Crystal Skull or Temple of Doom: Which is less bad?

In the seven-plus years since the fourth Indian Jones movie came out, I've steadfastly maintained that, while it's not good, as IJ movies go, it's not as bad as Temple of Doom. Going in, I wanted to like Crystal Skull. My hopes were incredibly high after such a long wait since Last Crusade. And it had Marion. MARION! I knew my hopes were higher than the movie could realistically meet, because I'd heard the bad buzz, and I knew all about the years of struggle over the script, and the insanity with Lucas insisting that there had to be aliens. So, being a grown-up(in some senses at least) I was able to bring my expectations down (I had a lot of practice doing this in my years as a Cubs fan). And I didn't hate it. I knew it wasn't great, but I enjoyed myself. I didn't mind Shia LaBeouf as much as most people seem to, and I was able to get on board with the weird alien crap.

Today I listened to this hour-plus podcast about the movie and all its plot holes and flaws. I'd never heard of this podcast before, but Stitcher brought it up in my recommended list, so I thought, what the hell. Basically, these podcasters (3-4 dudes and one woman) have problems with the overuse of CGI (a valid point), the implausible plot points (um, it's an Indiana Jones movie?) and the story elements that are brought up once and don't get any follow-up (another valid point). Yes, the movie has problems, but these folks are harder on it than it warrants.

In the final 10 minutes of the podcast they address Temple of Doom, noting that most people like it less than Raiders and Last Crusade but that it's not as bad as Crystal Skull. At least one of them says that people's complaints about it--the annoying and sexist female lead, primarily--are not that bad. The female lead, to the shock of no one, is my main beef, really. To go from one of the strongest female leads there is to this shrieking mess is just too much. Elsa was clearly one of the aspects of Last Crusade that made it so strong. So maybe it's a gender thing? Guys just don't care as much if the plot is inherently sexist. The second point of my why-one-and-three-are-superior theory is that Indy needs a worthy adversary, and Nazis are pretty great as adversaries go.

I tried to rewatch ToD a couple years ago, and I couldn't get past the first scene. But you know what? I'm open minded. I'm not afraid to have a long-held belief challenged. To that end, I will attempt to rewatch ToD yet again. I wonder if it will traumatize my 10-year-old or if I should wait until after he's in bed...

Manic Monday

I’m calling Amy Poehler’s memoir a flop. It has its moments, but it’s no Bossypants.

I fear it may soon be time for The Talk with the 7- and 9-year-olds: Why We Don’t Watch the Second Indiana Jones Movie in Our House.

Why comment on a blog post or news story when there are already 200 comments?

Why can’t I reply to a comment on facebook?

I'm concerned

I'm concerned. I'm concerned because George Lucas is a freakin whack job. He bought a bunch of land that's pretty much in a national park, and he might be part hyena. Most concerning is what I read in a recent issue of Vanity Fair, which I don't normally read, but was given to me by my friend who subscribes and noted the article about the new Indiana Jones movie, which she knows I would be VERY interested in. The article says that Lucas came up with some nutty idea for the plot to the new movie, which no one else (Harrison Ford, Spielberg, etc) liked. But Lucas insisted that it was this plot or nothing. And they were like, well, ok. So that concerns me. I'm also worried that he's going to CGI the shit out of it and ruin it that way. Now there's a new trailer out. Which I had to read about in the freaking CHRONICLE, for pete's sake. I have kids; I go to two movies a year! Throw me a bone!

Also, this kid who plays his son looks like kind of a dork.

But on the bright side, Karen Allen is going to be in the movie, which can only be a good thing. It's my belief that the strong female lead is key to the quality Indy movie, along with worthy adversaries, i.e., Nazis. In this case, Commies. Which might be sufficient.