Falling Back

Last night at Midnight I was sitting in the Cinemark waiting for the next installment of Indiana Jones to start. We waited for two hours until midnight finally rolled around and the lights went down. As the previews played I felt a little excitement building inside me in anticipation for the next adventure of Dr. Jones. The Lucasfilm logo flashed onto the screen and it began. Two hours later I wished I had been in bed and asleep instead of in the theatre. Don’t get me wrong, the movie was good. There were a lot of things that stayed true to the Indiana Jones genre and there were some things that were a bit of a stretch even for an Indie movie (Shia LeBeouf swinging on vines through the jungle…really?). Since it is a period piece there were a few things that I thought were a bit hokey at first but when I thought about it, they really seemed to fit (think Roswell and the atom bomb). Harrison Ford is in his mid-sixties but still manages to slip back into his Indie character and still manages to leaves a trail of destruction as big as the other three movies. I wasn't blown away but I do recommend you see this movie.
Excuse me but I need to get something out of the way…

An Open letter to George Lucas:

Mr. Lucas,

First and foremost, thank you so much for the fantastic movies you have brought us over the years. Many of them have changed lives and, to some extent, changed the world. You contributions are legendary and we thank you for that.

Having said that: Please stop making movies.

You have lots of money. Ridiculous amounts. You have pretty much every movie making technology at your disposal and in your name. This does not mean you need to keep making movies. I thought that became very apparent with the Star Wars prequels. People saw them because they said Star Wars but left the theatres wondering what just happened. You and Spielberg made a great team. Made. As in past tense. Please leave the movie making to the new guys. They have wonderful new ideas of what movies should be. New ideas. And they all seem to use ILM and Skywalker Sound; your studios, so it’s like you’re helping anyways. Let’s let that be your new legend. ‘Cause let’s be real, this Indiana Jones movies fell the same way the new Star Wars movies did: pretty good but just not the same.

Thank you, Mr. Lucas, for all you’ve done but please stop.

Sincerely,

Mike Harris