JK_Antwon said:kongisking you didn't like the star wars prequels! What the heck is wrong with you! Man you must be crazy!
ok I have poked my fun, I'm done!
Rocket Surgeon said:
George F. Will said:This movie is about nine minutes of relative calm, and 109 minutes of violent action punctuated by intervals of mere repulsiveness...That meal was comic relief from giant roaches and other creepy crawly things, and from children-flogging sadists who are lead by a live-wire who with his bare hands plucks the hearts from the chest of victims.
The frolicsome movie proceeds without undue expenditure of nuance, which is fine, but suddenly it becomes ugly. There is salacious cruelty in the torture scene where a fellow is roasted alive...
The flogging, roasting, and heart-plucking are not suitable for children...and as a cultural symptom is depressing...an example of the upward ratchet effect of shocking extremism in popular entertainment.
George F. Will said:The two persons responsible for Temple of Doom, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, are commercial geniuses...Their obsession with juvenile obsessions (repulsive creatures and foods) may be evidence of their arrested development, which is their problem. But the sensory blitzkrieg they have produced to coin money is apt to stunt the imaginations of children, and that is our problem. This movie is perfectly made for perfectly passive children - for children raised on electronic images rather than on reading, which requires imaginative involvement.
Movies can engage the imagination but doing so requires art. And whatever else art involves, it involves proportionality and subtlety - the ability to approach the edge of excess without falling in. This movie leaps in exuberantly, and that is why there may not be a third Indy epic. What is left to happen to him?
Montana Smith said:When I read "juvenile obsessions" and "arrested development", my opinion that TOD and KOTCS are brothers-in-arms is reinforced. Where TOD took Raiders' Indy on a wild excursion, TLC brought him back home again. KOTCS takes him away again, but the "juvenile obsession" is increased three-fold. From which point it will take a lot of calming down to bring Indy home again in #5.
George F. Will highlighted the mercenary tendency of Lucas and Spielberg - "the sensory blitzkrieg they have produced to coin money" - as their motive for ramping up the shock and lurid spectacle. Though we know there were also other considerations acting on the mood of the two "commericial geniuses", as they made their trip through theTOD's underworld.
When we come to KOTCS the "juvenile obsession" was back, but there were no mitigating excuses. On that note, I could use the columnist's conclusion to better describe KOTCS: And whatever else art involves, it involves proportionality and subtlety - the ability to approach the edge of excess without falling in. This movie leaps in exuberantly, and that is why there may not be a fifth Indy epic.
If TOD remains a warm nostalgic memory, does that mean that I'm just too old for KOTCS?
Darth Vile said:Montana - I just read this. Good post. I agree with you in that TOD and KOTCS do share a propensity for the ridiculous/excessive... whilst Raiders and TLC seem more restrained in comparison. However, I'm not sure what you mean by KOTCS having no mitigating excuses for "juvenile obsession". As I firmly believe that TOD is the least "subtle" and 'proportionate' action/adventure of the series (not necessarily a bad thing by the way), I'd have to conclude that the warm fuzzy feeling you have for TOD is 90% nostalgia. Too old for KOTCS? Nope... similar to me, you are probably less easily pleased and more discerning than you used to be.
reinthal said:Temple of Doom is my favourite. For me, the first 20 minutes are the most exciting roller-coaster ride in film history. I love the opening song and dance number, the confrontation with Lao Che and all that follows. It is from Temple of Doom that I love the whole series. I think it's perfection!
*It seems to me that he distances himself from it because of all the criticism it received due to its perceived "darkness" (I don't get that, it's too cartoony for me to be dark), that children are enslaved (hey, they get rescued!), and (probably the strongest criticism) of its representation of Hinduism. Also, as his wife, Kate Capshaw, got lambasted for Willie's very unfeminist character I'll go out on a limb and say that perhaps between two of them they've decided that ToD is better left unmentioned.
Colonel Corey said:Three words:
THE ROCK CRUSHER
That's why I love TOD so freakin' much!!! GO CHIEF GUARD