Indiana Jones Dial Destiny

[Terry Monohan]

We watched the new Indiana Jones movie this past Sat July 1 in the large 750 seat art deco Orinda Theatre in Orinda CA.

Mainly went to hear the new Meyers stereo sound system installed a few months ago. The sound was great but I think the way up high surround speakers need to be turned up. Great deep base heard for the first time at the Orinda Theatre.

The movie had way too many chase parts It was all chase and recover over and over. The color scope had a brown tint to It most of the time. Like so many movies now many parts in the trailer that has been playing for almost a year were missing from the release print this week. Like the ball chasing them in the cave and a few others.

Too fast passed for our group and It seems the boxoffice was not that good for the first weekend. At least they had a nice crowd for the 12:45 PM Sat matinee and more people in line for the next show.

[Sam Chavez]

Glad you liked the sound. The surrounds are mounted way high to please the docents that wanted to murals unobscured, which is why the surrounds were so sparse and inadequate for all these years.

FYI, the SPL is set higher than spec to please Derek and also because I knew you'd be along.

[Mitchel Wagner]

I watched the new installment in the Foroxity Filmarena in town. By accident I took hall 6, wich has lazy seats. Not my thing if you ask me. I liked the fact that they didn't avoid Harrison's age. Yes, He is de-aged for the first 20 minutes of the movie, but the way he is introduced into what is 'the present' in the movie I liked.

Without spoiling to much, yes I agree that the chases were longer then expected and the cameos were only to benefit a nostalgia feeling, rather then to benefit the story. Indiana Jones however remains my childhood hero and I enjoyed the movie from start to finish, and that's what matters for me and the audience in the end.

Small side-note, Mads Mikkelsen makes for a very convincing Nazi. Great actor.

[Marcel Birgelen]

If I'd ever started my own religion, the first three commandments would be:

1. There are only THREE Star Wars films.
2. There is only ONE Matrix movie.
3. There are only THREE Indiana Jones movies.

The remaining seven would be sold to the highest bidder.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

1. It was too long. It should be around 2 hours give or take.
2. The local AMC finally did a fair job of presenting it, pretty good image, although the sound needs to be tuned by a knowledgable tech. The dialog and mids were rough and nasty, and no high end.
3. I liked who they brought back at the end.
4. The rest of the movie moves a might bit too fast. Other Indiana Jones movies are paced much better.

[Mike Blakesley]

It was too long. It should be around 2 hours give or take.

A person could say that about just about any movie released today, even the kiddie titles are over 2 hours. It's stupid. At least the upcoming "Barbie" is only 110 minutes... that used to be a longish movie, back when I started projecting.

Indiana Jones Dial Destiny

What, you couldn't put in the complete title?

[Marcel Birgelen]

He wanted to type "Indiana Jones Dials Destiny". Also, this is the key to a much shorter and probably better plot:

Indy dials Destiny. Unfortunately, the call ends up unanswered. THE END.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

A person could say that about just about any movie released today, even the kiddie titles are over 2 hours. It's stupid. At least the upcoming "Barbie" is only 110 minutes... that used to be a longish movie, back when I started projecting.

[/B]

What, you couldn't put in the complete title?

Studios could get in another showing if the running time was 90 minutes give or take. Most of the movies I saw as a kid rarely exceeded 100 minutes. And until there existed a gazillion screens in this country, that trend continued. Now they just play movies on multiple screens. Having run first or very early rough cuts of films, I will day there was one rough cut that was 4 hours and 10 minutes long that was hacked down to about 100 minutes. This was back in the late 80's.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

If I'd ever started my own religion, the first three commandments would be:

1. There are only THREE Star Wars films.
2. There is only ONE Matrix movie.
3. There are only THREE Indiana Jones movies.

The remaining seven would be sold to the highest bidder.

4. Kathleen Kennedy is Satan (or in this case, the Dark Lord of the Sith)
5. The Mouse House is hell on earth.
6. The major studios all prove that you CAN be incredibly stupid and somehow succeed.
7. Digital is the soulless ginger of cinema.
8. Help us George Lucas-Kenobi, you're our only hope.
9. Mark Hamill is a priceless treasure and must be preserved at all costs.
10. Support your local cinemas before it is too late.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Studios could get in another showing if the running time was 90 minutes give or take. Most of the movies I saw as a kid rarely exceeded 100 minutes. And until there existed a gazillion screens in this country, that trend continued. Now they just play movies on multiple screens. Having run first or very early rough cuts of films, I will day there was one rough cut that was 4 hours and 10 minutes long that was hacked down to about 100 minutes. This was back in the late 80's.

C'mon, spill it. What was that movie called? I can think of a few that might qualify...

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Ok, it was Uncle Buck. John Hughes shot 1,250,000 feet of film on that show. John was really a prolific writer, not a director so much. That's why other directors did the rest of his films. Chris Columbus only shot about 250,000 feet on the first Home Alone. One day of film filled the tall film rack in the booth. But some days we only ran select rolls... Generally almost the entire crew minus any actors showed up for dailies. One night they even fired the first assistant cinematographer for not keeping the clown's nose in focus.

[Jon Dent]

When I saw that the recent Transformers movie was only two hours, I thought it was a typo (but it still felt long).

Indy 5 makes me feel conflicted. It's mostly good for what it is, but it has no real reason to exist. De-aged Ford looked good most of the time, but I never bought into it cause I knew it was a visual effect. That and he sounded like he'd been smoking a pack a day for forty years.

I'm not sure why exactly, but Phoebe Waller-Bridge comes across as very.... prickly, and not in an endearing way. I didn't care much for her character, or the random kid who's name I've already forgotten. He's no Short Round.

I also didn't care much for Sallah's cameo. In the original trilogy he was a broad beast of a man. Here, John Rhys-Davies just looks frail.

Voller as a character was a bit weak and poorly motivated, but Mads Mikkelson could make gripping drama out of reading a car's user manual, so he escaped with his dignity intact.

Crowds have been low key but fairly steady for this one. It's certainly not breaking the doors down at the ticket counter.

[Marcel Birgelen]

4. Kathleen Kennedy is Satan (or in this case, the Dark Lord of the Sith)
5. The Mouse House is hell on earth.
6. The major studios all prove that you CAN be incredibly stupid and somehow succeed.
7. Digital is the soulless ginger of cinema.
8. Help us George Lucas-Kenobi, you're our only hope.
9. Mark Hamill is a priceless treasure and must be preserved at all costs.
10. Support your local cinemas before it is too late.

That church probably won't be built in Hollywood. But then again, Lucasfilm's headquarters used to be in a Northern Californian ranch in the middle of nowhere and Pixar ended up in Oakland of all places.

It looks like this movie fizzled out at the box office, even faster than anticipated in most "worst case" scenarios. Maybe KK (really just one letter missing there?) is now finally going to face the music? But Disney has bigger problems than just Lucasfilm. Pixar is dead, Marvel is barely hanging on, their own namesake studio isn't doing anything to help and whatever happened to 20th Century Fox after spending more than 70B dollars on it?!

As for the movie itself... whether you like it or not, it was NEVER going to live up to the first three installments, so this entire thing was a futile attempt at just grabbing some money due to lack of creativity in the first place. I, myself want to remember Indy as the hero I got to know, back when I was a whole bunch younger, not as a frail old man, barely hanging on to life. Give me the old Indy please and if you can't do it, don't give me Indy at all. Yeah, the world was viewed through a bunch of western pink glasses back then, but isn't this what movies are all about? It's stories, it's fantasy, it's a made up world, a world that gives us relief from our own. Escapism is about escaping your own world and finding yourself in another one. Both Disney and Lucasfilm knew how to do that, but they both lost their mojo along the way.

Hollywood has become a sad affair and an increasingly wry feeling keeps lingering in the back of my mind is that it might be beyond repair and the future of the movie industry may not lie on the other side of the Hollywood hills...

[Sam Chavez]

Emeryville, actually.

[Mike Blakesley]

8. Help us George Lucas-Kenobi, you're our only hope.

Given the first commandment, it kind of negates this one.