skepticlysm

Raiders of the Lost Years

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Skeptifist

in

  • At this moment, I’m sitting on the couch watching Raiders.
  • Yes, again.
  • Turned it on to give myself something to watch while I injected the antibiotics.
  • My brain runs on Raiders quotes.
  • They pop up all the time while navigating the day-to-day.
  • I wish there were more good Indy movies.
  • Two, maybe three.
  • Though I didn’t hate the latest one.
  • Got me thinking back to that article about rewatching/rereading.
  • Maybe I should make my Revisit List.
  • It’d have to be tiered.
  • Because some get rewatched a lot.
  • 1) Raiders
  • 2) Fellowship of the Ring
  • And then after that …
  • Mission: Impossible flicks
  • The Matrix
  • The Terminator
  • Die Hard (though I only watch that on Xmas Eve)
  • Random Marvel flicks, though Captain America: The Winter Soldier would be the most frequent.
  • I’m actually sitting here plotting an Indy book in my head where he goes after a scepter that would allow cultists to summon Cthulu.
  • Because he’s an expert on the occult.
  • Why all the big things he chases have to be Biblical?
  • Screenplay would be easier.
  • All these people keep trying to find the Indy magic and screwing the pooch.
  • The latest would be Guy Ritchie’s Fountain of Youth, which I didn’t hate, but wasn’t great, either.
  • John’s good. Natalie’s … not?
  • Neither is compelling enough to be an Indiana Jones.
  • Character’s the thing, man.
  • Any movie you love, no matter the epicness of the spectacle, rises to greatness on the richness of its characters.
  • Good dialogue helps, too.
  • “They call him Bellosh.”
  • I know I overshare here.
  • Still a lot I keep back.
  • Like, I’m not talking about toilet paper choices and consequences while you’re on IV antibiotics for going on six weeks …
  • I could.
  • But I won’t.
  • Ain’t nobody got time for that.
  • That scene in Raiders where they have the monkey throw the Nazi salute kills me.
  • Subtle commentary, right?
  • Maybe not so subtle.
  • Depends on how you’re watching.
  • This list is a ridealong I guess.
  • I do wonder how the fight scenes would’ve been choreographed today.
  • Those haymakers Indy throws you can see coming from a mile away.
  • Then again, professors didn’t study kung fu in the ‘40s I imagine.
  • “You can’t do this to me! I’m an American.”
  • Yeah, that didn’t age well.
  • Would it be safe as an American to sit at a table in Cairo and down a bottle of whiskey?
  • That scene where Indy and Belloq bandy insults in the bar, Indy slightly out of focus in the fore of the frame, the Frenchmen talking in focus in the back.
  • That kind of shot does not show in modern flicks, like modern filmmakers don’t know how to compose a shot.
  • And there I go again, tripping into movie criticism.
  • I’ll stop.
  • With that anyway.
  • Another confession: I have my “computer glasses” on because I’m typing this and have the movie playing, so everything on the screen looks fuzzy.
  • Are they “readers?”
  • Kinda.
  • I don’t wear glasses when I read something, but I have to have them when I’m on the computer, and definitely for anything in the distance.
  • I tried that progressive stuff a few years ago, but I move my eyes too much without turning my head, so I didn’t like them.
  • Multiple glasses to see sucks.
  • Toting them around.
  • Having to get up after I’ve sat down because I have the wrong damn pair.
  • I’m not ashamed.
  • Indy has glasses, after all.
  • My favorite bit of music from Raiders is the bit in the Map Room.
  • Epic and haunting.
  • Williams has a ton of those moments in his catalogue.
  • My second favorite would be the track during the asteroid escape sequence in The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Music can elevate a movie to another level.
  • Do not ever discount the emotional impact of great music.
  • I had a plan to write about bodies of water today.
  • Not gonna happen.
  • We’ll save it for tomorrow for after the MRI and the valium.
  • (Because I can’t do an MRI without being chemically relaxed.)
  • (I’d rather sleep through the whole thing.)
  • Don’t get me wrong, the Ark leitmotif hits me the same way as the Map Room bit.
  • So good.
  • No, I do not know how much of this is nostalgia, familiar comfort engrained in my being at this point.
  • I’m sure I give this movie too much credit.
  • I dgaf.
  • I shall not recant.
  • Also, thank you John Williams for everything.
  • Why Raiders today, on my 24th anniversary?
  • Because I woke up with “I don’t know. I’m making this up as I go” playing in my head.
  • That quote shows up daily.
  • Because it’s true.
  • Every moment of every day.
  • I know every line of dialogue by heart.
  • “Unless you are able to give me something to placate them.”
  • Well.
  • We’re probably at the outer limit of Mikey’s attention span, so we’ll stop here.
  • “I told you it would be alright!”
  • Out.

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