A trailer has been released for Watchmen, a 2009 movie based on what many consider to be the greatest comic of all time. I actually still haven’t read it, but it’s on my shelf and waiting.
I thought there was an advance showing for Indiana Jones on Wednesday night, but it turned out I read the paper wrong, and it meant Thursday at noon. This was akin to telling a six year old that tomorrow is Christmas, only to break it to them in the morning that Christmas is actually the next day, and they aren’t getting any presents. And you hate them.
So after crying myself to sleep, and pouting all day at work on Thursday, I finally got to see it last night. Indiana Jones is basically my personal Jesus, so this was a big event for me.
I have mixed feelings about the movie. A lot of the writing was awkward, too much CGI was used for my liking, I wasn’t really feeling the science fiction angle, and there were some incredibly cringe-worthy moments. I don’t want to spoil anything, but you’ll know the parts I’m talking about when you see it; they have George Lucas written all over them.
Despite its shortcomings, I still really enjoyed myself. Although, if the movie was an hour and a half of Indiana Jones putting on his hat from different camera angles, I would probably still buy the DVD, so I might not be the best critic in this case. Once I would have been outraged, and felt they desecrated my all-time favourite trilogy, if they brought out a fourth installment that wasn’t amazing, but now I can see it as just being a chance to revisit old characters without it tarnishing the memories of the original.
You should see it if you’re an Indy fan. I may have to go watch Raiders of the Lost Ark now.
Tomorrow night I’ll be flying to Kamloops for work. I’ve extended the stay through Easter weekend, so I can have some time with my family and friends there.
Whenever I’m on a flight, I think of this song. I first heard it while watching Hackers back in 1995 and became obsessed with it. It’s played during the opening scene, when Dade Murphy is flying to New York, and it sets the mood perfectly. Hackers had a lot of cringe-worthy moments, especially for anyone with some knowledge in computing, but it had geeks that weren’t completely socially inept, interesting pop culture and technology references, Angelina Jolie, and great music, so I think that made up for it.
Orbital was a great UK electronica duo, unfortunately now defunct, and this is from their second album Orbital 2, released in 1993.
Harrison Ford is definitely showing his age in a couple of the stills — his pants are hiked up to the Old Man Zone, for starters — but he still looks good. I don’t feel as bad about seeing Indiana Jones growing old as I thought I would. One of the great aspects of the character is that he’s flawed - people beat him up, he gets angry, and things don’t always go his way. Seeing him grow old just reinforces the idea that he’s a regular guy who overcomes obstacles.
A month ago, Lucasfilm Ltd registered six titles with the MPAA, and they just announced the official name for the fourth Indiana Jones installment. The other options were:
Indiana Jones and the City of Gods
Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds
Indiana Jones and the Fourth Corner of the Earth
Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Gold
Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Covenant
There were a lot of people complaining about the choice on Digg earlier today, but I quite like it. The cheesiness of the title fits in well with the rest of the series. The Temple of Doom wasn’t exactly Shakespeare. Of the titles listed, I prefer City of Gods or Lost City of Gold, but the title doesn’t really matter to me as long as the movie is decent.
I’ve been trying not to get my hopes up for this movie, but I think my struggle may be futile. Most people who know me are probably aware of my Indiana Jones obsession. When I was a kid, he was my idol. I wanted to be exactly like him when I grew up. I even planned on studying archeology once I got to university, until I learnt it didn’t involve disarming booby traps and punching Nazis. Many of the values I hold dear to this day can be attributed to those stories. My love of travel, wanting to see new places and understand different cultures, trying to learn about the past and the world around me - a lot of my interests and passions were sparked or fueled by Indiana Jones.
Even as an adult, I still love the character. He’s a multilingual scholar who travels the world, beating up baddies and sleeping with beautiful women. And he wears a wicked hat. He’s basically the perfect geek. How could you not want to be like him?
It would seem I have impossible expectations for this next movie, but I think I’ll be happy as long as they stay fairly true to the character. I recently rediscovered the Young Indiana Jones television series and really enjoyed watching it again. If I can enjoy a fifteen year old television series without getting into a huff, I should be able to relax and enjoy a new movie.
As a bit of a side note, I just noticed an adult series of Indiana Jones books listed on Amazon. I typically can’t bring myself to read anything that’s based from a film or television series, as it just seems very wrong to me, but I might make an exception in this case. Has anyone read any of these books?
How did I not know about this movie? I’m trying to reach into my memory, which is often like digging a hole and hitting clay, and I vaguely remember reading that it was going to be made, but I had no idea it was so near. In fact, I had completely forgotten it was being made until The Struggling Writer mentioned it.
It’s released on August 10th! That’s just around the corner. This is all Harry Potter’s fault. All of his fanboys have been filling my head with their useless theories and annoying anticipation. Stardust must have been lost in all that book-to-movie adaptation gossip traffic.
When I heard this was being made, I figured it would be fairly low budget, but it looks like it’s going to be a real movie. It has Robert De Niro and Claire Danes and Michelle Pfeiffer and Peter O’Toole and Ricky Gervais and Ian McKellen in it. Those are real actors, and it has a real trailer too:
I’m a huge Neil Gaiman fan, but I haven’t actually gotten to read Stardust yet. I was planning to finally pick up The Philosopher’s Stone next, but screw Harry Potter. I have Stardust on my shelf already, so as soon as I finish my current book, I’ll read it.
Watchmen
