Movie #309 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
1984 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 58 min
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan, Amrish Puri, Dan Aykroyd

Every solid trilogy has a weak point, and I guess Temple of Doom is Indiana's lame movie.  This one differs from the first and third in that it's not a planned adventure.  In fact, the planned adventure takes place off screen before the movie even gets started. The impromptu "how will Indy save himself and friends" adventure is random and kinda nuts.  His usual crew isn't involved and instead his stuck with a high-maintenance singer and the techy Asian kid from The Goonies.

While I like a good "Dr. Jones! Dr. Jones!" as much as the next guy, this movie just doesn't hold up to the other installments in this trilogy.  On its own, it's not bad. But by comparison, it's not great.

Still, it's a nice change of pace away from religious icons and Nazis, I guess.

Movie #240 - The Goonies

The Goonies
1985 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 54 min
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Joe Pantoliano, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton, Jonathan Ke Quan, Robert Davi, Anne Ramsey

Oh, the goonies.  Suburban American gets it's very own pirate adventure in this 80s classic, rife with young stars. Little baby Sean Astin.  Teenage Josh Brolin. Skinny Joe Pantoliano.  And Cyndi Lauper's all over the place, in case you missed her.

The best part about revisiting this childhood favorite as an adult is all the jokes I've just understood.  And the pirate's name is One-Eyed Willy.  One. Eyed. Willy.  How did I not get that? And how do all these people make it through the movie without laughing?

We also got to watch the deleted scenes on the DVD, including the illusive octopus attack scene that Mike has been obsessed with finding since childhood.  Well, here it is.  Hooray.

So I love this movie for what it represents from my childhood, for being led by a talented cast of tweens, and for introducing us all to the possibility that we could become treasure hunters. And actually find something.