Indiana Jones IV: just another review

Indy IV: the preview to be watched after seeing the film

The video I'd like to show you today is a movie preview of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It's really funny, I assure you.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: a case study for translation studies

Take this interrogation scene from Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, opposing Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) to Claude Lacombe (François Truffaut) and David Laughlin (Bob Balaban).



Now, how does the French dubbed version get away with this scene? I mean, how is the translator going to conceal a translation? Watch this excerpt from the French DVD version of the movie, with the original script as subtitles:

CLOSENC7
Uploaded by sergele1

Yep, they simply cut off some lines, paraphrased or added script material… This scene could be a case study in translation studies, especially since the DVD-version adaptators had to deal with the fact that Truffaut was dead and obviously not available to dub himself, but still, they kept what he recorded back then.

"Water, no thank you sir. Fish make love in it"

Please watch one of my favourite scenes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody) is talking about the Grail's diary written by Henry Jones (Sean Connery).

Elsa Schneider: He's given them to Marcus Brody.
Henry Jones: Marcus? You didn't drag poor Marcus along, did you? He's not up to the challenge.
Walter Donovan: He sticks out like a sore thumb. We'll find him!
Indiana Jones: The hell you will! He's got a two day head start on you, which is more than he needs. Brody's got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan. He speaks a dozen languages, knows every local custom. He'll blend in, disappear, you'll never see him again. With any luck... he's got the Grail already.
Marcus Brody: Does anyone here speak English? Or even Ancient Greek? Water, no thank you sir. Fish make love in it… (…) My reputation precedes me.

Some of you may have recognized the late Denholm Elliott, who played in The Signal-Man, the television adaptation of Charles Dickens' eponymous short story.

"Rarely I practise what I preach, that was why I was born to teach"

Since we're in a kind of Indy week, I propose you watch this brilliant song parody based on the Raiders March theme by the god of composers, John Williams. Let's watch first a music video with fragments from the first three films.



Parody by goldentusk:

Indiana Jones IV: the trailer (2)

The second official trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has (eventually!) been released. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.



More TV trailers are to be seen on the official website. I'm really looking forward to watching that movie. I'm so eager that I'll sacrifice an afternoon in my study period to go to the cinema on 21 May when it is released. (Some call this day "InD-Day"!)

Uncyclopedia's featured article: Indiana Jones.

Movie posters

The official poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has just been released, so have a look at this great piece of artwork by Drew Struzan—who also made the Star Wars posters, but also those for Harry Potter and the Back to the Future trilogy, among others.


(This picture was retrieved on TheRaider.net.)

By the way, a Frenchman compared the French and the American trailer of the movie, and noticed a dozen of differences due to the censorship of the MPAA. Unbelievable and outrageous! "Big Brother is watching you", it seems. Just a bunch of hypocrits.

Indiana Jones 4 : Comparaison des teasers
envoyé par Rialeb

Talking about movie posters, here are two parodies that I found on Uncyclopedia (where else?):

This one is a spoof on the Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones poster. The following replaces, respectively, Leonardo DiCaprio by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Tom Hanks by George Bush, a parody of Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can.

Indiana Jones IV: the trailer

The first official trailer of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has finally been released, and you have to check it out:



This film sounds great, even though the government warehouse scene seems a little bit weird… I fear that the movie relies too much on computer-generated special effects, but still, this episode is likely to be terrific, making references to the first three films. I'm looking forward to watching it on a big screen!

If you want to watch the trailer in high resolution, go and check out the official website.

Pics' art

Today, let me show you a series of silly photographs I found on the Internet. Let's start — for a change — with those I found on Uncyclopedia:

Close Encounters of the Third Reich:


Who can deny that Man is descended from apes?


Strange coincidence, isn't it?

This is a clever boy!


See, I told you he was evil!

This would have ruined his authority, back then:


Some of you are familiar with these signs, seen in the periphery of Brussels:

(Source: Brio.)

"How did you get up there?"
"I fell!"


This one is probably a fake one, though:


Brilliant:

"Are you having a laugh?"

This is evidence that birds cannot read (or, at least, interpret symbols):


And dogs as well.

When Harrison meets Sean

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is scheduled for release on 22 May (and since that day I will probably have an exam, I won't be able to go and see it at the cinema! Grr!) and millions of fans (amongst whom your humble servant) are eagerly looking forward to it. No official trailer has yet been released, but I think it will soon. One thing is for sure, Sir Sean Connery won't appear in the movie:

Sean Connery turned down making a cameo appearance as Henry Jones, Sr., finding retirement too enjoyable.^[1] Lucas stated that in hindsight it was good that Connery did not briefly appear, as it would disappoint the audience when his character would not come along for the film's adventure.^[2]

But who can tell whether the producers actually attempted everything to get Sean Connery back, for instance (say) with Harrison Ford visiting him in his castle in Scotland:



"This was a priceless vase from the Ming dynasty. A gift from my wife too…"
"We put everything on hold to find you."
"It must have cost millions!"
"You're worth it, though, Sean."
"I don't believe my eyes: it's from Wal-Mart! You can tell from the inscription here: Wal-Mart!"
"No! I could have get you a refund!"

[…]

"Goldfinger! A remake! It was always my favourite one… Pussy galore, here I come…"
"Of course, you will have to look out your wig again."
"It's a small price to pay for this role…"
"And there will be stunt doubles for the sex scenes."
"Stunt double!"
"Well, we can't take any chance with you what with your age and such."
"I'll manage fine myself!"
"Really!"
"I've never had any problems in that department and I'm not gonna now…"
"Whatever."

[…]
"You're too old!"
"Too old? I had an Aston Martin with ejector seats!"
"Yeah, and now you have a bus pass!"
"Watch it! I'm not too old to kick your ass!"

This idea of writing subtitles on a foreign version is brilliant! Of course, it works better if you don't know the language at all, because if it were in French, we'd have to turn the volume off.

And an alternate ending for the third film:



And because I love the French version, here's one of my favourite scenes, namely that of the plane escaping the Germans:



— Qu'est-ce qui se passe à 11 heures ???

(…)

— Il me semble que ces gens essaient de nous tuer !
— Je sais, père !
— C'est une nouvelle expérience pour moi !
— Moi, ça m'arrive tout le temps.

(…)
— Mais c'est intolérable !

Dubbing voices:
– Harrison Ford: Richard Darbois
– Sean Connery: Jean-Claude Michel

Brokeback… Jaws

After "Brokeback to the Future" and such parodies I've already shown you, there's "Brokeback Jaws", a spoof on Steven Spielberg's masterpiece, Jaws:



Nice work, isn't it?

Catch 'Em If You Can

In today's Simpsons episode (braodcast on Club RTL) there was a remarkable spoof made on the opening credits of Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. Let's watch those first:



I find it highly original, and John Williams's music is — as always — tremendous.

Let's now watch the parody, just after I mention that Homer and Marge try to escape from Bart and Lisa because they'd like to be alone just one day.



In one word: wicked!

Merrie Parodies

Our old pal thatguywiththeglasses posted a video mixing some bits of the cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th century with dialogues from Star Wars.

In itself, the original cartoon was a spoof on Buck Rogers in the 25th century, an old successful sci-fi series from the 1930s. Here Daffy Duck is Duck Dodgers and his assistant is Porky Pig. His opponent is Marvin the Martian. Actually, this cartoon is number 4 in the 50 greatest cartoons of all times.

Some bits of this cartoon are also to be seen in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind on the telly at Roy Neary's (Richard Dreyfuss).

Here's the new brilliant parody:

Impressive… Most impressive.

As clumsy as he is stupid
--> One of my favourite quotes (French version: "il est aussi maladroit que stupide").