indiana-jones – skepticlysm

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 24^th 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.

Tag: indiana-jones

Raiders of the Lost Years