Another two years have gone by. Time for another post!

Okay, so I guess the hoped for renaissance of this blog from two years ago never really happened after that last post. Once again I felt like putting some thoughts down and re remembered ( is that a thing?) this blog, so here I go.

I recently and finally got a 1080p tv. Yay! Now I know why I bought that blu ray player after all. Well, I have previously shared Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Last Crusade with my 5 year old daughter but I had refrained from showing her Temple of Doom because I thought it would scare the crap out of her and I would be the worst dad in the world if I showed it to her. But here it is Saturday night, we wanna watch a movie and I think hey, let's watch TOD. I can just get her to close her eyes when Mola Ram pulls that dudes heart out.

This is the first time watching the blu ray of this movie on my new 1080p tv and I was really impressed with the video of TOD. The colors and sharpness of the images was great with just the right hint of grain to make it awesome. John Williams music is perfect-it hits all the right notes at all the right times. I don't know how he did it but Spielberg once again pays homage to classic Hollywood film making while making his own classic film. Too often these kinds of attempts, though well intentioned, either fall flat, turn campy, or just seem contrived. Though you can see how Spielberg is almost checking off all of the time worn techniques in this movie, they still completely serve the story and don't exist just to call attention to themselves. This is classic, old school movie making and Spielberg is a master at it. Plus, even when bloody and beaten as he gets at times in this picture, Ford is never more a matinee idol as he is in this picture. Ford's presence and performance as Indy, coupled with Spielberg's filmmaking prowess, makes it a pure joy to watch these Indy movies.

Now I know TOD is looked at as inferior to Raiders and Last Crusade (I won't even mention KOTCS, I've said enough about it already!). I won't proclaim it to be better than either of those films or even their equal, but TOD should not be seen as a distant third. It's a different flavor for sure, but I think a lot of the dislike comes from it being different from the other two films. We don't see Indy back at university, no Marcus Brody, no Christian relic, it's too dark and violent, and having a little boy sidekick and an annoying female lead  are all complaints about this film. Some of those are valid, but if you just stop and try to enjoy the movie without comparing it to the other two I think you will enjoy it and realize it is nowhere near as bad as you may have thought it was all this time.

Okay, so back to my decision to let my 5 year old daughter watch the movie. Yeah, there is a lot of violence and dark, disturbing imagery in this movie. There's far more stuff than just Mola Ram ripping the poor guy's heart out! A lot of bloody fighting and gruesome deaths (though much of it is carefully cut away from).  I'm still not sure I should've shown it to her, but she did enjoy it, and as of right now she hasn't woken up with a nightmare, so maybe I can avoid that worst dad distinction for now!