I am 11 again watching faces melt from Nazi’s

Remember this?  Yeah, me too, I can still hear the scream.  Especially the part where he gurgles on is own melting flesh.  The screaming baddie from Raider’s of The Lost Ark is so vivid in my mind because the first time I saw the movie, my mom wouldn’t let me watch this part.  “You can open your eyes when Indy does.”  So I heard the whole scene from Indy’s perspective.  He shouts “Whatever you do don’t open your eyes!”  Man I really wanted to open my eyes.  Of course when I saw it later I was mesmerized.

Earlier this year, when the new trailer for Indy 4 (I’m not linking dude, I’m lazy and you know how to use Google) hit the net, the hairs on my neck stood on end when the rousing John Williams trumpets began to play the familiar fanfare.  A fanfare that the Fanboy has sung from the top of his lungs many times while snapping his brother’s whip over the garage rafters and swinging with one hand on my fedora.

I am stoked about the new Indy on many levels.  There is plenty for both Fanboy and Cinesnob to want to rip his beating heart right out of his chest and feed it to the crocs.  On one hand, this is a conventional, popcorn, thrill a minute, action movie.  It is a formula that has been in place since the first film and in a way is a formula that some cinesnobs would point to as the very reason for the boring blockbuster summers we find ourselves in.  Fanboy eats that crap up though.

On the other hand, this is a movie made by three of the heaviest hitting, most creative guys on earth.  Harrison Ford may be a pain in the arse, but he loves and cares for his craft.  It is what makes him such a pain in the first place.  As for the other two guys, Speilberg and Lucas, are responsible for the way moviemaking of the last 30 years has been done.  They have led every frontier and have created images and stories that are as much a part of our cultural lexicon and identity as Shakespeare or Picasso.

Entertainment Weekly recently published a Q&A with these two and it is a sublime read.  They banter, argue, and get into pissing matches about who is more innovative.  Here is a snippet:

How much did George nag you to shoot film-free, with digital cameras, the way he did on the Star Wars prequels?
SPIELBERG: All through three years of preparation. It’s like he was sending these huge 88 [millimeter artillery] shells to soften the beach, y’know? He never swears at me. He never uses profanity. But he calls me a lot of names. And in his creative name-calling, he topped himself on this one, trying to get me to do this digitally.

What did he call you?
SPIELBERG: I guess the worst thing he ever called me was old-fashioned. But I celebrate that. He knows me like a brother. It’s true, I am old-fashioned.
LUCAS: I think the word ”Luddite” came into it. In a very heated discussion.
SPIELBERG: I said I wasn’t, I was Jewish! [Laughter]
LUCAS: The end of it is, I said, ”Look, Steve, this is your movie. You get to do it your way.” And in the end, I didn’t force Steven to do it. That doesn’t mean I didn’t pester him, and tease him, and get on him all the time.
SPIELBERG: It was all 35-millimeter, chemically processed film…. I like cutting the images on film. I’m the only person left cutting on film.
LUCAS: And I’m the guy that invented digital editing. But we coexist. I mean, I also like widescreen and color. Steven and Marty [Scorsese] have gone back and shot in black-and-white [on Schindler’s List and Raging Bull, respectively]. I don’t get on their case and say, ”Oh my God, this is a terrible thing, why are you going backwards?” I say, ”That’s your choice, and I can appreciate it.”
SPIELBERG: Eventually I’ll have to shoot [and edit] movies digitally, when there is no more film — and I’m willing to accept that. But I will be the last person to shoot and cut on film, y’know?

Read the rest here

I am stoked for this film.  Here’s for hoping for an experience worthy of the first facemelting.