Monday, February 25, 2019

Idiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Welcome to the third part of my trek through the quadrilogy of Indiana Jones films. You can catch up on the first two entries by clicking right here. Today I am covering 1989’s Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (trailer). Like the prior two Indy films, I had only the faintest memories of The Last Crusade’s most iconic scenes from catching bits and pieces of the movie off cable in my childhood. Coming back to it on the film’s 30th anniversary was a treat to see how well it held up all this time later.

I had no recollection of The Last Crusade kicking off with a 1912 flashback of a teenage Indiana (River Phoenix) swiping the ‘Cross of Coronado’ from a grave robber before he is forced to return it back. It is an entertaining and revealing flashback, and seems a little too convenient for this several minute scene to be the origin of Indiana’s phobia of snakes, trademark whip & hat, and his chin scar. It proves to be a fun chase regardless, and sets the stage for all the swashbuckling action and adventures that are about to transpire. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) comes into possession of the Cross of Coronado again in the film’s present day of 1938. It leads to Indy meeting Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) who sends Indy on a quest to track down his father Henry Jones (Sean Connery) who went MIA while on a job to retrieve the one and only Holy Grail used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Along his travels Indiana links up with his father’s colleague Elsa (Alison Doody) and reconnects with old friends Sallah (John-Rhys Davies) and Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Ford and Doody have a great chemistry in The Last Crusade’s early scenes where the duo is on the path to find Henry. The first two films had snakes and spiders, and thus this feature’s vile creature the duo must evade is a tomb full of rats in a fun scene. When Indy and Elsa finally discover Henry, the film really ramps up with nonstop chase and action scenes of the Jones’ trying to run from or chase after the Nazis and beat them to finding the Holy Grail. I am amazed by the depth of vehicles that get in the mix. Lucas and Spielberg must have been influenced by 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles because 1930s versions of all three are featured in addition to camels, horses, tanks, zeppelins and boats (I am probably forgetting a few more). Where Temple of Doom saw a lot of groan-inducing hoki-ness with their action and chase scenes, Lucas & Spielberg were hitting all their marks in The Last Crusade because every one of the many chase and action sequences had me reeled in all the way and astonishingly hold up strong 30 years later. The tank scene is the standout with many fingernail-biting moments. Watching the film in HD on BluRay definitely helps, but still it goes to show how The Last Crusade raised the bar for a new standard of action/adventure.

The film as a whole is easily my clear-cut favorite of the four Indy films. Sean Connery is an excellent addition to the cast and the chemistry between him and Ford is instantly apparent. It was delightful watching Connery interact with the cast and it is obvious that he is having a blast. It was not surprising in watching the behind-the-scenes interviews after the film that an actor of Connery’s caliber caused the rest of the cast to step up their game and deliver their best. The final 15 minutes is what I remembered the most of from seeing this off TV many years ago, and it was just as enticing now as it was then to see the cast debate which chalice was the true Holy Grail and the resulting aftermath. For fans of cutting edge special effects that recall the melting face of Raiders, they will not be let down because a similar fate awaits someone in The Last Crusade in all the latest and greatest Hollywood flair that 1989 has to offer.

As referenced in the other blogs of previous two films, there is a single BluRay containing bonus features to all four films. The primary one associated with this one is Making of The Last Crusade. It is a 35 minute compilation of interviews from nearly the whole cast and crew featuring original on-the-set interview and newer interviews filmed for this BluRay box set. It was interesting hear Spielberg recount Lucas’s original vision for this and how the pair collaborated to transform the original outline into what became The Last Crusade. The rest of the feature is filled with facts and anecdotes about the casting, stunts and the legacy of the brand. There are about a dozen other much shorter bonus features covering the rest of the films as a whole, and now that I am caught up on the films I only had brief memories of I decided to dive into them here and will catch up on the rest in the blog covering the final Indy film. I watched four of the shorter extras that focused on the stunts, sound design, music and special effects of the Indiana Jones films. All four are just over ten minutes each and interview key crew members from those departments. The one I enjoyed the most of them was The Music of Indiana Jones where it interviews composer Jon Williams where he reveals how he crafted the vintage theme for the franchise.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a huge redemption for the series from the baffling Temple of Doom. Spielberg and Lucas walked a fine line of swashbuckling action and manage to come ever-so-shy of not crossing that line into the cheesy territory that Temple of Doom did numerous times. Shortly after watching this film I checked out a video debating whether Raiders or Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones movie. I definitely dug Raider, but for me, the huge leap in quality of the action here and Sean Connery wound up the missing elements of a perfect formula the series needed to be the best film of the four.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed
Deck the Halls
Die Hard
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Indiana Jones 1-4
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Marine 3-6
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Monday, February 18, 2019

Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story

Kevin Owens was only on WWE TV for about two years before WWE gave him the best of home video treatment complete with a biography and collection of his best matches. The DVD/BluRay hit in 2017 under the title, Kevin Owens: Fight Owens Fight (trailer). It is notorious for being WWE’s final regularly released BluRay (with the only exception being WWE’s annual Wrestlemania home video still getting the BluRay treatment). All other non-Wrestlemania home video releases from WWE since have only been in DVD.

The documentary portion opens with a monologue of quotes of people doubting Owens making it in the business because of his unique musculature. I was one of those doubters too, but am glad he has since proved me wrong. From watching my one or two Ring of Honor shows a year I thought Owens could have still maintained the same One Man Gang-esque image he was going for, but felt he overdid it by 20% and I was/am concerned for his health because of it. I was legit shocked when the bio opens with lots of his early indie footage from his teenage years and Owens looked nothing like he is now and was in fit shape, with no beard and doing far more acrobatic moves similar to Rob Van Dam. My only criticism of the biography is that Owens never addresses the image he has now so I do not know if it is something he is doing intentionally for his character, or if it is a personal vice he has always been battling with.

The biography is one hour long and I was surprised that nearly a third of it focuses on his indie wrestling career. There have been other WWE-produced bios that lightly touch on indie careers of other stars, but Fight Owens Fight has thorough coverage of how Owens broke in as Kevin Steen alongside Sami Zayn, then known as El Generico, as they trained in former Jacques Rougeu’s training territory and went on to greater indie fame in Combat Zone Wrestling and then Ring of Honor. The feature interviews Owens’ fellow indie colleagues of that time such as Sami Zayn, Johnny Gargano, Neville, Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs to help provide context of what the indie scene was like at the time and how they were involved in some of Owens’ most heated rivalries from his indie days. Big ups to Ring of Honor and other indie leagues for providing plenty of footage to flesh this portion out.

The doc heats up on Kevin’s journey from being scouted by WWE and working his way through the Performance Center system and into instant success in NXT. There is a lot of vintage training footage here of Owens rehearsing promos that he touches on were big stepping stones for him that were a delight to take in. I also dug how it recapped his early WWE success with his rivalries against John Cena and tearing it up with Sami Zayn on multiple PPVs. John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Jimmy Jacobs and Zayn all provide tremendous insight to make these matches and feuds stand out.

The bio wraps up recapping how Owens was disappointed with where he was in his career opening the 2016 edition of Summerslam, but how a freak injury to Finn Balor resulted in Kevin Owens winning the title on one of the following RAWs. I remember being stunned at the quick change to Owens winning the big one at the time and how he went on to have a successful half year title reign. It closes with Kevin’s family and peers putting Owens over. One last hair I got to pick is I would have loved to see this bio recap the tremendous friendship/rivalry between Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho as that had such a great build that culminated in the memorable break-up at the ‘Festival of Friendship’ and their much hyped faceoff at Wrestlemania 33 that is included in the matches on this collection. Owens does have insight on this beloved rivalry with Jericho on his WWE Netork special for the ‘365’ series where WWE cameras followed him behind-the-scenes for one year. It is a very gritty look capturing a lot of Owens’ raw, unfiltered emotions during his run with and against Jericho and other feuds from a year of WWE television and is a terrific supplementary piece to Fight Owens Fight that I highly recommend checking out.

There are an hour of deletes scenes/bonus stories on the collection, most of which are of significant caliber that they could have easily been woven into the main feature. About a third of them revolve around more indie highlights like walking out of the Jacques Rougeau league and touching on his feud with Steve Corino. Other noteworthy bonuses are crediting Enzo for ring attire ideas, and WWE Network episodes of Superstar Ink and Unfiltered with Renee Young that both featured Kevin Owens.

There are 15 matches included in Fight Owens Fight. Four of which are exclusive to the BluRay. As expected there are a few Sami Zayn matches, and unsurprisingly all of them are winners with their PPV blow-off bout at Battleground 2016 being the runaway best match of the 15 in this collection. Runners-up would be an inventive last man standing bout with Dean Ambrose and his awesome WWE PPV debut clash with John Cena at the 2015 Elimination Chamber. Definitely do not skip over the Dolph Ziggler match on a 2016 episode of Main Event. I did a double-take at its listing, but it is worth it as the match got a lot of time and has features a ton of hilarious improv from Owens getting himself over as the ‘king of headlocks’ in the match and Jerry Lawler having a blast with it on commentary.

I have seen other home video collections from WWE before that they rushed out too early in a star’s career and that is not the case with Fight Owens Fight. It has a thorough biography with a surprisingly detailed look at his indie years and his early NXT/WWE success. Top it off with a mostly satisfying selection of his WWE and NXT matches and that results in this being a must-have for your collection.

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Clash of Champions
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes
DDP: Positively Living
Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials
ECW Unreleased: Vol 1
ECW Unreleased: Vol 2
ECW Unreleased: Vol 3
Eric Bishoff: Wrestlings Most Controversial Figure
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Impact Wresting Presents: Best of Hulk Hogan
Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story
The Kliq Rules
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
Memphis Heat
NXT Greatest Matches Vol 1
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History
Owen: Hart of Gold
RoH Supercard of Honor 2010-Present
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Scott Hall: Living on a Razors Edge
Sting: Into the Light
Straight Outta Dudley-ville: Legacy of the Dudley Boyz
Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank Anthology
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
TLC 2017
TNA Lockdown 2005-2016
Top 50 Superstars of All Time
Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season
True Giants
Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns
Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe
War Games: WCWs Most Notorious Matches
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28-Present
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money
Wrestlings Greatest Factions
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2017

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 2

-Greetings and welcome to my continued logs of my chronological voyages through the seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). Click here to catch up with my entry on season one. It would be hard to tell by looking at the number of episodes in season two of TNG, but a writer’s strike in 1988 delayed the season premiere by a few months which resulted in them rarely taking many weeks off afterwards to finish the season off with a regular slate of 22 episodes.

-I want to kick things off by mentioning the changes to the cast this season. The primary addition to the show is William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) now sporting the most dashing beard in all of TV history! Gone is the incapable Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden). Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) gave the official plot reason in the season premiere for her removal being so she could help train new recruits at Starfleet Academy. Replacing her is Dr. Pulaski (Diana Muldaur). From the first two seasons I thought Pulaski was a far superior character than Crusher, and Muldaur delivered a strong performance throughout the season with her standing up to Picard better than Crusher and Pulaski having some entertaining supporting arcs with Worf (Michael Dorn) throughout the season. Apparently there was enough fan outrage for this swap that the powers that be brought her back the following season.

Other cast changes is Geordi La Forge(Levar Burton) transferred from helmsmen to his more recognized role as the primary engineer for the remainder of the series. Transporter Chief Miles ‘O Brien (Colm Meaney) is now a more frequent recurring character after only making a few miniscule appearances in the first season. Finally, I will give a big hoo-rah to the addition of the bartender Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) to the new lounge in the Enterprise, Ten-Forward. I forgot how legit awesome Whoopi was as an actress at this time and how much I loved her in the show as a kid and I recall at that time being intriguingly mystified with her unique hats and attire. She absolutely steals every scene she is in as she lays down her wisdom to various Enterprise crew seeking advice. She is only a recurring character however and only goes on to appear in four or five episodes a season which is only more reason for her guest spots to standout each time she is on.

-A big improvement this season is dialing back on Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) and Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton). Troi was written too over-the-top with her obvious telepathic deductions last season, and they are used far more effectively and sparingly in season two. Wesley Crusher is less annoying too as he settles in his role on the Enterprise and starts to gain more responsibilities. Both characters have a couple episodes where they are in the primary story arcs, but for the most part they are now more supporting roles.

-Season two of TNG sees the addition of the occasional poker scene that became one of the trademarks of the series. Having the infrequent poker game and scenes transpiring at Ten-Forward were a recurring treat where we got to see the Enterprise crew relax and fraternize for a breather from the serious threat of the week. One of my favorite scenes of the season is where Riker teaches Wesley how to talk to women after engaging in a sample of flirting with Guinan that winds up going to a whole new level to the dissatisfaction of Wesley.

-A few other random favorite moments and scenes from the season feature Picard and Wesley stuck with each other on a shuttlecraft for several hours playing out exactly how I wanted it to. Data trying to best a grand master at the fictional game ‘strategema’ was fascinating for its similar parallels to the cancelled Wii Vitality Sensor and having a computer AI trying to best grand chess masters several years later in the 90s. The fictional futuristic version of joust Riker and his father engage in is so over-the-top cheesy I could not help but crack up throughout it!

-Hats off to some good Worf episodes this season where the Enterprise crew team together to throw a holodeck klingon ceremony to Worf’s surprise and Worf mastering a plan to avoid a battle with a klingon ship. I was initially trepid with the holodeck episodes in the first season, but they won me over with the batch of holodeck-centric episodes in season two where Picard relives the adventures of one of his favorite PIs, and the crew has a memorable encounter with one of Sherlock Holmes’ top adversaries.

-The most standout episode of the season is ‘Q Who,’ the only Q (John de Lancie) episode this season where he introduces the Enterprise to the Borg (AKA Space Zombies). It is a tremendous introduction for what would become one of the Enterprise’s top antagonists for the run of TNG. From what I can recall for what I saw so far in the first two seasons, ‘Q Who’ is also the first episode of TNG to have an engaging back and forth dogfight between two space vessels that were some of my more prominent childhood memories of the show. It was also the first episode of TNG where they fired the vintage ‘Photon Torpedoes’ artillery of the Enterprise. If you have to watch just one episode of season two, make sure it is ‘Q Who’ because it is a big hint at what to expect of the rest of the series.

-For as improved as season two is over the premiere season I would be remiss to not mention there are still a few dud episodes cluttering up season two. The episode where the Enterprise encounters a mute negotiator is a challenge and a half to get through, while another has the Enterprise taking on a group of refugees overflowing with Irish stereotypes. Due to the nature of the strike before the season, it resulted in budget cuts and there are some episodes where it is apparent where the cuts were made with the primary case in point being the season finale being a clip show. According to the behind-the-scenes interviews it was met with such disdain it resulted in being the only clip show of the series.

-I do not know if many of you dear readers are keeping up with Seth McFarlane’s lighthearted homage to TNG, The Orville on FOX. As long as you can tolerate Seth’s over-the-top brand of humor, it is an entertaining take on TNG. A season two episode of TNG saw Riker teaching Wesley leadership lessons for his first assigned team he was in command of. Ironic timing a few days later happened for me when watching the then latest Orville episode paying tribute to that exact scene, but with their style of humor in a fun homage.

-I will once again raise my hat to whoever Paramount hired for their excellent HD re-mastering of the season two BluRay. There are many great SD-to-HD comparisons in the first season extras and floating on YouTube I recommend checking out to see how well they make TNG hold up to the latest sci-fi shows on TV today. I never fail to light up with every panning, transitional shot of the Enterprise!

-I will once again plug the podcast, Star Trek: The Next Conversation for their thorough and entertaining breakdown of every episode in the series. It has been a great way to keep up with extra details that went over my head, and with the hosts also working in TV production it helps bring a unique perspective to TNG.

-Speaking of extra features…..damn…..season two is jacked with exponentially more than the first season. There are many hours of original on the set interviews, new interviews and features for when TNG first hit DVD in the early 2000s and all new extra features for the BluRay. I kept a running tally in my notes of all the extras and not including a handful of episodic commentaries there are a little over four hours of extra features! Thank you Paramount for spreading out a couple of features per disc instead of having one disc with all the special features which made it more manageable to consume throughout watching season two. About half of the extras are brand new HD bonuses.

Nearly all the bonus material appealed to me, but I will try and isolate a few I enjoyed the most so you do not have to indulge them all. There is an awesome 17 minute piece where Levar Burton reminisces about his other then-concurring job hosting the hit PBS kids show, Reading Rainbow and how they did a Star Trek themed episode during this time and through interviews how it was the catalyst for many new Star Trek fans. Once again the gag reel does not disappoint and it has a fun singing cameo from Roddenbery. Making It So: Continuing TNG is a two part, 80 minute BluRay exclusive feature I highly recommend where the cast and crew reflect on the big cast changes for season two and the evolution of the show and how they noticed how everyone was starting to feel more in sync and the show was hitting its groove. There are too many big interview moments to mention here highlighting key and controversial moments of the season, but believe me it is a must watch!

My final extra feature recommendation, and my favorite of all the bonus features is another BluRay exclusive, Re-Unification: 25 Years After TNG where the entire primary TNG cast sits down for a huge roundtable discussion reflecting on memories and anecdotes from the show for an hour. It was fantastic to take this in, and I could not help but get the feeling that this cast has no doubt stayed in touch through conventions and such over the years because they instantly were gelling with camaraderie and old stories and I could not help but feel like a lucky fly in the wall that happened to be in the room with them overhearing countless memorable moments and interactions from their time on the show.

-And that wraps it up for season two of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Minus a few episodes I am real excited with how the show is progressing and as I elucidated above, how everything is falling into place as the show I remembered from my childhood. I cannot wait to start up season three later this week, and from what I understand, that is the perfect jumping on point for the show as nearly the rest of the run of the series is top-notch from there on out. Please join me here once again in a few months for my take on season three!

Past TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
2015-16 TV Season Recap
2016-17 TV Season Recap
2017-18 TV Season Recap
Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series
Baseball: A Ken Burns series
Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1
OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13
Roseanne – Seasons 1-9
Seinfeld Final Season
Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
Superheroes: Pioneers of Television
The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series
X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5