Indiana Jones 5 is officially a go!!

[Barty]

I am excited, but I will keep my expectations in check.

[Skitch]

Indy > Short Round > All

Dammit, you beat me to it again.

[MadMan]

I'm a Sallah fan, personally.

Same here. I would like to see him return in the next installment.

[Rowland]

I decided to finally revisit the Indiana Jones trilogy after what has to be nearly a decade. Beginning with Raiders of the Lost Ark, it has held up remarkably well. A few minor quibbles related to pacing, writing, and one visual consistency blunder during a key action sequence at the end of the second act that contrasts so blatantly with Spielberg's otherwise-impeccably orchestrated formal dynamics that it significantly hindered my enjoyment of the scene, prove only to slightly mitigate my overall enthusiasm for the picture. I'll watch Temple of Doom either later tonight or tomorrow.

[Watashi]

I decided to finally revisit the Indiana Jones trilogy after what has to be nearly a decade. Beginning with Raiders of the Lost Ark, it has held up remarkably well. A few minor quibbles related to pacing, writing, and one visual consistency blunder during a key action sequence at the end of the second act that contrasts so blatantly with Spielberg's otherwise-impeccably orchestrated formal dynamics that it significantly hindered my enjoyment of the scene, prove only to slightly mitigate my overall enthusiasm for the picture. I'll watch Temple of Doom either later tonight or tomorrow.

You can't just say this expecting we all know what you're talking about. Jesus Christ, Rowland.

[Rowland]

You can't just say this expecting we all know what you're talking about. Jesus Christ, Rowland.

Maybe I was just looking for someone to ask. A little attention never hurt anyone. ritch:

During the sequence with Indy chasing after the Nazis for the Ark, the entire time that he is driving the truck, medium shots from outside the windshield facing in have conspicuous reflections of trees, even during every part of the chase that isn't in the jungle. Mind you, the sequence is otherwise marvelously executed in terms of craft, flair, and wit, but it's this constant cutting from barren desert long shots to jungle-setting reflections that I found terribly distracting.

[Rowland]

Holy crap, Kate Capshaw is fucking annoying.

[Spinal]

Holy crap, Kate Capshaw is fucking annoying.

Yes. Yes, she is.

[Rowland]

Yes. Yes, she is.

Short Round isn't much better. I know these are cliched criticisms, but I can't get over it.

[number8]

Oh, by the way, I should have mentioned this sooner. This movie is in no way a go.

[Dead & Messed Up]

What'd be a fun relic for new hero Mutt Williams to find? The Spear of Longinus? The Tree of Knowledge? The Tooth of Buddha? The Sword of David?

EDIT: Short Round kicks ass.

[Watashi]

Yeah, I think there should be a perma-ban on anyone who doesn't like Short Round.

[Barty]

I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be that annoying, so, really, why criticize?

[Spinal]

I would be much more excited about Remo Williams 2.

[Rowland]

I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be that annoying, so, really, why criticize?

A movie that irritates on purpose remains irritating.

[Rowland]

I would be much more excited about Remo Williams 2.

I'd be more excited for that than most sequels. Remo was a staple of my childhood, I still remember it vividly even after well over a decade. The obstacle course he used for training was the shit.

[Rowland]

Yep, just finished Temple of Doom, and you can count me in as a detractor. It's better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but not by as significant a degree as I once thought. I hope The Last Crusade, which was my childhood favorite, still holds up for me.

[Spinal]

I hope The Last Crusade, which was my childhood favorite, still holds up for me.

So far, we're on the same page. This will be the test.

I should probably watch it again too.

[MadMan]

Considering that I bought the entire trilogy last year, I'm surprised that I haven't revisited Last Crusade yet, as I've only seen it once and that was years ago. I watched the other ones, though.

[Derek]

I'm surprised that I haven't revisited Last Crusade yet

MatchCut is not.

[Skitch]

Yeah, I think there should be a perma-ban on anyone who doesn't like Short Round.

There isn't such a law in place already? I thought I knew you people...

[Ivan Drago]

MatchCut is not.

:lol:

Sorry MadMan, I couldn't resist.

[Dead & Messed Up]

A movie that irritates on purpose remains irritating.

Indeed. I heard the same defense for Jar Jar Binks, and this was my response.

[ledfloyd]

I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be that annoying, so, really, why criticize?

there are movies that have done this well. where a character annoys the protagonist but not the audience. in fact makes the audience laugh. temple of doom is not one of those movies.

[Rowland]

For the hell of it, Pauline Kael's mini-reviews for the trilogy:

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Steven Spielberg directed this high-powered cliff-hanger about the exploits of Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), an adventurer-archeologist. The time is 1936, and Indy, working for the United States government, is trying to find the Ark of the Covenant (a chest holding the broken stone tablets of the Ten Commandments) ahead of his arch-enemy, the suave, amoral Belloq (Paul Freeman), who is in cahoots with the Nazis. Hitler means to use the Ark's invincible powers to lay waste opposing armies and proclaim himself the Messiah. Conceived by George Lucas, the picture is an amalgam of Lucas's follies--plot for its own sake, dissociated from character or drama; the affectless heroine, Marion (Karen Allen), who's a tougher version of spunky Princess Leia in STAR WARS--AND effects that Spielberg the youthful magician has already dazzled us with. Kinesthetically, the film gets to you, but there's no exhilaration, and no surge of feeling at the end. It seems to be edited for the maximum number of showings per day.

Temple of Doom

In this follow-up to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Steven Spielberg creates an atmosphere of happy disbelief: the more breathtaking and exhilarating the stunts are, the funnier they are. Nobody has ever fused thrills and laughter in quite the way that he does here. Momentum has often been the true-even if not fully acknowledged-subject of movies. Here it's not merely acknowledged, it's gloried in. The picture has an exuberant, hurtling-along spirit. Spielberg starts off at full charge in the opening sequence and just keeps going, yet he seems relaxed, and he doesn't push things to frighten us. The movie relates to Americans' love of getting in the car and taking off-it's a breeze. Harrison Ford is the archeologist-adventurer hero; Ke Huy Quan plays his child sidekick Short Round; and Kate Capshaw is the gold-digger heroine. The plot involves them with an odious boy maharajah and with Mola Ram (an anagram for Malomar), the high priest of a cult of Kali worshippers who come right out of the 1939 adventure comedy GUNGA DIN. This is one of the most sheerly pleasurable physical comedies ever made.

The Last Crusade

This mediocre third film in the Indiana Jones trilogy-a reprise of the first, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK-is a mixture of cliff-hanger and anti-Nazi thriller and religious spectacle. It's enjoyable, but familiar, and the action lacks the exhilarating, leaping precision that the director, Steven Spielberg, is famous for. The only real spin is in the slapstick teamwork of Harrison Ford as the archeologist-adventurer Indy and Sean Connery as Indy's father, a medievalist who's too engrossed in his studies to pay much attention to his daredevil son's triumphs. The Ford-Connery clowning can distract you from the doldrums of punches and chases and plot explication (this time the Nazis are after the Holy Grail, which, in this account, confers everlasting life).