Reay Jespersen

*** BIG FAT SPOILER WARNING! ***

So we got a chance to see it last night. Met up with Big Dan and hit the theatre.
And here’s my thinking overall:
Disappointing. Like, even given what I’ve heard about it, pretty disappointing.

If you haven’t seen Iron Man or Indiana Jones yet, go see Iron Man. Dead easy choice.

I was trying to articulate with Jackie and Dan what it was that didn’t click for me, and I think it was a combination of a bunch of things. In no particular order:

- I found the lighting distracting for the first maybe fifth or quarter of it, while everything in the story’s getting set up. It was too harsh on some characters (almost kind of gilding them) and too lax around them, as though the characters were being highlighted to stand out, but it didn’t look at all natural. Compare that to the first film (the one I recall the best), where the lighting was gorgeously done - it looked far more natural - and you’ll see what I mean. Am I a production snob? To a degree, yes. But for my money, anything that distracts the audience from getting into a story is a bad thing, and that lighting took me out of it a few times. In those scenes, it was just bad.

- The fridge thing. On the one hand, I get that they’re aging Indy and showing how the world around him is changing. Fine. On the other hand, having him survive a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined fridge, while amusing, went out of the bounds it feels they set for what Indy movies are about: more mysteries and adventuring and outwitting his opponents, not deadly threats he accidentally stumbles across that aren’t part of the plot. Silly and pointless.

- The soda shop scene where Indy and Mutt talk felt utterly contrived. There was nothing natural about how that looked. Again, take a look at the cafe scenes in the first movie: both scenes are written and planned and choreographed, yet the cafe scenes feel natural and realistic, while the background characters in the soda shop (again, with its sometimes distracting lighting) felt totally fabricated, preventing me from getting into the storyline.

- The alien stuff shouldn’t have been taken to the level it was. I would never - not ever - have thought that they’d have Indiana Jones watching a UFO take off. That was far more X-Files than I think an Indy movie should ever have gotten. Dan and I agreed that there’s something inherently acceptable about the believability and appropriate feel of religious aspects to Indy movies (the Ark, the Holy Grail) than spacemen. Why one feels more proper than the other is, again, hard to articulate. Just a deep-set feeling that one works and the other really (really, really) doesn’t.

- The bad guys didn’t have anywhere near the same menacing feel to them that those in the earlier movies (again, particularly those in the first) did. They felt more cardboard cutout bad guys than ones with much dimension to them. Even when Indy’s friend Mac turns on him, did I care? Not in the least. You stick a new character in a movie series, tell me their history (which is a big no-no in movies: show the audience, don’t tell them), and I’m expected to care about him, or if he’s a turncoat?
Having Sean Connery in the second film was better handled because at least we saw him adventuring with Indy (whereas Mac didn’t do much of anything) while quipping about their family’s past for humourous effect. But Mac? Didn’t care about him at all. At all. He’s a friend of Indy’s, and they’ve been through all this stuff together? Sure. Oh, he turned on him? Alright. Oh, now he’s turned again and was with Indy the whole time? Fine. Oh, now he’s really, really against him? Ok. Now Indy wants to save him and he chooses to die? Whatever.

- City kid Mutt pulling a Tarzan and swinging on the vines like a natural with the monkey hordes (which totally get his vibe and attack the bad guys). Good lord.

- Jumping the duckmobile off the cliff onto the tree to ease into the water at the bottom. There are levels of believability that the Indy movies have set up. Yes, extraordinarily things happen, but within a world with boundaries which have been necessarily been established. Like some other things, the duck over the cliff thing stepped over that line for me.

- The waterfalls. See above. You’re falling down two 80-foot+ drops in an open vehicle and everyone’s still there and climbing back in at the bottom? Just a bit wet and coughing on the water, eh? Yep.

- More stuff happens to Indy than his being proactive. He’s kidnapped and taken to the Nevada site. He escapes but then almost gets caught. Luckily, this rocketsled accidentally launches just in time and helps him escape again, and he’s almost nuked, barely escaping that, too. Mutt finds him and tells him about this problem. It’s Mutt’s switchblade that get them untied to turn the tables when they’re trapped on the truck. While Indy’s helping Irina solve the riddle of where to look on the map (and what was with that? I guess with her kinda mind-meld he didn’t know what he was doing? Otherwise, why would he not grab the map and make a break for it to solve it himself later?) Mutt’s the one who steps in and tries to make a break for freedom. Ox turns out to be alive, and - let’s face it - is the one the others are following for most of the key elements of exploration and solving the mystery. In the other movies, Indy pieces together the mystery and puts himself at risk to follow it through to its conclusion. Here, he was far more passenger to the events happening than the hero he’s been in the past. Not cool, and not particularly interesting.

- Jackie pointed out there were almost none of the quippy one-liners that have added to the flavour of the past movies.

All in all, I found it an alright distraction - in truth, I’m glad I saw it, as otherwise I always would’ve been wondering how it was - but was hands down my least favourite of the series. Like, in a totally different league. To the point where they should’ve just left the series alone as it stood, when it was something to be proud of. Honestly. And not only would I not want to see LaBoeuf take up the jacket, whip (switchblade?) and fedora as the next Indy (Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones, period - if he’s not doing any more movies, let the series die with some dignity), but if this is a sample of the production values and writing of where the new spinoff series would be headed, it would be poorly done anyway.

I’ll not give it a rating, but if I were to, it would be head-shakingly, unexpectedly low.

Why, that would be me!

You remember that time I mentioned the one page screenplay contest? Way back like, er… three weeks ago? Yeah, well, turns out the finalists were selected, and I’m one of them.

That’s the kind of thing that makes a guy feel good about a career he aspires to, y’know?

More news on that front as I get it.

… perhaps not including the weekends. I told Jackie last night about my grand plans, and given that she has trouble getting back to sleep once she’s woken up in the morning, she informed me if I dare wake her up early on weekends, she’d kill me.

Since I’ve no intention of sleeping on the couch Friday and Saturday nights just to allow me to get up early to write, I may have to make the early rising a weekday-only thing. I’m a writer, after all, not a crazy person.

… although…

94.
I went 94 days straight fulfilling the terms of the challenge put forth to me by Tracy: to write at least 100 words for 100 days in a row. You couldn’t double up one day and miss the next, as the challenge decreed: you had to write every single day, and if you missed a day, the 100 days rebooted and started over again.

Well, it was a hell of a run, but I realized this morning that in our long drive from visiting family out of town through yesterday, I came home last night, unwound for a bit, and went to bed. No writing done. I had a few scant story ideas jotted down (ironically, not in themselves reminding me I hadn’t done my needed writing for the day), but not enough to add to the needed total; and frankly, that would be a bit of a cop-out anyway.

However, shattered as I was to have been so close to finishing the challenge cleanly the first time out and then dropping the ball for no really good reason - I mean, I’m very busy these days in various aspects of life, but yesterday I had a about an hour when Jackie was driving when I could’ve been writing instead of chatting, and not once did it occur to me to do so, beyond said story ideas - I’ve actually come through it with a much more positive outlook.

I suspect that a large part of my forgetting to write yesterday was that it had never become a habit, as I was hoping it would. Initially, the notion of making myself write at least 100 words every day suggested that I’d get so use to doing it after that time that it would become habit. Thing is, with my routinely late work hours for part of the week, and then various other things going on at home keeping Jackie and me both hopping (along with the everyday/week things that keep everyone busy), I was just writing throughout the day as I could: sometimes in the morning, a couple of times at work or on the transit ride in the morning, sometimes at night back home… basically, whenever time allowed. I never made it a real priority. Hence, there was no routine put in place. Hence, no habit formed.

I decided that what I’m going to do is combine two different elements in my writing, both of which are inspired by Tracy. First, I’m going to keep a record of how much I write every day. Secondly, I’m going to re-try (and this time DO) the 100 words for 100 days challenge. And finally, my own twist on it: I’m going to get up at the same time every day to write.

Since I can never be sure what my days at work nor my evenings and nights may hold in store, mornings are the only part of my day I have any real control over. Thus, I’m going to start getting up when Jackie does and write even before I eat breakfast. I will do my 100+ words every morning (likely over a set amount of time, perhaps 45 minutes, which would take me up to the time I’ve been getting up weekdays), dutifully record how much I wrote, and then carry on with my day as I normally would, without fear or concern that I need to remember to get that writing in whenever I’m able to.

It was Alex - a Florida resident for a while now, and so sadly distant, but still my best friend - who pointed out some years back that the short stint during which I made myself get up earlier and write before going to work were some of my happiest days. I felt good accomplishing something I enjoyed doing, and it did brighten my day-to-day routine. This plan will also get me back to that place: whatever negative things may be dealt to me over the course of the day won’t be as bad, because I’ll be in a better headspace to start with.

On the downside, it means no more sleeping in. And though I’m not doing it nearly as much the older I get (an aging thing, parents have assured me), I still vastly prefer sleeping in later to going to sleep earlier. But really, if I’m going to give this habit development its due, I have to do this every day, not just weekdays.

The other downside is that in order to get up earlier but get enough sleep every night (something I all too often neglect to give myself), I’m going to have to be going to bed earlier than I normally do. Regularly.

But I’m serious about this. I want writing to be a habit for me - not something I make myself do - and the only way that’s going to happen is to put this plan into action.

I just found out tonight that Tracy slipped on her 100 day challenge, as well. And while I was going to start again today (stand up again, dust myself off, and git back in the saddle, as it were), she’s starting Wednesday and wanted to know if I wanted to start with her, which holds appeal. Thus, Wednesday the 21st (er… one day before I was going to finish the initial 100 day challenge) shall be day 1 of the 100 day writing challenge - TAKE 2!

So I entered two one page screenplays to said competition, each based directly upon two of my drabble stories I thought would lend themselves well to such a medium. Not totally sure when the next set of demo readings are going to be posted online (if any of mine show up, I’ll be sure to mention it), nor when the contest winner will be determinted, but here’s hoping I get somewhere with it.

It would lead to the smallest demo reel ever (and it doesn’t get much more baby steps than starting with a one minute movie to my credit), but one’s gotta start somewhere!