Todd's Indiana Jones Movie Round-Up

Well, I had to miss a large chunk of the Pistons game last night to do it, but this week I sat down and re-watched the full Indian Jones trilogy. It's been a few years since I last watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and even longer since I really sat down and watched Temple of Doom or The Last Crusade. How do I think they held up? Let's dig in:

Raiders of the Lost Ark

This one, to me, still stands out as the best of the series. It's also the only one that really takes itself seriously (at least, successfully). I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that this was a story that just happened to have Indiana Jones as the lead character rather than a vehicle to support Indiana Jones. It wasn't Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was just Raiders of the Lost Ark. (To be clear, I could care less about Lucas/Spielberg re-titling it to the former on the DVDs. I'm just saying that's not how it was conceived.) This is by far the most balanced of the movies as well. It's got action, but it's not wall-to-wall (a good thing). It's got drama, but it never feels slow and plodding. It's got a sense of humor, but it doesn't try to be a comedy (like the Last Crusade). But most importantly, in the midst of the seriousness of the overarching plot, it's a got a real sense of fun and that comes out most in the performances of Harrison Ford, who is at his absolute best, and Karen Allen (as Marion Ravenwood), who is a strong female lead that is played with a lot of heart. This really is a wonderful movie.

Temple of Doom

I remember, as a teenager, thinking this was the weakest of the series, but I really hadn't seen it since. I figured, going into watching it again, that I was probably overly harsh on it and that a fresh look would turn up some under appreciated aspect of the film.

It didn’t.

This is supposed to be the "dark" Indiana Jones movie. But while I like "dark" movies (Empire Strikes Back and Star Trek II, for example), this one isn't dark. It's just bad, almost from start to finish. And I don't blame the vacuous female lead, Willi Scott (played by Kate Capshaw) or comic relief of kid sidekick Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan). They do what they can with the work given them. And even if they're both played a little over the top (for example, Capshaw being enamored with the diamonds in the Sankara Stones mere moments after watching a ritual human sacrifice), I actually kind of enjoyed what the characters brought to the film. They were totally 2D, but they served a purpose.

Likewise, the plot could truly have been interesting if they had bothered to do anything interesting with it. If you can accept the fantastical powers of the Ark then there's no reason to poo-poo the existence of magic rocks. I also think the notion of exploring India's religious history is very fertile and fascinating ground. Instead what we got was a half action, half horror/thriller that doesn't do either of them particularly well. The gross out scenes, of which there are far too many, are simply childish and often diminish whatever scene they're in, rather than amplify it. The dinner scene (complete with chilled monkey brains and eyeball soup), in particular, completely took away from the intriguing dialog between Indiana Jones and the court of the Pankot Palace. (They also wasted two intriguing characters in the li'l Maharaja and his advisor.) The human sacrifice scenes are built to be high-tension and drama and they are, instead, just dull. It's so bad that there were multiple points during the movie during which I just wanted them to move on because they so thoroughly fail to build any tension. The villain is a blank slate on the level of a Darth Maul. And worst of all they reduce Harrison Ford to being Dirk the Daring (from the Dragon's Lair game). The amount of time he's forced to dedicate to ill-conceived Indy emotes is just embarrassing. In the future, when watching Indiana Jones movies, I may just skip this one and instead pretend that it never existed.

The Last Crusade

This is the movie about which I'm a bit conflicted. I really do enjoy it. I think it's a fun, entertaining and humorous movie. But then, I'm also a sucker for a good father-son bonding flick. But there's an extent to which this movie makes me think of Return of the Jedi in that for all the good stuff in it, there's some horrible miss-steps as well.

Some of the plot points don't make a lot of sense (like why evil-genius Donovan thinks Hitler is going to just give him the Grail). And as much as they seemed to want to make Temple of Doom a cheap horror flick, this one falls dangerously close to just being a screwball comedy and that's no good either. In particular, bringing back the wonderful characters of Marcus Brody and Sulla only to turn them into a bad C3PO and R2D2 side act is just shameful. Brody's character especially just gets raped in the second half of this film. (Perhaps that blow to the head he took from the Brothers of The What'sHisName Sword did some lasting damage?)

On the other hand the dynamic they create between Indy and Henry Jones is wonderful. Ford and Sean Connery play so incredibly well off of each other that there isn't room here to detail the number of both little and big moments between them that make me adore this movie, despite its shortcomings. I also like the female lead, Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), who shows all kinds of range in the film and is probably the only Indy "villain" since rival archaeologist Renne Belloq (in Raiders) to be fleshed out in any meaningful way. I also liked the pre-story that let's us get a glimpse of Indy's coming of age moment as a kid. I think it's extremely well done and the transition to Indy's acquisition of The Cross of Coronado is a great change of pace just because it's the only Indy pre-story in which he actually acquires the object of his search. Finally, they really brought back the fun that was missing in Temple of Doom, especially in the action scenes. I don't think this is a better movie than Raiders, but it is more personal and, for me, a more enjoyable film to watch.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
My dad and stepmom are coming into town tonight so I'm getting tickets to a late showing for my dad and me. It's only fitting since my dad was the one who took me to see all these movies when I was growing up. Based on reading a lot of early (but spoiler-free) impressions, I'm not expecting another Raiders (as much as I'd like to get one). Honestly, I'm expecting something in between The Last Crusade and Temple of Doom, which I can live with. It sounds like, similar to Crusade, they got a lot of stuff right in this film but that it also has some glaring problems. We'll see. I'll definitely post some impressions of it next week.

Assorted Links

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. Between my daughter getting sick (she had a 103.5 temp) on Tuesday, and then she had a 1st grade musical last night -- she's had a busy week and in between all of that I've had to take care of her by watching movies with her. Tough job, but I'm usually up for it. We're also knee deep in Mario Kart, Smash Bros, and Boom Blox.

She was a bit bummed because she had an actual part in the musical but she missed rehearsal due to her fever so she was placed in the front row of the chorus. Still, she had a lot of fun and to see her sing these songs with such enthusiasm...I really enjoy being a dad.

I still haven't had time to try Conan yet. That is on the radar, though. Also on the radar is the upcoming Alone in the Dark "sequel" that is set for release on June 24. I sent a writer out to San Fran last week to get a look at the game and he came away with a really cool report that I posted last night on GameShark. Really neat ideas, check it out.

Also we posted the next chapter in our There Will Be Games saga. I still find this a fascinating story.

Our latest "Indie Chat" was posted this week, this time talking with Adam Ryland, developer of wrestling sims for Grey Dog.

As for me, I'm wading through Twilight of the Arnor and XII Century, a Total War-like clone that doesn't quite stack up to the Creative Assembly games, but it's not a total waste of time, either. Reviews are forthcoming.

Finally, I've been a trading machine of late, moving out old boardgames that I know I'll never play and getting some new goodies in return. That is the best thing about Board Game Geek -- the trade feature. Just in the last week or so I have landed copies of:

Combat Commander: Europe
The Last Night on Earth (Zombies!!)
Manoeuvre
Return of the Heroes
Blackbeard

We're planning a big zombie game night soon. That's always a plus.

Speaking of zombies, I finally saw 28 Weeks later the other night. (OK technically not a "zombie" movie) Reviews were pretty good for this sequel and I just don't get it. It doesn't compare to the original and is full of so many "that's just plain dumb" moments that even for a horror movie...was bad.

Lastly -- this weekend is Indiana weekend. Anyone seen it yet?

BTW -- back to an earlier discussion -- Temple of Doom gets a very bad (and more than a bit unfair) rap, even with diehards. That movie isn't THAT bad.

Clinton as Monty Python's Black Knight

Okay, this is just priceless:

Hump Day Music Break

While I post a lot of newish music for our Hump Day breaks, anyone that knows me knows that my first love is classic rock from the 60's and early 70's. I've been listening to The Who since I was about 12 so I thought I'd post some vintage stuff today but I found this while doing some searching. It's an acoustic version of The Seeker with Pete and Jack White. Very cool.

Jim Leyland Swings a Big Stick

There was an article published in the USA Today yesterday about the Tigers and their clubhouse. Former MR pitcher Jason Grilli (traded to Colorado) popped off about the clubhouse being stagnant. Gary Sheffield said the team is too relaxed. Carlos Guillen, suddenly one of the most error prone fielders on the team, has the audacity to insinuate that a team with the second highest payroll in baseball was suffering from unfair expectations.

Look, the Tigers have been inexplicably bad this season. Their level of suck in churning out the American League's worst record has been, in a word, epic. And 2006's magic man, manager Jim Leyland, has had absolutely no answers for it. It's baseball. It happens. Yet, whatever ails the team on the field, one thing you couldn't accuse Leyland of doing is throwing his players under the bus. You don't know what goes on behind closed doors, but at no point this season (or in the last three) has he called out players in the media.

The USA Today article, though, saw him walk right up to the edge. This audio clip (look at the list of audio links on the right of the linked page) of Leyland taking a huge swing at players talking to the press is simply awesome (especially towards the end of it). At several points he just rips Jason Grilli to shreads:

Grilli should worry about Colorado. And if Jason Grilli’d done a better job, he’d still be here. So I don’t wanna hear any weak s**t from Jason Grilli right now either, because he belongs to somebody else.

But he also fires several warning shots across the bow for the rest of the team:

I’m not lookin’ for problems here but I’m a f**kin’ man, I look in the mirror, when I’m horses**t I’m horses**t and right now I’m horses**t and there’s a few f**kers in that clubhouse right now that are horses**t too, and they need to look in that mirror. Don’t look in mine, look in theirs. And don’t look at the f**kin’ guy next to ‘em, look in the f**kin’ mirror yourself. Don’t be pointin’ f**kin’ fingers over here and there… that’s all weak s**t, really [bleep], some of the other s**t I read in the paper today, that’s weak f**kin’ s**t. WEAK.

But that's not my favorite bit. That was saved for this exchange with one of the team's beat writers, Jason Beck (who is damn good at what he does):

What d’you think, Beck? You write a f**kin’ horses**t story, you don’t blame [Detroit Free Press writer] John Lowe, do you?

That comes at the end of the clip and the assembled reporters just flat out crack up at that point. It's gold, Jerry! GOLD! Anyway, Leyland's dead-on ball's accurate with this one. I'm not saying it'll give the team the jumpstart it needs (though they beat the Mariners 12-8 last night), but like "Big Stick" Leyland says, it sure as hell can't hurt. If you have five minutes to kill, listen to the whole audio clip, which can also be downloaded from here.

(A big tip 'o the cap, by the way, to Roar of the Tigers for transcribing all the best kibbles and bits.)

Let's Go Red Wings!

I've avoided talking about the Pistons and Red Wings on this blog for the simple reason that playoff trains get derailed quickly. And as the Tigers have proved, so do regular seasons. But as of last night the Detroit Red Wings are in the Stanley Cup Finals and that makes Todd a happy young boy. Too bad that in a fit of supreme ineptitude I forgot to watch the series-clinching game last night. Angie turned on Bones at 8:00. When that was done I fired up Raiders of the Lost Ark. It didn't occur to me until about ten minutes after the game was over that it was on. Ah well. The video highlights at NHL.com were fun to watch.

As a Wings fan it's really easy to take for granted to the enduring greatness of this franchise. They built one of the top two franchises in the NHL in the 90s and into the pre-lockout new millennium, winning three Stanley Cups ('97, '98 and '02). New Jersey was the only other team to win as many during that time ('95, '00 and '03). But the rap was always that the Wings were the Yankees of the NHL. That they bought their Cups by offering big free agent contracts that other teams couldn't match. And there's an argument to made for that with the 2002 team, in which they stockpiled Brett Hull, Dominick Hasek and Luc Robataille in a single off-season to go along with their existing roster of Hall of Fame talent.

The lockout was supposed to change that. It was supposed to decimate the Wings franchise. Their aging core was past its prime and they wouldn't be able to stockpile free agent talent like in the past. They were done.

Yeah. Whatever.

The end of the Wings run of NHL dominance has proven to be just a smidge overstated. Yeah, the return to the Stanley Cup Finals took a few years, but since the lockout season of 2004, the Wings have won their division every year and won two of the last three President's Trophies for having the best regular season record. (They've also won four of the last six overall.)

How did they do it? The fact of the matter is the greatness of the Wings franchise was never dependent purely on free agent acquisitions. They paid handsomely for a lot of talent over the years, no doubt, but that was what the financial system of the time demanded. The rules changed, but not the brain trust putting the team together. They adapted.

It's easy to overlook the fact that a lot of their talent was and is homegrown and found in the later rounds of the drafts. Take their two premiere young superstars: Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Detroit drafted them 171st overall (6th rnd) and 210th overall (7th rnd) respectively. How about Johan Franzen? With 11 goals in 10 games he was only the hottest player in the playoffs prior to a mystery concussion-like injury that cost him the past four games. The Wings took him 97th overall, in the 3rd round. Perennial Norris Trophy (best defenseman) candidate Nicklas Lidstrom was a 3rd round pickup (53rd overall). Their promising young bruiser, Niklas Kronwall? Okay, yeah, he was a first rounder. The 29th guy taken in that round.

That's not luck and that's not buying anything. That's a team that knows how to scout talent. It's a team run by one of the best GMs in all of sports in Ken Holland and his track record does all the talking required.

Needless to day, I'm really looking forward to start of the Stanley Cup Finals on Saturday. (Watch the series dammit! The NHL needs the ratings!) The Pittsburgh Penguins are a scary group of upstarts that have dominated the Eastern Conference playoffs, losing just two games. They're not fluke. They're really frigg'n good. But the Wings are not the Flyers, Rangers or Senators. I'm expecting a drawn out, exciting series. We get that and win or lose for the Wings, I'm happy.

Where Did the Week Go?

I was sitting here at work, taking a short break when it occurred to me it's been about nine days since I last wrote a post here. It wasn't a planned break, but it was probably a needed one. Angie (my wife) has been having issues at work (there are some people there who truly suck), my kids had strep throat (fun!) and then there's the whole Pistons/Wings playoff runs that have me in front of a TV just about every night watching one game or another. As for the Tigers, let's just pretend they don't exist for now. (Never in my wildest dreams did I think the team would be at the bottom of the AL past mid-May. They've now been shut out seven times. That's just ridiculous.)

Latching on to Bill's post about Conan. I'm seriously thinking of giving that game a go. I never really got into World of Warcraft. I first played it about a year after its initial release and that only last a month or two. LOTRO I jumped on from the start, and I enjoyed that a lot, but even on that one I let my subscription lapse after only two months. It's not that I don't think those games are any fun. I just like a little more purpose to my swords and sorcery gaming than an MMO generally provides. Just leveling up and collecting gear only does so much for me and the social aspects of those games were never a big draw. I like big, epic stories. Plus there's that whole monthly subscription thing that I find just plain irksome.

Wrapping up, today I actually really started to get excited for the new Indiana Jones movie. I've seen a lot of negative criticism of it, with a few positive bits mixed in. The consensus seems to be it falls somewhere in between Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade, but well short of Raiders of the Lost Ark. As long as we're not talking a collapse of Star Wars proportions, I can live with that. I just want to see a new flick with the man in the hat. I want to hear the theme music blaring from theater speakers. In short, I want to be reminded of what it was like as a kid to go to the theater and see the first three movies.

I'm hoping to prep for the experience by watching my DVDs of the trilogy, which I haven't watched since they were first released a few years ago (and that I've never watched on my projector screen). If I do, maybe I'll do an Indy movie round-up along the lines of the Marvel movie round-up I did a week ago last Friday.

Age of Conan

I'm a sucker for a few things in life. Good ice cream. The smell of a newly opened boardgame. Dogs.

And new MMOs.

After I broke the WoW habit over a year ago, I developed a tendency to play new MMOs for a while, then quit. City of Heroes, Lord of the Rings, Vanguard...etc. Even when I don't review them I like to play for that first month before the company wants more money from me. So it will be with Age of Conan. So, starting on the 20th, I'll be lopping off heads on a routine basis.

Anyone else getting this?

Big Brown and More Games

Big Brown is a freak. A true freak. That was about the easiest Triple Crown win as you will ever see. Well, not the THE easiest. That would be this race.

But he's a marvelous horse and absolutely has the look of a TC winner. But so did Smarty Jones, and 9 others since '78. Still...man that was easy.

OK -- quick game update. I'm still playing The Show. So that's what...3 months and I'm not tired of it? If that's not a stamp of approval I dunno what is. Review wise I'm heavily into the GalCiv II expansion-- big thumbs up.

My copy of the new edition of Blackbeard is set to arrive on the 20th. Yarr. Also, Mike recently reviewed a game that I just got called Manoeuvre which looks like a lot of fun -- a 'simple' 2-player card driven tactical Napoleonic wargame.

In other boardgame news I am planning on creating a new website for a game that I am designing with my father. The site will basically be about the design process --along with info about th egame itself. I was thinking of just doing that stuff here but it didn't seem to fit plus I think we want our own site for it.

The design is actually very well along right now and we're about to start some play testing.

Exciting stuff.

Some Details of Deep Route (Long but worth reading)

OK -- so the game should be ready in June. It's looking great, and I have been given permission to post some attribute info to give you guys an idea of what the game is doing under the hood.

Here's the website again -- keep an eye out for a press release soon. This is going to be fun. From what I have seen first hand, all of these attributes really matter. It's not just window dressing.

Position Rating

This rating is an "overall" rating of how the player compares in aggregate to other players at the same position in primary attributes. This should be used only as an quick indicator, but not in place of good judgment. For instance, you may have an agile QB with lower accuracy rated below a slow footed QB with better accuracy. Which should you use? That all depends on your line and how you use your QB.

Height

Taller receivers may have an advantage over shorter corner backs. Shorter QBs are more likely to have balls batted down at the line of srimmage.

Weight

Weight is used when determining the attributes based on size (Strength / Size, Speed / Size, Cover Skills / Size). Larger players will be naturally stronger than their smaller counterparts, but will also be slower with less ability to cover the players they are assigned to defend. Bigger O-linemen can be naturally harder to move than their smaller counterparts

Strength / Size

How strong your player is based on his size. Again, larger players are naturally stronger, so a 300 pound player with a 50 strength will be stronger than a 250 pound player with a 50 strength. This is used by both blockers and defenders when trying to fight through blockers or fight off defenders. Is also used in determining how hard it is to bring down a player trying to avoid being tackled

Stamina

This is used to determine how quickly a player begins fatiguing, and how quickly he recovers. All players are affected, but some positions (like QB) don’t use it as often (unless, of course, your QB does a whole lot of scrambling). RB’s and defensive players are affected the most, as this helps determine how often they need to be spelled

Toughness

How tough a player is. Can also be a determining factor on how hard a player tacklers another

Athleticism

Not a big determinant on a play by play basis, but is used in several ways. First off, an athletic player may, on occasion, outplay his numbers. Also, it helps determine how well a player may play out of position. Finally, it is used on the kick and punt return coverage as well as the return person himself

Intelligence

Obviously, this is how smart a player is. Smart players tend to make better decisions, and put themselves in positions to make plays more often. Smarter QB’s will call more audibles and make better decisions.

Leadership

Ultimately, teams with strong leaders will tend to perform more consistently as a unit than their counterparts with weaker leaders.

Clutch: Currently only kickers and QBS

Clutch QBs will perform better latter in close games; clutch kickers are more likely to hit field goals

Consistency

How consistently a player performs at his maximum level. Highly consistent players will perform to their levels on almost every play, while less consistent players may make mental errors that cause them to perform at a level not constant with their skill levels on every play

Passing Arm

How far and hard a QB can throw the ball. Strong armed QB’s can throw better long passes than their weaker armed counterparts, and are less likely to get picked off on those long passes.

Passing Accuracy

How accurately a QB throws the ball

Handle Snap

How well a QB can take the exchange from the center

Escapability

How well players can avoid being tackled. A combination of being able to squirm out of tackles and simply keep from getting tackled

Speed / Size

How fast a player is for his size

Footwork

How quickly and accurately a player's feet can do what he asks of them. Obviously important when trying to make cuts, but equally important to exterior blockers (tackles) to make sure they can get in position to block oncoming defensive ends, and to those applying pressure on the QB to help avoid being blocked

Cover Skills / Size

How well a player can cover another player when they are in pass coverage

Shed Blocker

How well a player can get away from a defender who is blocking him and has already engaged in contact

Pass Catching

How well a player catches passes. Also used to determine how well a player fields punts

Route

How well a player runs his assigned route and is where the QB expects him to be when trying to pass

First Step

How fast a player accelerates. Important particularly for blitzers, running backs, pass defenders, and receivers.

Run Blocking

How well a player blocks for runners – NOTE – once a player is past the line of scrimmage, this is used even on pass plays

Pass Blocking

How well a player keeps defenders from getting to the QB

Snapping

How consistent a snapper is in snapping the ball

Motor

How apt a player is to attack a play. Players with high motors tend to be involved in more plays on the defense and pursue more actively, Players with very low motors have a tendency to take plays off

Read Opposition

How well a player diagnoses a play. For QB’s, this would be how well they read the defense. For Defenders, this is how well they diagnose a play. For running backs, it is a bit like natural instincts when trying to make a decision on which way to run

Tackling

How well a player wraps up and tackles

Feel Pressure

Used when a player gets hit. Players that are more prone to know a hit is coming are less likely to fumble. "Feel Pressure" is an indicator of how well a player can "feel" a hit coming before it does.

Protect Ball

The likelihood of a player fumbling.

Find Opening

The ability of the ball carrier to see a hole develop and attack it

FG Accuracy

How accurate a kicker is

Kicking Strength

How strong a punter / kicker’s leg is

Punting Accuracy

How good a punter is, particularly at not allowing returns or pinning an opponent deeper in the endzone

Distraction

Will eventually be used to determine how much of field drama a player is likely to incur.

Leaping

Receivers with great leaping ability may use it at times to reach balls other receivers can’t. Defenders with great leaping ability may be able to knock down balls other defenders couldn’t . Used in conjuncture with height.