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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, June 30 2023)


Joe Brausam

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1 hour ago, Docteur Qui said:

Hopefully Mangold returns some of the fun, pulpy blood and guts of the first two films instead of the sanitised slapstick of Crusade and Crystal Skull.

Mouse Reich investors will demand a family-friendly adventure. Forget it!

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Indiana Jones and the Field of Dreams

Tagline: If you put in a museum, he will come (cue Raiders March)

15 hours ago, Fabulin said:

Indiana Jones 4: Mutt

Indiana Jones 5: Mutter

Indiana Jones 6: Muttest

I am sure Williams would be keen to score Indy 5 if Mutter is involved. Also they could reveal Indy's mom as the McGuffin in number 5 (as bit of clever German word play on the title).

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No one seems to have an issue with Spielberg no longer directing, but I do. His unique, visually magical stamp was what made Indy 4 enjoyable. If Mangold is as journeyman a director as people here are saying, that bodes real poorly for the film. 

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31 minutes ago, Bayesian said:

No one seems to have an issue with Spielberg no longer directing, but I do. His unique, visually magical stamp was what made Indy 4 enjoyable.

 

Really? Maybe the first act, when he still had some semblance of interest in the movie he was making, but everything from "Peru" onwards (ie, the Universal Studios backlot, because Steven didn't want to leave the USA) is as flat and visually uninteresting as the output from any pedestrian director.

 

It's very clear his heart wasn't in the film and I think he reached the same conclusion here.

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9 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Back in 2007, he was "the next big thing". Shame it never worked out, for him.

 

He is sort of like Robert Pattinson: star of dumb blockbusters on the 2000s, rediscovered as an indie darling on the late 2010s. 

 

But, despite the critical hit that was Honey Boy, Pattinson did achieved more success on the indie cinema than most of his colleagues of silly kids movies of the late 2000s: Shia, Zac Efron, the werewolf kid from Twilight, and probably even Radcliffe and the missing guy who was Ron Weasley...

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This really is a fantastic opening sequence. Haven't watched it in years but it has that classic Spielberg blocking and editing. You can tell this was shot during the first few days of production when Spielberg was still invested in recapturing the magic.

 

 

You also get the first hints that something is off with the cinematography. Such ugly green/unnatural colour in what should be an earthy, natural-looking sequence. I'd love to see this re-graded in Slocombe's style, with the sky actually blue.

 

Overall it captures the late 50's vibe nicely though; shame about everything that followed.

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You get the first hints that something is off when an Indy movie squeamishly and overprotectively looks away from people being shot.

How much greater is it when Indy's blood sputters up on the truck windshield in Desert Chase and he has to be nursed by Marion on the ship instead of being an untouchable rubber dummy brushing of every fall?

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This is one of the ugliest, worst graded shots I've seen in a modern Hollywood movie. Was Spielberg paying any attention to what Kaminski and his colourist were doing in the grading suite?

 

eM2tiUq.jpg

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1 hour ago, crumbs said:

You also get the first hints that something is off when the movie's iconic mountain silhouette opening turns out to be a prairie dog mound.

 

Fixed!

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5 hours ago, crumbs said:

This is one of the ugliest, worst graded shots I've seen in a modern Hollywood movie. Was Spielberg paying any attention to what Kaminski and his colourist were doing in the grading suite?

 

eM2tiUq.jpg

 

That magenta sky wtf

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13 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

He ruined his own career with his stupid behaviour. Sad.

I much prefer his career now, actually making quality films and acting, rather than his early blockbuster years. So I’d say he ended up in a better position. This is also just plain and simple genius:

 

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1 hour ago, Koray Savas said:

I much prefer his career now, actually making quality films and acting, rather than his early blockbuster years. So I’d say he ended up in a better position. This is also just plain and simple genius:

 

 

This is the kind of frivolous, pointless and useless bullshit that at the end of the day makes people ask "where does all the money go?" 

 

"Quality acting". Ugh

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I got out a kick out of some of the viral shia-te he was doing ("DO IT!!!") but American Honey is the best thing he's done so far. Generally he's lucky he got out of the blockbuster game early. He wasn't doing anything worthwhile anyway.

 

15 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

The punch-up with the Russian heavy who is then carried off by the army ants is probably Crystal Skull's sole example of a sequence with the spirit of the first 3 films.  

 

I prefer the motorcycle chase. It's not a classic setpiece but gets the job done.

 

 

The greaser vs jocks standoff is on the verge of "too cute" but the brawl at 0:38 is well-choreographed. I just like that. The way the crowd flows together, it looks pretty real. 

 

I love how fast the motorcycle feels at 1:18. I can't think of many examples where a director authentically captured the speed of a vehicle like that, for some reason this just sticks out to me as faster than usual for a typical movie chase. It's a cool shot and the direction/editing has some zip throughout.

 

And "If you wanna be a good archaeologist, you gotta get out of the library" as Indy rides off on the back of a motorcycle isn't a bad David Koepp punchline. In general I like that the sequence plays up that he's kind of a boring old man now without embarrassing him too much. It's something different, maybe a little forced but it works. They try to do the "Indiana Jones is just an old professor!" shtick again in the quicksand scene and it falls infinitely flatter.

 

That's about as far as I go in appreciation of #4...not much I admire after that. Obviously "The Jungle Chase" is Williams's best try at a bangin musical cue, he mostly lands it. Also there's one simple but weirdly dynamic shot when Indy and Mutt first arrive in Peru and Mutt's playing with his knife, the camera goes through like three pivots at once that are entirely motivated by the framing of Mutt and Indy and yet also completely unnecessary. I remember watching that and being like "Only Spielberg would do this." It's harder to find him in there as it keeps going. 

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I think he just lost interest halfway through production and started phoning it in. The opening titles with the Elvis song, warehouse sequence, Nuke Town and motorcycle chase were all shot in the first few weeks of principal.

 

The first major dialogue scene (between Indy and Spalko) is bizarre though, both the stilted direction and weird performances. I guess SS and HF were both rusty on the first few days. 

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