Yeah, I am so enthused... it's liable to ruin my childhood retroactively.

Mike: The trailer is a teaser trailer.

I have to admit, I read the article in Vanity Fair last night and parts of it made me smile. I like that they're consciously trying to echo the look of the previous films, and that they're tapping into the 50s B-movie SF vibe, paralleling how they tapped into the 30s serial short film vibe for the first three.

So that's lots of reasons to hope I like it.

It's also making me want to get out my trilogy box set and at least watch Raiders...

I have seen those movies soooooo many times and they never get old.

For me anyway.

It's like my version of communion.

re-watched the trilogy the other weekend. Hitler signing the book of the holy grail.. Classic

Raiders definitely was the best, I mean hell Indy gets shot and everything, pretty awesome.

Now its all "digitally removed" for the Disney channel :P

I'd never watch it on Disney! No melting heads!

quote:

UberDog said:
I'd never watch it on Disney! No melting heads!

Have you seen Hot Fuzz? Simon Pegg geeked out bigtime over the fact that they got Bellocq to play the vicar...

best,
Chris H

Indiana Jones!

*bump*

A better place for (after my abortive Random Thoughts echo).



It's roomy over here.

As an added BONUS . . .

Wasn't the bulk of the teaser's CG its title-transitions? Those post-Tomb Raider portentous sunray ones? Sure, the warehouse explosion/collision is arguable . . .

I hope the feature trailer will use flat cel-style transitions and titles.

Someone's already criticized the above poster: "What's Wil Wheaton doing on a motorcycle?" Oddly, Karen Allen's face is similarly imprecise. Aren't we quick to nitpick.

quote:

Someone's already criticized the above poster: "What's Wil Wheaton doing on a motorcycle?" Oddly, Karen Allen's face is similarly imprecise. Aren't we quick to nitpick.

Huh? I was just thinking the resemblances were particularly good, especially when compared to the older(?) poster you also linked. Drew Struzan is usually pretty good.

Oh, I'm a Struzanite by every stretch of the imagination. However I also have a known Amsel bias. And only one of them died before his time, of AIDS, so I might have an intractable case of preferentialitis. (THIS is the art Amsel's better remembered for).


The resemblances are exceptional*, as always (it wasn't my criticism, though I did find it amusing). Happily LaBouf's pseudostache is nowhere to be found.

*especially Ford! The subtle nuances of age, brilliantly captured.

This style is to be lauded. And it's the second poster! Parsecs beyond the over-Photoshopped dreck that often serves (or pretends to serve), these days. Though I was a Rambo fan.

Amsel's is a great poster, mind, but if we're talking about who gets the faces right, Struzan wins hands down, IMO. He's also got more brilliant color, although that's probably a combination of style and the quality of the reproductions.

I think the problem with washisname on the bike is just that he doesn't have a really interesting face to start with.

I've always had a soft spot for that kind of movie poster...

Struzan's a lot bolder with the jet black and brilliant white. He almost always uses the full nine-value scale, so his work has tremendous color depth (look how he saves jet black for the eyes, here. Bam!). Amsel stays at the middle of the scale. On that first poster he doesn't even go full brilliant white, leaving things a bit lackluster. It has sentimental value for me.

True about LaBouf. I then had the thought: his extremely slight "looseness" is probably (nay, certainly) a deliberate subordination.

I'm happy it's a Mesoamerican MacGuffin this time, specious as crystal skulls are. Dig the mashed up Puuc-Aztec pyramid. I get geeky about production design, and I approve Guy Hendrix Dyas. Mostly because he used Johnson Wax lilypad columns in Superman Returns.

What are your feelings on Temple of Doom?

quote:

Originally posted by Metro Dynamics:
A better place for (after my abortive Random Thoughts echo).



It's roomy over here.

As an added BONUS . . .

Wasn't the bulk of the teaser's CG its title-transitions? Those post-Tomb Raider portentous sunray ones? Sure, the warehouse explosion/collision is arguable . . .

I hope the feature trailer will use flat cel-style transitions and titles.

Someone's already criticized the above poster: "What's Wil Wheaton doing on a motorcycle?" Oddly, Karen Allen's face is similarly imprecise. Aren't we quick to nitpick.

It's a painting in the vien they've always done, the secondary characters always look less refined than Indy.

Check out the Last Crusade poster in particular. I seem to remember Salah being a bit indistinct.

The problem a lot of people had was that the skull kind of tips the fedora to it being alien.

The CGI that bothered me was the chase scene near the cliff.

I didn't mind the rest at all.

That Raiders poster, are they rerealesing Radiers?

I haven't seen Raiders in a theater since, like, 1998. They had it at theater in Chicago. My friends were unhappy with my citing every line, alas.

But nothing was like 1981!

quote:

Originally posted by Metro Dynamics:


What are your feelings on Temple of Doom?

Temple of Doom was the weakest of the series. My only real complaint about it though was the lack of character development and the missing weight of the end movies. The Shankara Stones didn't have the resonance, the historic mass of the Ark and the Grail, Indy wasn't fighting an evil empire, the world itself did not hinge in the balance.

It was still a fine film though. I enjoy it thoroughly. And I did like the idea that Doctor Jones was, and often is, after fortune and glory.

He fights his baser instincts when he does good but the character is really a rogue and a cynic. This is where the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles profoundly failed.

Indy, in those episodes, was just not Indy. He didn't have the gravitas that Phoenix did (Flannery I mean) and the scripts didn't read like Indy should read.

The whole UFO/alien nausea doesn't make sense, to me. I think it's an exciting new direction. I get you're referring to "people" as a generality, not necessarily yourself.

Re-releasing Raiders -- Ptah I hope so -- I finally saw Blade Runner at The Castro, it was like being in the Bradbury. Better than perfect.

Never saw Raiders on the big screen. You have me slavering for it.

"You're a . . . teacher?"

Edit (replies to Temple of Doom comments):

I've never been fully engaged by it -- repelled on two counts: 1., insulting Indian banquet scene ; 2., children in jeopardy. And the MacGuffin's low urgency, as you mentioned.

On the other hand, Club Obi-Wan . . .

Young Indiana Jones: too many cooks.

quote:

Originally posted by Metro Dynamics:
The whole UFO/alien nausea doesn't make sense, to me. I think it's an exciting new direction. I get you're referring to "people" as a generality, not necessarily yourself.

Re-releasing Raiders -- Ptah I hope so -- I finally saw Blade Runner at The Castro, it was like being in the Bradbury. Better than perfect.

Never saw Raiders on the big screen. You have me slavering for it.

"You're a . . . teacher?"

Edit (replies to Temple of Doom comments):

I've never been fully engaged by it -- repelled on two counts: 1., insulting Indian banquet scene ; 2., children in jeopardy. And the MacGuffin's low urgency, as you mentioned.

On the other hand, Club Obi-Wan . . .

Young Indiana Jones: too many cooks.

I disagree with the "too many cooks" idea. It was one cook, it was Lucas, it was all Lucas. he oversaw every aspect of that project and what we've learned from the Star Wars prequels is that no one can screw up a great idea of George's like George can.

On that note, while I don't mind the alien angle, Harrison Ford thought it was bugshit crazy when George pitched it to him during the filming of the Adult Indy segments in "Mystery of the Blues" in, I think, 1992.

It was Lucas' refusal to give up the aline idea, to do any other, that halted production for so very long. Neither Spielberg or Ford were on board with it for some time and Lucas kept comissioning scriptsa trying to convince them.

Personally, I think the 1950's UFO craze update, like the 1930's serials, works well for Indy, but I am very glad David Koepp and not Lucas wrote the script.

Of course I'd have loved to Kasdan again but it wasn't vital.

Most of all I would have wanted to do it myself, but, alas, no one asked me.

I go now to cry.

As for ToD, the Indian thing is somehting I can get over, it was for effect and it's serial, like Conan, which has some questionable things in it. But I can get past it. In 1984, multiculturalism and PC hadn't yet hit.

People said similar things about Lost in Translation which I think is a brilliant film and Japanese I know haven't minded that film.

The kids in danger,m I think that helped make up for the MacGuffin's lack of effect and the absence of a super villain organization bent on world conquest.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:


I disagree with the "too many cooks" idea. It was one cook, it was Lucas, it was all Lucas. he oversaw every aspect of that project and what we've learned from the Star Wars prequels is that no one can screw up a great idea of George's like George can.

Nice to imagine, for consistency's sake. Evaporates once you start, um, raiding IMDb.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

On that note, while I don't mind the alien angle, Harrison Ford thought it was bugshit crazy when George pitched it to him during the filming of the Adult Indy segments in "Mystery of the Blues" in, I think, 1992.

Complete with Fugitive beard? I was aware Lucas had the idea around then -- Ford's reaction is new, and unsettling, to me.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:


It was Lucas' refusal to give up the aline idea, to do any other, that halted production for so very long. Neither Spielberg or Ford were on board with it for some time and Lucas kept comissioning scriptsa trying to convince them.

Yeah? Not how I remember it . . . In fact, Frank Darabont's screenplay was supposed to be all about UFOs. Also had an Einstein cameo. And Spielberg adored it. Lucas turned her down. That's Frank "9.2" Darabont, by the way. Happens also to be the author of my favorite movie never-made (along with Steven "Die Hard" de Souza), Commando II.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

Personally, I think the 1950's UFO craze update, like the 1930's serials, works well for Indy, but I am very glad David Koepp and not Lucas wrote the script.

Seconded. Strongly.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

Of course I'd have loved to Kasdan again but it wasn't vital.

Yeah, plus, Kasdan's had a few too many Bodyguards and Dreamcatchers since those glorious days.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

Most of all I would have wanted to do it myself, but, alas, no one asked me.

I go now to cry.

Fuckin' Hollywood! Typical. :P

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

As for ToD, the Indian thing is somehting I can get over, it was for effect and it's serial, like Conan, which has some questionable things in it. But I can get past it. In 1984, multiculturalism and PC hadn't yet hit.

People said similar things about Lost in Translation which I think is a brilliant film and Japanese I know haven't minded that film.

Understand, I have a slightly different perspective on India. (Yes, Metro "revealed").

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

The kids in danger,m I think that helped make up for the MacGuffin's lack of effect and the absence of a super villain organization bent on world conquest.

Glad you were able to get something out of it. All I got was discomfort. Yack.

quote:

Originally posted by Metro Dynamics:


Nice to imagine, for consistency's sake. Evaporates once you start, um, raiding IMDb.

How do you mean? Because Lucas didn't write and direct the show?

I'm not sure what you mean, but that show was all Lucas

Understand, I have a slightly different perspective on India. (Yes, Metro "revealed").

I don't mind when America is wrongly fictionalized either.

Yeah? Not how I remember it . . . In fact, Frank Darabont's screenplay was supposed to be all about UFOs. Also had an Einstein cameo. And Spielberg adored it. Lucas turned her down. That's Frank "9.2" Darabont, by the way. Happens also to be the author of my favorite movie never-made (along with Steven "Die Hard" de Souza), Commando II.

In the early 90's Lucas was still trying to sell them on the idea. By the time Darabont did his script they were OK with the concept as far as I know.

Vanity Fair had a good article on it.

You seem rather testy for a friendly discussion on Indy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: UberDog,

Certainly didn't intend to come off testy -- one of written word's classic deficiencies, I guess. (Unless you're a virtuoso!)

I loved the Vanity Fair article and interviews at its website. And photos! Nostalgic bliss. Stoked anticipation.

I think there's enough room here for discrete opinions, right? You responded to my post, point for point, I was following the pattern. No ulterior effort to coerce agreement on what I aired. If my opinions are untenable to you, it's your thread, I can agree to disagree and move on.

Understand, though, no testy here! Just excited conversation.

By the way, for those curious . . . the Commando II script, dated 1989 and unmade because, I'm guessing, Arnold got a better deal on Total Recall.

Well that's good, we can't get up-in-arms on the Indy thread. Indy is sacred.

Commando II, that's interesting, I always wondered why they didn't follow it up after the success of the original and of course the Rambo series.

But we did get that scene with Arnold dismissing Rambo III in Twins.

I find it hard to imagine that they turned out a script better than Darabont's for Indy 4, maybe as good, but he's very talented and I believe he would have suited the material.

Did you read it?

I stayed away from the scripts, I wanted the pure, archaeological hit when it came out.