The most striking thing to me about Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is that it is, in spite of claims otherwise made, a CG version of an Indiana Jones movie. And this changes a great deal about what was so very pleasurable about the first three films. Even then, post-Star Wars, they were throwbacks. Star Wars had many layered effects, but they had the limitations
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
oh, crap….here’s where i get told what a fool i am by someone other than io……(not me specifically, but people who like the film)…..
So… is putting up a headline like that without any actual content entirely different than what Variety did? Or is it legitimate because the embargo’s been busted?…
there is no embargo after today……paramount opened the gates to all……
Mutiny, Variety posted a mini-review, designating how good the film was without any information to back it up. David posted a headline while he’s probably busy writing the review so that the folks who are anxious to hear his thoughts can come back later; do you really not see the difference?
Of course. I said ‘busted’ with sardonic gilding. I know there isn’t an embargo, I was the one in the last thread who started updating as the reviews began coming in…
No, Noah, not really. Because everybody else started posting their reviews the same time Variety’s blurb went up. They knew people would want to know their take, so they simply threw up a couple of paragraphs and said the rest is on the way — while they polished it off. I don’t see what there was to criticize about their actions.
I’m not necessarily criticizing what Variety did, merely pointing out that writing a headline about an impending review is different that writing a capsule review.
My point was just that DP doesn’t need to throw up a capsule because a review now is just another drop in the bucket. But 16 hours ago, when the world’s elite media all saw it together, then rushed for their computers, the use of a capsule as a place holder was understandable. In a situation like that, posting quickly to maximize hits is important. It’s quite different than somebody leaking their opinion after an early press screening. Here, traditional media was going toe to toe with say, Wells, who immediately started typing away on his iPhone while waiting for the pc to begin.
Whatever. It’s 1:44 am. I’m babbling.
it’s only 10:48 here (but, yeah, babbling)…..
i’m just kidding!!!!….couldn’t resist the obvious (it’s really hot and i’m really bored)….
Yes, you are babbling, Mut.
Someone was live blogging from the screening… also stupid.
Variety put up the short form out of desperation, wanting to be first, just like every blogging monkey in the world. Period.
It was, indeed, nothing like someone leaking their opinion before the screening.
And “the world’s media elite” is not all in Cannes and not all of them rushed to their computers and the story will continue to be told for days and then with the opening, a new story, and so on.
My point remains… if you bend over backwards to be like the blogs, then you are nothing but another blog. Hell… I am amused by the fact that Variety and Time and EW rushed reviews in from people who really should be working the film festival it costs their papers more than a grand a day to attend instead of doing what people in LA, Chicago, and NY could do just a few hours later. If anyone really cared what Variety said, then when they publsihed wouldn’t matter. If traditional media continues to obsess on speed instead of quality, they will be gone and gone soon.
It’s demand and supply. I woke up at 10:30 and the first thing I did when I got on my computer was to check for initial reviews. This is the Hot Blog’s third post on Indy today and they’ve all filled up (this one just started). Meanwhile, all of the new news on the main MCN page is all Indy, including links to the first batch of reviews.
The demand was that great. And under these extreme circumstances it makes perfect sense to act like new media instead of traditional media.
This is so ridiculous.
The big media equivalent of typing FIRST!!!!!
Chicago’s screening was at noon CST, with Ebert in attendance. I assume similar times across North America in the cities where it was shown… a few hours after Cannes.
The Hot Blog: Where Arguing About A Post Stating A Review Will Be Posted Soon… Happens.
I think this got less play after you hit the anti-climax button with “the review is coming,” because people were expecting a normal, regular review and got something of a state of the union dressdown, the interesting idea coming out of it being, the director as fixer. I’m sorry to predict you can make it this year’s theme and not sorry if it’s accidentally, or on purpose, the subject of good journovision, not gossip…
Who was it that said Kaminski replicates the look of Slocombe’s photography?
I dunno; Every TV spot is in TOTAL FUCKING LOST WORLD VISION, ie, Kaminski pretending to mute his usual style, but still TOTALLY shooting in hazy, blown-out aqua-green dustvision with cream flesh tones.
IT’S IN KAMINSKIVISION LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER, from what I can see. RAIDERS was sharp as hell, clear, crisp, un-gelled, unfiltered. It looked like JAWS. These SKULL TRAILERS look AQUA-KAMINSKI.
I saw it Tuesday evening. It was way better than I was expecting. While it’s not a perfect film, it’s a perfect adventure film. It may not be Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it definitely is a decent Indiana Jones film. I would give it a solid A, just because it delivers on that old time feel that its imitators like National Treasure or The Mummy try to deliver. I don’t want to oversell the thing, because I think anyone going in with high expectations would be pretty disappointed – but just go in not looking for anything deep and well, I think you’ll have a good time.
I didn’t find the CG as distracting as you did though Dave. While it was noticeable, especially during a couple action scenes, it was nowhere as unbearable as some films of recent years.
“Kaminskivision”
You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.
The CG was fairly awful. But the major flaw of the film is the look. Kaminski shot the film through a gauze of cg milk. David is spot on. Wish it weren’t so. I had thought the film would be practical, but every shot looked like it was in front of a white screen. However, Ford is still Indiana Jones.