Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Turns 30

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom turns 30 years old this weekend. Some movie houses in larger cities are commemorating the release of the film by showing it all Memorial Day Weekend. Temple of Doom is both compelling and repelling, and accomplishment in its own right. The movie is dark, conceived at a time when both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were going through divorces which may have played into the sometimes frightening tone of the film. Spielberg later apologized for some of the aspects of of the film which led to the category of PG-13 being created. Child slavery isn't a very popular topic and TOD displays the oppression in spades. Critics pretty much wrote scathing reviews of the movie because the subject matter is sometimes hard to watch let alone enjoy.

But other than the seemingly non-stop Kate Capshaw screaming which gets on my nerves, I kind of like the film. It is daring and definitely brings a counterpoint to the comic book hero stylings of Indiana Jones. Sometimes going against the grain isn't always a bad thing.

Watching Indiana Jones The Night Indy Comes Home

You can pick the reason why but on the night before we are to pick up our new puppy "Indy", I decided to watch Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones has nothing to do with puppies I don't think.

Puppies don't have anything to to with Indiana Jones but for some strange reason, the circle fits. Our new little puppy is named "Indy" after Indiana Jones. A great movie (which I have seen at least 20 times). And a great new dog. Tonight, couldn't get any better.

A Golden Retriever puppy just like Indy

Temple of Doom: How Bad Was Kate Capshaw?

So here's the question of the day in the midst of today's Indiana Jones Labor Day Marathon. Is Kate Capshaw's ear splitting shrieking performance in Indiana Jobs and the Temple of Doom the worst female acting job in movie history? Well, I'm not expert on these things but in my book (or blog as the case may be) it is definitely in the top 3 worst performances. 

Through some subsequent reporting we've come to learn that both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were in various stages of getting a divorce from their wives during the filming of Temple of Doom. And we know Spielberg was smitten enough to eventually marry Capshaw, but really... how can the two cinematic geniuses sit through a showing of this movie without shaking their heads. Temple of Doom wasn't a complete failure of a movie but Capshaw did her best to do her worst and take it down a few notches. 

Indiana Jones on Blu-Ray: All or Nothing

Don't you just hate greed? I had the Indiana Jones Trilogy when it was on DVD. I have since sold the DVD collection off. DVD's are becoming extinct, replaced by blu-ray discs (if you don't go the digital download / streaming route) and I've had my eye on getting Indiana Jones blu-ray replacements for awhile now. Well, what was a Trilogy consisting of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is now a 4-pack with the absolutely dreadful Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull crashing the party and added to the Indy collection. None of the original movies 3 movies are available separately on blu-ray. You must the whole collection including the Crystal Skull embarrassment. Bang - 50 bucks, give or take.

But then again, if left to their own, most movie fans would buy Raiders of the Lost Ark and leave the rest alone. The all or nothing approach makes good economic sense. Raiders is a must have. Why not add the rest of the movies and a huge profit margin. (Actually, if one really wanted, one could buy Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull separately, but why?)

So I stopped by Best Buy on my home from work yesterday with the purpose of buying the Indiana Jones blu-ray collection to watch with my father-in-law this Labor Day Weekend. Guess what? Best Buy was sold out and I came home empty handed (well, not quite since I finally picked up a blu-ray copy of Jaws). Butt sometimes there's some luck in this world and as I was flipping the satellite channels this morning there it was - the Indiana Jones Labor Day Marathon on the USA Network. Queue up the DVR, here they come, all 4 Indiana Jones movies. In this case, a little luck trumped greed. The blu-ray collection can stay on a store shelf somewhere for now and I've still got 50 bucks in my pocket.