http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36678

That's about as level-headed a review as we're probably going to get and it's RIGHT on par with my feelings going into the movie. I don't expect it to be better than Raiders nor do I think it's going to win awards - I just want a damn entertaining Indy flick, and that's what it looks like we're gonna get.

If this guy thinks it's better than Last Crusade (which I rank better than Doom), then I'm confident I'll be more than thrilled.

New HI-RES images.

Including Lucas' now ubiquitous grappling hook on the wall shot.

Nice images DP.

BTW as far as the reviews go. People I say "fuck you" to the reviews. If I let a review decide on how I should watch a movie I more than likely wouldn't own half of what's in my DVD collection right now. Fuck AICN, and all other review sites, especially AICN. AICN's reviews for movies the last several years have really suck ass in my opinion.

Edit: As far the score not leaking now... I think the score might not leak at least a few days before the initial release. This movie seems to have been pretty tightly guarded, besides some images being leaked.

I'm really digging the new 'theme' of the flick which seems to be weaved throughout a lot of the tracks - Spalko's theme maybe?

Seems more new school Williams yet nostalgic at the same time. This score sounds great for the flick IMO. I'd say "I hope it's not butchered" but this isn't Lucas we're talking about - the cut was actually done before the scoring sessions.

Here is original ultra high quality versions of pics DP posted earlier:

Is Abner in this damn thing or not? So, if Hurt isn't Abner, is SOMEONE Abner? or is Abner dead? Inquiring minds wanna know.

All signs point to a (still) dead Abner Ravenwood. The speculation for Indy 5 (a.k.a. Mutt Williams & The Search For Grandpa Ravenwood) begins!

There's a 3rd trailer up on the Official Site. Pretty much the same as the 2nd trailer but there are some minor differences and snippets of new footage.

Sweet.

Here are the direct links:

First two are in HD, and the 3rd one is in FLV format.

IJ_KOTCS_Trailer3_480p.mov
IJ_KOTCS_Trailer3_720.mov

IJ_KOTCS_Trailer3_480x204.flv

WE. . . ARE GOING. . . TO DIE!!!!

Great scene. This movie is going to kick balls. I'll be there dressed up as the rolling ball from Raiders.

In the last trailer there is a scene with the lines in the Nasca desert in Peru. That is an additional indication that KOTCS plot has something to due with the Paleo-Contacts.

I stopped by the BK Lounge last night and I guess I had forgotten about their Indy promotion. As we went up to the drive-thru we were greeted by an an Indy sign, and then the lady asked if I wanted an Indy Whopper. I did accept and I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking a heart condition.

Btw got tickets for the midnight show. Only one more week...

Saw the collected KOTCS Dark Horse series at the local book store. It was cheap, but I was turned off by the terrible artwork. Browsing through, it seemed like 'movie-lite', kind of like the Episode III comics (which had better pencils) where a single picture/dialogue represents about 20mins of a filmed action sequence. Well, things I noticed which haven't been mentioned yet:

- The teaser (where we meet Spalko) contains the race through the Area 51 warehouse where we see the Ark. Indy then drives a jeep into the basement which contains the rocket sled. A battle on the rocket sled ensues, which then takes off into the desert (?) where Indy finds Doom Town and the A-Bomb goes off. The teaser ends with the fridge landing in the middle of nowhere and Indy stumbling out. This is all in the first 10-15 mins (before Indy heads off to Marshall College where he meets Mutt).

- Mutt's name is revealed to be Henry (this might have been revealed already, I can't remember but there's confirmation).

- Spalko has a psychic overload (kind of like 'Carrie') near the end of the film (before the temple/ship takes off). This is sort of the last set-piece before the Temple/ship takes off, and it kind of has a 'opening of the ark' vibe to it. This seems to be the only instance where we see any alien kind, as their skeletons walk up to Spalko where they have a silent confrontation/communication.

- When the 13th crystal skull is reunited with the others, the temple starts falling apart and turns into I guess an alien spaceship. Because of the 'Close Encounters' related rumours, I guess I was expecting the temple to turn into a giant primitive looking 'Close Encounters' mothership. Instead, it looks alot like Bruce Banner's father/Absorbing Man at the end of 'Ang Lee's Hulk' - which is a giant metallic/energy blob. It then hovers away into another dimension, which creates the vortex that sucks in Mac. Mac had stolen some artifacts from the temple earlier and the vortex/ship create a magnetic force that pulls him in. Indy warns him to just let the artifacts go, but greed kills Mac for he will not part with them.

- From what I gather, Indy has now come full circle from the mercenary searching for fortune & glory in 'Temple Of Doom' to selfless hero. He comes to terms with the fact that although he has been witness to many historic events (and people if you count 'Young Indy' adventures), time will not remember him - and he feels that it has been worth it. There is a 'passing of the torch' scene where he suggests that Mutt take over the family business.

- There is a wedding scene at the end. I won't spoil whose it is...

That's what I remember (and I read it quickly, so my dialogue understanding might have been hindered a bit). I'm sure things will change by the time we see the movie, so take that for what you will...

Indy 5 sequel rumors from George: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356282,00.html

"I haven’t even told Steven or Harrison this," he said. "But I have an idea to make Shia [LeBeouf] the lead character next time and have Harrison [Ford] come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie. I can see it working out.

Oh lord, he's going to draw out the Indy franchise like he did with Star Wars. I can see a 5th one failing. George please die all ready.

Yeah that is like the third or fourth time Lucas has mentioned Ford taking over the Connery role and LaBeouf taking over the Indiana role in any potential sequels. After listening to the soundtrack, I'm open for some more new stuff. The Mafia and Vietnam would make for some worthy adversaries.





In other news LaBeouf admitted to GQ magazine that he used to be a pants shitter.

I'm just hoping he doesn't do that "No, No, No!!" thing in this movie.

btw I'm going to see Williams with the Boston Pops next Friday night and supposedly he'll be performing music from the KOTCS score?

People are saying that Shia's the Jar Jar of the Indy realm with this announcement. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but knowing Lucas' track record with reviving his other classic trilogy, one has to be worried.

Fixed.

When I created this thread in what seems like forever ago, I said this was a movie that shouldn't be made. I still stand by that. There's almost no chance this won't be a turd, but I hope I'm wrong.

Indiana Jones Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull Comic Adaptation Scans of pivotal scenes.

(courtesy of tnswman of raven.theraider.net)

Marion's revelation about Mutt Williams.
The fate of Irina Spalko.
Flight of the UFO's.
The End.

[spoil]



[/spoil]

Spalko dies like Grievous.

The Times gives KotCS a positive review.

Be prepared for a whole lot of reviews tomorrow afternoon once the film is screened at Cannes. I'm anticipating venom. Oddly enough, it would be funny to see the critics out-think themselves and post positive reviews for the sake being different since negativity is basically expected here. I don't think I've seen critics ready to hate a film this much since TPM. It's almost laughworthy how the press is gearing up to smash Indy.

http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=9954

The movie sounds like it belongs. That's all that matters.

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/05/heres-your-hat.html

I didn't think there was a chance in hell this cunt would like it.

http://www.variety.com/VE1117937176.html

positive impression.

More Cannes reviews:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7407209.stm



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356527,00.html


http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2008/05/iphone_indy_4_r_1.php

I have a feeling that this is going to be the general critical consensus. I don't think there's going to be anything particularly unique about this movie, other than the fact that it won't suck real bad. As much as I liked Iron Man, I'd have to say that the one simple thing that separates it from a lot of very similar films is that it doesn't suffer from an excess of cringeworthy moments. These days you tend to forget that this kind of thing used to be done really well.

Roger Ebert's pretty positive review is up now too.

It has the best line I've read so far about Ford's age:



Also, Roger's wife, Chaz Ebert, chimed in with this tidbit on Indy 4's digital projection status:

The whole celluloid/digital thing, I don't really know where I stand. I remember when Episode II came out there was a fuss over it being shot digitally. Frankly it looked like shit at local theaters, I presume non-digital projectors. As I recall Ebert himself made a point of this in his review at the time.

I definitely prefer movies being shot digitally. With a movie shot digitally it definitely helps when trying to convert the movie to a high def version for a Blu-Ray release or something like that.

He did. It was basically the crux of his mostly negative review of Episode II, though he later recanted (sort of) about a week later after seeing the film digitally. Ebert's pretty wishy-washy about the whole digital cinema thing. In the past he's given a pass to smaller films that were shot on video (Dancer in the Dark, Julien Donkey-Boy) and looked less than stellar, especially on the big screen. He really took Lucas to task for Episode II's look, not so much its content mind you, just its image quality, which was shot with with higher grade cameras that atleast attempted to replicate film. If you actully go back to read his review of and follow up to AOTC, you'll see that his main gripe with the film and Lucas is that Lucas aims to replace traditional filmmaking with digital cinema and because he's using his Star Wars franchise as a vehicle to do so, he has the means to really affect change (which is basically what's happening, albeit at a slower pace than George would like I imagine).

... And yes I know my response is so 2002 but damn it I had to get that off my chest.



It should but when you look at HD transfers for recent digital pictures like Walk Hard or Superman Returns the image looks flat. However Warner's BD edition of Bonnie and Clyde, a film that's over 40 years old, looks spectacular in high def. I guess it just depends on how the film was shot and not so much the media nowadays. David Tattersall's work on Episodes II and III really stands out as far as digital cinematography goes, as does his work as DP for Speed Racer.

If you are into props these are some awesome photographs. Two images that stand out for some reason over the Alien Crystal Corpse is Spalko's Sword Case and Interrogation Tent. The set conjures up images of Vader's medical table from Revenge Of The Sith and Empire Strike's Back Torture Rack.

Top: Cemetery Warrior
Row 2: Dead Conquistidor Storage
Row 3: Alien Crystal Skull + Area 51 Alien Crystal Skeleton
Row 4: Irina Spalko Sword Case + Psionic Torture Chamber
Bottom: The Ark 2008

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kotcs.blogspot.com











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Below is Harrison Ford in Cannes 2008 looking very Han Soloish:

As in 1995-era Power of the Force Han Solo.

I have tickets to the Premiere here in Toronto on Wednesday at 7.

For some silly reason there is no midnight showing in Toronto that I can find. I have to write a 300 word review for a local paper, so I'll post that when I'm back.

That's awesome that you're going at 7 PM. I'm going to the midnight show in my hometown of Bloomsburg, PA.

11:59pm Providence Place Cinemas 16.

I'm actually waiting until Friday morning to see it. My company is giving us Friday off and I'm not that fond of seeing movies late at night, so I'll be taking advantage of the early bird special at the great Cinemark Legacy in Plano, TX. Until then I'll just have steer clear of any spoilers!

I have my tickets for me and my fiance at the Cinemark here in San Jose at 12:01am.

I am so excited!

Oh yeah I can't recommend enough the Indiana Jones Ultimate Guide. It combines elements from DK's Star Wars Visual and Locations Guides for Indy. Loads of photos, information on most all the major stuff in the films (although KOTCS is limited), comics and Young Indiana Jones, cutaways of locations, comic artwork, a timeline and behind the scenes stuff. I don't have a scanner but I snapped some pics.

Nice get, CoGro.

I'm checking the flick out tonight at the Irvine Spectrum and again Saturday night at the Arclight in Hollywood at the Cinerama Dome.

This should get some of ya' in the right frame of mind for tonight/tomorrow.