the vynsane asylum

I wasn't bothered by the fridge much. It says "Lead lined" on the side of the fridge, so I can deal with that. I don't think that's going to bother fans as much as the aliens or the vine swinging. Another minor thing I thought was a letdown was that John Williams's score wasn't outstanding. The only memorable music in it were the themes from the first three.

Double_G wrote:Another minor thing I thought was a letdown was that John Williams's score wasn't outstanding. The only memorable music in it were the themes from the first three.

John Williams hasn't done anything truly good since Episode I.

Episode III, Memoirs of a Geisha, and the first three Harry Potters would beg to differ.

anarky wrote:Episode III, Memoirs of a Geisha, and the first three Harry Potters would beg to differ.

Never heard MoaG or HP, but Episode III was 90% SW greatest hits medley.

The soundtrack that was released wasn't. More than half was new stuff like "Battle of the Heroes," Grievous' theme, and the various takes on the "fallen Anakin" theme. I know there was a lot more rehash in the movie itself, though.

If you like Williams, MoaG is really good. I'd recommend it even if you've not seen the movie (which is also really good, and not just because Ziyi Zhang is hot). I'm surprised you haven't heard the HP music.

SPOILERS

YOU WERE WARNED







I went and saw this last night. I was happy with it. There were some bad parts, some good parts, and some awesome parts.


The beginning of the movie is really choppy. It's almost like they went and reshot it or something. Heavy greenscreen work ( almost unnecessary, given that they are in a desert in Nevada) it felt like Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett had been filmed at different times and they threw them both onto a digital background. The whole scene plays out strangely, like why is Indy being so accommodating to these Russkies who have infiltrated Area 51? All for the sake of exposition. Mac's betrayal (which was good they kept out of the trailers) seemed cliche. The stuntwork was good, but we'd seen 90% of it in the trailers so it wasn't fresh anymore. The ark was a nice nod to the original. Very brief.

Then comes the ONLY part of the movie I cannot stand. The fridge scene. It's SOOO remarkably outside the realm of the suspension of disbelief that I am at a loss for words. But aside from that one thing the movie was very entertaining ( I even forgive the vine swinging, but more on that later)

Anyway, then we get into the exposition scene about how Indy was in the OSS during WWII. Colonel Jones. I actually really like this aspect of the missing twenty years. It adds a whole other facet to his character and makes perfect sense. For me, this is where the movie actually begins.

The introduction of Mutt Williams feels a little forced, which makes me think the whole beginning of the movie ( in Nevada) was restructured last minute to try to catch the viewers up in advance. Theres a great chase scene on a motorcycle. Then the obligatory red line on a map flight. Some more exposition in an asylum, then some grave robbing. All slowly enhancing the relationship between Mutt and Indy.

The movie gets really fun when Marion Ravenwood shows up. I know Karen Allen was in the film, and the speculation that Mutt is Indy's son was pretty much guaranteed, but just watching it from the pure story aspect of things was simply brilliant. Watching Marion and Indy verbally spar was so much fun, and it continues unabated for the rest of the film. "Don't ever do that again!"

Which brings us to the big second act set piece. The car chase through the Amazon jungle, complete with vine swinging, fencing atop motorcars, and giant red army ants, not to mention THREE waterfalls was just so much fun. This is the pinnacle of the movie. Even the tarzan stuff is forgivable in my eyes, because when it happens, it serves a purpose, its not overthought, Shia plays the moment really well ( not tongue in cheek or anything) and quite frankly, if I were in that position, I would have tried the same thing.

Then we get to the Alien mumbo jumbo finale. Most people will probably have a problem with this for whatever reason. I don't really. If you're going to have paranormal mumbo jumbo, and religious mumbo jumbo, then frankly, extraterrestrial mumbo jumbo is just the same thing in a different suit. My only problem is that it wasn't as emotionally satisfying as the original three finales. Especially the closure of the third film between Indy and his father.

But the ending of the film was a very happy moment. I hope they make another film. And don't wait another 17 years to do so.

I'm still trying to avoid spoilers as I will see it on Monday . . . glad to know most of you are like it, at least . . .

Now I gotta force myself to not come back in here or the similar thread elsewhere.

There really wasn't a damned thing wrong with this film. I don't know why people hate it. I thought it moved at a great pace and never took itself too seriously. It really gave you everything you could have asked for... chases, villians, a cool Macguffin, creepy crawlers, chambers of death, etc. At times it is a little bit indulgent, as when it lets you know without a doubt you are in the 1950's instead of the 30's. I liked the Mutt character, and he was definitely needed to take on a bit of the more demanding action' and I liked the Spalko character as well, although it owes a lot to Rosa Klebb, but part of the fun was seeing all the other stuff the movie riffed on, like a QT flick.

The original movies each had fairly different tones, and I would say this one is closest in tone to Last Crusade.

I'm not even going to go into it on SSG, but when I think back to how "Raiders," and even "Temple" hit me as a kid, folks, there is no way a film can do that for us today. I was scared by a lot of "Raiders" and parts of "Temple" were the most violent things I had ever witnessed at that age. The things that hit you in the gut emotionally as a child just ain't gonna do it to an old man.

I saw this today and also posted some thoughts elsewhere.

Overall, I really liked it, and it was about on par with the other movies. I will concur that the beginning seemed off but the jungle sequence was intensely fucking awesome. Fuck, I can't look at ants anymore.

I think, based on the comments elsewhere, if you liked ROTS, you will like KOTCS. If not, then, well, you fucking suck.

No, you fucking suck.

I'm not passing judgment. You admitted to it.

So, jumping back about twenty-odd years:

I'm noticing a lot of people saying that KOTCS was a disappointment, "but not nearly as bad as Temple of Doom." Did I miss something? Are people not supposed to like Temple of Doom? I must've missed that memo.

Sure, it's a departure, involving Hindu mythology instead of Judeo-Christian myths, and not involving Nazis. But it's still a kick-ass film. Fuck, Short Round makes it a four-star movie all by himself. That guy kicks ass and balls in one kick because he's so motherfucking cool.

Also, I think it's kinda funny that, when they released the series on VHS in the late 90s, they renamed all the movies with episode numbers, supposedly to make them consistent with the Young Indy series (which I think was never released on VHS?). So Raiders is something like Episode XIX. But when they released 'em on DVD, they completely axed that. I bet if you asked George about it now, he'd deny it.

STILL SPOILING
BEWARE







Fun story. The Wedding scene was so super top secret that the "extras" were members of the crew and members of the principal cast's families. Sallah and Short Round were supposed to attend, but Ke Quan and John Rhys Davies couldn't get away on the day they were shooting and since it was so top secret they couldnt reschedule it.

AARRRGH, god damn it, that actually makes me a little sad. Sallah and Short Round reappearing would have made me jizz my pants. I hope they make a fifth one just to bring back Short Round.

Anarky, I saw today at Wal-Mart that there were a shitload of Temple of Doom DVDs and normal amounts of the other two. I think the general consensus is that that one is terrible. I quite like it, though, except for pretty much everything about Willie.

I think at heart these are family films, just like Star Wars, but out of all the movies combined Temple is the darkest of them all, so it doesn't surprise me that it has sat a bit. I'm not getting another DVD until I have Blu Ray, and I want a Wii more than a PS3, so it's gonna be awhile.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:STILL SPOILING
BEWARE







Fun story. The Wedding scene was so super top secret that the "extras" were members of the crew and members of the principal cast's families. Sallah and Short Round were supposed to attend, but Ke Quan and John Rhys Davies couldn't get away on the day they were shooting and since it was so top secret they couldnt reschedule it.

That would have made the movie so much better. What in the hell was the actor who played Short Round doing that he couldn't make it there?