Each episode of The Next Reel Film Podcast is a part of a series or collection of films brought together by time, idea, or contributor. Looking to build a great watchlist? You can’t go wrong with starting on a Next Reel Series.
We kick off the new season by returning to where we started – the Indiana Jones franchise. That’s right, we’re talking about James Mangold’s turn in the director’s chair with his 2023 film “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”
Ten years ago, we decided to start up a little podcast called Movies We Like with a conversation about ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ Well, that podcast has grown and blossomed over time, becoming The Next Reel, and the day this episode releases – November 11th, 2021 – will be our ten year anniversary! Join us as we return to where it all started for a look back at the origins of our podcast as well as Spielberg’s film.
It’s nonsensical, silly, and surreal sci-fi mumbo jumbo that amounts to nothing. That being said, the long-awaited return to Indiana Jones and his adventures still manages to take viewers on a wild ride, even if it steers off course most of the time.
Five years after Steven Spielberg and George Lucas dipped into the dark waters for the second Indiana Jones film, they brought the Man with the Hat back in a much brighter story and, as the posters announced, this time he brought his dad.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas both approached their 1984 follow-up to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” from a dark place while they were simultaneously going through divorces. Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because they were trying to create something different, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” has always been the ugly red-headed stepchild of the series, having a schizophrenic imbalance between goofy campiness and gruesome horror.
Everything about Steven Spielberg’s 1981 adventure film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” is iconic. From the unforgettable lines that are so easy to quote, to the brilliant characters saying them and the pitch-perfect actors playing them, to the countless scenes full of adventure and danger, to John Williams’ score, to Jones’ hat and whip.