Quarantine Control #122: Raiders of the Tiger Resources

DC Staff | August 4, 2022 | Animation, Features, Movies | No Comments

The tenacity for some people to continue going to events despite COVID-19 swirling around and, to a lesser extent, monkeypox is admirable. The danger isn’t quite as high with people who are vaccinated and wearing quality masks, yet it still persists thanks to how reckless some can be. But don’t take this as discouragement from anyone having fun. We live in a miserable time, so if gatherings like these are a good way for people to temporarily let go of their stress, they should continue going to them. Just be careful, and hope an ultra-transmissible super variant doesn’t emerge.

Geoffrey Barnes

Here is an anecdote that some of you may not believe. A little more than a week ago, I hadn’t seen a single Indiana Jones film. Not a one. I’m pinning this on a mixture of me no longer being willing to purchase movies through physical media, and my unwillingness to subscribe to Paramount Plus, at least at the moment. Fortunately, the stars aligned over the last week as all four films were made temporarily available on Showtime, a service that had a free promotional period through Xfinity. What better time was there to watch all of them? Friends, there simply wasn’t one. It was time to rid myself of a longtime shame.

So, I watched them all in order, including:

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Source: Showtime on Demand
Episodes: 4 movies

Raiders of the Lost Ark is very much a product of 1981, with the premise featuring a young(er) archaeologist and teacher Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) taking (so to speak) sacred treasures from cultures upon feeling that they belong in a museum, and several Indian and Middle Eastern actors being played by very-obviously white people. But those weren’t enough to prevent this from being a great and entertaining adventure film full of intriguing characters like Indiana himself and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). It’s also surprisingly violent in the way early 1980s PG films were, even before the PG-13 rating was created. It’s a well-paced film that isn’t any longer or shorter than it needs to be, and even though director Steven Spielberg regretted making a film with the villains being wacky Nazis during the rise of the Third Reich, it sure doesn’t hurt to see Jones delivering the, well, hurt to them.

I knew from reading too many internet discussions that Temple of Doom wouldn’t live up to the first film, and it doesn’t. But the darker tone doesn’t clash too heavily with those from the previous film, one that somehow got away with being even more grisly than the previous film. (There’s a reason why this movie was one of the reasons for the PG-13 rating’s creation, alongside Gremlins.) Young Asian sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) was a tad annoying with how he always screamed his lines, though his usefulness led to him being portrayed better than many other young Asians in 80s films. It’s Willie (Kate Capshaw — who, funnily enough, married Spielberg years after this film) and her constant screaming and uselessness that really bring the film down. To note, though: It doesn’t bring it down to the point that it makes the film bad. It’s still a very enjoyable adventure film that’s well worth watching. Don’t listen to anyone who says it’s bad.

Yet, it’s still worth noting that the Last Crusade makes Temple of Doom look like an amateur effort in comparison. The tone of the film may be overly similar to Raiders, and the villains may once again be Nazis with sympathizers included this time around, but the sense of adventure here is off the charts. Joining Indiana this time is his father Henry Jones Sr. (the late Sean Connery) in the trek across locations like Paris, France and even Berlin, Germany, with all the scenes they’re in elevated through the great charisma between Ford and Connery. It’s clear Spielberg and Lucas listened to the criticism of the previous films by not running too afoul of any cultures and it being bereft of annoying characters. It’s a movie that shows how there’s fun to be had even in derivativeness, that adhering to established tropes can sometimes work out splendidly.

Meanwhile, there’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the newest movie that I made a Temple of Doom-style expectation adjustment for. Fortunately, I found that reports of the movie’s apparent insult to Indiana Jones’ legacy were largely the same 2000s-era hyperbole that led to a certain crop of fans thinking the Star Wars prequel trilogy was an affront to life itself. Crystal Skull’s late-movie discovery is a little more over the top and unrealistic compared to the 1980s films, but I want to emphasize “little more.” Ford, at this point, was still in good-enough shape to go adventuring thanks to aging well physically and mentally. I didn’t think too much of Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf — playing the character he was typecast for at the time), but he was nowhere near bad enough to bring the movie down. I do appreciate that it didn’t reuse the same tropes from the older fan-favorite films, with the villains this time being Russians led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett — who was great). Certainly not the best film in the series, but it’s a solid adventure film.

I’m glad to have finally addressed this grievous sin by finally watching the Indiana Jones films. Better late than never, as the all-too-stated saying goes, right? It helps they’ve largely aged gracefully in terms of their presentation (not the themes, though, despite worse offenders existing). With this, I guess it’s time to move on to watching the Alien films soon, a series in which — if you can believe it — I have not seen a single movie in.

Angela Moseley

I’m back from Otakon. It was a good con, but we were all blindsided by a sudden increase in attendees compared to last year. Wait times to get inside the convention center were easily an hour long at times. In other news, I’m still reeling over today’s announcement that Crunchyroll has purchased Right Stuf. Out of all the things to happen so far in 2022, Sony (via Crunchyroll) outright buying an anime retailer wasn’t in my predictions. Perhaps it’s a good thing I’m not writing specifically about anime this week.

Human Resources (2022)
Source: Netflix
Episodes: 10

When the first season of Big Mouth was released in 2017 on Netflix, it was a weird, but enjoyable show. It is adult animation that explores all of the awkwardness of puberty, through the lens of middle school children and a lot of gross out humor. When I learned about Human Resources, a show that focuses on the various monsters from Big Mouth, I wasn’t sure if I’d like the show. Although I do like the idea of there being a functional monster for every aspect of the human body. The focus was mainly on hormone monsters in Big Mouth. I actually ended up enjoying Human Resources much more than its predecessor series, especially as it expanded the types of monsters in the universe. Turns out having an adult show focused around adults doing their jobs is much more relatable than being reminded of one’s awkward preteen years.

Human Resources mainly takes place in the monster world, focusing on the workplace and personal issues in the character’s lives. The story mostly revolves around Emmy Fairfax (a female love bug voiced by Aidy Bryant), Rochelle Hillhurst (another female love bug voiced by Keke Palmer), Pete Hillhurst (a logic rock voiced by Randall Park), Lionel St. Swithens (a shame wizard voiced by David Thewlis), Walter Las Palmas (a male lovebug voiced by Brandon Kyle), and Connie LaCienega (a female hormone monster voiced by Maya Rudolph). Rochelle, Walter, Lionel, and Connie are reoccurring cast members from Big Mouth, along with the majority of the other hormone monsters, including Maurice Beverley (Nick Kroll). On a side note, I didn’t even know these characters had last names until I looked them up for this column. The returning cast gets more character development and deeper dives into their lives with the focus being on them opposed to the kids they help.

What I really enjoyed here was the new characters, namely Emmy and Pete. They bring a refreshing change of pace to the overall cast. For example, Emmy is Rochelle’s best friend and Emmy is grossly incompetent. She contrasts nicely with the very competent Rochelle (who Pete also has a crush on). Rochelle’s relationship to these two really bring out her personality, which was sorely lacking in BM except for her more hateful side. Emmy receives the most growth as she slowly becomes functional at her job. Walter remains largely unchanged except that we learn he focuses on a variety of different types of love. Perhaps his character can be expanded upon in a future season. (Personally, I’d love to know what’s his deal with obsessive, unhealthy love.) Pete ended up being my one of my favorite characters, as his logic served as the straight man role in a cast of insane characters. Though he wasn’t above petty decisions or falling into insanity at times. Some heavy hitters also included Rosie Perez as Petra the Ambition Gremlin and Hugh Jackman as Dante the Addiction Angel (with three! penises).

Despite a show filled with lots of sex, innuendo, and general gross-out humor, there were wholesome lessons to be learned in Human Resources. A big one would be not to love something obsessively, it’s okay to let go, and grief is part of the healing process. This could be for a relationship that’s unhealthy or the death of a loved one. While many of the episodes were quite amusing, I found myself tearing up at times during the heavy hitting moments.

The animation of the show is fine, but you might find the art style to be hit or miss. I do find the character designs to be ugly at times (especially the humans), but the humor and good writing more than compensate. Human Resources has been renewed for a second season. Hopefully it has a long and healthy life as a show, even as things aren’t looking so hot at Netflix’s animation department. If you enjoyed Big Mouth, this show is definitely worth checking out.

Joseph Daniels

It’s the start of another month in the Year of the Tiger, and at least here in the Northern Hemisphere, summer can feel like living in a toaster oven. Fortunately, tigers know how to stay cool. Tigers are big fans of water. Whether it’s drinking it or swimming around in it, tigers know how to use it to their advantage. What that means for you is to make sure you stay hydrated (something which I’ve said before), and maybe to make a trip to the beach or the lake. You could also go on a nice hike in the mountains, since all those trees provide good shade, and you can imagine you’re using them as camouflage.

If it gets far too hot for any of that, I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to instead stay home and turn on the air conditioning. I’m sure if tigers could, they would keep their dens nice and cool like that. In that case, if you still want to spend some time outdoors, try for the early morning or late evening, around dawn or dusk. It might be more realistic to aim for a walk closer to the end of the day than the start of the day, given when the sun typically comes up in the Northern Hemisphere. But that said, it might also be a bit late for some, so I guess it’s best to go with your best judgment.

Whether you stay in to beat the heat or go out and enjoy it, I hope that everyone has a great month. We’ll see you next week!

If you have to go out: As always, stay safe. Not everyone is going to protect themselves, but there are fortunately plenty of ways to mitigate sickness from COVID should anyone contract it, along with monkeypox. There’s a good chance that everyone reading this knows that, though, so good luck out there.

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