Indiana Jones Returns - Too Little, Too Late?

For those who came of age in the 1980s during a time of sleek consumerism and homogenous globalization, Indiana Jones was something of an idol. Harking back to a time when the jungles of South America and the Pyramids of Egypt were truly a world away, the Indiana Jones trilogy excited in us a feeling of adventure that has been rarely seen before or since.

The popularity of the Indiana Jones movies stems not just from the fact that they were directed and acted by some of the greatest Hollywood talent of the day, but also from the fact that the movies were classic adventures. They were swashbuckling epics that found an ideal mix of adventure, intrigue and mystery, steeped in myth and mysticism.

This formula was clearly successful. The first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, was the highest grossing movie of 1981 and was nominated for eight Academy Awards (of which it won four). The following two instalments, Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade, fared almost as well, each winning an Academy Award and grossing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Since 1989, though, all has been quiet on the Indy front. Despite regular calls for a fourth movie there were no developments for years. Rumor and hearsay surrounded plans for the fourth Indiana Jones movie since 1995, when Last Crusade writer Jeffrey Boam was asked to write a script.

Since then, several screenwriters and directors have attempted to take on the project -- including Chris Columbus (Home Alone), M Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) -- without success.

Finally, though, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford have accepted a script written by David Koepp (Spiderman, War of the Worlds). As of July 2006 Spielberg and Koepp were fine-tuning the screenplay in advance of pre-production, expected to begin in early 2007.

The question that will be repeatedly posed by fans of the series over the next couple of years is this: will it be possible to recreate the magic of the original trilogy? Hollywood has moved on since the 1980s, and audiences have come to demand big budget CGI and dazzling visual effects. Despite winning the Academy Award for Visual Effects with Temple of Doom, the appeal of the Indiana Jones movies was never in their special effects. In fact, Temple of Doom -- admitted by Lucas and Spielberg as the most visual effects-heavy of the trilogy -- saw the most disappointing box office performance of the three.

The main concern, though, is Harrison Ford's age. Already in his 40s in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ford will be at least 65 when filming begins on the fourth movie. Even with the use of makeup, camera trickery and stuntmen, how can it be possible to remain faithful to the original trilogy when the star is old enough to draw a pension?

Despite these worries, however, one thing is certain. Come the release date a couple of years from now we'll see a sudden surge in the sales of fedoras and bullwhips. He may be old enough to qualify for a buss pass, but there's something about Indiana Jones that brings out the child in us all.

About The Author James Shenton is an entertainment writer and gossip columnist. James can often be found writing about movie trilogies such as Indiana Jones and Star Wars (don't get him started on the last three episodes). For similar articles and film downloads, take a look at http://www.EliteMovieDownloads.com.

This article was posted on September 20, 2006

Is The Myth of Star Wars Entering The Political Arena

With a recent article in the La Times, Star Wars has gone political. George Lucas has attended a Capital Hill meeting for Democrats.

"Star Wars" filmmaker George Lucas joined House Democratic leaders at a town hall meeting on Capitol Hill to roll out an "innovation agenda" that aims to prepare the next generation of technological entrepreneurs.

Star wars has always been in our collective unconsciousness since its inception after Lucas read Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces. But has this movie entered the political arena?

Students asked Lucas what he meant by the line from "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith": "So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause." Lucas answered that when Rome, Nazi Germany, and after the French Revolution, "In all of those countries, a democracy fell through nefarious manipulations behind the scenes, and the people didn't seem to mind." Is he pointing the finger at us, the american public with our crossed messages. Support the troops automatically means you are for war, in this mixed up country it is not sure. Also strikes the cord is Anakin’s line to Obi Won, :”If you are not for the Empire, you are against it!”

Further more Anakin is persuaded by the Emperor, vaguely disguised as a rising Senator much like the younger Bush Senior, to bring in a reign of terror and death to bring safety to the Republic. Another one nudge for the French Revolution and our modern Freedom Fry eaters on Capital Hill. For true Patriots like Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine, and Thomas jefferson; today would be called terrorists. For indeed if they lost the war, history would of gone to the victors and they would of been called so.

In olden days we might walk away from a Myth like Star Wars or the Matrix, and know that some how it pertained to our real lives. But for too long now, media such as TV and the movies have been art for art sake. No longer do we hear the words of Pinnochio or Plato’s Cave and find our lives informed on a better way of life. Or do the papers offer a voice to the workers and the people. This has been replaced by the tabloids on cable and the check out line. Maybe we should go back to believing in our myths handed down for thousand of years throughout the world, and give incredulous glances to the tv news and newspapers. For Myths worked for us since we crawled out of the ocean, of our minds!

So what is this latest episode of the famous trilogy trying to tell us. Or how does Lucas emphasize this by going to Capital Hill. Watch the movie again and see what springs to mind!

About The Author

Christopher Jon Luke Dowgin is coach at Docspond (www.docspond.org) helping millions find happiness and return meaning to success> 20% improvement in the quality of your life after one session!

docspond@yahoo.com

This article was posted on February 20, 2006

14 George Lucas Quotes to Celebrate His May 14th Birthday

Ready for some George Lucas quotes? Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 30 years, you know who George Lucas is. Since May 14th is his birthday, what better way to celebrate than by honoring some of the things he's said. Here are 14 George Lucas quotes that sum up his greatness nicely.

1. "Even in high school I was very interested in history - why people do the things they do. As a kid I spent a lot of time trying to relate the past to the present."

2. "Good luck has its storms."

3. "I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public."

4. "If the boy and girl walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand in the last scene, it adds 10 million to the box office."

5. "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause."

6. "If you want to be successful in a particular field of endeavor, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities. It's very important that you find something that you care about, that you have a deep passion for, because you're going to have to devote a lot of your life to it."

7. "It's hard work making movies…if you don't really love it, then it ain't worth it."

8. "You have to have a thick enough skin to cope with criticism."

9. "Any society begins by realizing that together, by helping each other, you can survive better than if you fight each other and compete with each other. We have the tendency to lose it when we forget that, as a group, we are stronger than we are as individuals."

10. "The secret to film is that it's an illusion...."

11. "Train yourself to let go of the things you fear to lose."

12. "Children are the key to life, and the key to joy, and the key to happiness, and for teenagers, a key to a nervous breakdown."

13. "You know, they had supply problems and union disputes and a few design problems to work out. So it took longer than you would think, even for The Empire."

14. "You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you're doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle."

If anyone knows hard work can pay off and that persistence is critical to success, it's George Lucas. Let these 14 George Lucas quotes remind you that anything worth having is worth working for. For more quotes related to movies, check out the popular movie quotes section of Famous-Quotes-And-Quotations.com, a website that specializes in 'Top 10' lists of quotations in dozens of categories. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com