What I find funny is how people seem to limit that "meh" opinion to just the newest one. I've always found all of them after the first to be incredibly meh. Just blatant cash cows, milking the brand, with nothing actually interesting going on.
Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (6/10)
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is widely regarded as the weakest Indy film. Despite not being that much of a fan, and having only seen Temple of Doom and some of Raiders of the Lost Ark, I don't know if I agree per se (haven't seen enough other films to make that judgement), but the film isn't good. That's not to say it's bad however, and for fair bits I enjoyed myself. But if I had to describe it in a single word, it would be "anemic." Like, someone's going through the motions. This is especially true towards the end of the film, where it feels like it runs out of steam. That said, going to list some points:
-Harrison Ford is great here. Indy isn't exactly one of my favourite fictional characters, but despite his age, it's astounding how well he sinks into the role. Can't fault him.
-I'm not sure why Irina Spalko's accent keeps shifting between sort-of Russian, not-Russian, and "da fuq?", but I'm sure it's nothing to do with her actress not being Russian (or Ukrainian)...nup...
In fairness though, Spalko does work with sufficient ham.
-I'm going to bring this up here, as others have - there's a distinct lack of blood in the film, least in some cases. When the Russians shoot the American troopers, the camera doesn't show the bullets hitting bodies. Simiarlly, when they shoot the Amazon tribe, we here gunfire, and see bodies, but no bullets hitting bodies. That said, this doesn't really bother me. A lack of blood and gore isn't a turnoff for me. Certainly not in this kind of film.
-Mac really doesn't work for me. His backstory with Indy is vague, and his betrayal at the US base works, but then he claims he's a CIA agent, and then "nup, I really am with the Russians," and then he sort of stumbles around at the end before being sucked into the portal. It's like they just made up his story as they went along, and beyond the opening sequence, if at all, Mac really isn't necessary. You could write Mac out of the film and little would change.
-Since everyone's going to bring it up, the "nuking the fridge" moment. IMO, far too much is made out of this. On one hand, it's rediculous, even by the standards of the IP. On the other, it's a short sequence that gets more scrutiny than it needs. Also, minor point, but the shot of Indy looking up at the mushroom cloud. I've heard it said that it's meant to be symbolic, that Indy's moved into the nuclear age, but I don't really agree. Nuclear weapons and MAD aren't even themes in the film, and the idea of the Cold War and its effects on academia aren't explored beyond the first act. The Russians are patsies who exist for Indy to defeat. You could replace them with Nazi remnants or something and the film wouldn't alter much in terms of context.
-Here comes Mutt Williams, and as controversial as this might be, I like his character. I know it's fashionable to hate on Shia LeBouf (don't really get why), but he does a good job here. I like Mutt, and I like his relationship with Indy, moving from 'surrogate son' to "holy shit, you ARE my son?" And in proximity to his introduction, I was smirking like a chump throughout the cafe scene and the subsequent chase scene. Film does a good job of capturing a feel of the 50s, and the Cold War atmosphere. Though I'm not sure why students would be having an anti-communist protest, since my understanding was that unis were, even then, left-leaning. I dunno, maybe since this is before Vietnam.
-Everything from this up to the jungle chase is solid, can't really complain - good characters, good mystery, good scene setting, good pacing, etc.
-Commenting on the jungle chase itself, it's fun, but to anyone who says that it looks too clean, and that the use of CGI/green screen is obvious, then, yeah, I do agree. It's obvious that many shots aren't literally moving cars, among other things. That said, I have no problem with Mutt swinging with monkeys, and I don't get why people do.
-Also, the man-eating ants. Delightfully pulpy.
-Unfortunately, it's at this point that the film starts to lose steam, and feels like it's going through the motions. That said, I'm going to bring up the alien thing. Truth is, I don't have a problem with aliens here. What I do have a problem with is that the film itself appears to have a problem with them, simutlaniously using a flying saucer, while also insisting that they aren't really aliens, but inter-dimensional beings. I'm willing to bet that a compromise was struck during writing against concerns that aliens would be out of place. Frankly, I disagree. Aliens work fine - the film is set in the 50s, and aliens kickstarting ancient civilizations is a well-established trope that would easily be at home in this IP IMO.
-Ending doesn't work either, the way it just segways into credits. It's hardly Indy riding off into the sunset, but rather, walking out of a church. Yay...
-Like I said, film is mixed. By no means bad, and I had some fun, but it just runs out of gas towards the end.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is widely regarded as the weakest Indy film. Despite not being that much of a fan, and having only seen Temple of Doom and some of Raiders of the Lost Ark, I don't know if I agree per se (haven't seen enough other films to make that judgement), but the film isn't good. That's not to say it's bad however, and for fair bits I enjoyed myself. But if I had to describe it in a single word, it would be "anemic." Like, someone's going through the motions. This is especially true towards the end of the film, where it feels like it runs out of steam. That said, going to list some points:
-Harrison Ford is great here. Indy isn't exactly one of my favourite fictional characters, but despite his age, it's astounding how well he sinks into the role. Can't fault him.
-I'm not sure why Irina Spalko's accent keeps shifting between sort-of Russian, not-Russian, and "da fuq?", but I'm sure it's nothing to do with her actress not being Russian (or Ukrainian)...nup...
In fairness though, Spalko does work with sufficient ham.
-I'm going to bring this up here, as others have - there's a distinct lack of blood in the film, least in some cases. When the Russians shoot the American troopers, the camera doesn't show the bullets hitting bodies. Simiarlly, when they shoot the Amazon tribe, we here gunfire, and see bodies, but no bullets hitting bodies. That said, this doesn't really bother me. A lack of blood and gore isn't a turnoff for me. Certainly not in this kind of film.
-Mac really doesn't work for me. His backstory with Indy is vague, and his betrayal at the US base works, but then he claims he's a CIA agent, and then "nup, I really am with the Russians," and then he sort of stumbles around at the end before being sucked into the portal. It's like they just made up his story as they went along, and beyond the opening sequence, if at all, Mac really isn't necessary. You could write Mac out of the film and little would change.
-Since everyone's going to bring it up, the "nuking the fridge" moment. IMO, far too much is made out of this. On one hand, it's rediculous, even by the standards of the IP. On the other, it's a short sequence that gets more scrutiny than it needs. Also, minor point, but the shot of Indy looking up at the mushroom cloud. I've heard it said that it's meant to be symbolic, that Indy's moved into the nuclear age, but I don't really agree. Nuclear weapons and MAD aren't even themes in the film, and the idea of the Cold War and its effects on academia aren't explored beyond the first act. The Russians are patsies who exist for Indy to defeat. You could replace them with Nazi remnants or something and the film wouldn't alter much in terms of context.
-Here comes Mutt Williams, and as controversial as this might be, I like his character. I know it's fashionable to hate on Shia LeBouf (don't really get why), but he does a good job here. I like Mutt, and I like his relationship with Indy, moving from 'surrogate son' to "holy shit, you ARE my son?" And in proximity to his introduction, I was smirking like a chump throughout the cafe scene and the subsequent chase scene. Film does a good job of capturing a feel of the 50s, and the Cold War atmosphere. Though I'm not sure why students would be having an anti-communist protest, since my understanding was that unis were, even then, left-leaning. I dunno, maybe since this is before Vietnam.
-Everything from this up to the jungle chase is solid, can't really complain - good characters, good mystery, good scene setting, good pacing, etc.
-Commenting on the jungle chase itself, it's fun, but to anyone who says that it looks too clean, and that the use of CGI/green screen is obvious, then, yeah, I do agree. It's obvious that many shots aren't literally moving cars, among other things. That said, I have no problem with Mutt swinging with monkeys, and I don't get why people do.
-Also, the man-eating ants. Delightfully pulpy.
-Unfortunately, it's at this point that the film starts to lose steam, and feels like it's going through the motions. That said, I'm going to bring up the alien thing. Truth is, I don't have a problem with aliens here. What I do have a problem with is that the film itself appears to have a problem with them, simutlaniously using a flying saucer, while also insisting that they aren't really aliens, but inter-dimensional beings. I'm willing to bet that a compromise was struck during writing against concerns that aliens would be out of place. Frankly, I disagree. Aliens work fine - the film is set in the 50s, and aliens kickstarting ancient civilizations is a well-established trope that would easily be at home in this IP IMO.
-Ending doesn't work either, the way it just segways into credits. It's hardly Indy riding off into the sunset, but rather, walking out of a church. Yay...
-Like I said, film is mixed. By no means bad, and I had some fun, but it just runs out of gas towards the end.
That is how I feel about the film back then and my feelings are pretty much the same now. The movie got way too much hate. It's a simple six out of ten or three out of five movie.
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At least the cartoon try to do something interesting and unique. I don't know how or why my parents and brother love the second movie so much. They forgot the third movie even existed.
Yeah I lost all investment in him after his what, 75th heel/face turn? He was more an annoyance than a plot device.
The issue with the fridge, is that it's so far beyond the pale, that it doesn't just shatter your suspension of disbelief, it drags it out of your car, curbstomps it's mouth like American History X, and then proudly smiles at you like it did a good thing. You don't have to be at all familiar with nuclear physics or fallout effects to know that it's complete bullshit. Just from sheer impact force, let alone fallout and all that. Which is why it's infamous, because everyone, from all walks of life, saw it and were "ok movie, I call bullshit."
Now, I do think part of that scene was to indicate that time had moved on, and that it was a new era, and that Indy was becoming out of his sorts. He can't whip a mushroom cloud and ride it to victory. The world was moving on, beyond the Pulp Fiction Adventure Era, that was his wheelhouse, to something else. I do think that is part of what is being conveyed. I do however, agree that they don't really do much else to hammer this point home, with the villains being pretty carbon copy movie nazis, just with russian accents, or whatever Kate was rocking in that film. I think they did this, because while they wanted to point out the difference in eras, but still have it be a Pulp Adventure story. So, yes, slight nod to nuclear age, back to bad guys in black, being punched in the face by Manly Man Indy Jones. It's not the only way they show that times have moved on though, as you frequently have the "conflicting eras" trope when he's dealing with his son. He's totally fine with the society as it is, because he grew up in it, and is able to navigate it just fine. Indy is the one floundering when they are anywhere not in a tomb, which is where Shia flounders at first.
This makes sense to me, as it was definitely meant to be testing the waters about passing on the torch to a new generation. It failed to do it well, but that was what they were going for.
Yeah I didn't have any issue with Mutt (thank you for reminding me of his name) for the most part. My only issue with him, and it wasn't really HIM, it was the scene, was the Greaser Monkey King scene, where you becomes Tarzan for a little while and is swinging between the trees like a natural. That was where I lost it in the theater, and just laughed my ass off at the idiocy of the moment. Other than that though, I thought he did fine.
For me, 2 things. 1. The monkeys had little greaser hairdos like Mutt, so it felt like they saw him looking like them, and just instantly decided "He shall be our new king! All hail the giant Greaser Monkey!!"
2. He's just instantly familiar with swinging from vines like fucking Tarzan? Sorry but I call BS on that. Nothing in his upbringing, as it was so minimally established, would explain how he's good at doing that. The fencing I think they at least explained that his mom made him take some fencing classes before he dropped out. But vine to vine swinging is not a course they teach you anywhere.
It was mostly just funny to me. It didn't piss me off, but it did just sort of make me lose all investment in the film, as they seemed to just be going so far over the top, that there was no metric I could steer by. Anything was on the table. Surviving nukes in a fridge? Check! Ant's bodily picking up a human and dragging them into a hole to eat? Check! Monkey tribe with hair just like the new hot style of the greaser kids of the era, on a totally different continent? Check! City kid instantly capable of swinging from tree to tree? Check! Giant butt weasels that secretly engineered the Cuban Missile Crisis because they wanted to isolate Cuba for themselves? As they find Cuban anuses the most delectable? Sure! Why the fuck not at this point! It's all fair game!
Even for the franchise, which has had it's moments of incredulity (the mine cart scene in Temple of Doom springs to mind as incredibly silly and unrealistic), it's usually one thing that is a touch beyond the pale, in the rest of a movie that is fairly well grounded in it's effects and premise. Crystal Skull just tossed all that in the bin, snorted a few lines of coke and just said "fuck it, let's see what we come up with"
*EDIT* I have no fucking clue why this site felt all that wouldn't work as one post, or even TWO, and instead had to be carved into thirds, when I've typed much more than that in a single post before. Bah.
Pandora. I had already seen it a couple of years ago but it remains one of my most favorite Korean movies. It's kind of inspired by the events in Fukushima. A nuclear reactor in a small fishing town is struck by an earthquake and the core is about to go critical. What follows is sort of a repeat of the events in the Chernobyl mini-series where defering responsibilities meet bureaucratic incompetence which are then further aggrevated by competing financial interests. Eventually a kind hearted bloke with not much going on for him ventures into the reactor knowing he probably isn't going to make it out alive. Then again anyone working at the reactor was already exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. The core eventually stabilizes as they toss seawater into the reactor but an attempt to prevent cooling water leaking away from the spent fuel rods fails. Then they have the luminous idea of detonating the structure underneath so that the rods drop into the reservoir below. As you can guess, this can only be accomplished when the entrance is sealed.
The final scene is really dramatic with the guy crying and asking why did he had to have such a shit life and what he had done to deserve this which is broadcasted to the world through his helmet. As he sits there in the sealed vault unable to breathe from all the radiation and cooling water from the reactor streaming down below you really get a sense of his pain. But he composes himself and then cracks a joke as he wishes his mother farewell.
Just a really good movie and I guess sort of a critique on South Korea's high dependence on nuclear energy.
The final scene is really dramatic with the guy crying and asking why did he had to have such a shit life and what he had done to deserve this which is broadcasted to the world through his helmet. As he sits there in the sealed vault unable to breathe from all the radiation and cooling water from the reactor streaming down below you really get a sense of his pain. But he composes himself and then cracks a joke as he wishes his mother farewell.
Just a really good movie and I guess sort of a critique on South Korea's high dependence on nuclear energy.
Because everything in the Indiana Jones universe had been SOOO credible up to that point?
I just thought it was funny after everyone having watched him outrun a ridiculously huge boulder trap, witness a human heart ripped out with the person surviving and jump out of a plane in a life raft that the "fridge" was the shark-jumping moment they couldn't reasonably accept. It's Indiana Jones; if you didn't come to have fun, you came to the wrong movie.
Pretty sure I said in that same section that the franchise has pushed at that suspension of disbelief in the past, but there is a breaking point. And the fridge broke it, for pretty much everyone that saw it.
Yeah, Temple of Doom is probably the most guilty of those "wtf really?" moments. The heart thing can be justified in that apparently in the Indy-verse, magic and spirit shit IS REAL. So you know, you can just say "well if they have a hebrew god that can melt nazis, they can have a hindu dude rip out hearts. why? because magic." Of course it's unrealistic, because mystical shit is inherently unrealistic, seeing as it isn't real. But the fridge isn't because magic. It's apparently "because SEARS makes tough walls, and apparently if you're in a fridge, you can just ignore impact velocities and damage." It's just really badly done.
And I take issue with the "if you didn't come to have fun, you're in the wrong movie." I DID come to have fun, but the movie has to meet you half way on giving you stuff that is fun to watch. And personally, while I didn't like the film that much, and have no plans on watching it again, it was ok. The non-ridiculous actiony bits were solid, I enjoyed the acting from most everyone involved, but when it decided to go into action, I personally feel it went too far a lot of the time. And the rest of the film wasn't good enough, or engaging enough to bolster up those ludicrous moments. Temple of Doom, for me at least, could do that. The rest of the story was solid enough to make me ignore the Stretch Armstrong trick they pulled with Short Round in the mining car scene, and the emergency raft as a parachute scene. Crystal Skull, didn't do that well enough to let me just overlook them and still love the film. It was ok, but only just ok.
Agreed, but as I'd heard most of the ire surrounding how "bad" the movie was before watching it, I was honestly shocked when I did because... it was a bog standard Indiana Jones movie. It checked all the boxes. Was it great? No. Was it awful? No. It just boggles my mind that of ALL things we've born witness to since the first film, the "fridge" was too far. Typical of the cynicism of the modern age to find ONE thing to gripe about and discount the whole experience (and I'm not talking about you specifically.) One could make a laundry list of the incredible-to-impossible shit he's experienced in the past half century; that's what he does; of course he could survive a nuclear explosion in a fridge. This would have been a perfectly serviceable Indy film had it come out in the '80s, but since it came out in the age of reason where logical exposition is required before we move forward with the film, it got a bad rap.
It didn't break me nor my brother. When we first saw that scene in the theaters we were both like "Holy shit!" (Unreal tournament voice announcer). We both knew it was silly, but we just didn't care. We love the part with the greaser monkeys too.
Eh, I disagree. As I stated, I think it went over the edge of audience acceptability too far, even for a franchise that is somewhat loose with that stuff sometimes. I can't say I hate the film (I would be hard pressed to list any film I categorically HATE, but plenty are way down my scale), though I'm sure I animatedly ranted about it to my friends outside the theater when we saw it, fresh in the moment of the viewing. But after that it would just be an eyeroll kind of reaction, if someone mentions it. Taken as a whole, the film is mostly fine, if underwhelming, and felt very uninspired by everyone acting in it. But those individual scenes, Fridge, Greaser Monkey King, Body Carrying Ants, Truck as boat/tree bouncy house, I feel just do not stand up, at all, and drag the overall experience of the film down considerably. I think the film would've been vastly improved for most people viewing it, if they had dialed back the ridiculousness of them, or cut them entirely for something else.
Cool, glad you enjoyed them. And as I said, for me, the Greaser Monkey King scene, the reaction was mostly just absurd laughing. It was so silly I wasn't mad, I just sort of gave up on the film.
I guess for me, it's all whether or not the film establishes, from the onset, that it's going to be this level of silly/over the top. If it does, then I'm usually fine, because they are clearly saying "This movie is in Gonzo Physics." So I shut off that part of my critiquing brain, and just enjoy it. But they never really did that with Indy for me, not with the franchise as a whole. So this one felt very jarring and out of place by comparison.
Take Van Helsing, which had similar over the top, ridiculousness to it. But it was like that from start to finish. Hell it was even paying homage to the same pulp era that Indy usually is. Just the gothic horror side of it, like Frankenstein's Monster and the like. So when the friar sidekick, goes flying across a bridge on a rope, before the stroke of midnight, during a thunderstorm, to dramatically catch a vial of serum, to throw to the hero to save the day before the time runs out, I'm down with it. So down with it that I gleefully enjoy the scene, because it's been this gonzo crazy from the start, and they make no qualms about it.
Indy never felt like that. It is in fact, a series that has been praised by critics over the years, for showing a hero that felt real. Comments like "He isn't doing insane shit like leaping onto a flying jet at mach 2, or stepping out of a spinning car into a walking shooting stance ala R.E.D. He gets hit, he gets hurt, you FEEL his realness." That realness, just goes out the window in Crystal Skull. And for a lot of people, that bothers them.
And it might seem, from this being my....what...5th post so far on this, that I am one of those. I'm really not. I honestly don't think about the film at all, unless someone brings it up. But I do think those scenes in question, are bad, and are criticized for (mostly) valid reasons.
I'm not going to give anyone shit for saying "I enjoyed them" Cool. I'll disagree if you think they were good scenes, and by good I mean well done bits of cinema. But if you enjoyed them, rock on. I kind of enjoyed the Monkey King scene, but in a sort of exasperated way, instead of pure joy kind of way.
All fair criticism. I just hate the ones that said their childhood was "raped", because of the nuking of the fridge scene. That's where I really drew the line and wanted to slap them all silly. Even South Park got in on this and made fun of the people who had this type of reaction.
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Yeah I'm pretty certain I've never said anything like that about my childhood. It was already pretty fucked up on so many levels, that a bad movie just doesn't even register. I've always found it a very stupid thing to say. To retroactively hate something else, because one thing upset you.
That Guy With the Glasses made a good comment about this behavior in his review of the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. In that by the end of his evisceration of that film, when asked by the uber fans in the skit, about "what does this mean for the franchise original series?!" He just deadpan said, "Nothing really." "...wait..wut?" "Yeah, nothing. The movie sucks, yes, but, the original show is still fantastic, and it will always be fantastic, regardless of this film." That's pretty much how I feel about most new iterations on something classic, that don't really hold up on their own.
One of the few times The Nostalgia Critic did not act like a twat up his own ass.
Upgrade: Good / Great
As some have suggested, I will disagree this was a “better Venom” movie, but it was a good movie.
Guy is paralyzed in a violent attack, and a rich guy running a tech company offers him an AI implant that will allow him to move again. The implant does more than just that as he learns it enhances his natural abilities, even taking control of his body and imbuing him with unnatural speed and agility. Imagine all the implications of that, and yeah, you’ve seen the movie. I did really like the ending; it’s unexpectedly dark and ominous.
As some have suggested, I will disagree this was a “better Venom” movie, but it was a good movie.
Guy is paralyzed in a violent attack, and a rich guy running a tech company offers him an AI implant that will allow him to move again. The implant does more than just that as he learns it enhances his natural abilities, even taking control of his body and imbuing him with unnatural speed and agility. Imagine all the implications of that, and yeah, you’ve seen the movie. I did really like the ending; it’s unexpectedly dark and ominous.
