What was the biggest problem with Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Skull? After stating surviving a nuclear blast in a fridge and the whole alien mess, most people would say the terrible special effects. Well we're sorry to tell you, but the effects in the original weren't always the best. It's the same with people complaining about Hayden Christensen's performance in the Star Wars prequels when there were certainly some dodgy acting moments in the originals. We're not claiming either of those late-in-the-day follow ups came close to their predecessors, but are highlighting that many of those films' perceived issues aren't actually the real problem; they're really just an example of how much the cinema-going public is dominated by nostalgia. There's something very enticing about giving into cinematic nostalgia, but all it does it blind us to genuine flaws; we all know how rose-tinted glasses can colour our view of previous films, but it can also make more recent films with a passing relation to something we hold dear automatically appear inferior by just being different. The next few years will see a new Star Wars, a new Terminator, a new Blade Runner and you can bet each one will be met with some vague and wishful statements about failing to capture former glories without actually dealing with the product at hand. What can you do: You can't really fight nostalgia, but at least being aware of how it can influence us can help.
