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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jan 30, 2018 18:13:01 GMT
Some great picks, I enjoyed these movies as well. Congo is definitely a forgotten gem in my book. Another movie I'd count as at least a cousin to Indy is League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Yet another flick featuring Quatermain who dresses like Indy (and they even got Indy's dad to play him!) and is essentially the same character. Very different from the comics of course, and some serious pacing/editing problems but I've always considered it to be great fun. Thanks! Nice to see another Congo fan, too: we’ve got you, me, Roger Ebert, and a few guys on this board, and—uh—is that it? I think it’s just great, but people nowadays don’t really seem to understand that something can be both of a genre and parodical of that genre. (Another favorite of mine that many critics didn’t understand, Mamet’s The Edge, also counts—oh, and so does Mamet’s The Spanish Prisoner! Happens a lot with Mamet.) As Ebert put it, "False sophisticates will scorn it. Real sophisticates will relish it.” I have seen League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and all I can say is that I wish it were better done. I would have loved a Connery Quatermain movie a bit earlier—Quatermain’s supposed to be in his 50s in King Solomon’s Mines (and, as I understand it, in the League comic books too)—so maybe some time around The Hunt for Red October? Anyhoo, I didn’t hate the movie, but its over-reliance on special effects did hurt it, in my opinion. Still, yes, there are definitely segments that are good goofy fun. LXG definitely went overboard with the CGI at times. We didn't need Mina to be a vampire or the Hyde/Hyde-knockoff brawl toward the end. I enjoy the concept so much I'm still holding out hope for a reboot-- but as you said, it has its moments. And Congo is a hoot for sure. Tim Curry is hilarious, Ernie Hudson chews up his role, and the stuff with Amy the gorilla is a blast. I love it when she grabs the scientist and says, "Baby...baby... bad, ugly gorillas, go away." Another great call on The Edge. Kind of a typecast role for Hopkins but it really worked. Have you seen The Ghost and The Darkness? Love that flick. Kilmer is amazing and Douglas is fun even though he went over the top with his role.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 30, 2018 18:21:26 GMT
Agree with just about everything you said on both LXG and Congo, Rey Kahuka. A remake of the former would be nice, I agree. (I’m not a big comics reader, but I should probably look into that comic one of these days—great concept, as you said.) I pray that I’d be like Hopkins’s Charles Morse were I ever to get stuck in the woods like that! No, I haven’t seen The Ghost and the Darkness, though thanks for letting me know about it. Sort of thing that seems right up my alley. And Goldman wrote it? Gotta watch it. In fact, now that I think of it, Raiders doesn’t take itself all that seriously, of course—it’s a long tradition, in many ways. Trying to think of other movies that are both in a genre and have fun with the genre? Two 1935 horror flicks, offhand: Browning’s Mark of the Vampire and Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein. I can’t think of all that many others, though—it’s difficult to do right.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 30, 2018 18:30:23 GMT
Thanks, Ackbar (or Pilot? or Porgkins? or Mr. President?). I’ve gotta watch a few episodes of that show in their entirety one day.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jan 30, 2018 18:37:38 GMT
Agree with just about everything you said on both LXG and Congo, Rey Kahuka . A remake of the former would be nice, I agree. (I’m not a big comics reader, but I should probably look into that comic one of these days—great concept, as you said.) I pray that I’d be like Hopkins’s Charles Morse were I ever to get stuck in the woods like that! No, I haven’t seen The Ghost and the Darkness, though thanks for letting me know about it. Sort of thing that seems right up my alley. And Goldman wrote it? Gotta watch it. In fact, now that I think of it, Raiders doesn’t take itself all that seriously, of course—it’s a long tradition, in many ways. Trying to think of other movies that are both in a genre and have fun with the genre? Two 1935 horror flicks, offhand: Browning’s Mark of the Vampire and Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein. I can’t think of all that many others, though—it’s difficult to do right. Yeah that's what made Raiders fun. It's an homage to old serials which were silly to begin with, especially by modern standards. The charm of that concept is why the Indy movies worked so well. Not sure if anyone mentioned it yet, and it's almost universally trashed but I'll throw it out there anyway: The Phantom (1996). To me it's Indiana Jones in a superhero costume. The villains are hammy and Treat Williams goes completely over the top but Billy Zane is great and it's such a classic 'jungle adventure set in the 1930s' film. I highly recommend it without shame, despite the overwhelming negative response from film fans. But definitely check out The Ghost and The Darkness, it's fantastic and judging by this conversation you'd love it.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 30, 2018 18:42:48 GMT
Will do, Rey Kahuka; thanks for the recommendation. I haven’t seen The Phantom either, to be honest! OK, yes, I’ve thought of a few more (what was it about the ‘90s that so many of these half-homage, half-parody movies were made?): Dick Tracy and The Rocketeer (the latter one of my favorites). Also Tower of Terror (telefilm, ’97) and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004). Is it a Disney thing? All of these except Sky Captain are Disney flicks!
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jan 30, 2018 19:00:25 GMT
Will do, Rey Kahuka ; thanks for the recommendation. I haven’t seen The Phantom either, to be honest! OK, yes, I’ve thought of a few more (what was it about the ‘90s that so many of these half-homage, half-parody movies were made?): Dick Tracy and The Rocketeer (the latter one of my favorites). Also Tower of Terror (telefilm, ’97) and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004). Is it a Disney thing? All of these except Sky Captain are Disney flicks! Well many of those are or feel like cartoons come to life, so it makes sense that Disney would be attached. The Rocketeer is also among my favorites, and I think The Phantom certainly has a similar feel even if it its villains lack nuance. I never cared for Dick Tracy though, and The Phantom avoids the flat out goofy makeup choices and surrealistic design of that film, I'll say that. Haven't seen Tower of Terror, but Skycaptain is a lot of stylistic fun; though I'd say it's a very distant relative of Indy, perhaps owing only a nod to the quasi-historical charm of Raiders and the like.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 30, 2018 19:05:00 GMT
I absolutely agree that Sky Captain is only distantly related to Indy, Rey; I’ve written somewhere around here that that’s the reason I didn’t put it on my list. (I didn’t even put The Rocketeer on, though it’s definitely closer.) Still, it does fit the homage/parody paradigm. Yes, good point about Disney; of course, nowadays the company has such little interest in original properties, merely preferring to capitalize off remaking their older, better films and wrecking their theme-park rides. Oh, well…
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 22, 2018 22:38:16 GMT
Anyone here ever heard of the movie Plunder of the Sun (’53), with Glenn Ford? Like Valley of the Kings and Secret of the Incas, it’s supposed to be proto-Indy.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2018 23:46:15 GMT
How is King Solomon's Mines on here when the story predates Indy by decades?
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 22, 2018 23:49:52 GMT
How is King Solomon's Mines on here when the story predates Indy by decades? You’re referring to the ’85 version? It was officially based on the book (which, by the way, is superb), but it’s a fairly obvious Indy knock-off.
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Jul 22, 2018 23:50:06 GMT
Anyone here ever heard of the movie Plunder of the Sun (’53), with Glenn Ford? Like Valley of the Kings and Secret of the Incas, it’s supposed to be proto-Indy.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 23, 2018 0:46:40 GMT
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Jul 23, 2018 1:34:51 GMT
I've NEVER seen it. I've ONLY seen a trailer (MORE than once) on the Batjac DVDs of films with John Wayne or those associated with him.
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Post by politicidal on Jul 24, 2018 14:01:26 GMT
Anyone here ever heard of the movie Plunder of the Sun (’53), with Glenn Ford? Like Valley of the Kings and Secret of the Incas, it’s supposed to be proto-Indy. I did years ago. Liked the latter two better though.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 25, 2018 14:34:33 GMT
I saw High Road to China last weekend, didn’t like it very much.
Selleck was fine as an Indy-esque character, and it was fun to see Abner Ravenwood—er, Wilford Brimley—pop up in the film’s third act. But the script was awful: it had no idea where it was going or how to get there. Good God, they actually got Robert Morley, of all people, as a villain and then didn’t use him at all. Ugh.
Luckily the parts in the desert with good, with Brian Blessed as a Sallah knock-off. But, unfortunately, I thought the picture inoffensive but very forgettable.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 25, 2018 15:05:53 GMT
I checked in with TheRaider.net, a great resource, and found these following Indy Inspirations. I’ve mixed them in with the ones we’ve already cited order to compile a master list for this sort of adventure flick, just in case anyone else is interested. Bolded we’ve mentioned, italicized they mentioned, both if both. Zorro Rides Again (1937) Zorro’s Fighting Legions (1939) Stagecoach (1939) Gunga Din (1939) Only Angles Have Wings (1939) Casablanca (1942) China (1943) King Solomon’s Mines (1950) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Plunder of the Sun (1953) Secret of the Incas (1954) The Naked Jungle (1954) Valley of the Kings (1954) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) McKenna’s Gold (1969) Let me know if you know any more.
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 12, 2018 23:45:41 GMT
Agree with just about everything you said on both LXG and Congo, Rey Kahuka . A remake of the former would be nice, I agree. (I’m not a big comics reader, but I should probably look into that comic one of these days—great concept, as you said.) I pray that I’d be like Hopkins’s Charles Morse were I ever to get stuck in the woods like that! No, I haven’t seen The Ghost and the Darkness, though thanks for letting me know about it. Sort of thing that seems right up my alley. And Goldman wrote it? Gotta watch it. In fact, now that I think of it, Raiders doesn’t take itself all that seriously, of course—it’s a long tradition, in many ways. Trying to think of other movies that are both in a genre and have fun with the genre? Two 1935 horror flicks, offhand: Browning’s Mark of the Vampire and Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein. I can’t think of all that many others, though—it’s difficult to do right. Yeah that's what made Raiders fun. It's an homage to old serials which were silly to begin with, especially by modern standards. The charm of that concept is why the Indy movies worked so well. Not sure if anyone mentioned it yet, and it's almost universally trashed but I'll throw it out there anyway: The Phantom (1996). To me it's Indiana Jones in a superhero costume. The villains are hammy and Treat Williams goes completely over the top but Billy Zane is great and it's such a classic 'jungle adventure set in the 1930s' film. I highly recommend it without shame, despite the overwhelming negative response from film fans. But definitely check out The Ghost and The Darkness, it's fantastic and judging by this conversation you'd love it. I saw The Ghost and the Darkness the other night, ReyKahuka, and I didn’t exactly love it—some scenes were a bit silly, and some went on too long—but I liked it a lot (and did love the setting). Thanks for the recommendation! Unfortunately, I did think Kilmer was a bit stiff (I always find him stiff as an actor), but I loved Douglas—wildly hammy, channelling Robert Mitchum of all people! That was a hoot. The scene with the lions on the roof was wonderfully suspenseful. The Jaws similarities were pretty noticeable, I thought—with Kilmer as the “Brody” and Douglas as the “Quint.”
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Aug 13, 2018 11:47:29 GMT
Yeah that's what made Raiders fun. It's an homage to old serials which were silly to begin with, especially by modern standards. The charm of that concept is why the Indy movies worked so well. Not sure if anyone mentioned it yet, and it's almost universally trashed but I'll throw it out there anyway: The Phantom (1996). To me it's Indiana Jones in a superhero costume. The villains are hammy and Treat Williams goes completely over the top but Billy Zane is great and it's such a classic 'jungle adventure set in the 1930s' film. I highly recommend it without shame, despite the overwhelming negative response from film fans. But definitely check out The Ghost and The Darkness, it's fantastic and judging by this conversation you'd love it. I saw The Ghost and the Darkness the other night, ReyKahuka, and I didn’t exactly love it—some scenes were a bit silly, and some went on too long—but I liked it a lot (and did love the setting). Thanks for the recommendation! Unfortunately, I did think Kilmer was a bit stiff (I always find him stiff as an actor), but I loved Douglas—wildly hammy, channelling Robert Mitchum of all people! That was a hoot. The scene with the lions on the roof was wonderfully suspenseful. The Jaws similarities were pretty noticeable, I thought—with Kilmer as the “Brody” and Douglas as the “Quint.” Glad you enjoyed it! It is hilarious how much Douglas takes it over the top, but it's a fun character. I love this movie so much that I had my picture taken with the real (of course no longer living) lions at the Chicago Field Museum. There I am, big smile on my face posing with creatures responsible for multiple human fatalities lol.
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Post by politicidal on Aug 17, 2018 0:05:35 GMT
Has anyone here seen Dakota Harris (1986)? I think it’s also called Sky Pirates in some territories.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 26, 2020 4:34:00 GMT
This used to be on the Indy board when we had an Indy board… I miss having an Indy board. Anyway: Saw one of those made-for-TV Librarian movies last weekend and saw a different one this weekend. I always chalked them off as cheesy, low-budget Indiana Jones knockoffs, and that’s exactly what they are, but sometimes I’m in the mood for that sort of thing. Also—Bob Newhart! Thought Curse of the Judas Chalice, which was kinda plagiarizing from the Young Indiana Jones Dracula episode, was a million times better than Quest for the Spear. Spear, the first one in the series, had this horrendous, cheap-looking cross-cutting that ruined the climax, while for a low-budget adventure flick Chalice was pretty darn good. politicidal, I think you said you’ve seen them… Not sure if anyone else has.
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