Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

As the newest installment of Indy approaches, I felt the need to watch the original trilogy, which began in 1981. Can you believe that 27 years have passed and yet here comes another with Harrison Ford on his death bed?

The story of Indiana Jones is legendary and was one of my favorite movies as a kid. The adventure and daring escapades of Indy are incredible to a kid. Indy was easily the greatest character ever.

Harrison Ford was the perfect choice in this epic Spielberg film. His guise as a professor/archaeologist hides the truth that he is a treasure hunter. He is a handsome, rough teacher that his students greatly love.

Set in the 1930's, Indy is hired on by the government to beat the Nazi's to finding the Ark of the Covenant that is supposedly in Egypt. The thing with Indy is that he does all the grunt work - finding legendary treasures by passing all the traps - and some bad guy jerks it out of his hand and leaves him for dead.

The bad guy in this one is some Hitler cronie with an ugly face and a disgusting laugh. I really hate that guy.

The Ark is ripped from Indy and he and Marion (his girl) must get it back to discover the secrets within and to ensure it does not make the Nazi army invincible. The movie turns sci-fi (true to Spielberg and buddy and story writer George Lucas form) when the Nazis open the ark.

The Ark is legendary from Biblical times when the Hebrews carried it around at God's instruction as they wandered the wilderness. Anyone who touched it instantly died. It has spiritual power of some kind and has never been found.

The great thing about this epic movie is all the adventure as I previously stated. It still has some of the best fight scenes and action sequences of all time. This movie really stands the test of time. The movie is loaded with good humor as well.

Indiana Jones is one of the greatest characters/heroes ever made and I love him to death. I am so glad they made more than one movie and I can't wait for the next one. Ark is the best of the trilogy and likely the best of the series.

I didn't realize how well this movie was received back in the day. It was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, which I find kinda hard to believe. O well, awesome. It won 4 - Best Art Direction, Best Effects, Best Editing, Best Sound.

Congrats Spielberg on one of your best movies and series ever. I could watch this every day forever.

4.5 of 5 stars

Oscalujah

Kinda getting a late run at this, but I've been supremely busy.

Oscar noms came out last weekend and there were some screw-overs and some unexpected nominations.

The first thing I noticed was the ridiculous amount of nominations for "Juno" (Actress: Ellen Page, Director: Jason Reitman, Best Picture, and Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody). This really makes me angry. Unfortunately, it will probably win best screenplay (I think the director made the movie work, not the screenplay, so I would not be too upset if Reitman wins, but he won't). But come on. Best Picture? Really? This is totally ridiculous. Did they see the same movie I did? Because I have already expressed my hatred for this movie for ruining the indie genre, I will just leave it at that.

Back to my world. A huge surprise to me is this hype on "Michael Clayton" (which was recently re-released in theaters, so maybe I will get a chance to see it). Clayton picked up seven noms right behind "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood." (Nominations for actor and supporting actor, supporting actress, direction, original score, best picture and original screenplay). I really can't wait to see this one. Very confusing to see this get so many because when it came out, it got mixed reviews.

Another out of nowhere nomination is Tommy Lee Jones for best actor not for No Country, but rather for "In the Valley of Elah." Another movie we did not hear much about. "The Savages" seem to come out of nowhere as well (I guess because it wasn't released anywhere near me). Laura Linney gets her third Oscar nom in 7 years, which is pretty impressive (maybe she will win this one). Savages also picks up original screenplay (pray it beats out Juno).

I was glad to see 'The Bourne Ultimatum" get a few nominations even if its for the really technical stuff (which is very important for a film's success). Matt Damon's third installment picks up sound editing, sound mixing and film editing. Usually a movie that gets nominated for both mixing and editing will one of the two.

I was pretty disappointed "The Kite Runner" did not get more nominations. It was nominated for original score which was beautiful. I thought it should have gotten a shot at best foreign language film or best adapted screenplay. It really was a delight.

Another screw-over is leaving Eddie Vedder out of the list for best original song for his song "Guaranteed" in "Into the Wild." That's alright though.

"Lars and the Real Girl" and "Ratatouille" somehow get best original screenplays (may show how far movies have sunk).

By far the biggest letdown in all of the Academy Award nominations was the complete snub of "American Gangster." I thought this was a sure lock for best picture when it came out, but no, we have to have Juno. I thought Russell Crowe would have been perfect with a supporting actor nod. Aside from a couple nominations, it is almost as if the movie never existed. I think the movie came out too early and it lost its hype and was forgotten in the season (though that did not seem to hurt Clayton which came out a month earlier).