Direct Download Link For New Indiana Jones Video Podcast Thing

There's a glimpse of one shot from Indiana Jones IV in the latest video podcast. I've captured it and put it below so you can discuss its merits - or lack thereof? - in the comments. Maybe it contains clues (What are they looking at? What are they wearing? Where are they? Can you see the Parasite? Or a Regular Cherry Slusho?). Maybe you find it formally interesting. Or maybe I'm over-estimating the vigour and rigour of the Indiana Jones fanbase.

On the other hand, you could download the whole of the second Indy video podcast and see some props, members of the crew, bits of gear and comedy T-shirts.

Movie Minesweeper - The Nervous Exhaustion Edition

- See Scarlett and Woody, BFF.

- Spielberg's as blinded by the anti-Wii propoganda as every other fool. Why do so many developers only target their Wii games at pensioners and housewives?

- Hatchet 2 may start rolling in February. And a second Behind the Mask might be coming too.

- Mark Verheiden's Aliens comics have been repackaged, but only in a their compromised versions where the character names were changed to not clash with canon. Yet another reason to despise Alien 3.

- Masters of Horror seems to be ahead of The Dresden Files in the race to Alberta.

- A stage version of Desperately Seeking Susan is coming and it's set to feature a number of Blondie songs. Interesting.

- Britons prefer R2-D2 to C3-PO.

- The Twin Peaks Gold Box DVD set is now officially scheduled for October 30th.

- Homer Simpson is starring in a new ident for Channel 4 from this weekend.

No CG For Indiana Jones At All?

In an interview with the New Haven Register, Frank Marshall seems to confirm that there's no CG work in Indiana Jones IV at all:

Steven is very aware of the process and we're not cheating with CG at all. It keeps the B movie feel.

What? Will this mean there's not even going to be any compositing done by computer? If so, that's a terrible idea. A computer composited image is much, much better than anything done optically. Well - certainly if you compare the best CG composite and the best optical composite.

I'm hoping this is a quote taken out of context and Marshall was referring to a specific sequence in the film. Not using the best available techniques as part of a stylistic conceit, certainly on a film that seeks to appeal to a wide audience and not alienate anybody, is the cinematic equivalent of cutting off your own nose to spite your face - and while I agree that practical effects might be the best available technique, I draw the line at compositing the images, as I said.

Direct Download Link For Indiana Jones IV Video Podcast

See Spielberg, Lucas, champagne, jeeps, cars, beards, peaked caps.... and not much else. Download the first Indiana Jones IV video podcast now.

Movie Minesweeper - The Open All Hours Edition

- The R1 US Bubba Ho-Tep DVD is being reissued, and the disc specs will remain exactly the same. However, the packaging has changed. Yep, just the packaging. Now it looks like a Vegas-era Elvis jumpsuit. Is this just a cynical ploy, or a cynical ploy that is also being used to judge potential interest in Bubba Nosferatu?

- Channel 4 are to import and screen the US sitcom Big Bang Theory.

- Blue Underground are making September 25th Argento day for DVD lovers. They'll be releasing Cat O'Nine Tails, Opera, Stendahl Syndrome and Suspiria. Yep - one more edition of Suspiria will be out before the rights shift over to the Weinsteins.

- And, on the matter of Argento, lots and lots and lots of new Third Mother stills have appeared.

- Some pictures of a big movie set have turned up and the story is this is a set for Indiana Jones and the Polystyrene Stones. Or, maybe not, and they're four the next Mummy. Or a Magnum advert. Who knows? I do (though I'm not alone). They're National Treasure 2 set pics.

- Steven Spielberg is officialy endorsing Hilary Clinton.

- You can watch the entire first epsiode of John From Cincinnati online now. All legal and that - not like the link to Sicko that everybody is passing around.

New Mexico Confusion

So, Indiana Jones and the Far Too Expensive Dad is to film in New Mexico. That makes, sense, right, because we're told that the film features a sequence in Area 51 which is, of course on New Mexico. But.. what's this? The preperation at the location is looking very un-Area 51 indeed.

People are now talking about New Mexico standing in for Morocco. Is this a clever bit of dual-usage for the area? Is the Area 51 business just a load of hokum? Or is it Morocco that is the smoke screen?

The Indiana Jones Shuffle

Sean Connery is to sit out Indiana Jones and the Insufficient Paycheck after all - but John Hurt has signed up. I think we've suspected that for some time, really - one film ick story from March talked about Hurt and Indiana Jones, but the gossip didn't seem to spread very far.

Maybe it will now. Maybe the specualtion will begin: is Hurt stepping in for Connery, somehow? An uncle figure? Or a villain? Or what, exactly?

Wii Spielberg

Electronic Arts, or EA to their friends, have announced that the first of their three Spielberg-created games will debut on the Nintendo Wii later this year. They've referred to it only as Wii Spielberg so far, and there hasn't been any realistic speculation as to what it might entail. As for unrealistic speculation, that's been pretty thin on the ground too. All I know for sure is that none of the games are movie tie-ins.

That Indiana Jones Feeling

George Lucas has admitted that the current Indiana Jones script has a role for Sean Connery in it, but should he decide not to appear, a 'quick rewrite' will remove the part.

That seems to mean one of the three following things: a) his part is absolutely insignificant and can be removed without wobbling the script structure at all b) Lucas and co don't much care about tidying up loose ends and would just nix the Connery role and to hell with tidying up around the omission c) their script operative (whoever it might be on rewrite duty) is so good that they can quickly and efficiently tidy up an entire screenplay after a character with a point and purpose simply evaporates into thin air.

Who knows which of these it is, eh? I certainly have my suspicions...

Aliens Versus The Holy Grail

An old rumour about Indiana Jones was given a fresh burst of speed when Slashfilm reposted it earlier in the week. Now half of the internet is hopping up and down about it - but not me.

For one thing, the story dealt with a now discarded draft of the Indiana Jones 4 script - at least, Frank Darabont's version as nixed by George Lucas. That pretty much renders any fuss irrelevant because this isn't even the version set to go before cameras. But, even if it didn't nullify the whole argument, there would still be no need to get alarmed.

The rumour is this: that Darabont's script involved Indiana Jones investigating UFOs in 1950s America - Roswell, New Mexico, no doubt. And people don't like that idea. Oh no. They don't want any aliens in Indiana Jones.

Why on earth not? He's looked for the lost Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail and some magic stone things - what's wrong with him looking for alien artefacts? The only difference I can come up with is that there's no reason to believe the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail or these crazy stones exist but, in any realistic evaluation, there's bound to be some kind of alien life in the universe somewhere, even if it is just some puffy gas bag rolling around in an all liquid planet surface (or whatever).

Is this alien lifeform flying to Earth in shiny saucers, crashing and then getting filmed while being dissected? Of course not. But that's just the specifics - that's like me arguing about the design or location of the Holy Grail, rather than the simple fact that it doesn't exist...

I could care less what Indiana Jones goes looking for because whatever it is it will be something faintly silly and clearly fantastical. I'm sure Frank Darabont's script was much better than the shooting draft by Jeff Nathanson and David Koepp - it's exceedingly obvious which of the three is the better writer - and isn't that really the key factor?

If the basic premise of Darabont's script was really what gave Lucas his problem, he could have been decent and interjected at an earlier stage. When Darabont called his year working on this film 'wasted' I was in total agreement.

And while we're on the subject, I think the latest Indiana Jones story at Aint it Cool is a fake that they've been duped with. The inclusion of John Rhys-Davies on the cast list should have been enough to alarm them. I guess Harry just didn't want to be scooped.

DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio.

I think he was rather good in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He makes a lot of sense in Romeo + Juliet...

I... I'm struggling now. What else has he been good in?

This boy is one of those burning-eyed method monsters. His acting is pretty much the performance equivalent of a Martin Scorsese camera move. That is: you certainly notice it - how can you escape it? - but you're not sure that it was really so connected to any recognisable human psychology. Maybe in an overblown, pantomime fashion.

So, it makes sense to me that DiCaprio lines up for Spielberg, Mendes, Scorsese... and sadly, it makes sense that Ridley Scott wants to work with him too.

Scott's an odd one. He's clearly a hugely talented filmmaker, massively inventive and posessed of a visionary eye. He's a dedicated and talented craftsman, and is able to turn his hand to films in a wide variety of styles and genres. Sometimes, though... a little creeping corner peels upwards. Sometimes he oversteps a mark and a dislocating effect, a distancing conceit, gets pushed to the fore - the sequence at the edge of the drained swimming pool in A Good Year being a recent disappointment. His films are so good that it really matters when he fumbles the ball. And they're always very serious - for better and for worse.

I think DiCaprio's style (he's sometimes at eleven, sometimes only at two or one, so rarely dialled to five, or six) fits with Scott's taste in actors. Not a taste I share, to be honest. I tend to find that real people in real life operate around three to eight most of the time (or, at least, that's how I've calibrated the dial, specifically to illustrate the extremities of a DiCaprio turn). And I think that seeing real people - albeit in unlikely circumstances - is one of the key pleasures of narrative cinema (including animation).

Scott and DiCaprio will be collaborating on Body of Lies, to be adapted by William Monahan from a David Ignatius novel. Monahan's previous collaboration with Scott was Kingdom of Heaven, and he has also penned the pending Tripoli. They'll make a nice set.

The story in Lies revolves around a CIA team up with Jordan intelligence in an attempt to stop Al Qaeda attacks on America. The CIA 'hero' will be DiCaprio, and his character is revealed to have once been a journalist. Was this some kind fo wish fulfillment for Ignatius, maybe? I wonder just how unpredictable these titular lies will be?

Scott's next, American Gangster, should be one of the better films of the fourth quarter this year. Fingers crossed.

Indiana Jones 4 To Be In 3D? And The Lovely Bones Too?

Michael Campbell, the CEO of Regal cinemas in the US, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dreamworks' head conveyor belt oiler, yesterday spoke to analysts at a Bank of America convention. The basic thrust of their argument was that punters are really going for 3D, so let's do more of it - and then charge them a premium.

That argument is ridiculous. We're already paying too much - the extra dimension just made the ticket prices seem more reasonable. Push the toll up and we're back to square one, and before we know it, cinemas will be getting smashed down and Blu Ray will rule the world 'forever'.

Katzenberg commented that a lot of cinema chains had proven 'slow' in adopting the digital technology requisite to screening 3D films, but suggested the slate of upcoming titles would hurry things along. Without naming any, he revealed that these upcoming films were to come from directors James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis, Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson.

Which is to say, I believe, Indiana Jones and the Something Probably a Bit Like a City of Gods and The Lovely Bones are to be shot and presented in 3D.

Is this right? Announcements can't be far off now.

Mia Farrow Cautions Spielberg Over Crimes Against Humanity

Mia Farrow and her son Ronan have co-signed a piece in The Wall Street Journal that warns Spielberg against his involvement in the Beijing Olympics. The original piece is only avaialble to subscribers but many news agencies have now picked the story up.

Farrow wrote in a Wall Street Journal column that Spielberg, a special consultant for the games, and corporate sponsors such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's should join calls for China to use its leverage over Khartoum to protect civilians in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region.

"That so many corporate sponsors want the world to look away from that atrocity during the games is bad enough, but equally disappointing is the decision of artists like director Steven Spielberg -- who quietly visited China this month as he prepares to help stage the Olympic ceremonies -- to sanitize Beijing's image. Is Mr. Spielberg, who in 1994 founded the Shoah Foundation to record the testimony of survivors of the Holocaust, aware that China is bankrolling Darfur's genocide?"

The answer? Of course he is.

"Does Mr. Spielberg really want to go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games?"

A chance would be a fine thing.

"Do the various television sponsors around the world want to share in that shame? Because they will. Unless, of course, all of them add their singularly well-positioned voices to the growing calls for Chinese action to end the slaughter in Darfur. Imagine if such calls were to succeed in pushing the Chinese government to use its leverage over Sudan to protect civilians in Darfur, the 2008 Beijing Olympics really could become an occasion for pride and celebration, a truly international honoring of the authentic spirit of 'one world' and 'one dream'"

Sometimes I look at film ick, with all of it's more popular stories on Spider-Man, Batman and so on, and it's less popular stories on... well, just about anything else, and I feel a little disappointment. I wish it was a better platform for me to express some serious and relevent concerns. What am I supposed to do? Report on every trip Clooney takes to Darfur? Would that be trivialising it? So... this is my chance, I guess.

Please read about the situation in Darfur. If you don't know much yet, then start, maybe, with UNICEF's page. It's very accessible. Then try Google, open the subject right up, even if you think you know all about it. See what else you can't find out. Learn something. Be aware.

That's always the first step. I try to take it again, every now and then.

Some Indy Facts

Here are two Indiana Jones facts for you.

Firstly, it is Indiana Jones and the City of Gods. Definitely. This was the title of an older script, not the new one - but it is going to be used as the title of the film, in place of the title on the front page of the new script. Not sure why, but it is apparently 100% true,

Secondly, Shia LaBeouf is in. For sure. No idea why he's been rocking the boat, but he's in.

[EDIT: And now I'm hearing that Gong Li is in. Quieter voices have suggested Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington too, but the boys don't seem to check out at all]

I received a tip-off about the title and LaBeouf facts together, and have been able to confirm each separately. All three folk involved really would know too. So I'm confident, and happy to take it to the bank. I'm happy for you to remember me getting so loud and clear on this one, prepared to risk the egg on my face because, frankly, I don't doubt either of these facts at all.

[EDIT: A pretty good source has now suggested that Teotihuacan is involved. Does that clear anything up for any of us?]

[EDIT: Hollywood Elsewhere are also positing the involvement of Gong Li. Interesting]

[EDIT: Okay, got to the bottom of the Gong Li mystery. The idea was first posited on a Gong Li messageboard and picked up by a few folk. One of them mailed me, another one of them was Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere. No matter what he says, this seems to be the origin of his info - I don't believe he read the article he mentions at all.

The messageboard have been rumouring Gong Li's involvement for two years, but a lot has changed in the Indy camp since then.

Truthfully? She's (at least in talks) to star in The Mummy 3. I feel sincerely stupid for not noticing this earlier, but it has been pointed out to me - very kindly - and it was suddenly so obvious. She really is likely for the third Mummy film - even while Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz aren't]

City of Gods

Seems that everybody has been getting the same anonymous e-mail. There's a strong rumour going around that the next - and surely final - Indiana Jones film will be suffixed and the City of Gods.

Does that mean anything to anybody out there? Is there any chance there's truth to it? And if so, what might it be referring to?

Oh... and while we're here, of course, you know by now that Cate Blanchett has been officially announced as a member of the cast. That's two - Blanchett and Harrison Ford - with Shia LaBeouf pending.