Indiana Jones and the ewoks aka Indy 4....

[leelastarsky]

We saw it on the first w/e and I haven't had the chance to post about it.

Did I like it?  

I'll admit I went into it quite fearful of a disaster, and when it opened with a cute CG Indewok, sorry, groundhog, I thought all my worst fears were coming true.  But then we got a bit of a homage to American Graffitti, and the whole Roswell/Area 51 thing, which was amusing.  And I was delighted to realise I was really enjoying it!  Harrison was great!  Cate Blanchett was great!  The cameo from the Ark was great! 

Then it went and 'Nuked the Fridge'.  A saying which has instantly become synonymous with 'Jumping the Shark'.  Which I think is fucking hilarious and fills me with love for the geeks.  Much LOLZ, but seriously...  could not suspend my disbelief.  And to add insult to injury, the bloody Indewoks survived!!!  *stabs*

I didn't mind Mutt; at least he wasn't as annoying as Short Round.  And I loved Marion.  (she was always my fave)  I also loved the allusions to Indy being a War hero.  Bloody hell, is there anything Alan Dale isn't in at the moment?! 

I'll admit I had trouble following the plot, but was happy enough to sit back and enjoy the ride.  (for the most part - there was stuff like Mutt 'tarzaning' through the jungle, and the silly monkeys, that just...gah!)  Then I kept having flash-backs to the Mummy!  Don't get me wrong, I adored the Mummy; it's probably the best Indy-ripoff out there, BUT... to see Indy copying the Mummy was just wrong on so many levels, and it messed with my head.   Now, much as I liked a lot of the dialogue in the Mummy 2, the film was shite, especially the ending with the forest swirling around the pyramid and getting sucked in...  So to see that ending in an Indiana Jones movie...  No, I didn't like that.

The Wedding at the end?  Yeah, I'm girly enough to have loved it.  Indy/Marion OTP!  XD



Then we came home and watched Raiders of the Lost Ark as therapy.  Now THAT'S a GOOD movie.  And, deargod Harrison was gorgeous back then!  *drools*

Comments

[scribblecat.livejournal.com]

I saw it too! Must say, liked the groundhogs, liked that Mutt combed his hair at the end and didn't change.

Bloody hell, is there anything Alan Dale isn't in at the moment?!
I know! Jim Robinson has done bloody well for himself!

I too had trouble with the plot, the first half I was having a few huh? moments.

I would have been SO happy to get into that 50's neighborhood with the fake everything, imagine the photo ops in that backlot! Awesome.

[alphielj.livejournal.com]

I blame Lucas for the groundhogs and Mutt making friends with the monkeys. Having seen Lucas' idea of "humor" in the SW prequels, I can't even begin to give credit to Stephen for that crap. The way I picture it, they are all sitting around talking about how the characters will get in and out of situations, and this happens.

Stephen: So with no where to go... Mutt grabs the vine and is saved!

Harrison: YES! That could work!

Stephen: But how does he get out of there?

Harrison: Hum....?

George: OH I KNOW! Some monkeys come along and teach him how to swing on a vine!

Stephen: ...

Harrison: ...

George: Can't I have at least one idea?

Stephen: We gave you the groundhogs, George.

George: Two ideas?

Harrison: Give him the two ideas, ok?

Stephen: (Against better judgment) Ooooookaaaaaaay.

[may-child.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course, because Lucas is Satan and Saint Stephen can do no wrong, and has never, ever done anything even slightly cheesy in his exalted life.

And Lucas had only two ideas in a movie he wrote the story for.

[alphielj.livejournal.com]

Wow. I meant it as a joke. Of course Stephen does wrong... and Lucas is still more of a genius than I'll ever be. But I can't deny that there were some ultra cheesy things about the prequels that reminded me of the ultra cheesy bits of Indy 4. That's why I said what I did.

[may-child.livejournal.com]

My apologies, I overreacted. I'm just sick of the hatred directed at Lucas all over the Internet and in the media with regards to SW and the Indy movies -- everything "bad" about the movies is his fault, but everything "good" about the movies is credited to someone else.

Lucas has done many things with SW and Indy that I disagree with and/or dislike, but even with my least favorite movie in each of the respective series, the good far outweighs the bad.

[leelastarsky.livejournal.com]

Avatar ROTFLMAO!!!

[leelastarsky.livejournal.com]

Shelley, just cos we diss George from time to time doesn't mean we love him any less. From what I've seen of him in interviews and stuff he looks like a lovely sweet man. But some of his ideas are naff. As for 'saint Steven'...look what he did to ET! :~(

Did you enjoy Indy4?

[may-child.livejournal.com]

Yes, I already said I overreacted. And yes, some of GL's ideas have been dumb; there are things I wish he hadn't done, though my list of what I consider to be his missteps doesn't usually match up with most other people's lists.

No filmmaker is perfect. (Except for maybe Saint Peter "The Great" Jackson -- implication that he is not perfect is a capital offense on every continent.) Saint Steven has had his share of brain-farts, and I don't just mean replacing guns with walkie talkies in "E.T." (a movie I loved when I was ten, yet find rather boring now), but also the sappy battlefield speeches in "Saving Private Ryan" and the "group hug" scene in the otherwise magnificent "Schindler's List."

Yes, I enjoyed Indy 4. I consider it so much a sequel as a nice epilogue to a great trilogy, and a farewell to one of the all-time great action heroes.

[leelastarsky.livejournal.com]

Hubby and I said almost exactly the same thing! XD

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

I loved this movie.
Actually I think it is why better than Temple and I'd put it on part with Raiders.

Groundhogs made me laugh so I can forgive them. And so long as Indiana Jones dies of Radiation Poisoning in the near future, I'm also ok with the fridge. I mean considering the falls he's survived in previous movie (from on airplane in a raft . . . riiiiiight) the fride AND the waterfalls are totally consistent with the laws of physics as applied to Indiana Jones *L*

I'm also a major sci-fi geek so the whole Alien thing just was ttoal LOVE for me, using the crystal skull=alien motif was great IMHO.

Monkeys were stupid, Tarzan rip was stupid that I will give you.Ants eating peopel was bad CG. But that's about it.

The one factual error I've opted to actually hold against this movie is . . Mayan hadn't been translated yet EXCEPT slightly by a RUSSIAN archeologists, none of which made it to the US.

So Indiana has like super sekret knoeledge he is not sharing. *L*

[bellebonnesage.livejournal.com]

Well, I read somewhere that with Indy considering a job offer from Leipzig, perhaps the suspicions of his being a communist sympathizer weren't far off... Who knows who he was talking to!

[alphielj.livejournal.com]

"And so long as Indiana Jones dies of Radiation Poisoning in the near future, I'm also ok with the fridge."


I said after the film that the next Indy film should be Indiana Jones and the Effects of Radiation Poisoning.

[bellebonnesage.livejournal.com]

Plot holes large enough to drive a truck through, but I'm glad to have seen it anyway. Marion's smile was worth the price of admission and then some!

[blue-call-box.livejournal.com]

I loved a great majority of the movie, but that Tarzan part... yeah.

The ants scared the heck out of me! OMG. I remembered watching a documentary on Discovery Channel (I think) that featured about fifteen minutes or so of those flesh eating ants. *shudder

I can say that I was worried it would be awful, but I was happy with it.

Indy/Marion FTW!

[girlspell.livejournal.com]

Is Marian the mum? Sorry, had to ask. The last comment about them getting hitched. Also Indy (Ford ahem) is pretty long looking in the tooth. Is Marian?

[laurel-potter.livejournal.com]

Yes.

I think it was established in the Raiders movie slightly, and in the novelization better, than Marion was quite young when Indy first met her. Like, he was around 20, and she was just 15 or something.

Or maybe he was mid-twenties and she was 16? But there is an age gap.

I like them in this order:

1) Raiders
2) Last Crusade
3) Crystal Skull
4) Temple of Doom

I also seem to like "Temple..." better than most people.

[girlspell.livejournal.com]

I noticed all of Ford's leading ladies are considerably younger then he is. Hollywood as usual. Women can't age, but men can. Marion can not even be in her late 50's. Here's toast to Ford for having a younger body and a much older face. Ford could not possibly be Sean Connery's son. Maybe his younger brother....

[chalicushu.livejournal.com]

Well, I watched it, too. With some feeling of trepidation, I admit. But I liked it. Very much so.
It's dubbed in my country, of course, so I wasn't able to listen to Cate Blanchett speak russian yet. But I'm looking forward to it.
It was a good film. And I love it how the directors were able to maintain the same atmosphere as on previous movies.
Harrison was great! Can you honestly say he's 65 already? Certainly no...

P.S. Have anyone watched Michalkov's "The Barber of Siberia"? This machine 'cutting' trees in the jungle was surely inspired by The Barber!

P.P.S. I hate it how in every american film about us the russians dance this 'in a squatting position' kind of dance. We do NOT dance like this. It was once (17th, 18th century) common in a peasant section of society, but now, and especially in the USSR, it's only a traditional dance you can see during the performances of profeccional dancers. Hey guys, do you really see us, russians, drinking vodka day and night, strolling down the streets with a bear on a leash and playing balalaika? ;)))

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

lol, no *I* don't see Russian people that way. But don't feel bad. I live in Kansas and where I live IN NO WAY resembles the place in The Wizard of Oz. ;D

But Indy films roll around in the cliches like a dog rolls in roadkill. lol Thats part of their charm, imo.

[chalicushu.livejournal.com]

Nooo??? And I thought Ellie is a perfect Kansas heroine in a perfect example of Kansas native house in the typical Kansas environment... Now you've shattered my illusions... ;)))))

I suddenly remembered, it's not the first movie with Harrison, where russian people dance this kind of dance. In "K-19" they did too. I wonder, how they could have managed it in a tiny space of an atomic submarine..

[theoldcatlady.livejournal.com]

"Hey guys, do you really see us, russians, drinking vodka day and night, strolling down the streets with a bear on a leash and playing balalaika? ;)))"

You forgot, 'and singing Kalinka wearing big black bearskin hats and black boots'. LOL!

I'm of Russian extraction on my father's maternal side, and it cracks me up too. My great-grandmother was a stowaway on a ship in the early 1900s. She was arrested, but they let her stay because she had a sister here who had come before her.

[chalicushu.livejournal.com]

That's very interesting about your family. Do you speak any russian by chance?

Hmmm, those bearskin hats... You know, it's very funny. We had a football finale match here, in Moscow, 2 weeks ago, 'Manchester United' VS 'Chelsy'. And you could always tell english football fans from russian. English ones were all in those hats. The bought it as a souvenir and the kept wearing them throughout their entire stay in Moscow. :)))))

[moonsong18.livejournal.com]

oh yes, sigh. He was so gorgeous back then. still is. Not Sean Connery like, but still... I don't think Georgie thought this one through enough though. It was worth spending the money to see, and it blew Narnia out of the water, like I knew it would, but I still say there was something missing. Shia was great. Very quick with the words. It is like he didn't miss a beat. It was nice to see Karen Allen. Like you, I was glad she was back. I think her part was cut back more than necessary. She wasn't that firey like in the first movie. However, I laughed when she got one over on Indy and the rest of the guys.

[atticlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was having Mummy 2 flashbacks during that scene.

[starstealer.livejournal.com]

You know I never really thought of the Mummy being an Indy rip-off whatsoever.

Maybe it's just because I've actually seen the old-old movies that the Mummy is actually ripping off instead. XD

[redreh-esila.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad you liked it.

Because I did. SO freaking much.

At first, I really REALLY didn't want to see it. I thought, "WHAT are you doing, lucas/speilburg? Cut it out. Leave the greatness be!" And then... I found out Karen Allen was going to be in it.
Immediatly, all my Indy/Marion love rushed to the surface. And I think, because of that, I knew that no matter what happened in the movie, I would be happy.
And yes, the vine swinging was cheesy, and yes, the monkey's kinda made me slap myself (at first, I thought that the monkey's were there solely as an environmental message, like, look what those things are doing to my home. But no...), but seriously...

I got everything I wanted out of that movie, and I rank it, really... I think it's second, or at least TIED with Last Crusade. Raiders is still the best, obviously, but seriously--love, love it. SOO much fun. Suspension of disbelief needed? Hell yeah. New for an Indy film? HELL NO.

Super fun? YES.

Indy/Marion OTP? OH HELL YES!!!