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Indiana Jones coming to DVD in November
DaSpudMan writes "The "Indiana Jones" trilogy, one of the most requested film series for the DVD format, is finally slated for worldwide release Nov. 4 as "The Adventures of Indiana Jones -- The Complete DVD Movie Collection," a box set that will include a fourth disc specifically dedicated to bonus materials."
It's about time they released these DVDS....
I'm surprised they took so long, considering DVDs are such a huge percent of the total revenue movies make for a studio.
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Your point about the Imperial March is well-taken. But the Thuggee Ceremony music is more.. well, nightmarish. To put it in D&D terms, I think it's a matter of Orderly Evil vs. Chaotic Evil.
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Er --- there's 80 pages at least of a script already, and Spielberg and Lucas have committed to it. It's set in the 1950's.
Personally, I couldn't care less about the stupid director's commentary. I would much rather see them spend their bandwidth on less-compressed video and audio streams.
No matter how good the 4th disc of extras is, I still can't believe that they aren't including commentary. It only takes 2 hours to do (well, 6 for the series) and it can be anything, talk about making it, impressions about seeing it again, etc.
Etc, etc, ad nauseam, and so on and so forth.
I don't get it. Nice to have them out finally...
Spielberg and Lucas treat DVD as though its a big trumpeting event.
Where's SW? Where's Schindlers list?
Where's THX1138?
They're so corporate now, anything they produce is so mechanical, so by the numbers that it's hardly an art form anymore, it's a style. You could easily see the same story and visual structure in EVERY spielberg and Lucas film. Janus Kaminsky (Spielberg's cinematographer) has lost all creativity due to the fact that he's made nothing but spielberg movies for the last decade.
Watch Jurassic Park for the shots of people "looking" at things off camera. Then watch ANY other one of his films, and it'll be ruined for you. That's HALF of his shot list on any given film. AHHHH!
My other issue is the PR at Lucasfilm's flimsy excuse for the lack of commentary.
Spielberg won't do them. Point blank. Don't feed us an excuse that "in order to save space..." for not doing it. If you wanted to save space, there'd be a DTS track on there. Screw his position on not wanting to reveal his "magic"...
Unless they're going to be single layer discs, it's got plenty of space for DTS, DD 5.1, commentary, and a French track for Quebec.
Does anybody else dislike most of this bonus material? It seems like waste of money and a gimmick to me.
The documentaries and interviews always seem rather contentless and full of people who take themselves too seriously, talk too much about inconsequential things, and go on self-importantly in a self-promotion about how wonderful their movie is, and all the people in it.
I know whether I liked a movie or not - I don't need propaganda to convince me otherwise. Really, most of the bonus material is just plain dull. Really, most Hollywood movies are just some quick entertainment which doesn't require much concentration, so why take them so seriously? Earth shattering movies are few and far between - and it's the content of the story that matters, not how the movie was made or how wonderful all the actors and actresses are. These people have too much ego. I'd be happy with more of Jackie Chan's routine: out-takes during the closing credits (although they'd require more effort than those with The Tuxedo).
Does anyone know if the film transfer will be cleaned for DVD? I, for one, would prefer not to see in blissful DVD detail the reflection of the snake in the glass during the scene in the snake pit in Raiders. Kind of takes you out of your immersion in the movie a bit.
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Personally, I couldn't care less about the stupid director's commentary. I would much rather see them spend their bandwidth on less-compressed video and audio streams.
I quite like commentaries - providing the commentators have something worth saying of course. Some of my favourite ones are Ridley Scott on Alien, Tom Baker on some of the BBC Dr Who DVDs and Sam Raimi on the Evil Dead. Actually Evil Dead has two commentaries one by Raimi/Tabert (producer) and the other by Bruce Campbell the lead actor. Both commentraies are pretty interesting - you find out that someone's sister got roped in because the original actress pissed off halfway through filming when the money ran out.
The ones that tend to suck are the recent main stream Hollywood movies - lots of gushing about how wonderful everyone is. Even then you're not sacrificing that much video quality for the 150MB that a plain stereo commentary track costs so I don't really mind. Anyway Region 2 DVD's tend to have half a dozen European language tracks and a dozen subtitle tracks so we're used to non-video things filling the disc.
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Damn I hate movie studios when they do something like this? You really think this is the ultimate box set. I won't be. They're making the fourth Indiana Jones movie right now. So i you buy this, 4 years from now when the 4rth movie will come out on DVD, there will be another ULTIMATE SUPER PLATINUM GIGA SPECIAL FU***ING EDITION that will come out with the four movies and a DD of bonuses.
I have heard rumors that movies released in the early 1980's had contracts which spelled out the exact formats they could be released under, and that is why it took so long for back to release Indy and Back to the Future.
If so, this is another example of lawyers and greed getting in the way of geeking.
All of the Indiana Jones movies are billed as action/adventures. If Temple of Doom didn't have enough action or adventure for you, you need to check your pulse. Really, I think the reason that most people are so down on the second film is that it's so "different" from the first one. This is probably to be expected, since the story was not written by the same Spielberg/Lucas team that (with others) wrote the first and the third films. However, it's also refreshing to see a director willing take a fresh angle on a story rather than simply rehashing what's already been done in order to make more money as quickly as possible.
Having said that, if I were Spielberg, I would have made a couple of changes to the film. (In particular, I thought that the whole "gross-out" dinner scene was silly and unnecessary.) However, Temple was still a pretty wild ride, a perfect example of what Roger Ebert calls the "Bruised Forearm Movie."
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I've heard of this, but I don't buy it. Eighty pages of a script? There was a complete script for a new Superman movie several years ago and nothing's happened so far.
Spielberg and Lucas may have "committed" to making a fourth Indiana Jones film, but they can't make it from 80 pages of script. It's been 14 years since the last Indiana Jones film, and if all that has been accomplished in that time is an 80-page partial script, I wouldn't count on a movie being able to even begin filming before Harrison Ford is a septuagenarian.
I'm not trying to be a party pooper, but I just think excitement for another Indy is silly. I went through that several years ago, based on tidbits on the internet which suggested a fourth movie was right around the corner. But it's just idle chit-chat; vaporware. If you go searching online, someone will have written about nearly anything you might want to believe in.
I think "Indiana Jones" is going to stay a trilogy. Disagree if you must, but don't line up for tickets to "Indy 4" just yet, at least.
This movie left a really bad taste among Indians -- I bet nearly every Indian kid attending a US school was probably teased about the way Indians were portrayed by Lucas and Speilberg. Not all Indians are poor villagers, and the rich don't eat snakes.
Personally, I liked Temple of Doom, but being of Indian descent, I had to face my fellow seventh graders and constantly tell 'em "we don't eat snakes, monkey brains, etc."
Hell, my parents are vegetarian. After awhile, I just gave up, and started inviting my friends over to eat "monkey brains" for dessert. That shut 'em up good.
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They were packaged seperately and there is a "suprising" lack of content inside the dvd cases (just the DVD actually). The picture label on the DVDs appear valid, as does the outside of the cases. There are numerous icons on the cases and the DVDs (Paramount, Dolby, the DVD Video icon). There's even a barcode on the top reverse-side of the case.
Some oddities: Red letters on the back of the case saying "Sony Playstation 2 compatible". While the language is English, the subtitles are "English, Chinese, and Malay". And finally, when I put the disc in, it doesn't hit any sort of menu, but immediately starts playing the movie.
My guess has been that these are just VHS versions copied onto DVD (because the sound is absolutely horrendous). The real challenge is going to be trying to buy the real versions and switching them without the gift-giver becoming wise.
Seriously, Don't take anything I say seriously.
Why do they need to go with such a huge ad campaign? They would sell these discs as fast as they can make 'em even with a moderate campaign. They're wasting their money! Does anyone think people need to be persuaded to buy Indy movies? I don't understand Hollywood.
Its fabulous musical opening going straight into a full-speed action sequence is one of the most remarkable first five minutes of a film ever.
The rest of the movie (and that kid) I can take or leave, but the first few minutes? Magical.
Best wishes,
Mike.
The Crusades were attempts to find the Holy Grail (and slaughter all the non-Christians). Since they find it this time (and kill some more quasi-Christians), it's the last one.
When I was a kid, I too thought 'Last Crusade' referred to the last of the Indy movies. I knew what the Crusades were, but never connected history to movies (not that the tie was especially strong). I figured that all of Indy's adventures were 'crusades' and this was the last one.
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My first child is due December 5; so you know the first 3 movies my child will enjoy!
:)
I can't wait! Oh man... I remember my Dad and I going to the theatre and seeing Raiders. Boys day out. So much fun. We were both absolutely blown away by the film.
And now I get to enjoy the movies (as they should be seen on DVD!) with my kid(s).
It seems to be out print. All of them actually. It's going for over $40 used. Presumeably it means that a special edition is in the works.
Some people argue that they download prated music because they just want a few hit songs - they don't want to buy the whole album. Unlike CD's (as the RIAA claims), movie downloading has not seemed to impact DVD sales. I think one reason is that if you like a movie, you probably want the whole thing. Except for skit movies, like Jackass, there's not much reason to download 1/10 of a movie. But now that you cannot just buy a $18 DVD of Temple of Doom, and you would need to spend $65 to get the other ones which you don't want, might you be more prone to downloading the single movie?
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Before I get started, check OriginalTrilogy.com, a web site dedicated to the preservation of the original theatrical cuts (and eventually have them released on DVD as well, not just the special editions) of the films of the classic Star Wars trilogy. See their FAQ for more information. Signatories number around 29,500 at the moment; 30,000 could be reached within the day!
Now, on with the show...
From September 2001, LucasFilm clarifies that they can not simply jump into a DVD project for the classic Star Wars trilogy. It will take time, but from the hints presented here, it should be worth the wait! (I still think Lucas could make a fortune by releasing *only* the movies, everything we have on VHS so far, as individual titles on DVD.) From the September 2001 feature: Another article from February 2000 expresses more reasons for delaying development of the trilogy's DVD. It seems as though fears of pirated copies of Star Wars films is a major concern, though LucasFilm denied this then. (As technology has improved, I wonder if they would still deny it, or if they would simply deny this as a reason for delaying the DVD project.)
Although about twenty and forty months old, respectively, this is still more information than the StarWars.com FAQ, updated quite frequently, gives: Thanks, George. We got that memo.
Last tidbit. According to this FAQ, Natalie Portman may shoot some scenes for the Return of the Jedi DVD, and Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa, Princess Leia's adopted father, who is presumably but not necessarily on planet Alderaan when the Death Star destroys it) may shoot some scenes for the A New Hope DVD.