• The Good Stuff

    Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (again)

    I thought that I had shared a quick reaction to seeing James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny somewhere online, either here or on one of the MANY social media sites I’ve tried out recently, but it looks like I never actually got around to it? Or maybe I did and I the search functions on those sites aren’t so great? Or there’s a social media outlet that I’ve forgotten about…?

    In any event, yes, I was able to see the final Indiana Jones film in the theater on opening weekend, and I absolutely loved it. I thought that it was a fitting finale for the character and a loving tribute to the films that came before it. If Mangold didn’t quite stage action sequences quite like Spielberg would have, he still really captured the tone and spirit of the originals. I went in with some hesitation about the new de-aging techniques for the flashback sequences, but ended up very, very impressed with the results. The third act twist was a big swing that I absolutely did not see coming, and I really respect that they took that big of a creative risk, but ultimately I think they pulled it off nicely.

    I’ve always felt that the character of Indiana Jones only really worked as well as he did all these years because Harrison Ford was the perfect actor to embody him, and that has never been truer than here. Ford brings a real gravity and weight to this older version of the character, while still diving headlong into the action and humor of it all.

    It was great to see some familiar faces again, but the new characters introduced were fantastic, too. I would be more than happy to watch the ongoing adventures of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Helena Shaw and Ethann Isidore’s Teddy for years and years to come.

  • The Good Stuff

    Still Here (and Elsewhere)

    I’ve been meaning to share my thoughts on some recent reads and watches, but I keep getting distracted and then time goes on and I still haven’t said anything and my site remains dusty and unused for weeks and months on end.

    So here’s a quick list of things that I would have written about here had I had the time, and may end up coming back to sooner or later.

    Mrs. Davis on Peacock is like a live action Tom Robbins novel, and is absolutely worth checking out.

    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is my new favorite live action Trek series of all time, but I’ve been loving all of the new stuff in general (and the crossover episode with Lower Decks, “Those Old Scientists,” is one of the best episodes of Trek, or indeed of anything, that I’ve seen in a LONG time).

    I’m halfway through the first season of Apple TV+’s Foundation adaptation and really, really impressed with it so far.

    I recently finished rereading one of my favorite science fiction series of novels, Kage Baker’s Company series, and it remains every bit as good as I remembered it being.

    Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is absolutely fantastic, and FAR better than it has a right to be.

    For the last few months I’ve been reading all of the Krakoa-era X-Men titles in publication order starting with the 2019 releases, and as of now I’m almost caught up with this year’s releases, and I have been really impressed with the overall level of quality.

    And finally, now that Twitter has been well and truly x-ed, I should note that I’m spending most of my social media time over on Bluesky these days, where you can find me at https://bsky.app/profile/chrisroberson.net