Everyone have a nice holiday weekend? Good.
The cinetrix apologizes for skipping out on you yesterday, but she had a standing date with her first bad object choice. That's right, Professor Indiana Jones.
Last night, almost exactly 25 years after the cinetrix first espied the dashing archeologist, she was fortunate enough to catch Raiders of the Lost Ark in a yawning widescreen presentation at the Brattle. As Marion Ravenswood [imparter of so many important lessons about femininity and doing shots with massive Mongolians!] archly observed, Indy hasn't forgotten how to show a lady a good time.
My, does it hold up. Do see it projected if you ever have the chance. It makes you feel like you hoped the second set of Star Wars movies would: young and giddy with possibility.
Two quibbles, however. The first is the title. Which is not Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. If people are such morons they can't find the first movie in that series unless it's shelved with the "I"s rather than the "R"s in their local video store or big box, well, I have a couple less challenging, shall we say, movie selections for them.
The second is last night's print. It was advertised on the schedule that this would be a new 35mm print in honor of the 25th anniversary. Not quite. There were HUGE green platter gouges at every reel change, jumpy splices that fucked up the audio and more than once buried some of the classic lines you wait for, and murky color that you just know would pop in a good print. It's clear that UniversalParamount, WHICH SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF ITSELF,* fucked over the Brattle and sent them some lousy print that was kicking around [or, more likely, being kicked around]. It happens to rep houses more than it should. But, and this is important, there should have been a sign in the ticket booth indicating this was not the advertised print. I spoke with the young woman supervising the house as people cleared out, but she didn't even realize it was meant to be a new print and didn't really seem to realize why that might be an issue.
God, people, I hate to sound like just the sort of irritating fucking pedant I dreaded dealing with when I worked at the theatre, but this shit matters, and beautiful, massive presentation and good customer service are the only things art houses can offer cinemaphiles that a tricked-out home theater can't.
OK, end of rant. If you need me, I'll be in the front row, slowly closing my eyes.
*My bad--they showed the Universal trailer for a reissue of Rear Window last night, which must have distracted me.
