Beware of the seagulls!

If you happen to fly a plane (why not?), never fly too close to the beach, you never know:



Haha! Owned by retired 007!

"Chuk-chuk-chuk-chuk-chuk!" is one of the best lines in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Another quote that I like is also said by Sean Connery, talking about his Grail journal: "I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers..."

By the way, the film whose ending got alternated is Sky Captain (starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law), which I've never watched. Here's the original Indiana Jones scene:



"I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne: Let my armies be the rocks and the trees - and the birds in the sky."

I know I've already featured the following video, but I think it'd be nice for you to watch it once more:

In-D-Day

Indiana Jones hit the screen today in Belgium, and since I'm one of his biggest fans I had to go and see the movie today. So I decided to take a break in this rather long and tiresome period preceding the first exam and I went to the cinema. I was expecting a huge crowd of Indy freaks, but it appeared that only two dozens of people had come! Anyway, that's not a problem.

I really enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but I won't write a lot about it right now, because I'm running out of time and because I prefer not to disclose to much information about the plot and so on. I'd just like to say that this film won't appeal to people who have never seen the other episodes, for it's full of references and "Easter eggs". The plot was terrific, except that a couple of scenes were too unrealistic… Yet, this film was great and I'm looking forward to seeing it once more after the exams. If you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, go to the cinema asap!

I suppose most of you won't have the opportunity to go to the cinema before a month or so, and that's why I thought that listening to John William's great music would be fine meanwhile. I hope you'll notice the many hints to the other films.

Raiders' March:



Journey to Akator:



Finale:

79 golden awards

The 80th Academy Awards Ceremony took place a week ago, and now it's time to watch a four-minute summary showing the 79 films that were awarded the Oscar® for the Best Picture before the 80th (No Country for Old Men):



For an exhaustive list, I refer you to the Wikipedia entry.

E.T. meets a friend

Some idiot (read: genius) managed to make a horror trailer out of the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial:



Funny, wasn't it?

Let me seize this opportunity to show you one of the most brilliant crossovers in the history of cinema: E.T. meets someone he thinks to be an old friend of his:



Home! Home!

--> So now we know where Yoda's actually from: he's from the same planet as E.T. But the point is that we don't know its name either… Too bad. By the way, there are lot of hidden gems (the so-called "Easter eggs") about Star Wars in this movie, for example a TIE-Fighter on Elliott's bookshelf.

Please note that we can actually spot Steven Spielberg dressed up as an old lady when E.T.'s looking through the ghost shroud, just on the left after "Yoda" appears. (This is, as far as I know, his only cameo in one of his films.)

Please also note that the talented John Williams, who brilliantly composed the score of both E.T. (1982) and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980; film where Yoda appears for the first time in the movie history), subtlely uses Yoda's theme when we see him. I don't think there are many composers who can be proud to have achieved such a thing in their career. Not even Mozart. (Even though movies didn't exist back then.)

Silly Animation Movies

Remember Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park? Remember guywiththeglasses' Jurassic Park in 5 seconds? Then now prepare to experience… Jurassik Fart!



This video was sent to me by Mr Romero (thank you so much!), and this one as well:



Unfortunately we never come across such cows, even if our cows eat GM food… But who knows, in the future?

These computer-animated videos were made by Pixar.

Indy Is Back!

Back ten years ago, I could read in Lucasfilm Magazine issue n°11 that the film Indiana Jones IV would soon be shot and released in 1999, before Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace is released.

I waited. We waited. I mean all fans in the wide world. We have been waiting for years… It wasn't released in 1999, nor in 2000, nor… up to now. There were problems of production, but also a problem of script: both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had to agree on the screenplay. We waited. They eventually agreed on a script. And now it's official: Indiana Jones IV (we don't know the official title yet) is currently being shot in Connecticut and Hawaii, and will be released on Memorial Day 2008!!!

Meanwhile, you can watch some offical videos on the Indiana Jones website. I hope you enjoy.

PS. Comment if you are a fan too!

The Powers of the Ark of the Covenant

The other day, I was talking about the famous Ark of the Covenant, because we see it in Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark. Here's an extract from the movie that explains its power and why it is sought by the Nazis. In this extract, we can see, besides Harrison Ford (Dr. Jones), Denholm Elliot, whom we saw this afternoon by watching a film version of the short story The Signalman by Charles Dickens.
(Unknown undertitling.)



The music is terrific. Thank you, John Williams!

The Ark of the Covenant

This is the Ark of the Covenant as it appears in Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark. I really like this film. I must say that I'm a big fan of trilogies—all sorts of them—but for the Indiana Jones Trilogy, I think that the second movie has to be forgotten… It's just too much. Difficult to believe that it's a movie by Steven Spielberg… But anyway, the two other Indies are terrific. As to the Ark itself, it was accompanied with a kinda Middle-Eastish, soft music theme by John Williams that gives you a weird feeling.
On the picture on the left, you see the Ark that they used in the movie, probably in an exhibition. On the right of it, you can see the Holy Grail of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the fake one (in gold) and the "real one", a wooden cup.

And the Oscar® Goes to…

Last night took place in the Kodak Theater of Los Angeles the most important event in the industry of cinema: the Academy Awards Ceremony. Martin Scorsese was—at last!—rewarded for his most recent film, "The Departed", featuring Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio, among others. He was given an Oscar® for being the Best Director and for having made the Best Movie. The statuette was given by a shock trio: Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, maybe the world's best directors ever—and good friends of Scorsese's.

Apart from that, as expected, Forest Whitacker and Helen Mirren were elected Best Actors, and Al Gore (former US Vice-President) was awarded the Oscar for the Best Documentary. The Oscar was given to him by the famous stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld (whom I am a great fan of).

PS. If you click on the title of this message, you'll be redirected on the official Academy Awards website, and you'll get the complete results (nominees and winners).