Post-Holiday Catch-Up

Posted on | 3 years, 8 months ago, in the early afternoon | 5 Comments

* Sunday was spent thrifting/shopping with Ellen. The take: Two fantastic tee shirts, a hoodie, and a pair of groovy Converse All-Star lace-less flats. Ellen acquired skirts. Surprisingly little money was actually spent, as I am the Patron Saint of Bargain Hunting. Gaze upon my receipts, ye mighty, and tremble.

* Afterwards, we went with Aric to go see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — which was genuinely charming, if not profound. I’ll put my thoughts about the flick under the cut tag at the end of this entry, for there will be spoilers.

* Yesterday we enjoyed Memorial Day goodies over at the aforementioned Ellen‘s place, where we were treated to some exceedingly good company, quite a lot of food, and some cider that knocked me out for naptime. Later that afternoon I discovered that I’d been bitten by a spider or something, and I had a gruesome, painful rash across the back of my hand and wrist, but a slathering of hydrocortisone cream and a few Benedryl later, and it’s nearly gone. It still burns/itches a little, but I’ll survive.

* Speaking of which, just now I found a huge spider in my bathtub. He was massive, but mellow — and I strongly doubt that he’s the culprit who bit me. I would’ve noticed this guy. Ergo, lacking any evidence of his guilt, I scooped him up in a cup and deposited him outside in the hanging planter. I don’t know what kind he was, but I took his picture before setting him loose. Don’t click if you don’t want to see it.

Okay. That’s all for now, except the Indy 4 thoughts below the cut.

When I first heard there’d be yet another Indy movie, I was frankly annoyed by it. Much as I love him, I thought Ford was entirely too old for the part, and that another movie would only be a cheap attempt to cash in on the success of the first three in typical Lucasian fashion.

So. Was there cannibalization of old ideas? Sure. Is Ford old enough to be my grandfather? Almost. But at the end of the day, I’m rather glad that KOTCS got made after all. I wanted that happy ending, and I was glad to see that the story didn’t take the easy Passing the Torch cop-out that would imply, “Next up: Son of Indiana Jones!”

Au contraire. In fact, the very final frames charmed me silly — when Indy’s hat breezes into the church and Mutt tries to put it on his own head … but no.

Because the Alpha Dog is still the Alpha Dog, even though he’s showing his age and he’s settling down to a life of tenure. He’s Indiana Fucking Jones, Goddammit, Esquire. And there may come a day when a skinny young greaser with a 10th grade education usurps the great action archaeologist, but today is not that day. Tomorrow’s not looking so promising, either.

Anyway, it was a pleasant swan song for one of my favorite franchises, and it may not have been great art, but it was good fun and I’m happy with that. Sometimes people forget that the whole Indiana Jones phenomenon was only meant to be expensive pulp; and I’m inclined to suggest that it became such a cultural touchstone because of Harrison Ford himself, because let’s be honest — he’s pretty much the most charming son of a bitch anyone ever pointed a camera at.

So, there you go. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I hope they never make another one. It’s time to make the next great franchise — and stop exhuming and reanimating the golden oldies that established the genre.

It’s time to let Indy and Marian live happily ever after.

Category: misc

Comments

5 Responses to “Post-Holiday Catch-Up”

  1. Janet
    May 27th, 2008 @ 2:59 pm

    Yup. My theory about the Star Wars franchise is that it stopped working at the exact moment that Han Solo wasn’t around any more, and that isn’t coincidence.

  2. Kristen Chew
    May 27th, 2008 @ 7:36 pm

    I appreciated that they finally resolved the Marion question, and that she was older and still kicked ass. I loved the look on her face when she drove the boat over the cliff and they landed gently upon the waters. Wrongs were righted, questions were answered, and fun was had.

  3. Terry
    May 28th, 2008 @ 3:54 am

    I think everyone looks at The IJ the same way people looked at the Star Wars trilogy. A bunch of good fun films that are meant to entertain. As before, people were expecting the best film of 2008.

  4. Aden
    May 28th, 2008 @ 7:48 pm

    In re: Terry’s comment, I think that attempt to defuse criticism isn’t always on target. I heard much the same from everyone who liked Transformers, which was weapons-grade awful. The “just enjoy it because it doesn’t have to be Art” is a pretty antagonistic mode of argument (since it brands everyone who disagrees an automatically pretentious snob).

    What bugged me about this most recent Jones film wasn’t the burden of high expectations; after Star Wars and that mess my preconceptions couldn’t have been worse. It was that the film felt like a bunch of different drafts of different films slapped together, with rough edges intact, and that Indiana Jones himself wasn’t that active a participant in his own movie.

  5. Cherie
    May 28th, 2008 @ 7:53 pm

    Aden, I think maybe we’re coming at it from different directions. There is no snobbery inherent in the observation that not all films are intended to be great art. The IJ franchise was cobbled from a very specific, very deliberate brand of adventure pulp — and as such, it stands the test of time as a great example of its breed.

    Was this last movie perfect? No. Not by a long shot. I agree that it had its sloppier moments; but by and large it accomplished the things I wanted to see, and it satisfied me on that level … and that was enough.

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