Indy, common cold, and the summer movie lineup

Blarg. Colds are awful.

Honestly, I'm tired of people saying, "We haven't found a cure for the common cold yet," as if there are scientists trying to cure the common cold. The fact is, nobody cares about the common cold, because it is at worst a medium-level inconvenience. You miss one day of work, right at the beginning, when you wake up and hurt all over, and after that it becomes completely manageable. It is not something that is worth putting billions of dollars, pounds, euros, et al, to cure. Aids, cancer, neurological diseases, and immunological diseases are what we ought to (and do) focus on.

Anyway, last night, despite my drippiness and lethargy, I went to a midnight screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I really enjoyed the picture. I sincerely think there are things that people will complain about - Marion, for example, was kind of thrown in for nostalgia as far as I can tell. But those things do not detract from the overall quality of the film. Is this as good as Raiders? No. But what is? Raiders really is an impossible standard to hold every other Indiana Jones film to. It's similar to saying, "I didn't like Episode 3 because it was no Empire." Well, Empire was a unique film, and while comparing two films in a series made at two different times is completely valid, it is in no way enough to completely disregard the later film's status as a good film.

Especially in a time when more and more films are M Night Shyamalan pieces of crap, or feature Sarah Jessica Parker's aesthetically not-remotely-pleasing face in 50x75ft scale, we have to be able to take a good popcorn movie as a good popcorn movie. This summer, I think, will prove that a good popcorn movie can be as good or better than anything the Academy nominates. Iron Man has already grossed more than most comic book movies can ever hope to, and it was fantastic on a writing, acting, and storytelling scale. Dark Knight will only build on that precedent, and Incredible Hulk certainly can't hurt. Maybe it's the geek in me speaking when I talk about these movies being four harbingers of previously unseen quality, but that doesn't stop me being right.

Bring on the summer!