The biggest development, in terms of script, in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull might actually be George Lucas’s fingerprints. Between Last Crusade and this sequel, Lucas created the “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” television series and introduced the idea of canon to the series. As an example, in Crystal Skull, Harrison Ford […]
Entries Tagged as 'Steven Spielberg'
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008, Steven Spielberg)
May 26th, 2008 · 2 Comments
Tagged: Cate Blanchett· David Koepp· George Lucas· Harrison Ford· Jeff Nathanson· John Hurt· Paramount Pictures· Ray Winstone· Steven Spielberg· ★★½
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, Steven Spielberg)
May 23rd, 2008 · No Comments
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade shows off Steven Spielberg’s comedic skills. Not just in his direction of the scenes between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, but also in the film’s overall tone. At the beginning, as River Phoenix is running from the bad guys on the train, Spielberg homages Buster Keaton (and rather well). […]
Tagged: George Lucas· Harrison Ford· Jeffrey Boam· Menno Meyjes· Paramount Pictures· Sean Connery· Steven Spielberg· ★★★
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984, Steven Spielberg)
May 21st, 2008 · No Comments
I can understand Chinese people being upset with the stereotypes–Spielberg and company basically lift all the anti-Japanese stereotypes from early 1940s American films and apply them to the Chinese–but at least they’re only goofy and mischievous. The Indians in the film are downright evil. Temple of Doom’s atrocious script (I suppose Willard Huyck and Gloria […]
Tagged: George Lucas· Gloria Katz· Harrison Ford· Paramount Pictures· Steven Spielberg· Willard Huyck· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)
May 19th, 2008 · No Comments
Don Siegel had an anecdote about the length of titles. He showed them to his boss, who kept asking for them to be longer, then showed them to the boss again, telling him each time he’d made the changes. In fact, he had not–his boss was simply familiar with the titles and couldn’t gauge the […]
Tagged: Alfred Molina· George Lucas· Harrison Ford· Lawrence Kasdan· Paramount Pictures· Philip Kaufman· Steven Spielberg· ★★★★
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the director’s cut
January 17th, 2008 · No Comments
This version–now called ‘The Director’s Cut’–originally came out as ‘The Collector’s Edition’ maybe ten years ago (maybe less). The most striking thing about this cut is Dreyfuss’s insanity. In this version, he’s totally nuts… Spielberg edits back in (from the original, excised from the Special Edition) a couple significant scenes. First, showing off Roberts Blossom–one […]
Tagged: Columbia Pictures· François Truffaut· Richard Dreyfuss· Steven Spielberg· ★★★★
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the special edition
December 3rd, 2007 · No Comments
I don’t know where to start with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The jokey open would be something about listing the defects and not having any, but then flipping it and not being able to list everything Spielberg does right because his successes are so difficult to work out, particularly in to an easy-to-read, […]
Tagged: Columbia Pictures· François Truffaut· Richard Dreyfuss· Steven Spielberg· ★★★★
Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg)
April 24th, 2007 · No Comments
The first half of Jaws–before the boat, when it becomes a different film–might be the most perfectly made film ever. The second half isn’t less perfectly made, but it’s its own thing, not easily comparable to any other film; that first half deals in traditional filmic standards and does so with singular success. Verna Fields’s […]
Tagged: Carl Gottlieb· Murray Hamilton· Peter Benchley· Richard Dreyfuss· Robert Shaw· Roy Scheider· Steven Spielberg· Universal Pictures· ★★★★
