that while I felt like it was definitely clumsy throughout, there were 2 things about it that didn't bother me as much as I thought they would: Shia and the aliens plot.

Shia was actually not his usual wide-eyed, completely over the top self, and benefited from realizing he was second fiddle in this movie. Having him not be a "teenager" was also a good choice. They let him be a young adult. Also, I think he's basically Lucas' childhood made flesh.

The alien plot was something I thought would come off as quite absurd, but found myself admiring the finale to it in the crystal skeleton chamber and being suitably impressed with how intelligent it seemed to be as a theme for the movie. For some reason, I have a feeling that was all Spielberg and not Lucas.

Also, it was nice to have a Ford saying "I have a bad feeling about this."
 
 
TeN
02:13 / 26.05.08
sorry, but the nuke thing to me was just totally absurd and stupid
I've never gotten the sense from any of the other films that Indiana Jones is invincible
he's very much NOT invincible, and that what makes watching him get out of sticky situations so exciting
surviving an a-bomb by hiding in a refrigerator shows that clearly, nothing can kill him. once you establish that, the film doesn't even become worth watching because there's nothing at stake.

also, the soviets totally WERE just nazis in different uniforms. and I didn't have a problem with that. the nazis in the originals were never REALLY nazis anyway. they were bad guys. they were the stereotypical, evil "other." the soviets fill the same role just as well.
 
 
Kali, Queen of Kitteh
05:30 / 26.05.08
My take:

This was the weirdest Indy movie EVER.

My friend and I saw it and when we left the theatre, we were still trying to figure what we had just seen.

This is not to say we hated it; by no means, we did not. We were just trying to figure out when along the lines it became the same classic sort of swashbuckling serial then the bloody X-Files.

The saucer at the end was really waaaay too much.

(If there's a spoiler proviso for this,please so delete my last sentence)
 
 
The Natural Way
13:24 / 26.05.08
TeN, in Temple of Doom Indiana Jones survives an air plane crash by sky-surfing a life-raft. It's not as ridiclous as the bomb blast, but its pretty ridiculous all the same. I'm sure there are other instances of this kind of thing scattered throughout the films....
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
14:35 / 26.05.08
Thing is, it's still an ingenious escape by the film's rules. In an action movie, if you're gonna get nuked, and you're clever, you find a box with a sign saying "lead-lined" on it.

I guess I was a bit unclear about the Commies/Nazis thing. Obviously they ARE pretty much the same in that they're generic action-movie bad guys. But the context has changed, in much the same way that the Thuggee in TOD were the same generic bad guys but NOT.

I'm not entirely sure that was any clearer, to be honest.
 
 
Paralis
15:21 / 26.05.08
The thing that stood out for me most about the film (which I enjoyed but didn't love) is the fact that there's almost no sense of moral equivalency in Indy's world anymore--which may or may not be a byproduct of the developing political environment, but which feels more like the cuddlifying touch of Messrs. Lucas and Spielberg.

In that vein, what sticks out the most about rewatching Raiders and ToD this weekend (after seeing the new one) is a) what a colossally selfish actor Indy is w/r/t both his fellow man and the cultures he interacts with, and b) the humanity of his adversaries (particularly Belloch in Raiders), who are governed by the same lusts as he is (this obviously doesn't apply to ToD, whose "we'll get the 5 stones and then Kalimah will rule the world" is somewhat less nuanced).

This is somewhat compounded by the fact that it feels like he does less "archaeology" (definitely not the right word w/r/t academics, but bear with me) in each successive film--in Crystal Skull, the problematic character for me isn't the return of Marion, or the introduction of Mutt, but Ox, who has already found the tomb, discovered the crystal skull, and put it back, taking coded notes on its location for Indy's benefit. After discovering the initial crystal skull in the warehouse, his ingenuity is mostly applied to not dying, which I think we can all agree is something he's fantastic at, but nothing unique among action heroes (also: why do the aliens care so little about that crystal skull and the others hinted at in Soviet possession?).

I think the ending's just awful, because it meshes with the continuing arc that paranormal/occult knowledge and artifacts are too dangerous/powerful/conceptually enormous for human possession, but here the explanation is laughably watered-down. The reason Indy can't keep the skull is because in his tete-a-tete with the alien skull, it told him to return it. Returning it is a nice thing to do, but Indy as a nice person is a bit of a sleeper.

(very rough-drafty, but it's a start)
 
 
GogMickGog
15:30 / 26.05.08
Yes, very much a curate's egg: liked the chases, the streams of carnivorous ants and, performance-wise, John Hurt as Ben Gunn analogue and Miss Blanchett exercising her ham muscle.

Didn't like much of the dialogue - even if one levels the 'pastiche' charge, it utterly failed to crackle. Felt the one-liners fell mostly flat - in the intervening years, Indy clearly traded his wit for liver spots. And please, don't get me started on Mutt and the Monkeys (liked Le Boeuf on the whole, mind).

The nods to dear old Denholm were, I felt, sweetly done, while the flash pan of the Ark embarassedly showed it's age, like a drunken uncle dancing at a wedding.

Felt the 'Chariot of the Gods' stuff was nicely integrated but left wondering what, exactly, was the point of Ray Winstone? I mean, what did he contribute to the narrative beyond a little light rub-a-dubbing?

Anyone else catch the Wilhelm scream?

And the Janitor! The Janitor!

THREADROT

By far the most horrific part of my screening was the laborious Radio 1 advert that preceded the film: a tooth-grinding purgatory powered entirely by Zane Lowe's radiant smugness and the sight of Tim Westwood repeatedly howling his own name, with all the dignity of a toddler begging for breast milk.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
15:34 / 26.05.08
Wow, glad we didn't get that!

I was in the fortunate position of getting OODLES of trailers, the vast majority being for films I would actually like to see! (There was one about Genghis Khan which looked fucking mental!)

Indy's clearly still a big box-office draw, though- I went yesterday, and by the time we got there they'd sold out and opened another screen, which was itself nearly full. Most movies I prefer an empty cinema- something like this needed to be seen in huge amounts of company.
 
 
Seth
15:54 / 26.05.08
Paralis: Indy smells of milk.

Dude, I have to take issue with this part of your analysis. It's not possible to smell anything that's actually in the movie... films just don't cater for that modality.

So I think you're reading a bit too much into it.
 
 
Paralis
16:59 / 26.05.08
While I can't be 100% certain (I saw the film in Baltimore, and inquiring after odd odors is certainly on the list of inadvisable things), that milky scent definitely came from the screen, and the nose contained hints of elderberries and mothballs.

Perhaps it's just that my standards of what makes a man have been raised, but surely the film would have benefited from a little less family man and a little more armed bastard?

 
 
Tsuga
01:08 / 27.05.08
Man, Matthew Perry has really let himself go, hasn't he?
 
 
FinderWolf
18:17 / 27.05.08
What is The Janitor that you refer to? I guess I'm forgetting something about the movie....?

and where was the Wilhelm Scream? Didn't catch it but I know the history of The Scream well... and I know Lucas puts it in everything he goes (Spielberg too, I think)
 
 
_pin
20:34 / 27.05.08
It was good! Delicious, sweet ending fudge of aliens-not-aliens n' all.

And FinderWolf; Wiki says "Heard when Indiana and Mutt are riding a Motorcycle through the university library. A man with glasses screams the Wilhelm." And he means The Janitor from Scrubs who, briefly, is a CIA? FBI? agent, in a scene that completely lacked Alan Dale dying of a heart attack.
 
  

Page: 12(3)4

 
  
Add Your Reply