Way too Late at the Movies: Driving Miss Daisy

 

I heard tell that this film, at the end, is kind of a tear-jerker. And I was PERFECTLY FINE until I looked at Michelle, crying as she watched Hoke feed Miss Daisy her Thanksgiving pie. Then I fell apart.

Thinking of her Mom, of course, and those last few months as she dealt with her own dementia. Damn, I didn't need to see that look on Michelle's face again.

But the movie is good. Interestingly light on overt displays of prejudice, but we knew it was sewn into every bit of the story so it didn't need to be overt; it was just how things were done.

I'd like to say we've come a long way since the '40s and '50s into the 2020s, but I'd be a rotten liar. The racism is still there, perhaps more overt now as we're not at all as inured to it as the nation once was. It's ugly.

Way too Late at the Movies: Hunt for the Wilderpeople

To be honest, I had no idea "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" from 2016 existed.

But my 2026 is richer having seen it.

I could be cute and talk about how it's a sleeper film from New Zealand, which is true, but I won't be cute. The film speaks for itself.

Personally, I want to be Psycho Sam when I grow up:

But I don't think I have enough pots to wear to keep the government out of my mind.

Seriously fun movie. See it if you haven't. We laughed all the way through it. Though it also has some pretty strong messaging about family, and what constitutes a family, and how sometimes officialdom gets in the way of what a family is or at least could be.

It's a Taika Waititi film, and he's always had me curious. I still really want to see his "JoJo Rabbit," though I'm not quite sure I'm ready for that film yet. It's light and dark, from what I understand. Anway, I'll watch for his name with interest.

Way too Late at the Movies: Project Hail Mary

I guess I'm not *too* late for this one, as it came out this year.

And wow, this is good old-fashioned hard science fiction with something Elon Musk would absolutely hate: Empathy.

I won't dwell on Musk's incredulous thoughts and focus rather on the movie, which displays self-sacrifice and empathy in spades.

Sure, part of the self-sacrifice is forced: Protagonist Grace is sent on a species-saving mission against his will **spoilers** literally drugged into a coma and winkled aboard the spaceship.

But he grows into empathy as he awakens and finds his other two crew members have died on the way to Tau Ceti where they hope to find the answer to a mystery that is threatening Earth's sun.

Back against the wall, Grace could have done nothing. But he finds Rocky, another sentient being sent to Tau Ceti, also alone, trying to find the answer to the same question.

They figure out how to talk to each other. They figure out how to help each other work on the mystery. And they figure out that the best way to help "save the world" is to get along and focus on the problem.

That is, of course, not all. Once the problem is solved, Grace runs into another problem that could threaten them both. But they're separated by a month of travel. Does he go back to help Rocky, and risk is own future?

Damn right he does. He sends his discoveries on to Earth in probes, as Earth's suicide mission originally intended, and goes back to help Rocky survive and live to help his own planet.

Absolutely loved this film.

Way too Late at the Movies: A Man Could Get Killed

Stumbled across a James Garner move from 1966 on the YouTubes tonight: "A Man Could Get Killed." It's your standard mistaken identity story where Garner, a representative of a New York bank sent to Portugal to pursue joint ventures for hydroelectricity development is mistaken for a spy searching to break an industrial diamond smuggling ring.

It's directed by Ronald Neame, who also directed The Poseidon Adventure. But no swaying camera motion because Irwin Allen wasn't involved.

It was odd to me that the film contained snatches of "Strangers in the Night," a popular song of the time -- and then I read it's the film that introduced the song. So it makes more sense now.

It's an okay film. Typical of the era, where it was meant to be a lot of things -- a comedy, a drama, etc., and never really succeeds fully at anything.

James Garner seems to have come into his befuddled everyman persona pretty early. He's the highlight of the film in my book, though the old European cars, particularly an Opel, Peugeot that would make Columbo happy, and a 2CV, are also worthy of billing.

Sandra Dee is also in this film, though I had to look at the Wikipedia page to learn that. I don't really know a lot of stars from this era.

James Garner pulling the James Garner face.

Way too Late at the Movies: The Night Stalker

As a longtime fan of A Christmas Story, I've known for a long time that the Old Man, Darren McGavin, starred in a movie, and then a television series, called The Night Stalker, wherein as a newspaper reporter in either Las Vegas or Chicago or it seems wherever the story called for, he investigates supernatural crimes.

The first film has his pursuing a vampire through Las Vegas' seedy underbelly.

The film is, eh, not exactly well written, but other than the Old Man, did include a surprise or two.

First, the Old Man:

He's looking good. And does a lot of narration in the film which I guess it a choice, but I'm not sure it works for me.

And the coroner. At least we know he has medical experience:

The script is really funny. At the onset of the film, McGavin's character - Kolchack - says he was pulled off the first vacation he's taken in years to write the story of a series of murders for the newspaper. Then his editor at the paper goes on to berate him and thwart him and bend the knee to the officials who want the story suppressed.

Mild spoiler: Just after he tells the police it's likely they're dealing with a vampire and under no circumstances should they approach him at night, he breaks into the vampire's house at night because of course he does. I guess it's less exciting of a movie if he waits until daylight and skewers the guy with a stake.

There are some other actors in the film I can't place. Claude Aiken is there, pre-Sheriff Lobo, I believe. But there's a smarmy dude I can't place, though I'm pretty sure I've seen him before.

Way too Late at the Movies: To Kill A Mockingbird(!)

I add the (!) in the title because, as my oldest son and I watched the movie unspool this evening, I realize that while I have seen parts of this film, I don't think I've ever sat all the way through it.

Two little asides first: William Windom, instantly recognizable as the prosecutor. Then Robert Duvall as Boo Radley. I had to stare at him for a while before I saw it; maybe I'm used to seeing him as an older actor.

Nevertheless, what a spectacular film.

A daring story to tell in a book and in a movie at the time. We could use a few more movies like this.

Much is said about Gregory Peck's performance -- and the praise is deserved. But considering the cast as a whole, I have to say there's not a bad performance in the bunch.

And regarding the controversey over the first draft of the novel, "Go Set A Watchman," that dared paint Atticus Finch in racist tones, I've got to say while I haven't read the book, I'm glad it exists. It serves a different purpose than what was published first, showing the jarring complexity of life at the time, something we'd do well to look at today where we elevate people to the status of hero until they do or say something unorthodox and have to be toppled from the pedestal and rendered human. We could all do with a bit of introspection as to our own behavior and see that while we want to believe we're saintly, we sin as well.

Way too Late at the Movies: Going Postal

So I'm a big fan of Terry Pratchett.

I'm also mildly aware that some of his books have been turned into movies, whether "movie" movies, mini-series, or animations. I've seen a few of them, and generally felt the ones I've seen have missed the mark.

"Going Postal" is among my top five Pratchett books. I got to watch the TV mini-series today. And, alas, it also misses the mark.

There is much good to be said about the film. Richard Coyle as Moist von Lipwig is about perfect. David Suchet as Reacher Gilt *is* perfect. If they haven't cast Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari in other movies, that's a crime against humanity.

Many of the supporting players are also fine, including those who play Stanley and Mr. Groat.

I absolutely loved how they handled Lipwig's guilt bubbling up through the "new" technology of the clicks, right down to the word cards and melodramatic poses and that odd, quick early-movie pacing.

But they messed with the plot. Or one of the plots.

Mr. Gryle, the banshee. Sorry, the "words" killed him? Maybe my recollection from the book is fuzzy, but I know it didn't happen that way. Maybe the words helped. But Stanley and Mr. Groat were certainly involved. Maybe they had to trim that part of the story for length. But it was done poorly.

And wow, they gave the Golden Suit short shrift. Maybe I glanced away and missed it, but in the book Mr. Lipwig getting the Golden Suit was a moment. In the film, he was just suddenly wearing it. Again, maybe I missed something.

Some of the other tinkering made less sense. Why send the contest message to Uberwald, rather than, where was it, Genua? And to the sunburned/allergic tit of a wizard there, who was cut from the movie entirely. A lot of the showmanship that made Lipwig a charming, oily character was missing. And they really did Adora Belle Dearheart and Sacharissa Crisplock wrong. There's a lot more to their characters than what appear in this mini-series.

Crispin Horsefry, I imagined as much younger, and I think he was depicted so in the book.

I know it's like shouting into an empty room, comparing books to their film/TV adaptations, but there was enough tinkering with this story it's not one I need to watch again. I'll just stick to the book.

But it is good evidence to have in hand when the Brits complain about "American meddling" in British stories in American adaptations. They do it too, and needlessly so.

Way too Late at the Movies: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I waned to see this movie when it came out. But life happened, and I never went to the theaters to see it.

I was familiar with the Esquire article it's based on, and read it several times for fun, and also in association with an English class I was teaching at the time.

But when I got to watch the film this weekend, it went in a different direction than I was expecting -- and that was a glorious thing.

We often find we need an outside force to help us sort through our own feelings. We live in a world that, especially for males, encourages us to suppress those feelings. But we can see evidenced in the news with alarming effect what happens when people suppress feelings for too long. Feelings need to be felt; the older I get, the more I feel. The more I understand why Dad would sit with Mom on the porch on a quiet Sunday evening, enjoying the breeze and the company but sighing at the thought of going back to work in the morning.

Mr. Rogers reminded us to express those feelings, find positive ways to put them out. To talk about them, to hold them, to share them, to express them in a way that helped us but that did not harm others. That's what this movie is all about.

And serious kudos to Chris Cooper -- I have yet to see him in a move I didn't enjoy him in. He's probably the most charming "bad guy" out there, and embues his characters with a glorious humanity beneath the crust. I loved him in October Sky, and he brings that kind of tender roughness to this film.

Well worth watching.

Way too Late at the Movies: The Life of Brian

For a very long time, this was the only thing I knew about The Life of Brian:

Such a perfect oddball moment - just the thing you *wouldn't* expect from the Monty Python crew, until you do.

The rest of the film? Eh.

The premise is fine. I didn't find it particularly blasphemous as many people have reported.

But I didn't need to see Graham Chapman's dong, sorry.

The film took an interesting premise -- one that's often misinterpreted as "What if someone else were mistaken as the Messiah -- and turns in a pretty lackluster movie, in my opinion. Fun set bits, but overall their sketch comedy is better. (The premise, I should mention: A bored dude gets caught up in an anti-Roman rebellion and comic hijinx ensue.)

Way Too Late at the Movies: Weird, the Al Yankovic Story

Michelle got me a copy of "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," for Valentine's Day as she and our oldest headed out the door to drive our Expedition to North Dakota to sell it.

Finally popped it into the DVD player today. And I'm trying really hard to like it.

I mean, the parody of the artist's rise, fall, and rise again is spot on. That I'm having trouble liking it might be due to my general distaste for that kind of tropery less so than the film itself.

Nevertheless, I'll try to finish the film and regard it on its own merits.

I really liked the film up until Madonna showed up. I know her presence in the film is supposed to be the peak parody of the successful artist letting success and drugs and sex and alcohol go to his head, but it grates, and grates hard. It goes on much, much longer than it should, slowing the story down.

I'll be honest -- the only thing that might make me get to watch the film again are the cameos. Conan O'Brien as Andy Warhol and Jack Black as Wolfman Jack make the Dr. Demento party scene work far better than the Madonna sequence makes the entire film work. So maybe this film is better for the little bits than the whole.

Yeah. The Madonna bit is going to WAAAAAY too long. There's about 25 minutes left, and I hope it gets better.

Now he's redeeming himself. And his mom got fat. Which segues into Weird Al writing "Fat," of course. There's a lot of hint-dropping for Weird Al's songs throughout, and while some of them are Easter eggs, a lot of them like this are, well, eh . . .

So the film's pretty uneven. It's a perfect parody of the artist's rise, fall, and rise again, but while the first half has a lot of great jokes, the second half takes the parody just a bit too seriously.

Need A Downer? This is *Your* Film.

So I thought I'd do a few things to cheer myself up this weekend.

Succeeded yesterday by nearly completing the grouting of the bathroom floor and also by picking out the tile for the rest of the bathroom. We still have to go back to the store to get most of the tile as they were out of stock, but we did get the fripperies.

Then I decided to stroll through YouTube to find a new movie to watch.

Found "When the Wind Blows" from 1986.

Oops.

It's a bit of a downer.

A product of the times, of course. In America, we had "The Day After," which was a phenomenon of its own when it came out in 1983. And as it aired on broadcast television, it was pretty much in everyone's living room.

But this film might be a little scarier. These two are completely alone in their suffering. And so dependent on the "official literature" that was meant to placate and not at all help if the event actually came. And no corner of England would have been spared the radiation. Maybe parts of the US would, it being a bigger country. But not England.

So if you're looking for a downer, look it up.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Way too Late at the Movies: A Night at the Opera

The second of my thrift store finds, the Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera."

This film is home to the much-celebrated "sanity clause," viz:

I don't want to be cranky and say this was pretty much like the first Marx Brothers movie I've seen, but it kinda was. Same kind of plot, same kind of gimmicks. There's a musical bit, a lot of sight gags. The underdogs keep being underdogs until the end and then they triumph over the stiff shirts, which is what people wanted to see in a Marx Brothers movie.

But it was fun. And an education. We like to say that Hollywood is really formulaic today, with a lot of retreads and reboots and such, but it appears like it's been that way all along, and if people like the retreads and reboots, I guess that works.

The shorts included on this DVD were forgettable. I watched them, but don't remember much about them.

One thing I'd either never noticed nor paid much attention to until now: Groucho's famous mustache is mostly grease paint. I mean, I guess I always just assumed it was real, but watching these films it's obvious it's not.

Way Too Late at the Movies: A Night in Casablanca

As kind of a last hurrah before the horrors of returning to work after an extended break, I went to Deseret Industries yesterday to donate a pile of VHS tapes. And speaking of defunct media, I came home with three DVDs of various Marx Brothers movies.

Up to this point, I've only seen bits and pieces of their films, so I thought finding these at the thrift store was as good an introduction as any to watching a film in total. So I started with "A Night in Casablanca," kind of a spoof of the film "Casablanca," but not really.

Like many films of the era the plot is secondary, with bits of the brothers' vaudeville and comic bits sneaking into the story at random moments. It felt really cartoony at some points, but good cartoony, with little tricks you might see in Bugs Bunny or Scooby Doo. (There's an entire scene of them sneaking around the bad guy's hotel room, hiding in various closets and trunks and cases as he packs, turning him into a nervous wreck as they continually unpack his packing so they can hide in various spots behind his clothing.)

Speaking of Bugs Bunny, one of his cartoons was included as bonus material. It didn't have anything to do with the film, but it was fun to watch.

The extras also included a short called "So You Think You're A Nervous Wreck," a satire of those ubiquitous self-help reels common in the era. The central character, Joe McDoakes, is played by George O'Hanlon, who later went on to lend his voice to George Jetson.

The episode in question is here:

Red One: A Review

Before the movie scrolled, I made a prediction:

Skeptical kid turns into pseudo Santa-napper.

Has his own delinquent kid.

Meanwhile, Santa's right-hand man is quitting.

Prediction: Santa-napper has a Grinch-like heart attack, rescues Santa, becomes his new right-hand-man, his own kid sees the light, the crappy little elves dance around like little green idiots, I puke, the end.

Or maybe not. Time will tell.

I was, of course, proved wrong.

But if you want to talk about a movie where there's little to no discernible character arcs, then this is the one.

First: The Rock's character. I can't even remember his name. He starts off resigning his job, saying the magic is gone. He gets totallly fooled by the bad guys, buys a Monopoly game he tells another character to hold onto because they're going to need it, drives a lot of Chevys, then turns into a wuss at the end and takes his job back because -- he saw another character talking with his son. I should admit that the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots he picks up along with the Monopoly board do appear as a plot device later in the film. And the Chevys, well, they *did* need transportation, so . . . 

Second: Jack O'Malley. Played by someone I don't know. The black hat guy who helped the Christmas Witch! track down Santa Claus' massive toy production facility at the North Pole because, well, I guess the North Pole is really big and the Christmas Witch's gnarly powers aren't gnarly enough to know where Santa is. He was a delinquent kid. He has his own delinquent kid. They get captured by the Christmas Witch's bad ju-ju magic, but figure out how to get out of it about sixty second after being caught. They reconcile, I guess, though I don't really know; they don't dwell on mushy relationships here when there are PUNCHES to be MADE.

Those are the two characters where development was expected. Development was virtually nonexistent.

It's almost like I wrote the story, it's that underdeveloped. So a good lesson for me as a writer.

Verdict: The film had its moments, but it's generally unforgettable and not one I need ever watch again. For the as-viewed blow-by-blow, go here.

Way Too Late at the Movies: Incredibles 2

I think I remember seeing this movie shortly after it came out and thinking, "Yeah, the original was better."

Then I saw it among the offerings at Disney+ tonight and thought, "I don't remember much about it. I should give it another go, Or a go, because maybe I haven't seen this one."

Going to say it would be better unseen.

Simply put, it isn't a Brad Bird movie. Brad Bird likes message movies, but he doesn't sacrifice story or action for the message. The original Incredibles and other films of his, like the Iron Giant, keep the message but also keep the story moving briskly.

Incredibles 2 relied too much on the goodwill generated by the first movie and sacrificed the story as other stuff took center stage.

And why does the villain, Evelyn, look like whatsername from Megamind?

I'll be honest -- I was surprised to see Brad Bird wrote the story and directed the film. It seemed phoned in, not like his other stories.

It might have done better with tighter editing, because I'l be honest there were times it was boring. It's visually pleasing to look at, and Michael Giacchino's music is as good as it was in the first film. But the story dragged.

It feels like it suffered the same as Pirates of the Caribbean. The first movie in that series was excellent. But I gave up on the series when the best parts of the second film were retreads of funny bits from the first film.

The Incredibles didn't need a follow-up, or at least it certainly didn't need this one.

Update: OK, this is what bugs me: The villain's motivation is muddled. She wants the Supers to remain illegal because her father's Super-worship led to her patents' death. But as the Screen whatever, she chooses to go with the lame "you crave pap because you live your lives through it vicariously" which lends NOTHING to her anti-Super plot. She could have used her tech to destroy the Supers without the baggage of a message. It's the Indiana Jones Would Have Had No Impact on the Outcome to Raiders of the Lost Ark Had He Not Been There gambit.

Syndrome was a much better villain because his message was his sole motivation. He was also a much more interesting character.

Way too Late at the Movies: Little Nicholas, Happy as Can Be

I was introducted to Rene Goscinny and J.J. Sempe's "Le Petit Nicolas" stories as I served a mission for the LDS Church in France. These little stories helped me study the language -- I still learn a few things as I read through them even now -- and gave me a glimpse into French society, albeit a society of the 1950s, nothing later.

I knew in the last decade or so a TV series and a live-action movie had come out, but I wasn't aware of this one until I stumbled across it on YouTube today.

This version shares some of the stories fans of Nicolas know well -- but they're interwoven with the tale of Sempe and Goscinny, how they met, how they collaborated. And it's all done in soft watercolor animation that really captures the feel of the stories and the times they're set in.

This is a version of the story for a very specific audience. Don't go in thinking you'll see nothing but Little Nicolas stories; there's a lot more to this than that.

I enjoyed it. They brought in enough new material that the film kept my attention, and also animated some of my favorite stories so I could sit back and laugh at them.

All in all, worth your time.

Way too Late at the Movies: The Hudsucker Proxy

Up until this week, about the only thing I knew about 1994's Coen Brothers' film "The Hudsucker Proxy" was this:

Now that I've watched the film, I understand a lot more about this scene (Natch). And this is indeed a Coen brothers movie, what with the cartoony action and all.

I liked it. I liked it's throwback feel to bigger morality shows Hollywood used to produce. I saw bits of "It's A Wonderful Life," "Citizen Kane," and other big message pictures in it, with a bit of Terry Gilliam fantasy thrown in.

The Coens excel at casting, or at least the people they hire do (I don't know much about their process). Tim Robbins is wonderful in this film. He's got that innocent goofiness the character needed. Seeing John Mahoney as the hard-bitten newspaper editor was also fun.

I'm not sure if it's a film I need to watch again, but it was certainly worth watching once.

Way too Late at the Movies: The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town

Usually when I write movie reviews under the "Way too Late at the Movies" title, it's a movie somewhat recent that I did indeed miss and finally saw.

This time, however, we've gone back to  1976, and to an almost-movie-length series of sketches from the British sketch show The Two Ronnies: "The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town," written by Spike Milligan and "a gentleman."

I'm familiar with Spike Milligan and his humor sensibilities thanks to his appearance on The Muppet Show. When our kids were younger, they were enthralled -- and I mean ENTHRALLED -- by Milligan's deadpan humor. It reminds me a lot of my Dad, who was pretty reserved except at times when he found something funny. He was pretty funny himself.

On to the show:

I will say I'm a sucker for a British satire/parody, and that's certainly what this is. The Phantom terrorizes London Jack the Ripper style by blowing raspberries at his victims, who in proper Victorian style end up in the Thames or simply keel over at the utter uncivility at the crime. Nonsequiturs abound as Milligan and company bring out the comic tropes you'd figure to find in such a story.

Well worth the watching, and available on YouTube in many forms, viz:

Way Too Late at the Movies: Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

I so wanted this to be a good movie.

I mean, I knew it was going to be predictable. Mrs. Tweedy was going to make a return -- I had high hopes for Mr. Tweedy to be there too, cowed and ineffectual, but, alas.

But it was not good.

The music was, well, not good. Tack on a jaunty song at the beginning and end because, you know, that's what you do. The music in the film was so bland I don't remember any of it. And while I had doubts they'd bring back Mel Gibson because, you know, reasons, that they also didn't bring back Julie Sawalha because she SOUNDED TOO OLD, maybe that's a sign not to make a sequel to a 24-year-old movie.

Aardman was there in full force in the animation and artwork. But the story, dialogue, and music were definitely lacking. Altogether, a disappointment.

I think what bugged me is that there were absolutely no stakes whatsoever. Yes, Mrs. Tweedy was back. But we've seen the gang defeat her before, so it was a foregone conclusion. At no time whatsoever did I feel like we were going to see anyone but some rando background chicken turned into nuggets. And you'd think that with bringing back the same writer for Chicken Run, and the same director as Flushed Away, both of which had great stories and great stakes, they would have recognized that. But it seemed everyone involved wanted to play it safe. Which is sad, because the chickens in Chicken Run didn't play it safe at all.

Way too Late at the Movies DOUBLE FEATURE: Darby O'Gill and the Little People and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

My brother Albert is a fan -- if a fan is the right word -- of 1959's Darby O'Gill and the Little People. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's like with some of the things I take a shine to: They're just stupid enough that you can't stop watching, and by the time you figure out you're maybe wasting your time, there you are already done with the movie and thinking, "Well, it wasn't that bad now was it."

Hold on to that thought as I discuss first Mr. O'Gill, and then move on to Dr. Jones.

Darby O'Gill might be the first movie I saw though memes first -- live memes presented by my brother.

Lots of scenes like this, with little people dancin' about and Mr. O'Gill pretending as most actors do when called upon to play a musical instrument.

I'm not sure there's much of a story here: Darby loves to tell tall tales and doesn't do much work anymore, so a replacement is brought in. Good thing Darby has a daughter who's pining, and not after the lockjawed local yokel whose mother wants Darby's daughter to marry because why not?

A lot of this felt set up to give Disney practice with filming techniques that would later be used to better effect. Still, it's a silly enough film and story to keep you watching if only to see what happens next.

I do like the idea of miniature horses, though. Pretty cool.

Next, let's move on to 2023's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and the "Well, it wasn't that bad now was it" vibe I mentioned earlier.

Indy is old. So old.

I have to confess I haven't seen the entire film; I missed the beginning. But suffice it to say there are post-World War II Nazis about and they've found some hunk of junk time portal detector invented by Archimedes, heretofore best known for jumping out of his tub starkers and shouting "Eureka!" when he figured out a way to see if the king's crown was gold or gold-ish.

I think at the end they imply or say or I don't really know but Archimedes really invented the thing to find someone in the distant future who could come to the battle of Syracuse and do some rescuing. Maybe they do say it; the summaries of the film I'm reading online certainly do.

Biggest missed opportunity: That kid who flew the second(!) plane through the time portal should have said "Fly, yes. Land, no," when the lady (whoever she was; I didn't see the beginning or do the reading) asked if he could fly the plane.

Then boom at the Battle of Syracuse and the planes are flying overhead and the idiot Nazis in the plane, being idiot Nazis, begin shooting at everyone, thus ensuring that anyone with a ballistic-style missle weapon was going to start targeting them, making the grand plan of the Head Nazi to turn around and get out of there fail because the plane is hit and crashes and everyone dies.

Not the kid flying the second plane, who successfully lands the plane conveniently close to where Indy and the Lady land after parachuting out, and where Archimedes can find them. Who knew the airport in Syracuse was that convenient to the battlegrounds?

Indy, of course, wants to stay with Archimedes, who at this point isn't actually dead, which is what happened at the end of the Battle of Syracuse, but the Lady, fearing TIME PARADOX knocks him out and brings him back to the 1960s where he's reunited with Marion who brings ice cream but nobody really cares because oh finally the movie is over.

And wow, Sallah, you really became a cabbie in New York? I guess you do you.

Verdict: I'd probably watch it again, just for the sake of saying I'd seen the whole thing. But only for that reason.