Beat the Nazis!  I believe if you aligned the story arcs for Raiders and Crusade they’d nearly line up perfectly.  Indiana Jones is forced to beat the Nazis to the Holy Grail, just like he was supposed to with the Ark of the Covenant. He has to rescue his Dad from imprisonment, just like he did with Marion.  He is also, unwittingly or not, trying to beat someone else to the treasure – like he was against Belloq.  The similarities are definitely there.

The isn’t too much about Crusade that I didn’t like, besides the blood looking pretty fake in a few scenes.  Somehow it is easier to write about movies you don’t like, than it is to write about movies you do.

All I can say is that I’m looking forward to The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I’ve re-watched Indiana Jones; The Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade!

A young George and Harrison.

As an adult I watch The Temple of Doom and chuckle.  The “over the top” quality of this installment of the Indiana Jones franchise is much higher than that of the other two movies.  I mean come on – the cart scene on the tracks?  You just have to laugh.

The setting for this film, when compared to the other two existing films, is also light years different.  In both The Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade – Indiana Jones begins on an adventure, goes back to his job as a professor, and then joins the race against the clock to find something before the Nazis do.  This format works best for Indiana Jones and I think that The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will end up being a mashup of both of these formats.  In all of The Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones is out of the country, with brand new people we’ve never seen.  The time element is also non-existent.

Ok, the good the bad and the ugly.  The good: The Temple of Doom is, again, a fun ride and has some of the best scenes in any of the Indiana Jones films.  The scene from the Obi Wan bar is classic as is the journey to India.  The bad: The Temple of Doom, in my opinion, pales in comparison to Raiders or Crusade. The ugly: None of the characters that we liked in the first two movies even make a cameo, oh and Kate Capshaw.

I’ve re-watched Indiana Jones; The Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade!

Sure “movie making magic” has improved so much over the years that much of the special effects, dead mannequins, and sound effects sometimes come across as laughable – but at least they are somewhat believable (unlike some of today’s outlandish impossible feats of human nature).  There are some scenes that are undeniably real which sported no visual effects, besides perhaps speeding up the frame rate, which were refreshing.  These were the moments in the film that made Indiana Jones real, gave him character, and made you want to see what he’d pull off next.

I think Andrew was the one who said, while we were watching Raiders of the Lost Ark last night, that a few of the scenes felt very much like James Bond.  I think George Lucas and/or Steven Speilberg have come right out and said that some of the inspiration for the franchise was a Bond-like, American figure, in the 1930s and 40s.  A few scenes feel more like Bond than others.  Like the scene when Indiana is fighting the huge bald guy while the plane is in a perpetual spin and fuel is making its way towards a flame.  The “setup” for the catastrophe and Indiana being the only one aware of what was happening certainly feels like a Bond moment.

End of Raiders. Beginning of Crystal Skull?

Raiders is probably my favorite Indiana Jones film, and I think it is only because it was the first.  The Last Crusade, which I’m looking forward to re-watching soon, is definitely in close second.  I enjoy the subject matter of The Last Crusade more than Raiders, I think. It doesn’t matter.

What matters is that they don’t make movies like this anymore, and I’m beginning to wonder if The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will pale in comparison to Raiders, Temple, and Crusade.  Chris thinks that they will have a ton of special effects.  I’m hoping they don’t.  The trailer shows some special effects, and I do expect them to use effects in scenes where nothing else would make sense, but I’m hoping there is at least one or two scenes where Indiana Jones does it himself and not some digital double.

I’ve re-watched Indiana Jones; The Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade!

Catching up on Indiana Jones, in style.

The crew over at the Iconfactory, who are the creators of Twitterrific among many other things, are doing a tribute to Indiana Jones this month.  Here is a snap of my desktop, which I took using Skitch, to see the icons and one of their desktops in action:

You too can sport such Indy awesomeness by downloading

• The Raiders of the Lost Ark icon set,
• The Indy’s Desk desktop background image.

I’m looking forward to the next three icon set installments for The Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, and the new The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  I would have liked to see a desktop image or two for each of these movies included in the icon download.

Source: The Iconfactory presents Indiana Jones.

(Source: Star Wars: Community | The Complete Making of Indiana Jones Cover Revealed)