I haven’t seen any of the Raiders sequels, and my affection for this kind of film peaked out not long after Raiders. (My affection for Spielberg was eternally rattled by 1941, a comedy so humorless I’ve been thinking about writing a piece on it for what it tells us about comedy.
I was young when I saw it in the theater, and it was probably the first time a big Hollywood film I thought I would love turned out to be perplexingly awful.)
But-- your piece here is so thought-provoking it almost makes me want to see all these films I’ve been avoiding like the plague. Franchise fodder, CGI, big movies padded with great people who deserve better-- I hate all that. But I’m also a film fanatic, and I’m a sucker for systematic dismantling of the numerous ways a modern movie isn’t good, even though many talented people worked hard on it.
I guess the best evidence of where my allegiances really lie is that I can identify with the frustration of Spielberg and Ford over Shia’s stupid interview. I don’t want to see that movie, but my attitude is basically “you took the paycheck. Now shut the fuck up.”
I haven’t seen any of the Raiders sequels, and my affection for this kind of film peaked out not long after Raiders. (My affection for Spielberg was eternally rattled by 1941, a comedy so humorless I’ve been thinking about writing a piece on it for what it tells us about comedy.
I was young when I saw it in the theater, and it was probably the first time a big Hollywood film I thought I would love turned out to be perplexingly awful.)
But-- your piece here is so thought-provoking it almost makes me want to see all these films I’ve been avoiding like the plague. Franchise fodder, CGI, big movies padded with great people who deserve better-- I hate all that. But I’m also a film fanatic, and I’m a sucker for systematic dismantling of the numerous ways a modern movie isn’t good, even though many talented people worked hard on it.
I guess the best evidence of where my allegiances really lie is that I can identify with the frustration of Spielberg and Ford over Shia’s stupid interview. I don’t want to see that movie, but my attitude is basically “you took the paycheck. Now shut the fuck up.”