Well talk about a milestone day that will live forever. September 11th on a crystal clear, blue sky day back in 2001 (twenty two years ago) the Twin Towers in NYC were destroyed along with an attack on the pentagon, in the most brash terrorist attack on US soil ever. For someone my age, I can remember it, in detail, like it was a month ago. I was working downtown Toronto in the tallest office building in the country (First Canadian Place). I was sent home early. I say this in passing because this day doesn’t always happen on a Monday. For those interested in movies on the topic, there are plenty like

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: So Disney in their October 2012 $4.05B purchase of LucasFilm the biggest news story was the gaining of the Star Wars films. Less important was the Indiana Jones franchise, which had a lacklustre release back in 2008 with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. After all, the main star Harrison Ford was 66yo at the time of this release, where they brought back Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood as the love interest, and she has a son Mutt who is a bit of a rock n roll adventurer himself. As a sidenote, Sean Connery played Henry Jones, Indy’s Dad, in 1989 at the age of 59yo for The Last Crusade. Filming for this latest installment has Harrison Ford as 80yo! So how adventurous do you get with an aging Indiana, along with all of his friends from previous iterations like Sallah, at 79yo looks older than Ford himself?

Add to the complexity the fall from grace of Shia LaBoeuf as a potential successor to Indiana. As a producer, the challenges become greater. So Disney chooses to do a couple of interesting things. First of all, they have to create a new item to seek, but go back in time of the Nazis in WWII in order to set the stage. Remember that Jones was an adult during the time of the Nazis. So adding time puts him into the early 1970s. That aside, the challenge is the item itself, which is a decently produced Jones-like chase in the opening sequence. In short the item is claimed to when fully functional have the ability to go back in time. Jones and a colleague of his Basil Shaw is looking for this item. In many ways, the Shaw character was similar to Henry Jones and his obsession about the Holy Grail. Shaw has a daughter, Helena, who is Jone’s goddaughter. Helena is seen as a young girl and then as an adult. The adult Helena is a Han Solo-like mercenary who seems very focused on money and less concerned about the morality of her actions, and how her artifact may be used by the purchaser. Jones is coming back into her life and trying to assist with this item which has ressurected itself. Helena has some anger issues to sort through.

The rest of the story continues with CGI at places that is almost laughable. Like many stories involving time, there are aspects that the viewer must just simply accept. In the later parts of the story, the level of disbelief borders on being broken, if not shattered already depending on the viewer. Much has been written about casting (or miscasting) of Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena. She seems better suited to a Fleabag, where she is fun, and quirky with good comedic timing. Those skills are lost here. She as Helena has duel purposes here, one is to discount Jones and his perceived contribution to the downfall of her father and the other a need to establish herself. Neither is very successful. Certainly she doesn’t come across as a compelling next Jones. This was not disappointing because I had heard all the negative press and reviews and had no expectations. Zero. So there wasn’t much lower to go. But was this necessary? Beyond money, was this a story that Ford felt compelled to tell for his character? I have heard Harrison Ford mentioned that he liked playing Indiana Jones far more than Han Solo. Jones was more fully formed, intelligent and an array of stories that could be told. Solo he wanted to kill off earlier in the Star Wars triolgy. This one is not worth your time. A hard pass, and a disappointing swan song for a revered Ford character.

Better Call Saul – Season 4: I completed watching Season 4 of Better Call Saul. I found it slow to get going as we are introduced to early days with Saul, named Jimmy McGill. But like Breaking Bad, the drama builds and builds as the seasons move forward. We also have the additional tie-ins to the main storyline from Breaking Bad. The two main stories in this season are with Mike, dealing with having the lab constructed for Gus Fring, and his challenges in getting this done. The second story is with the disbarred Jimmy, who is dealing with keeping himself busy for a year while he is under suspension.

Jimmy like the characters that Vince Gilligan creates are flawed, as most people are. They have skills but also challenges in their life. Jimmy has this undercurrent of being the guy who battles uphill, with odds against him. He has an older brother, who was the Mr Perfect Lawyer, but not much of a human being, in a holier-than-thou way. They have a strained relationship with older brother always seeming to battle against the not-so-subtle Favourite Child syndrome with his mother. The other compelling character is the ever hard-working Kim Wexler, played excellently by Rhea Seehorn, who has a relationship with Jimmy, but can struggle with his morals and choices. There is some really good writing here as the parties interact. I will continue to watch and enjoy. I have already heard that the finale is different, for some disappointing for others the right tone. We will see.