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...

Rooster Cogburn abides

Saw "True Grit." Some observations:

Jeff Bridges' best movie for not being reminded of The Dude a lot.

In the "This movie has been rated" screen at the beginning, one of the resason for the PG13 rating was "Western violence." As opposed to eastern violence?

I should watch more westerns. Any suggestions?

Top 5 Fridays

5 Best Things in The Hangover:

5) The tiger

4) The baby

3) Naked Chinese mobster jumping out of the trunk

2) Jeffrey Tambor

1) Carrot Top

Top 5 Fridays

Top 5 things that could use some editing:

5) This book I'm reading (see left)

4) 95 percent of Hollywood movies

3) My to-do list

2) Ken Burns (seriously, has anyone watched every minute of the National Parks series? I've only had time for the HH bits)

and the number one thing that could use some editing..

1) David Letterman's libido (I know, too easy)

Top Five Fridays: trivia edition

Maybe there will be a prize if I trust you enough to believe you didn't cheat.

5) Where did Elwood get the car he used to pick up Jake at Joliet?

4) What was the score of the game when Rooney visited the sports bar?

3) Where did Ray Kinsella go to college?

2) What was the date on the check the Dude wrote for 89 cents?

1) Complete this line: "Stewardess, I ____ ____."

Top 5 Movies of all Time

Top 5? Fridays, right? Oh yeah. Kinda forgot about that for a while. Here's an easy one:

5) The Blues Brothers

4) American Beauty

3) Raiders of the Lost Ark

2) Field of Dreams

1) The Big Lebowski

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.