How Many of You Think That Indiana Jones 4 is going to be disappointing?

[Michael24]

Yeah, Koepp was basically just brought in to polish up Nathanson's screenplay. It's not like they hired Koepp and said, "Six months to crank out a script. Go!"

 

[kongisking]

There is no reason for KOTCS to suck...Spielberg and Ford personally guaranteed that it will be a great movie. Steven wouldn't say that if he knew that he had a risky story and MacGuffin. I have full confidence in Spielberg. Don't take Lucas' position as producer as a Sign Of Doom. And anyway, we've waited so long that anything will be considered awesome. SW: TPM is a good example (despite the horrific J-JB, everyone went ballistic over the super-cool Duel of the Fates, including me ) I bet Indy 4 will have it's Podrace and Darth Maul-duel equivalent. Bring on an airplane dogfight!!!

 

[ClintonHammond]

"Spielberg and Ford personally guaranteed that it will be a great movie."
That, and a buck-fifty, will get you a small cup of crappy coffee....

 

[chapter11]

Don't take Lucas' position as producer as a Sign Of Doom. And anyway, we've waited so long that anything will be considered awesome. Phantom Menace is a good example ...

I don't think using The Phantom Menace as an example really helps our case...

 

[sarah navarro]

I don't think using The Phantom Menace as an example really helps our case...

Bad choice of movie there
Duel of the fates was pretty cool but podraces no.Spielberg wouldnt let a bad screen play go,thats why he hired someone new.So it has to be prety good.

 

[Matinee Idyll]

Spielberg wouldnt let a bad screen play go,thats why he hired someone new.So it has to be prety good.

War of the Worlds... Saving Private Ryan...

 

[chapter11]

War of the Worlds... Saving Private Ryan...

It's a matter of taste, I suppose. War of the Worlds was what it was: a pretty good summer popcorn flick hurt by a schmaltsy ending. Saving Private Ryan was, in my opinion, very good.

 

[Matinee Idyll]

"War of the Worlds was what it was: a pretty good summer popcorn flick hurt by a schmaltsy ending."

Oh for the '70's, when American films were worth a d@mn.

Why would you be content with War of the Worlds being a 'pretty good flick' when its source material is one of the greatest novels ever written? It's very sad that our expectations are so low.

As for Private Ryan, utter crap - have to side with Clinton here. The infinitely superior The Thin Red Line from the same year was ignored, and Private Ryan doesn't deserve to exist in a world inhabited by Apocalypse Now, Paths of Glory and Gallipoli...

Indy 4? I hope.

 

[commontone]

The opening battle of Private Ryan *was* quite masterfully done, but I did prefer The Thin Red Line.

But "War Of The Worlds" is "one of the greatest novels ever written"... what? You have the right to your opinion, but few people who know literature would agree with that. One of the best sci-fi novels? More plausible.

 

[Matinee Idyll]

Whoops, yeah - did mean to say sci-fi...

 

[Kingsley]

The infinitely superior The Thin Red Line from the same year was ignored, and Private Ryan doesn't deserve to exist in a world inhabited by Apocalypse Now, Paths of Glory and Gallipoli...

I agree that The Thin Red Line is superior, but there's a problem with those who ignored it, not with Saving Private Ryan. You are comparing it with some of the best war movies of all time... I think Private Ryan can exist on his own and still as a great movie.

 

[Michael24]

I was actually bored by THE THIN RED LINE and found it overrated. I thought SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was easily a far superior film.

WAR OF THE WORLDS looked nice, had some fine visuals, and a couple sequences I did enjoy. But the "neglectful father" angle (which I thought was never strongly backed up), pacing, and Dakota Fanning ultimately ruined it for me.

 

[chapter11]

WAR OF THE WORLDS looked nice, had some fine visuals, and a couple sequences I did enjoy. But the "neglectful father" angle (which I thought was never strongly backed up), pacing, and Dakota Fanning ultimately ruined it for me.

I didn't mind Dakota, but I didn't care for Cruise at all. And the ending with the family reunion was way too ... what's the word...? Oh yes, saccharin for me. That's what damaged an otherwise entertaining film, in my opinion. But I don't think the whole movie was terrible or a waste of film because of it. And certainly not an insult to H.G. Wells, whose novel was OK but by no means one of the great works of fiction.

 

[deckard24]

With all the talk about The Phantom Menace as a comparison to KOTCS, something hit me. First off, I think it's safe to assume most patrons of the Raven think TPM was awful and a big disappointment. So taking that into consideration, if Spielberg visited Lucas on set and was most likely one of the first to know about the script, why didn't he see the impending lousiness of that film and offer some sage advice? He is after all Lucas' biggest confidant, the same guy who travels to Hawaii with him to wait for the grosses on their latest blockbusters and discuss new film ideas. Perhaps he did and Lucas shot him down convinced his ideas were golden, but something tells me Spielberg just went along with it or maybe even thought the screenplay was great.

Let's just hope Spielberg doesn't go along with anything for KOTCS that could be disastrous.

 

[chapter11]

With all the talk about The Phantom Menace as a comparison to KOTCS, something hit me. First off, I think it's safe to assume most patrons of the Raven think TPM was awful and a big disappointment. So taking that into consideration, if Spielberg visited Lucas on set and was most likely one of the first to know about the script, why didn't he see the impending lousiness of that film and offer some sage advice?

Easy. It's not Spielburg's job to fix Lucas' mess when it comes to Star Wars. Now, on Indy it's a different story because Spielburg is one of the creators. He doesn't just get a say on the story, he gets a veto if he doesn't like something.

 

[Matinee Idyll]

I was actually bored by THE THIN RED LINE and found it overrated. I thought SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was easily a far superior film.

Good for you. I'll take any one of Malicks films over Spielbergs entire output anyday.

 

[deckard24]

Chapter 11, that's probably the truth of it. But as a fellow artist regardless of his neck not being on the line, you would think he would attempt to steer his friend away from a disaster of a film. It's known they've disagreed on elements of the Indy films before, but as for the big plot points I wonder who really makes the decisions at the end of the day. I have a hard time believing they're completely 50/50 on the decision making process, and for some reason Lucas seems like he would be the one to dig in his heels and have Spielberg go along for the ride. Spielberg has always been the outspoken outgoing frontman for the Indy films, with Lucas in the background where he prefers to be. It is their collaboration, but it's Lucas' FX house, marketing gurus, and production team that runs the show. It's for this reason that I feel Lucas' wields more power in the decision making process than Spielberg. I might be wrong, but he appears to be more invested financiall speaking and that says a lot.


As for the ending of War of the Worlds, saccharin is definitely a good adjective to descibe it. It was like a bad Folgers commercial from the 80's! We were supposed to believe that only that little area in Boston where Grandma and Grandpa lived reamined untouched by the tri-pods, gimme a break! Then on top of that the son lives, and comes running out of the house for a big hug.... lame! Up until Tim Robbins and the house scene the movie was going along pretty well, then it all went downhill.

 

[AntiJones]

Would that change you?

You all have been visiting theraider.net, The Raven IJ Message boards and have been waiting all these years for IJ4,however , a lot of you actually express the concern of it possibly being disappointing. Now, if it really happen (Not so good, similar to TPM), what would you do ? Would you keep coming back to thetheraider.net, The Raven IJ Message boards? Would you be waiting for IJ 5 & 6 (By then IJ might really add a walking stick to his weapons). Given that so much time has been used up just to see this IJ sequal materialise.

What would you be coming back to theraider.net, The Raven IJ Message boards looking for?

 

[Michael24]

I didn't mind Dakota, but I didn't care for Cruise at all. And the ending with the family reunion was way too ... what's the word...? Oh yes, saccharin for me. That's what damaged an otherwise entertaining film, in my opinion. But I don't think the whole movie was terrible or a waste of film because of it. And certainly not an insult to H.G. Wells, whose novel was OK but by no means one of the great works of fiction.

I agree, the ending was a little too goody-goody for me. I mean, I like happy ends, but if the son hadn't shown up, I probably would have been fine with it.

Unlike probably everybody else on the board (or at least in this thread), I actually like Tom Cruise, regardless of his personal life. I thought he was good in this. My problem with the kids was that they were just so bratty and annoying. As soon as they're dropped off at his house, I was like, "Oh, here we go again. The neglectful father subplot." But what really stuck out to me was the fact we never see how bad of a father Cruise's character is supposed to be, which would at least make that aspect a little easier to swallow. Instead, we're simply told through a little bit of dialogue and the son's attitude that he's a bad father, but the the whole time I never found myself agreeing, so that part wound up as kind of a distraction for me. Hard to explain, I guess. I just know I walked away from the movie thinking, "Great special effects and action, but, eh....."

 

[Jones Junkie]

Good for you. I'll take any one of Malicks films over Spielbergs entire output anyday.

Good for you.

So... why do some people not like Dakota Fanning? I think she did an excellent job in War Of The Worlds and just about every other film she's ever been in. She's a phenomenal child actor.