Sorry for the lake of vacation updates, but I was busy.
Took Joelle to the airport on Friday, so the house is a little empty and Thurston is missing the constant attention. It was a nice trip and we had a great time, but now for the hard part until we get together again.
I’m about to watch the second Indiana Jones installment (Temple of Doom), which I remember as quite lackluster, but I am watching all four before I actually go to a theater and watch the latest one. I kind of feel like it is a Gen X obligation. I grew up on those films, watched them hundreds of times, even every now and then finding myself say things like “He chose… poorly.”
Then there is this:
You know why all the dudes my age get emotional when we see him reunited with Ke Huy Quan? It’s not just because it’s a sweet moment (I’d also like to give Harrison props for giving stunt actors their due and also deflecting the “You must be proud of him” because that always grates when people say they are proud of someone- you’re stealing their glory. You should be happy for them, not proud of them. It wasn’t your fucking accomplishment).
At any rate, the reason we all get misty eyed when we see this is because we were that fucking kid. We all wanted to be Indiana Jones when we were sitting in the theater or firing up the Betamax or VCR, but we were really the kid.
I see the Supreme Court partied like it was 1859 last week. Fuck those people. Fuck Republicans.
cain
The second Indiana Jones movie – temple of Doom was horrible and I spent months trying to tell my classmates in high school that we don’t eat snakes or whatever the fuck was depicted there.The movie was banned in India because it offended a nation that was mostly vegetarian.Despite that I was so happy to hear Harrison Ford speak Hindi towards the end..It’s like we mattered. But still mixed feelings because we Indians were mostly unseen. That’s a perspective that you won’t get from those who didn’t grow up in the 80s as Indian. And a contrast to our Gen Z children who were not so desperate for the acknowledgement of our white betheren to show that our culture had relevance.
I loved Indiana Jones but have not watched any movies passed the 3rd one.
gwangung
@cain: Yeah, that’s what I hear from a lot of my other South Asian friends, that mixture of horror at the casual racism and the happiness to getting ANY representation.
And a hell of a lot of Asian American drama types identify with Ke Huy Quan because of his career arc…and praying to get that shot to show everyone what they can do.
Cacti
The Last Crusade was the last Indiana Jones movie.
schrodingers_cat
@cain: Actually India is not mainly vegetarian. A tiny influential minority is vegetarian, many Brahmin subcastes and Jains. But everything else you said I agree with. And I think they eat monkey brains or something. But yeah vegetarianism is equated with being more godly and pious.
The scenery chewing Amrish Puri was pretty cool. I have seen the Temple of Doom in parts. I was bored.
thruppence
The Crystal Skull movie is similarly bungled. They went to great lengths to get all the details right on the WASPy college campus but all the indigenous cultures are just thrown in a blender for exotic adventure wallpaper. As a great man once said, Blech.
gwangung
Timed out before I could add that Dial of Destiny was OK, not great. Some nice character work and a subtle ark for Indie, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge struck me as Lara Croft with a few more sharp edges and a lot less boobage and gratuitous exposure of flesh (and therefore is an unlikeable character to certain male types), which I enjoyed.
piratedan
@cain: while I enjoyed the Temple of Doom, I thought that the action set pieces were really well done, but how they made Kate Capshaw’s character with little to no depth really just made her annoying, although if we’re talking about making a movie in the “spirit” of those old serials, Temple of Doom certainly managed to catch that “homage” to the stereotypes of that time.
Mike in NC
Saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in San Diego in 1981. All the sequels were a disappointment. The “Crystal Skull” one was really terrible.
Jeffro
The original is a classic, ‘Last Crusade’ was a nice follow-up, everything else sucks.
It’s like Star Wars: besides the original trilogy and the second half of ‘Revenge of the Sith’, just pretend the rest doesn’t exist.
(except ‘Rogue One’ – that also rocked)
Tim in SF
Gawd that interviewer is TERRIBLE.
Steeplejack
Fix’d. I’m trying to make that a thing.
Keith P.
I like Temple of Doom more as the years go by. When I was a kid I was always reading the book adaptations of movies (Rambo 2, Goonies, Batman, Temple of Doom). They always had scenes that were cut from the film (and usually had pics from the scenes, too), and the banquet scene in ToD was quite a bit more elaborate than what we got
Suzanne
I love Raiders and Last Crusade, I liked Short Round and the elephants in Temple of Doom. Crystal Skull was made terrible by Shia LaBoof. I saw Dial of Destiny last night. It was utterly fine. I had a nice evening at the movies. Could have used more Short Round.
Joseph Patrick Lurker
John,
Save your money. the reviews aren’t encouraging.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a dutifully eager but ultimately rather joyless piece of nostalgic hokum.” – Variety
“This is a big, bombastic movie that goes through the motions but never finds much joy in the process.” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Not only is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny an almost complete waste of time, it’s also a belabored reminder that some relics are better left where and when they belong.” – IndieWire
HumboldtBlue
@Jeffro:
Yup.
Cameron
It’s been so long since I watched an Indiana Jones movie that I don’t really remember much about any of the ones I saw or which ones I’ve seen.
Matt McIrvin
Temple of Doom was one of the movies (along with Gremlins) whose level of violence inspired the creation of the PG-13 rating–which now seems to be the sweet spot for every single tentpole blockbuster. So it had a lingering effect there.
RaflW
If there’s such a thing as the “Private Fireworks Index”, I have to say the economy around here must be really good.
Multiple homes along our SE Wisconsin lake are shooting off thousands of dollars of firework per house, both last night and tonight. I don’t mean roman candles and fountains. Like multi-shot, multi-feature mortars. And many sets of shots per house.
I imagine some doggos and other creatures are having a very miserable time.
But I can’t help feel that Joe Biden’s economy is treating a lot of people well if they have this kind of scratch to literally blow.
Brachiator
I was older when I saw these films and thought the first Indy film was great filmmaking. But Doom seemed a mechanical exercise. I could see where the film was straining to top the first movie. And while I guess that Spielberg was captivated by Kate Capshaw, who later became his wife, I thought her performance was one-note and mainly shrill. The kid was okay. But I also think that the more intense scenes led to the PG-13 rating.
I got no problem with anyone who loved these films. The equivalent for me were the Steve Reeves Hercules movies and films like Jason and the Argonauts.
But I hate that we have become hostages to the weird demand for nostalgia fixes in movies and TV shows. Ghostbusters, Karate Kid, Indy, Picard 3, maybe the upcoming Barbie movie.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about the latest Indiana Jones movie. But Indy 4 was such a God awful mess that I fell out of love with the franchise.
ETA. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was wonderful.
gwangung
I consider it that we’ve become so self-indulgent and demanding in our desire to rerun our childhood that the risk-averse financial people have turned on the money spigot for replaying the old hits, instead of doing the harder work of finding and funding new work that may be more unpredictable, but is probably ultimately more satisfying.
patrick II
So, John, did you finish watching Silo?
NotMax
@gwangung
It’s like tires.
Retreads may cruise along for a time but sooner rather than later become flat.
Brachiator
@gwangung:
People are fickle and contradictory. I keep reading people claim that they want more original material from Hollywood even as they rush to see nostalgia infused projects.
But Hollywood has always been strange. How does the old joke go? “That last blockbuster was a big hit. We need to make another just like that one!”
Steeplejack
@gwangung:
I put a lot of the blame on the studios. They want to make money, not movies. So reboots, sequels and “franchises” are easy to crank out. And the audience is complicit, because they are hungry to see anything.
It’s (somewhat) like criticizing people for bad dietary choices when they live in a food desert. If junk food is their only option, they’re going to eat junk food.
NotMax
Maybe a minority of one but I found Short Round (even the name) to be the most distasteful kind of racial stereotyping. Some elements of the old Saturday serials the Indy movies supposedly paid homage to are best left in the past. Turned me right off of continuing with the franchise.
gwangung
@Brachiator: People are indeed contrary, but I pretty much chalk this up to the conservative (fiscally and culturally) nature of financing Hollywood and the influence they have on filmmaking. You’re likely to lose money on making film and TV, so you lower risk by a) using known plots (franchises), b) using known names (who have a record of success and are mostly white and male).
And this all happens wayyyy before viewers can get their eyes on it, and decide if they like it or not.
gwangung
@Steeplejack: I’m thinking that the pandemic has thrown a huge spanner into this, breaking the habit of seeing stuff. It’s certainly is in the theatre world, where many theatres are going under or suspending seasons.
What this means ultimately, I don’t know. Will the film going habit return, as the pandemic recedes due to time and new vaccines? Will folks continue to reserve outings to sure fire hits from word of mouth? Will they continue to rely on streaming? Who knows?
Steeplejack
@gwangung:
I think that for a long time already the bulk of the “see it in the theater” audience has been yoots who want to go out and maybe even have a date night. They want to be stunned by a giant screen and surround sound. Hence the popularity of superhero movies, the Fast and Furious franchise, etc. The rest of us will stay home and catch it on streaming in a few months. (And that lag seems to get shorter and shorter.)
I do plan to go to an actual theater in the next week or so to see Asteroid City. Wes Anderson stan here.
gwangung
@Steeplejack: Yes, and a lot of those are watching movies multiple times. And I’m also certain the pandemic has hit THAT element pretty hard. (Particularly since the majority of tickets bought are by non-white movie goers, and we know how covid hit the non-white community).
Steeplejack
@gwangung:
I would hate to see “movies in theaters” go away, but we might be heading in that direction.
Prometheus Shrugged
@cain: Also too: the scenes that were supposed to be in India were actually filmed in Sri Lanka and the extras were all speaking Sinhalese. As if an entire subcontinent of 1.6 billion people wouldn’t notice.
HumboldtBlue
If you have ever wondered what’s the best song and the best way to win a karaoke contest, well, this fellow has your answer.
Amir Khalid
@Joseph Patrick Lurker:
Dial of Destiny? They made an Indiana Jones movie about a telephone?
(I’m sorry. I’ll show myself out.
gwangung
@Steeplejack: If it did, it’d make the Discovery look even stupider than they do know (which would be the silver lining….)
Steeplejack
@HumboldtBlue:
Hilarious! It’s like “son of Andy Kaufman—the legacy continues.”
Steeplejack
@gwangung:
Okay, not quite getting this? 🤔
Brachiator
@gwangung:
Streaming seems to be becoming the standard for many people. This trend obviously intensified during the pandemic, but it’s cheaper and more comfortable to watch movies at home.
Even before the pandemic, I had coworkers who might go to the theater to see a superhero film. But they would do streaming for other movies, for movies that their wives or girlfriends wanted to see, and for movies that their kids wanted to see.
There was also a number of people who would find ways to obtain pirate copies of current hit films.
Now some people will go out to the movies to see films at specialty theaters that serve food and alcohol, or they will see big action movies at IMAX theaters. I guess IMAX is like seeing a play on Broadway. Smaller and regional theaters lose our, and start to fade away.
Jackie
@HumboldtBlue:
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
gene108
@cain:
“Temple of Doom” is pretty damn racist. I remember walking out of theater as a kid wondering why they thought we (Indians) ripped people’s hearts out and ate monkey brain (?) or monkey eyeball (?) soup.
I really despise this movie and have since it first came out.
cckids
@Prometheus Shrugged: They were denied permission to shoot in India because of the script.
NotMax
@gene108
Come sit by me.
Just look both ways to confirm there are no spinning propellers moving about the terrain first.
;)
Incidentally, a certain type of monkey brain is/was considered an exotic delicacy. Served, iced, inside the skull.
mrmoshpotato
Punch Nazis as a second resort.
Melt their fat, orange, fascist faces if possible.
Ninedragonspot
@Amir Khalid: Dial of Destiny is actually about soap.
The Husband and I had our first post-pandemic movie-going experience this afternoon with this movie. We enjoyed ourselves quite a bit and have resolved to get back to the theaters more often (though no comic book/superhero shit for me).
rikyrah
Cole,
Peanut saw the latest one and enjoyed it. Granted, she is a 15 year old who has only seen Raiders.🤔🤔
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Joseph Patrick Lurker: You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll kiss sixteen bucks goodbye.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
In terms of fresh films (snort) Cocaine Bear was a yellow movie
Steeplejack
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
Just put that on my binge-watching list. It’s on Peacock!
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
There are urban legends here in Malaysia about people eating brain of live monkey, and it’s even said that the monkey’s screams add to the diners’ enjoyment of the meal. I tend not to believe these stories.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Whereas eating Republican brains is just consuming empty calories.
“And such small portions!”
//
eversor
@Amir Khalid:
Monkey brains are eaten in lots of places. They are eaten in some regions of India (where vegetarianism is often an upper class/caste thing). It tends to be a jungle region thing in most places. But I haven’t heard of consuming them raw as an actual food item.
The screaming live monkey comes from Faces of Death. Which showed actual gruesome videos of people dying and yes animal slaughters. Also a lot of staged stuff. Eating live animals is a thing. Live frog or fish sashimi isn’t uncommon nor is stuff like live octopus. If you want to take it out of the east people in the US consume live oysters all the time. So that’s not the freaky part. Hell I’ve done all of that. But live monkey is dangerous as hell to eat for health reasons. So is monkey in general but in some places it is a food stuff. I’ve been to places where the local trick is to rip out beating snake hearts and give them to you in a shooter before cooking the rest of the snake. It happens!
The Faces of Death video though was of a sort of small table with the monkey trapped beneath it with it’s head sticking out. The monkey was brought in screaming and shrieking before. With other monkeys in cages around it shrieking as well. It’s skull is then caved in by the (white people) sitting around it till it stops thrashing about and then it’s cut open and they eat the live brains.
Sounds gory but if you watch it there are so many cut aways and other stuff it was obviously faked. The monkey trainer also came out and said the entire thing was staged.
This got skewed into all these places that had monkeys, where people did eat them off and on, were eating live monkeys, and raw monkey brains. Which was never the case.
Chris T.
Isn’t Indiana Jones and the Lake of Updates the one where he’s sitting in front of his computer and it keeps going updating … updating … ?
I found that movie awfully boring.
Chris T.
@NotMax:
That’s how we got rid of the recent zombie plague, by starving them to death.
NotMax
@Chris T.
Balcony of a movie theater here (long since defunct) used to have, instead of standard raked rows of seats, what were known as “love couches.”
They would have gotten quite the heavy usage testing.
;)
Splitting Image
The best thing about Temple of Doom was that Barbra Streisand showed up on set dressed as a dominatrix and whipped Harrison Ford when he was tied down for a scene. Carrie Fisher showed up to rescue him.
Raiders and The Last Crusade are both great. Last Crusade was made into a bad action game and a very good adventure game. The adventure game got its own sequel, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, which was probably a better continuation of the franchise than the fourth movie.
Baud
Man, Morning Joe has switched to 100% Trump programming. It’s critical of Trump, at least, but still.
lowtechcyclist
I have a t-shirt that shows Indiana Jones, torch in hand, in the depths of some temple, cave, or whatever, coming across…
…Han Solo encased in carbonite.
hueyplong
From start to present, I’ve despised all Star Wars and Indiana Jones material in each of their iterations.
Excuse me while I scatter some urchins currently trespassing on the edge of my lawn.
Chris
This.
It was hard enough getting kid sidekicks that weren’t a disaster, but Short Round was it. I definitely remember feeling that way watching the trilogy as a kid.
Chris
@Keith P.:
Something that got cut from the final product was a moment after the banquet when Indy and the British officer are talking and remark on how weird it is to see supposedly good Hindus eating meat – it’s supposed to be an early sign that things at Pankot aren’t what they seemed to be.
Why they left that out in the end I don’t know; they’d have at least had something to point to to say “see, we’re not trying to say Hindus are really like this!” when the backlash came.
Chris
@Suzanne:
The last time I watched that movie was with a friend who argued that they should have dropped Shia’s character and made the kid from the college library the sidekick.
You know: the student who has his professor, a hooligan, and their motorcycle pop out from underneath his desk, and is so unfazed and consumed by his work that his only reaction is to go, oh, Doctor Jones, while I’ve got you here, could you explain to me this thing in the readings? That’s awesome! I want to see that kid dragged into the loonyness of an Indy movie!
Leslie
Around 39% of India is vegetarian. Hardly a ‘tiny minority.’