Pax Arcana
Via FilmDrunk, I am proud to present you with the perfect catchphrase to describe a phenomenon that cried achingly for appropriate nomenclature.
Here, let’s let the Urban Dictionary explain it to you:
NUKE THE FRIDGE is a colloquialism used to delineate the precise moment at which a cinematic franchise has crossed over from remote plausibility to self parodying absurdity, usually indicating a low point in the series from which it is unlikely to recover.
The phrase originates from the latest Indiana Jones movie, which was so full of stupid CGI and empty action scenes that Perry Ellis permanently scarred his own forearm on a hot grill just to burn the stupid out of his memory. Or, as the UD puts it:
The term comes from the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in which, near the start of the movie, Harrison Ford’s character survives a nuclear detonation by climbing into a kitchen fridge, which is then blown hundreds of feet through the sky whilst the town disintegrates. He then emerges from the fridge with no apparent injury. Later in the movie, the audience is expected to fear for his safety in a normal fistfight.
Don’t even get me started on the monkeys.
3 Comments
June 4, 2008 at 9:00 am
I told you not to see that piece of crap. Mrs. Ellis walked out of the theater, and I would have too if it weren’t for my 20-year-old stepbrother. Unfortunately, searing my forearm didn’t kill off the stupid. I’ll never get those two hour and the brain cells I lost during them back.
June 4, 2008 at 3:57 pm
[...] are worried about you. Have you nuked the fridge? Did someone give you a nasty [...]
September 23, 2008 at 5:10 pm
[...] Anyway, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Just remember there’s nothing to worry about — they’re working with FEMA on the whole thing. (Uh-oh.) [...]