Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) (3 Viewers)

[Josh Steinberg]

As far as Disney 2019 release dates go, I bet Star Wars Episode IX gets bumped to December, and then they'll be a little lighter in the spring/summer.

Cool to see that pic of Old Old Indy - haven't seen him since he was retconned out of his own show!

I really liked Crystal Skull. I like that it did for 50s b-movies what the original three movies did for 30s serials. It all worked for me. I could take or leave a Shia solo movie but he's fine in Crystal Skull. I recognize that it's not the most popular opinion but I really do like the movie (much more than Temple of Doom), so I am very excited that they're doing another one. I just wish it didn't have a three year wait attached.

 

[TravisR]

As far as Disney 2019 release dates go, I bet Star Wars Episode IX gets bumped to December, and then they'll be a little lighter in the spring/summer.

Yeah, after all the success they just had with The Force Awakens in December, that's a guarantee.

I recognize that it's not the most popular opinion but I really do like the movie (much more than Temple of Doom), so I am very excited that they're doing another one. I just wish it didn't have a three year wait attached.

I agree with that. Temple Of Doom isn't a really bad movie but it's easily one of Spielberg's weakest efforts.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Shia is actually the least of my problems with KotCS. The movie is actually OK up until the quicksand scene. Then it derails for me significantly.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Shia is actually the least of my problems with KotCS. The movie is actually OK up until the quicksand scene. Then it derails for me significantly.

I love that scene! Just the way he's describing different kinds of sand mixtures as they sink, it's fantastic.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I'm glad you liked it. I wish I did, but it just stands out to me as a dead end that is only there to coerce the characters into revealing Mutt's parentage. Then the film resets with them being recaptured, and then we get the terrible (IMO) jungle chase and Shia swinging with its inhabitants.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For what it's worth, the very first time I saw Crystal Skull, I only thought it was okay. Same thing happened with Force Awakens. Both improved tremendously on my second viewing.

I think the reason for that ultimately was that it had been so long since I watched an Indy or Star Wars movie without knowing what comes next. Those are some of my most watched movies ever (I probably watch each series once a year), and for so long, my enjoyment of the movies was so far removed from me wondering what happens next. You automatically accept things because that's just the way the movie goes and has always gone. With that history I had with the movies, it was almost weird to see a new one not knowing what would happen next, and strangely, I didn't always like that. But once that first viewing was over and I could accept the things onscreen as things that had already happened, once I wasn't comparing something I just saw with something I had memorized, I enjoyed the new movies a lot more. I almost expect that to happen now with franchise pictures and me.

 

[SamT]

They could always bring back Short Round. Jonathan Ke Quan is 44 years old now.

Of course, I'm kidding.

I like him back.

 

[Carabimero]

He doesn't get credit from some, just criticism.

Raiders is one of my favorite movies of all time (and Star Wars changed my life for the better). I'm not sure how I can give him much more credit than that.

It's after he went digital, and his imagination ran amok, and he thought that just because he could do anything, that he should, at the expense of story--that's when I started being critical of him. Just to be clear.

 

[George_W_K]

I'd want to see another Indy movie if this were years ago. Where Harrison can swing safely to a fast moving vehicle and climb under it, fight a big German guy by a plane propeller, where he can believably punch bad guys in the face. They should just let the classic series end and let it be just that, a classic trilogy of really fun adventure movies. Yes, trilogy.

 

[Carabimero]

I am thinking this has to be a hand off movie, kind of what Crystal Skull was intended to be at the time but never was. I think this movie might set up a slew of Young Indy movies. That's why it's being made. Just a guess.

 

[TravisR]

I am thinking this has to be a hand off movie, kind of what Crystal Skull was intended to be at the time but never was. I think this movie might set up a slew of Young Indy movies. That's why it's being made. Just a guess.

That's a pretty sound theory but Spielberg has said something to the effect that Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones and they won't replace him. Of course, a couple of guys have already played a younger version of the character so I don't know if Spielberg's "no replacement" rule would extend to a younger take on the character.

One problem they might have with setting up another character in Indy 5 as the new lead is that the studio would likely want a new series to be set in modern day so they don't have to spend the money on making a period piece each time. Maybe they'll pull a Captain America and have him get frozen in ice at the end of his first movie.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

I really liked Crystal Skull. I like that it did for 50s b-movies what the original three movies did for 30s serials. It all worked for me. I could take or leave a Shia solo movie but he's fine in Crystal Skull. I recognize that it's not the most popular opinion but I really do like the movie (much more than Temple of Doom), so I am very excited that they're doing another one. I just wish it didn't have a three year wait attached.

I liked Crystal but it's the weakest entry in the series. It just felt half-hearted. Doom is my second favourite Indy movie. I like how it didn't try to copy Raiders the way the others did, it was darker and felt more thrilling. Indy was also more proactive in the climax than the others. I hope the new movie doesn't follow the Raider's template too closely but still feels like an Indy movie.

I would like to have seen three trilogies, one set in the 30s, another in the 40s and the 50s like KOTCS. I'd at least like the new one set in the same time period as KOTCS. Indy seems to work best in a less technologically advanced time.

 

[Carabimero]

Doom is my second favourite Indy movie. I like how it didn't try to copy Raiders the way the others did, it was darker and felt more thrilling. Indy was also more proactive in the climax than the others. I hope the new movie doesn't follow the Raider's template too closely but still feels like an Indy movie.

Call me nuts, but one could argue that Spielberg's pure directing in Temple of Doom actually surpasses Raiders in some ways. Of course Raiders is superior in almost every aspect, but when I watch Temple of Doom, the set ups, the direction, the craftsmanship, I put it up there with Jaws in terms of quality of direction. I know that sounds nuts. But Raiders was shot quickly and benefited from that. Spielberg didn't mail Temple in; he appears to have savored directing it. The story just failed him, among other things.

 

[Worth]

Call me nuts, but one could argue that Spielberg's pure directing in Temple of Doom actually surpasses Raiders in some ways. Of course Raiders is superior in almost every aspect, but when I watch Temple of Doom, the set ups, the direction, the craftsmanship, I put it up there with Jaws in terms of quality of direction. I know that sounds nuts. But Raiders was shot quickly and benefited from that. Spielberg didn't mail Temple in; he appears to have savored directing it. The story just failed him, among other things.

I agree wholeheartedly. I think Temple of Doom and Close Encounters are his best work in terms of pure direction. The camera moves and set-ups, the blocking, the way he uses little touches like the curtains in the bedroom scenes to frame the characters - it's all great work. The problem is he's fighting a mediocre script along the way, but Temple is still my second favourite Indy film, mostly because Spielberg seems to be having so much fun with it.

 

[Worth]

Unfortunately, the Star Wars prequel haters have managed to make it that he's not even allowed to get credit when he deserves it anymore. [NERD VOICE]"According to The Secret History Of Star Wars, Marcia Lucas & Gary Kurtz are the only reason why Star Wars was any good."[/NERD VOICE]

I give Lucas credit for some great ideas. The problem is he also has terrible ideas, and doesn't seem to know how to distinguish between the two. In the early days, he appeared to surround himself, and actually listen to, people who would tell him which ideas were good and which were bad. But since about the mid-80s, he's had complete creative and financial control and seems to go with the first idea that pops into his head, without listening to anyone's advice.

 

[TravisR]

I give Lucas credit for some great ideas. The problem is he also has terrible ideas, and doesn't seem to know how to distinguish between the two. In the early days, he appeared to surround himself, and actually listen to, people who would tell him which ideas were good and which were bad. But since about the mid-80s, he's had complete creative and financial control and seems to go with the first idea that pops into his head, without listening to anyone's advice.

I basically agree but at the same time, I do think it's interesting to see what happens when one guy's ideas (good, bad or completely zany) make it onscreen without much interference or input from others.

And for what it's worth, I'm only talking about the losers who obsessively hate the prequels so much that they need to rewrite history by acting like Lucas never had a good idea and that anything good he's ever been associated with was because of someone else. The people that say that he used to listen to other creative folks more often in the past are right. He got to a point where he could listen to himself and indulge his own interests without any concern for what other people think. I like the idea of an artist not caring about anything other than his own artistic whims but there's times when he went overboard and should have listened to someone else.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I also think it's lazy for people to point to everything they disliked in Crystal Skull and think Lucas did it. Spielberg has said point blank that the fridge escape was his own idea, for example, yet people just think he's lying to protect his friend. It's a really fascinating psychology of fandom.

 

[TravisR]

I also think it's lazy for people to point to everything they disliked in Crystal Skull and think Lucas did it. Spielberg has said point blank that the fridge escape was his own idea, for example, yet people just think he's lying to protect his friend. It's a really fascinating psychology of fandom.

And that fridge was basically taken from an early draft of Back To The Future screenplay which makes an even more direct link to Spielberg.

 

[dana martin]

I am thinking this has to be a hand off movie, kind of what Crystal Skull was intended to be at the time but never was. I think this movie might set up a slew of Young Indy movies. That's why it's being made. Just a guess.

and how young are we talking, Sean Patrick Flanery is 50 and Corey Carrier is 35,

and to all the naysayers, TOD rocked! Raiders was 30's movie serials the movie, TOD was 30's movie serials the Ride!

 

[questrider]

I enjoy Kingdom of the Crystal Skull even though I think it's fourth best Indiana Jones film. That's still better than a lot of the tripe that is served up nearly every weekend concerning film releases. Regardless of how you feel about it, a new Indiana Jones film is something to at least look forward to, because... who knows? It could be good!

I poke fun at the idea of a 70 year-old Indiana Jones, but I'll be there opening weekend. I love the Indiana Jones character. It'll always be interesting to me to see what they come up with. If it's a Speilberg-led production without any involvement from Lucas (which I find impossible nevermind the severance relationship of Lucas with Lucasfilm) it will be interesting to see what Speilberg and Ford with a lot writers come up with. Still, I just can't see Speilberg making an Indiana Jones movie without Lucas. I assume that he and Ford would demand that George be a collaborative force on what is assuredly the last "episode" in the original franchise. (Because, make no bones about it, Disney will be making Indiana Jones movies with a series of different actors—à la James Bond—into the future long past any of our lifetimes.)

It's probably the only movie in 2016-2018 that could get Lucas interested in doing anything at this point during what is, essentially, his retirement.