one of my big questions about indiana jones after rewatching raiders was wondering if perhaps if the crystal skull one came out in the 80s if it would have also been so a highly criticized bomb

Crystal Skull wouldn't have had the original trilogy to compare it with.

That movie also made almost $800m btw, so it was hardly a bomb. Dial of Destiny otoh...

yeah i mean everyone saw it because it was indiana jones, but i don't know a single person who thought it wasn't terrible

youtube algo pushing this hard, i don't get it but people seem to like it

Watched Killers of the Flower Moon and then read an article about how Native Americans viewed the film. I shouldn't be surprised, but I am always a little startled that people wish a film were something other than what it is. Some wanted more history in the film; others wanted a more developed character arc for Mollie; and others felt that it should have been produced, written, and directed by Native Americans.

It is a great film. You might assume a film of three and a half hours would be epic, but it's intimate instead. I watched it at home but would like to see it again in the theater. I don't think home viewing does it justice.

I loved the ending, the radio play that portrays in miniature what we have just seen. Perhaps it comments on the film itself or how we don't truly grasp our own history. I'm not sure, but when Scorcese steps to the microphone to read the ending of the radio play, you can see the hurt in his eyes.

The best works of art don't set out to teach us anything, but they move us, they excite our imaginations, and they make us feel deeply. They don't teach us, but we do learn from them.


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was still not an entertaining film and i couldn't wait for it to end, but it's stuck with me over a month later - which imo is the mark of a great film

They aren't formulaic if they were the first to use the formula. And nothing looks as good outside of the theater than inside.

However, it's mostly the the story, characterizations and humor that I enjoy about the film. If you want to recommend a more modern action film that can match it in those areas I'd be happy to give it a watch.

It definitely is, but I do like some musicals, and that is the best overall old school musical I've seen. Plus in elementary school music class we were taught to sing some of the songs from it, which made me enjoy it more when I watched it. I also have watched The Sound Of Music and My Fair Lady multiple times, but as a kid I always fell asleep before the end of TSOM as it's too long and the Nazi stuff just isn't fun. MFL has a great story and songs, and the production values are great, but I find it better in live performance, as I don't particularly care for the lead actors in the film, neither of whom can really sing (one speaks and the other is dubbed).

I didn't get that at all



guys and dolls is a pretty great musical.

IDK I probably disagree with all of this. Even as a kid I understood that the action was staged and formulaic by design - Just stand to the side of that bolder rather than run away, it's so obvious! however, the film's tongue is firmly in cheek in paying homage to serials of the 30's and 40's, as well as subverting expectations (shooting the guy rather than fighting him with his whip).

I wonder what modern action films you think are superior? Which ones will people will be talking about in 40 years?

yeah those are solid points, perhaps i'm just at a curmudgeoning age now where things like pouring sand out of what is already a comically underweight bag and not just stepping to the side of boulder etc bother me

I love the 1st and 3rd indiana jones movies and not trying to undermine your argument but fwiw harrison ford completely improvised that scene where he shot the dude it was written to be an elaborate whip/hand to hand fight scene but ford was sick and tired and so just improvised shooting the dude and obv steven realized it was way better so kept it but that was in no way a clever premeditated effort to subvert expectations just a happy accident.

oh and as I've stated before the bourne identity is not only the GOAT action movie but one of the greatest movies regardless of genre but the 1st n 3rd indy movies were my absolute fav movies as a kid (along with the BTTF movies) and have massive nostalgia appeal.

I don't know the weight of sand, but it seems odd they would get that one wrong. I'm pretty sure the boulder was supposed to completely fill the tunnel with no space left to stand aside. Maybe you caught a glimpse of what surely was actual space in a shot they missed or decided others would miss. I certainly didn't think about that when I saw the movie at 12yo.

This is a really nice anecdote, thanks for sharing. More generally, do actors improvise a lot? The only other famous bit of improv I can think of was Ford saying "I know" rather than "I love you to" before he gets frozen in The Empire Strikes Back.

I love the Bourne movies too, but Indiana Jones and BTTF really are GOAT family action/adventure movies, and I think rank higher than Bourne in any movie list.

The story I heard was that Ford wasn't actually improvising without the director's knowledge, but did suggest the change right before shooting. It was definitely one of the highlights of the film though, completely unexpected and hilarious.

The movies I first saw as a child or teenager definitely still have nostalgia appeal for me as well and my favorites list was loaded towards those. It's tough for any movie to make quite the same impression on me after those years, and especially after I turned 30 or so.

Harrison Ford definitely seems like one of those guys who was just made for movies - I haven't seen all his films, but I never have seen him give a poor performance, and he obviously sometimes knew better how a scene should go than even great writers and directors. And in interviews and talk show appearances he has always seemed supremely uncomfortable (though still fun to watch). I didn't bother to see the final Indiana Jones film after hearing the terrible reviews, but my guess is that he still gave a good performance in it.

Plus his famous "argument" with Ridley Scott about whether Deckard is a replicant or not.

This conversation reminds me of (I think) John Cole's student who thought Casablanca was too cliche because of lines like (I think) "here's looking at you kid"

my 7th grade science class had an entire day dedicated to the mass of objects and the lynchpin of the lesson plan was that he'd need a bag of sand the size of a duffel bag in order to replicate the weight of the solid gold object it was replacing

he not only could have run to the side, but willingly runs in front of it, it's above him and rolling down a ramp intersecting the path, if he just stands still for 2 seconds the boulder would roll harmlessly past him

he sees it above him and at this point if he just stands where he is it'll roll above him and past him


but he instead runs forward into its path

while later on the boulder does encompass the entire runway, in the early stages it clearly doesn't occupy more than the middle 3rd of the floorspace

let's put you in that situation and see how fast you react lol

Indiana Jones is one of those movies that everyone seems to love that I just don't get. Didn't like it then, don't care for it now.

Indiana Jones was/is fine, but as far as elite modern action movies I would take easily any of Nobody, The Man from Nowhere, John Wick over IJ.

shooter was a surprisingly fun action flick i saw in recent years

I don't really see that he has much, if any, room to step aside, from those images posted. But even if he did let the boulder go by, it blocks the exit, so he'd be trapped in there forever.

As far as the sand goes - well yeah, it was the wrong weight...that is what set off all the booby traps to begin with. I'm not sure it was supposed to be solid gold anyway.

But most importantly, it's just a movie. I thought I was a nit, but god damn.

Never watched anything George Lucas - Star Wars or Indiana Jones