Wednesday, May 21, 2008 6:52 PM CDT
COLUMN: Here we go again as Hollywood overdoes it — and I'll be there
By PENNY WEAVER, Night news editor
pweaver@jg-tc.com
I’m going to see the new “Indiana Jones” movie this weekend, but I’m a little fearful.
Are the sponsors Geritol and Depends? Will Indy need to show his AARP card for a discount as he travels?
Okay, okay, Harrison Ford, at 65, really isn’t that old, but there aren’t too many 65-year-olds who can do the kinds of things that Indiana Jones is known for. That must be what you’d call “movie magic.”
I watched the original “Indiana Jones” the other day, and Ford sure looks like a pup in it. I guess none of us are getting any younger, come to think of it.
It’s just that Hollywood can’t let well enough alone. They find a movie and/or a character that is successful, and they run it into the ground — sometimes over and over again.
Take the “Batman” movies. The installment with Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader was pretty good, especially since those who’d seen Keaton as such a goofball in comedies actually could buy his brooding Bruce Wayne.
Ah, but then they had to overdo it with the “Batman” featuring Danny Devito as the Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, and later Val Kilmer as Batman, then bringing in Chris O’Donnell as Robin.
There were some good moments in those films, but each successive one seemed to degrade the entire character and storyline.
More recently, there came “Batman Begins,” which, as one friend told me, was the way Batman films should have been done from the beginning. I agree, and I admit I’m looking forward to “The Dark Knight” this summer.
But it seems movie makers won’t quit with a successful idea until they’ve more than worn it out and diminished the original shine of it.
Maybe I’ll love the new “Indiana Jones” installment, but mostly I wish they’d let it go. Could Hollywood come up with an original idea for once?
The first movie I saw in the theater was “Back to the Future.” Sure, now it’s on the “classics” movie channels — makes me feel like I should be borrow some Geritol from Indy and pull my AARP card out of the back pocket of my Depends.
But “Back to the Future” is another series that should have stopped with the original film. Sure, I saw them all, and I’m sure Hollywood made lots of money on them, but can’t they quit while they’re ahead?
At least one actor can. I read this week that Clint Eastwood said he won’t be back as Dirty Harry. At Cannes, the Associated Press reported, Eastwood was asked if he’d reprise his role as Harry Callahan, the renegade cop from the “Dirty Harry” original and four following films.
Nope, said Eastwood, who will be 78 later this month. “Dirty Harry would not be on the police department at my age, so we’ll move on from that,” he said.
Imagine that — a movie star with some common sense. What will they think of next?
New or old idea, series or standalone flick, almost everyone loves a good movie. The summer blockbuster season is one of the cool things about this time of year.
I guess I really am getting old, or more set in my ways, or prudish, though, because I saw an R-rated film last week that surprised me. Now, I wasn’t offended, mind you, and not quite shocked, but surprised.
I thought “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” was funny, but the full frontal male nudity — several times — and the many in-bed scenes kind of caught me off guard. Sure, it was “R” rated, but maybe they need an “R*”, with an asterisk, rating to warn some of us.
Oh, I don’t get offended by violence or nudity or sex in a movie per se, but I thought it was a little much in this one.
Am I just getting old? Am I too old-fashioned? If I am, I don’t mind.
I like subtlety, and that’s a rare commodity in entertainment these days. One of my favorite films is “Murphy’s Romance” (James Garner, Sally Field). I think they kiss maybe once or twice in the movie, but there’s plenty of romance in it — just the old-fashioned kind that doesn’t have to be trumpeted from the rooftops in order to seem valid.
It’s not a fast-paced movie, but it does have some chuckles and a lot of thoughtfulness to it. Garner’s character is quite a bit older than Fields’, and that’s part of the undercurrent of angst, to a degree.
It doesn’t have to be pitched at 90 mph right between your eyes to be effective or to make you think.
What the heck. I won’t be thinking about how old Harrison Ford is when I settle into a seat with my popcorn for “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” I’d just like to be entertained for a couple of hours. It’s a good “escape,” just like a good book or an engaging play or some good music.
I don’t care what the critics say about a movie, and I don’t have to be completely awed by every film I see. A bit of entertainment is enough. I think Hollywood is most successful when it remembers that.
Maybe that’s what Indy will provide again this time around — some action, some fun, some laughs, and another chance for the good guys to win. That’s my favorite part. I never get tired of seeing the bad guys getting what they deserve.
And if it takes until they’re older than dirt, fine. Maybe someday Indy will fight the Nazis again and take away their Viagra or something. He could threaten to take away some evildoer’s hearing aides and crush them under the tip of his cane.
I’d still pay to see that.
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katertater02 wrote on May 22, 2008 4:19 PM: