Hot take:
Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile were both better Indiana Jones movies than Temple of Doom was.
The Mummy was the best one
Guardians of the Galaxy is Space Indiana Jones.
I like Temple of Doom. Depending on the day, I might even say it's the second best one.
There's a lot that's an issue in Temple of Doom, but there's also a lot that f*cking rocks. And much in the same way that Raiders seared into my young brain that there is no higher level of coolness than punching, shooting, or throwing a Nazi off a cliff, I'll never forget Indy chiding Willie, who finds the offered food gross, "You're insulting them and embarrassing me." Problematic as it is, Temple of Doom imparted to me the wisdom: wherever you go, show some f*cking respect.
There's a lot that's an issue in Temple of Doom, but there's also a lot that f*cking rocks. And much in the same way that Raiders seared into my young brain that there is no higher level of coolness than punching, shooting, or throwing a Nazi off a cliff, I'll never forget Indy chiding Willie, who finds the offered food gross, "You're insulting them and embarrassing me." Problematic as it is, Temple of Doom imparted to me the wisdom: wherever you go, show some f*cking respect.
Yup. And it was the only one where he doesn’t attempt to loot an artifact but instead returns it to its rightful owners.
Jumping out of a plane with a raft, riding a mine cart, and the bridge finale. That's about all the good I remember.
I've had the DVD trilogy since 2003 when it released. And I'm pretty sure I haven't watched ToD since then. Gave it one more shot and watched some special features but I'm pretty good never seeing it again at this point
farley3k wrote:Heck if someone wanted argue it was a real story I would have to say "so is the real story the black and white part or the color?"
I saw it yesterday, and while I would agree it's a very arthouse movie in its construction - I mean, more than usual - I feel pretty sure that the answer to that question is "Yes".
Spoiler:I think the key scene is the one with Margot Robbie, where Jason Schwartzman the actor acts out the deleted scene. He's playing a man grieving his wife, while in real life he's grieving his lover who wrote the play. And they're acting out a scene about how he needs to replace her/him and move on.
There's no big catharsis there, the change is just this repressed, grieving man waking up one day, and being able to move on a bit and handle the day to day business of living.
Just saw it and I liked it a lot. But I was surprised in that it did end up feeling a little bit more cerebral and somber than a lot of other Wes Anderson movies.
At first, I thought it was about moving on from grief. But, that's not an adequate explanation for what was going on. At the end, I think it was more about processing experience. We all have big, momentous, life-influencing experiences. Sometimes we seek them out and sometimes they just happen. But time continues flowing forward, during those experiences and after. And we have to deal with all the things we felt and learned and the loss of no longer feeling those feeling or ever being able to experience that thing again for the first time. It was played for comic effect, but Jeffrey Wright's speech at the podium was also a crucial summation of the theme. As was the dialog towards the end between Norton and Brodie. As was the literally shouted "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep" line.
Paraphrasing, Wright's speech essentially was. "Stuff happened to me. It was important. It made me who I am. It is incredibly important to me that I try to share it with you, even if it doesn't have a satisfying narrative resolution."
But, thematically, I think it is a tough thing to make a movie about.
I saw Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and enjoyed it. The first half was more thrilling compared to the second half, but overall it exceeded my expectations. While these last two installments felt unnecessary, I'll miss the character. I can't believe Crystal Skull was 15 years ago.
There's a lot that's an issue in Temple of Doom, but there's also a lot that f*cking rocks.
Maybe one of the coolest shots in all of Indiana Jones was when the light from a cart slowly illuminates a furious Indy before he punches a child slaver ten feet away to save the children. I remember standing up and cheering for that when I was a kid.
This scene.
Temple of Doom has definitely risen in my estimation over the years.
I've always loved Temple of Doom.
I can admit that The Last Crusade is the better movie, but I rate Temple of Doom the tiniest bit higher.
Alien Love Gardener wrote:Also, I saw the new Indiana Jones. It's fine. It's the fourth best one.
Oof, that's rough considering there have only been two really good Indiana Jones movies.
I'm lost... are we supposed to dislike The Last Crusade? I remember enjoying that movie quite a bit and I recall watching it quite a few times. The chemistry between Ford and Connery was great.
hbi2k wrote:Alien Love Gardener wrote:Also, I saw the new Indiana Jones. It's fine. It's the fourth best one.
Oof, that's rough considering there have only been two really good Indiana Jones movies.
I'm lost... are we supposed to dislike The Last Crusade?
I assume you're joking?
Temple of Doom is the problem. Mostly racism, violence, and being gross.
I still like all three. I could rank them in terms of which ones i like more, but none of them are bad or unenjoyable. I don't think Temple of Doom has any worse problems than all the rest (I don't condsider the grossness or violence to be problems, but even if I did, no part of ToD is as gross or violent as the face melting scene in Raiders). The racist stereotypes and cultural appropriation problems are present in all three, and pretty inherent to the pulp hero slash treasure hunter genre. They could rise above them, but not so long as Indiana had his "that belongs in a museum" mindset.
Saw Elemental, the new Pixar thing with the kids yesterday. They liked it.
Animation was good and the story beats about immigration were well-intentioned. It was nice to see a story about that topic that tried hard to wrestle with it in a meaningful way.
The plot itself was atrocious. No focus. Really jarring when thinking back on the tight storytelling in stuff like Cars.
The Marvels trailer was the highlight for me. Can't wait.
There was a dark timeline where I could've seen Indy 5 or The Flash today.
No FlashPoints necessary today, because instead, I saw No Hard Feelings with Jennifer Lawrence, and I'm glad I did, because this was the best comedy I've seen all year. Like, out the gate, let me say that if you like raunchy R-rated comedies with no wholecloth CGI & great wit, if you like movies with a class consciousness, if you like dirty rotten scoundrels with big grifts and bigger hearts, go see this movie.
If you're unfamiliar, here's the pitch: JLaw plays Maddie, a 32-y/o Long Islander woman with no assets but the childhood home she inherited from her mom, on the cusp of losing said house due to being unable to keep up with the rising property taxes. When her car gets repo'd by the county on the cusp of Summer tourist season, she loses her main source of income as a rideshare driver. The solution: a Craigslist posting from a pair of wealthy upper-class helicopter parents offering a great-condition pre-owned Buick in exchange for "dating" their 19-y/o son, Percy (played by 21-y/o Broadway actor Andrew Barth Feldman), before he sets out for Princeton in the Fall. Hijinks & emotions ensue.
This flick is wrapping up its 2nd week in theaters, so my small matinee screening only had 20-30 other viewers, but there wasn't a quiet seat in the house. Great laughs from start to finish. JLaw brings the thunder in a way that had me jotting down at one point in my notes, "great Ms. Piggy energy", which I meant as a high compliment: charming, slick, gorgeous, cunning, savvy, and absolutely terrifying should you cross her. Feldman plays his timid/meek side of their Odd Couple with aplomb and the two find a great vibe that carries the film.
And of course, there's a lot of heart beneath the surface. It didn't make me cry as much as Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, but the emotional scenes still hit and deliver in their role of valleys on the emotional rollercoaster.
How do I wrap up this rambling...hrm.
I didn't know I needed Parasite x Porky's, but it hits better than I could've ever expected.
Lastly, if you've seen this flick, or if you've no qualms with a comedy bit spoiler, I have to shout-out:
the Jennifer Lawrence Full Frontal Fist Fight. It's set up so perfectly, because the film pointedly has points where it could've shown nudity, but didn't, which sets you up to think that JLaw negotiated for no nudity in her contract.
But she's nude. For one scene in this raunchy sex comedy, to beat the sh*t out of some sh*tty teens who tried to steal her clothes during a skinny dip. Howling with laughter. What a performer.
Anyways, thanks for your time, GO SEE NO HARD FEELINGS!
Strong second on No Hard Feelings. It kind of felt like a throwback to me. Despite being set in the present, with timely story beats, it has the kind of comedy energy I haven’t seen in a movie for decades. It’s got heart, it’s got smart comedy, it’s got goofiness.
No Hard Feelings! Watch it!
So what is with all The Flash hate?
I just saw it and liked it quite a bit. It had a lot of heart.
And the easter eggs were both funny and moving.
I also liked the explanation and different take on the multiverse.
The CG people were not great. But I didn't find it too much of a distraction.
People hated Flash? I read nothing but good things.
Off topic:
Do we have a place to talk about old movies we're watching? "Cable Classics" and "I'll Stop Surfing to Watch" and "I've Seen It A Million Times But It's Still Good" and that kind of thing?
The Untouchables is on and god damn is it refreshing in 2023.
There are lots of causes, even though I thought the end product was more or less "fine".
Some of it's from the CGI--how it's been explained as a stylistic choice which only means it was a bad stylistic choice-- and some of it's due to its star. Some of it is the nostalgia-bait returning character with lines that don't make sense in context, underdeveloped new and returning characters played by actors who deserved more material, resurrecting dead actors in CGI for wordless cameos that are meaningless to the characters in the film, and some of it is how thoroughly explored this emotional material already was throughout the first (and arguably best) season of the recently concluded TV series.
In any case, the animated Flashpoint Paradox film is a breezy adaptation that you'd probably like as well.
Well, there are good things for me like:
I could not stand Keaton's 80's Batman but in this movie I couldn't possibly have more anticipation for him to don the suit.
Super girl definitely needed more time. She'd better get a solo movie soon.
I'd even be okay with Clooney getting a Batman resurgence like Keaton too.
I like that they gave more than speed to Flash as well
And I guess being only vaguely familiar with the plot ahead of time helped 
The thing that's kept me from catching The Flash in theaters is pretty much tied to Ezra Miller's bs. Maybe it's not the biggest reason in the world, but with regards to superhero flicks, the fatigue has set in to a point where I don't need much convincing to skip one, especially when this Spring/Summer slate has been jam-packed w/ ample bangers this year.
Plus, it'll hit HBO Max before the year's end. I'm fine waiting for the home release and pairing it with a lil "time dilation" of my own from the comfort of my living room.
People hated Flash? I read nothing but good things.
I believe it is almost all due to Ezra Miller's kind of horrible personal life. I mean people rose up against the Hogwarts game because of Rowling's awful views, and Marvel fired Jonathan Majors over his violent personal life.
It just kind of fits a pattern of not rewarding companies/properties that keep problematic stars.
Marvel fired Jonathan Majors over his violent personal life.
Is that official? I've seen a lot of people assuming they will but no official word.
farley3k wrote:Marvel fired Jonathan Majors over his violent personal life.
Is that official? I've seen a lot of people assuming they will but no official word.
I did read that the next Avengers move was delayed a year because of his issues. Whether that means re-writing for another big bad or for the situation to cool down, I don't know.
I was under the impression that the writers strike was a large reason for the delay as well.
Just came back from Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. Terrific fun, and it did not help Indiana Jones' train sequence in the least. So far Fallout is still my favourite though, but I might change my mind once part two rolls around.
We saw MI: Dead Reckoning last night and it was great. Loved every minute of it. The set pieces were all great, the acting was good, the story was fine.
I also enjoyed Mission Impossible. Cruise just keeps making fun action movies.
Nitpicks:
Having AI as the main enemy is a bit...soulless. I know they tried to have an "avatar" in having the guy from Ethan's past as the face, but still.
Also, I keep seeing parallels to John Wick 3 and 4. I don't think they were copies because this movie was probably filming about the same time as John Wick 4.
- Big set piece in a historic building turned into a night club?
- Car chase where the doors are knocked off the car and you go backwards against traffic in a historic traffic circle in a historic European city?
- Desert raids and fights? (to be fair, that was also in prior MI movies, but that doesn't excuse it).Minor things, just things I thought of while watching it.
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