Pulpy Pulpiness

[salinea]

So I watched the new Indiana Jones movie. Am I the only one thinking...



... six months later, he died of a cancer.

Which is funny, the kind of things the suspension of disbelief stops. Aliens, no problem; various ridiculous cascades that should not be survived, no problem, handy elision of how exactly they get out of the middle of the Amazon. And, you know, everything else. But that "well, he sure is close to the fallout" moment, can't quite disbelieve XD

Anyway, overall it was on par with the other movies. It was fun and action-heavy and the plot made very little sense. I think if it seems a bit old to some it might just be because some of the action heavy blockbusters have gone a bit better since then. Like Pirates of the Caribbean. Which has its flaw but fairs better in terms of plottiness and actual characterization, you know. But I really enjoyed watching this movie and imagining random crossovers with the Mysterious Cities of Gold; Stargate and X-files, and handing out +3 stunts (wrong system, I know, but I don't know the rules for Adventure! or Spirit of the Century that well). Pulp is fun.

Except of course for the part where I was scared because that MacGuyver episode with the carnivorous ants utterly traumatized when I was a little girl o_o;

Comments

[werthead.livejournal.com]

I remember the TV movie where McGuyver discovered Atlantis (seriously), aided by a pre-Gimli John Rhys-Davies (whose absence from the new Indy movie means that I'll never be able to fully appreciate it). Not so much the carnivorous ants though :-(

Was supposed to see Indy tonight but it fell apart. Will try to get to it later in the week, but I might suggest we go see Iron Man instead (because it's about to go out of the cinemas and Indy will be around a few more weeks yet).

Completely failed to watch BSG tonight as well. Damned housemates and their reality TV >:-(

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I remember the TV movie where McGuyver discovered Atlantis (seriously), aided by a pre-Gimli John Rhys-Davies
Heeeh!

I only remember two McGuyver episode, the maneating ants one, and the one when he's in a snow avalanche. No idea why it's the two I remember, onl the maneating ants one traumatized me (and that because I was 6 when I watched it)

I watched Iron Man already. Didn't love it enough that I want to see it again even if Gwyneth Paltrow was very pretty in it.

[werthead.livejournal.com]

I actually love McGuyver's appearances in The Simpsons more than the show itself. "Thank you McGuyver! You saved our village!" "Don't thank me, thank the Moon's gravitational pull." WTH? :-D

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I should watch more Simpsons.

[rockstarwookie.livejournal.com]

I missed BSG too, due to Rugby.
But fret not! (or at least, not if you have Sky Two).

It's repeated on Sky Two tonight at 9pm :)

I remember the MacGyver ants episode. I don't remember them being man-eating though :\
There's a clip from it right near the end of the opening crawl/credits/montage/whateveritscalled, when MacGyver rips off the hood of some sort of protective coveralls, sort of like a beekeeper's outfit. MacGyver had to break open some sort of a damn to flood a moat around the compound to protect it from the ants.
MacGyver was easily my favourite show when I was a kid.

You know the coolest thing about that show? It was produced by The Fonz.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

they were totally man eating. MacGuyver had a bumbling friend who died from them during that episode. Traumatized me, I tell you!!!

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

He survived a nuclear bomb hiding in a refrigerator. Earth logic stops right there. XD

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure there was no Earth mogic to begin with, but yeah :) it's just that nuclear fear belongs to such another realm of fear that I could apply the same level of pulp hero imunity, if yous ee what I mean ^^

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they were testing a gentler bomb.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I saw someone mentionning that the testing where of much smaller bombs yes *scratches head* maybe it was at your LJ? Anyway your analysis was great ^^

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, I have no idea--there's something really silly in the idea, but it's the only thing I can think of.

[darksumomo.livejournal.com]

The refrigerator spoiler has already found its way into TVTropes--Indy Ploy.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

The refrigerator thing amuses me immensely, because it reminds me of the "how to buy a nuclear shelter in your basement"-kind of lectures we got in school during the obligatory "Civil Defense" class. I was not amused then, though, but now it seems funny.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

heh. Yeah, it was a bit surrealistic.

I saw at least one person who saw the whole thing No!Funny and was offensed because it reminded her of the populations who had to suffer testing next to them, like Bikini atoll people, and the bad consequences for them... It's interesting to see the different reactions of people to things.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

I can imagine that it would not seem funny to everyone. I didn't consider the idea of the atomic bomb and of the shelters as funny when I was a child, in fact, I had more than one nightmare about these kind of things. However, the scenario itself reminded me of the absurdity of the shelter-idea, and I feel better laughing about it than letting the real horror behind get to me. ^^

[novin-ha.livejournal.com]

It was so "patriotic"... Dancing Russians were downright offensive, but I was amused nonetheless.

I think the film should have ended three minutes earlier though. Yeah well.

Me and my friends crossed the film with Buffy, made Indiana into a Watcher and had him be romanced by a young girl who would learn all his secrets and proceed to break his heart.

But boy, were the special effects fun!

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Well, everyone was such caricatures, yeah. I was laughing at the dancing russians because that was so outclichéing the clichés so far XD There were more offensive bits, but I think there were mostly for Hispanic people, or... - was Mac supposed to be Scottish? if he was the whole greedy characterization was pushing it.


Ooooh! the crossover with Buffy makes total sense as well!!

*♥ icon*

[the-corbie.livejournal.com]

Interesting idea. ;)

I'd agree with your ranking, it's about the same as 2 and 3 in my view (not as good as the original, though). I genuinely can't understand some of the ranting about it at Ran's... The Phantom Menace it is not. It's a perfectly good film with some smart moments. Sure, the plot made no sense but if it had I'd have been demanding my money back. :p

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I don't remember Raiders well enough to play ranking them :)

Nah, definitly not TPM.