Home Video

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

/ / Home Video, Theme Week
  • Title: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
  • IMDB: link

”Hey, lady! You call him Dr. Jones!”

indiana-jones-and-the-temple-of-doom1984…are you serious? Damn I’m old; I had no idea it came out that long ago. Great thing is it’s just as entertaining today as it was when it released. Brilliant how Indiana Jones flicks can hold the test of time and, with the next installment, it’ll be like they never skipped a beat. I’m going to share a little secret with you, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is my favorite selection of the series so far. I know it didn’t get a big ass welcome like Raiders did, but I like my films a little darker and not all “PC”. The massive vampire bats, slithering eels out of a python carcass, mmm_mm_yummy monkey brains, crunchy bugs and kids having their hearts ripped out of their chests, now doesn’t that sound like a hell of a good time to you?

…

Indiana Jones and the Temple of DoomRead More »

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Read More »

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 2

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Vol. 2
  • tv.com: link

young-indiana-jones-vol-twoVolume Two takes young Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) into the ranks of the Belgium Army.  He enlists under the name Henri Defense (because he is underage at the time of his enlistment), and joins the war effort to do his part.

The adventures this time around begin with Indy’s role on the front lines in the trenches with his friend Remy (Ronny Coutteure).  Over the course of this volume he will fight on the front lines both on the Western Front and in Africa, work as a runner for the French, escape from a German P.O.W. camp with the help of Charles De Gaulle (Herve Pauchon), be drafted into a suicide mission by a company of old soldiers, and spend a stint as a photographer with the famous flyboys of the Lafayette Escadrille which will bring him face-to-face with the Red Baron (Marc Warren).

…

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 2Read More »

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 2 Read More »

Raiders of the Lost Ark

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • IMDB: link

“Snakes.  Why does it always have to be snakes?”

raiders-of-the-lost-ark

We meet Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in the jungles of South America.  He survives the traps of the temple only to loose his prize (a golden Aztec idol) to a rival archaeologist, Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman).

The first sequence, involving traps, spikes, a very larger boulder, poison darts, and a tribe of natives, tells us everything we need to know about the character.  His intelligence, his knowledge, his adventurous spirit, and humor are all on display, as is the fact that this is a hero who doesn’t always win.  Only the later scene involving a swordsman on the streets of Cairo is more memorable.

On returning to the States Dr. Jones is hired by the US Government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazi’s can unearth it.  His adventure will include being reunited with an old flame (Karen Allen), racing against time for the prize, surviving being trapped in a pit full of snakes, and stowing away on a Nazi submarine.  And that’s just a few of the adventures packed into the film’s two-hour running time.

…

Raiders of the Lost ArkRead More »

Raiders of the Lost Ark Read More »

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 1

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Vol. 1
  • tv.com: link

young-indiana-jones-vol-oneVolume One, as well as the second and third volumes of the series, chronologically collects the series in sets of television movies (rather than in the order the original hour-long episodes aired).

The first five chapters of the series involve the adventures of young Henry Jones Jr. (Corey Carrier) traveling around the country with his father Professor Henry Jones (Lloyd Owen, doing an acceptable Sean Connery impression), his mother Anna (Ruth de Sosa), and his tutor Miss Seymour (Margaret Tyzack).

Most of the adventures fall into the same basic story structure, which (somewhat unbelievably) doesn’t get old.  The family arrives in a new location where Prof. Jones has been asked to lecture and Indy finds a way to get out of studying and ultimately, whether meaning to or not, finds himself involved in mischief, often with historical characters.  An over the course of the episode young Indy learns an important lesson.

…

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 1Read More »

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 1 Read More »

Tokyo Godfathers

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Tokyo Godfathers
  • IMDB: link

It’s funny how a child can bring people closer together, and pull them from the depths of desperation.  In the movie Tokyo Godfathers, by the same person of Paprika and Millennium Actress, three homeless friends happen to be in the right place at the right time.

One Christmas eve, the three friends were digging through some trash for presents for one another when they discovered an abandoned infant.  The child was crying, cold and hungry, so the three did the right thing and took it in for the night.

…

Tokyo GodfathersRead More »

Tokyo Godfathers Read More »