It's Finally Fucking Friday!
11/18/2005
Slightly warmer today…but not by much, at least, there wasn’t ice on the car…
Smallville last night was mostly crapsville…took too long to get anywhere and the ads lied- nobody died. Braniac supposedly did but I’m not buying it…although Spike was prettey decent in it…the only good thing in the episode- too bad they’ve finished with his storyline for now…I have a bad feeling we’re in for a run of some bad episodes…time to switch to Alias…
SUPERMAN RETURNS teaser was just that a teaser…but like cleavage and whale tail- it was a damn good tease…90% of what made it work was the old John Williams music, though…and Brandon Routh seems to make a good impersonation of Chris Reeve…really hope the movie’s good- I kinda like the original Donner movie, the first half of the movie is great but Gene Hackman just ruins everything for me…
Read the new Runaways comic last night- this is what a good superhero comic is like folks…especially like the little comments about Sol Cal natives in snowy weather and ‘interesting’ Mexican cuisine- so far I have not found any pickles in the Tex-Mex food here…
FROM CINESCAPE:
So without further ado, CINESCAPE’s 25 Greatest Summer Movies of all Time.
1. JAWS ”Well, this is not a boat accident. It wasn't any propeller, it wasn't any coral reef, and it wasn't Jack the Ripper. It was a shark.” – Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) Year of Release: 1975 Domestic Box office: $260,000,000 Why Was it So Great: A terrorized community. Three men thrown together by crisis to face an apparently supernatural enemy. This is the stuff of myth, but Steven Spielberg, working from the best-selling novel by Peter Benchley, brought it down to earth just enough, letting us feel as if we knew these people, this community, and shared their experience when this mysterious creature invaded.
The main character may have been a policeman, but as portrayed by Roy Scheider, Chief Martin Brody seemed like he could be anybody. The colorful shark experts Quint (Robert Shaw) and Hooper were a bit out of the ordinary, but Brody was just a guy who moved to a small town and took a job as head cop to support his family until something better came along. Benchley trimmed his story down to essentials for the screenplay. (Did you know that Ellen Brody and Matt Hooper had an affair? Check out the book’s sexy padding.)
Spielberg delivered the goods with intelligence and craftsmanship, since, above all, he usually has a terrific instinct for what an audience wants to see in a movie. Just as Alfred Hitchcock made people afraid that they’d be attacked in the shower after seeing Psycho, Spielberg made people afraid of the ocean. A lot of people were even afraid of wading pools!
It seems like sharks were a minor concern before Jaws – sailors and bathers in the oceans had to watch out for them, but unless you’d encountered them firsthand (or foot), you didn’t think about them much. In movies, you’d occasionally see a diver being menaced by one, or see pirates fed to them, but they weren’t a major menace. But Jaws changed all that. As word spread of lines forming outside of theaters, local TV news crews scrambled to find shark bite victims to interview, promising “a real life Jaws” in promos. Producers slapped together as much stock footage of sharks as they could find for “true life” documentaries (a practice that has exploded into “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel – they’ll have a whole Shark Channel next). Stores began to fill up with cheap shark-themed merchandise. Local newspapers put t-shirt iron-ons in their Sunday editions featuring drawings of Great White sharks and messages like “Sharks like people.” The USA had never seen this kind of furor over a movie – it was like Jaws was the Beatles of cinema.
“I think that was one of the great American classics,” says Red Eye director Wes Craven. “I saw it in a theater out in Long Island, which is essentially the place where it took place and the whole summer everybody was running in and out of the ocean in panic ever time someone screamed shark. It made such an affect on the whole. We were laughing and scared at the same time. You can watch that movie over and over again and it’s just a classic.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Dominating popular culture throughout the summer of ’75, as well as infiltrating all forms of media, Jaws created the Summer Movie Blockbuster as we know it. By the end of the year, Hollywood studios were trying to figure out how to get another Jaws into theaters next summer. The movie business would never be the same. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) Like we said before, all movies must be weighed against Jaws.
2. STAR WARS - EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE “Use the Force, Luke,” – Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) Year of Release: 1977 Domestic Box office: $460,935,665 (gross includes 1997 special edition) Why Was it So Great: George Lucas knew that audiences wanted to see a really, really FUN movie, the kind of movie they hadn’t received from Hollywood in a long time. A typical ‘70s feature ends with all the main characters dead. Lucas gave them something old (serial-style thrills) combined with something new (state-of-the-art f/x and an expansive sci-fi universe). The result was a movie folks wanted to see again the next day, and many of them did.
“I was in high school and it was the first time you really felt a dynamic with the audience going on that you never felt before,” says Charlie and the Chocolate Factory director Tim Burton. “It’s really the first ‘modern’ [movie] I can remember.” Lasting Impact on Summer Moviegoing: Before Star Wars, a science fiction adventure was rarely considered anything other than a silly low budget affair. Afterward, it became the leading fixture of the Summer blockbuster mentality for studios and audiences alike. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Although this point is debatable, since you need to identify which Star Wars you’re talking about. But despite George Lucas’ occasional revamping, the essential core film remains a winner.
3. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK “It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.” – Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) Year of Release: 1981 Domestic Box office: $242,374,454 Why Was it So Great: If George Lucas was inspired by movie adventure serials for Star Wars, he and Steven Spielberg (along with writing buddies Philip Kaufman and Lawrence Kasdan) all but recreated them with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Professor. Indiana Jones was a typical 1930s chapterplay hero – an All-American guy who just happens to have a job that gets him into dangerous situations. Okay, cliffhanging isn’t usually part of an anthropologist’s day, but in the movies it comes with the territory, especially when the artifact you’re hunting for is a powerful biblical icon that the Nazis are after, too. Raiders gives us memorable characters and keeps them in action from beginning to end.
“The whole vibe, the whole nostalgia of the time, it’s got a wink to you,” says The Island director Michael Bay about its lasting impact. “Harrison Ford was such the everyday guy who was a hero. He was really accessible and had some fun about himself. The Nazi’s were so super evil, it was like a comic book.” Lasting Impact on Summer Moviegoing: Forever redefined the term “action-packed”. Now even James Bond movies have to have chapterplay-style thrills. Also the first film to combine action & horror in a big way. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – still the best of the Jones films
4. STAR WARS - EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK “You'll find I'm full of surprises.” – Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $290,158,751 (gross includes 1997 special edition) Why Was it So Great: George Lucas blew away audiences with the first chapter of the Star Wars saga, but while everyone expected more of the same from the sequel, Lucas (with director Irvin Kershner and company) delivered more than we bargained for in every way. Despite the fact that it ends in multiple cliffhangers, Empire has a satisfying mix of drama, humor, action, and special effects – all more advanced than that of the previous chapter. New planets, new characters, new creatures – everything was expanded but still built on the same fantastic universe. We couldn’t wait to see more.
“It was a little more grown-up,” says Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan. “Everything I had found a bit disconcerting about it as a ten-year-old made a lot more sense to me later on. I would definitely rank it as the best now, but I have to say the first one still has a special place in my heart.” Lasting Impact on Summer Moviegoing: Never again would a sequel be necessarily expected to be inferior to the original. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Whatever version you choose remains vital.
5. ALIEN “You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.” – Ash (Ian Holm) Year of Release: 1979 Domestic Box office: $78,944,891 Why Was it So Great: Hey, Lucas & Spielberg! Time to give somebody else a chance on the list! Boiled down to its simplest form, there’s really nothing new about Alien. It’s exactly as pitched: a haunted house movie in space.
“Ridley is a terrific filmmaker and took the material seriously and did it right,” says Land of the Dead director George A. Romero.
You can point to It!, The Terror From Beyond Space, Planet of the Vampires and Queen of Blood as direct inspiration, but Alien is essentially an update of Cat and the Canary. Maybe that’s why it works so well. Or maybe it’s all the trimmings. The idea of working class space travel that had been brewing for years in movies like Silent Running is perfected here, setting up a crew of space truckers as prey for a classic monster in a perfectly believable space castle. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Science fiction and horror are no longer necessarily separate categories – and can combine for big returns. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Yep. Especially in the restored directors cut.
6. ANIMAL HOUSE “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” – Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon) Year of Release: 1978 Domestic Box office: $141,600,000 Why Was it So Great: National Lampoon was the premiere humor magazine of the 1970s. Unlike today’s National Lampoon movies, which only bear the brand name of the magazine, Animal House was created by writers and performers from the magazine and radio show, successfully translating their irreverent style onto the screen in a tale drawn from their own university experiences.
“That movie amazingly still holds up whether it’s nostalgic for me, or for my son who saw it and loved it,” says Young Blades creator Billy Brown. “He’s 14, almost 15 and it seemed to work for him. I think that’s true for any great film. It will stand the test of time, but there’s not a lot of them any more.”
Directed by John Landis, who’d proved to be a kindred soul through Schlock and Kentucky Fried Movie, it reinvented the teen comedy genre with an adult sensibility. Set in an infamous frat house in 1962, it’s almost like it’s the story of what the Beach Party characters might’ve been like when they weren’t on vacation. That is, if Frankie and Annette were having drunken sexual relations on the football field. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Changed comedies forever. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – College is still college.
7. AIRPLANE! “Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash.” – Jack Kirkpatrick (William Tregoe) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $83,400,000 Why Was it So Great: Imagine a MAD magazine parody of a lame 1970s Airport sequel about a troubled passenger flight to Chicago, only on film with actors instead of drawings on a page with type, and it takes 88 minutes to read it. Now imagine it’s much funnier than you can imagine, with the cast populated by familiar character actors and the jokes coming so fast you can’t laugh at them all the first time through. Now imagine that a duck is deaf, but knows how to read lips, and yet can’t tell what the other ducks are saying because they don’t have lips. Now stop imagining, wipe that stupid look off your face and go see Airplane! again.
“Airplane! came out when I was writing for Saturday Night Live,” says Young Blades creator Dan Angel. “I saw it in New York, and nobody had made a movie quite like that, but it harkened back to the Marx Brothers’ movies where you could have a movie full of ridiculous gags and just enjoy it on that level.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: The first brainchild of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team, every movie spoof is judged against it. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Surely it’s just as funny now as ever.
8. E.T. – THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL “Maybe it was a pervert or a deformed kid or something.” – Michael (Robert MacNaughton) Year of Release: 1982 Domestic Box office: $434,949,459 (gross includes 2002 special edition) Why Was it So Great: A hapless spaceman, accidentally left on Earth, bonds with the suburban boy that takes him in. A fable wrapped in sci-fi clothes, enchanting to both children and adults. Incredibly manipulative, but irresistible.
“E.T. is our generation's Wizard of Oz,” says the film’s star Dee Wallace Stone. “It touched everyone's heart and allowed them to feel, believe and love. We laughed. We cried. We loved. How much better can it get?”
E.T. Fun Facts: 1. The little girl who plays Gertie grew up to be the hottie in Fever Pitch. 2. E.T. is really some sort of puppet. 3. Jewish director Spielberg felt so guilty for filming this Christ metaphor that he made a whole movie about the Holocaust. 4. The 2002 re-release was colorized. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: With this unabashed family film added to the list of summer blockbusters, Hollywood started to realize that any type of movie can make over 100 million dollars, as long as people like it. Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – Needless digital tampering may have improved clunky f/x, but damage the film’s purity.
9. FINDING NEMO “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.” – Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) Year of Release: 2003 Domestic Box office: $339,714,367 Why Was it So Great: Yeah, it’s a movie about a guy searching for a lost kid, as well as a road movie and a buddy comedy ala Midnight Run. But what makes this a great Summer Movie – aside from the fact that it’s very well written and acted – is that it takes place almost entirely underwater. Summer, to many of us, means beaches, oceans, etc., and Nemo has lots and lots of beautiful blue water. More than The Abyss. More than the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Even more than that chick surfer movie. Even when Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Dory are getting stung by jellyfish, or when Nemo (Alexander Gould) is stuck in the filter, we feel calm and relaxed because of all the flowing tropical colors. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Continued domination of CGanime features over traditional anime. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Hasn’t aged a bit.
10. BATMAN “I have given a name to my pain, and it is Batman.” – The Joker (Jack Nicholson) Year of Release: 1989 Domestic Box office: $251,188,924 Why Was it So Great: Superman (1978) introduced the idea of making movies about superheroes into big budget, all-star special events. Batman revived that idea, casting movie stars like Nicholson, Kim Basinger and Robert Wuhl -- er, Michael Gough in major roles. But it was the decision to hire (of all people) the team behind the hit supernatural comedy Beetlejuice as the leading creative forces that make Batman what it is, and surprisingly, it all works very well. Danny Elfman’s score is big movie music but has an edge to it. Michael Keaton brings a lot of humanity to his Bruce Wayne, and lets the costume do the work for him as Batman. And Tim Burton brings his unique visual genius as director. Together, they gave us, for the first time, a Batman adults could love. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Made comic-book movie adaptations a regular part of the season. Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – We expect better action scenes from superhero flicks these days (see next entry).
11. SPIDER-MAN “You do too much -- college, a job, all this time with me... You're not Superman, you know.” – Aunt May Parker (Rosemary Harris) Year of Release: 2002 Domestic Box office: $403,706,375 Why Was it So Great: Around the turn of the century, we found that because of advances in digital special effects, the movies can now show us anything that can be imagined. However, we also learned that that didn’t necessarily make for great movies – CGI could bring skeletal mummies to life, or put Bruce Willis on a runaway comet, but it still takes great writing, acting and direction to make a great movie. Spider-Man has it all. Sam Raimi understands that the character’s appeal is multifaceted, and gave us a superhero movie with great pathos, humor, romance and action. The film’s technical achievements just build on all that, making a great movie even better.
“It excited me about what you can do with visual effects and how you can make a great superhero movie,” says Daredevil/Ghost Rider director Mark Steven Johnson. “That was the first movie that really got the emotion right. I love Peter Parker and I love Mary Jane and I loved seeing them come to life.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Greenlighted even more Marvel superhero movies Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Matched only by its excellent sequel
12. DIE HARD “Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.” – John McClane (Bruce Willis) Year of Release: 1988 Domestic Box office: $81,350,242 Why Was it So Great: Television made Bruce Willis a star and, as ridiculous as it may seem now, in 1988 no one gave him very good odds of being a movie star. What’s more, Willis’ NYPD cop was a bit off the beam from the aging anti-terrorism expert hero of Roderick Thorp’s source novel. But John McTiernan’s movie combines a wisecracking, vulnerable Willis very well with an expertly crafted, tightly wound clockwork plot that still takes advantage of every opportunity for fierce action. We can take for granted that a superman like Rambo could conquer a platoon of thugs holding an office tower hostage. But when a funny and clever human like McClane does it – barefoot and bleeding all the way – we take him into our hearts. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: A smart action movie could be just as successful as a dumb one. Title became slang for its “man-in-a-box” plot. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Only a few 1980s references date it.
13. FAHRENHEIT 9/11 “I'm a war President!” – President George W. Bush (George W. Bush) Year of Release: 2004 Domestic Box office: $119,194,771 Why Was it So Great: Michael Moore is not an ideal documentarian, better at showing his passion and sense of humor than presenting a clear message against Gulf War II in this powerful film. He often strays from that message in his most successful work, overstating criticism – is anyone watching really pro-war? – and using unfair tactics in ambushing congressmen on the issue. On the other hand, he’s almost lenient when discrediting President Bush. The list of Bush’s failings, from his attendance record in office (on vacation 42% of the time) to his waffling on defense issues (the “war president” supported huge cuts in soldier and veteran benefits), could have been much longer. A purely Bush-bashing film would’ve been much easier to make, and had a lot more jokes. Moore sees the issues as being much bigger, and wants us to see them that way, too.
“What amazed me the most about this movie was that the Bush administration never responded to the film or even tried to deny the charges it so strongly presented,” says Re-Animator/King of the Ants director Stuart Gordon. “Instead Michael Moore was dismissed as a ‘propagandist’ in the press and labeled a traitor. They couldn't argue with the film because it was all true and they knew it.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: A documentary as a Summer Movie blockbuster? Does it Still Hold Up Today (***) – Bush is still in the White House. Well, when he’s not on vacation. But this will never have the same white hot relevance it had in the summer of 2004 (and an election year, no less).
14. BLADE RUNNER “The report read ‘Routine retirement of a replicant.’ That didn't make me feel any better about shooting a woman in the back.” – Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) Year of Release: 1982 Domestic Box office: $27,580,111 Why Was it So Great: A futuristic sci-fi opus with one of the leads from Star Wars? Cool, bring on the popcorn! At least that’s what everyone thought. But when Ridley Scott delivered a daring film based on a Philip K. Dick story that was more about ideas than action, execs at Warner Bros. were a bit perplexed. Adding some voiceover narration and doing some editing to emphasize the story’s detective/film noir aspects didn’t help any, and the film failed to earn back its budget. But the core audience that saw this tale of a future where the line between real and artificial people has begun to dissolve was impressed, and the film’s reputation has grown steadily ever since.
“The concept is so strong, and I think that it often gets overlooked today,” says Skeleton Key director Iain Softley. “Today’s movies, there’s a lot of cutting to the chase, but there was a lot of peripheral detail in that world that is memorable to this day. Plus Rutger Hauer’s speech at the end is a piece of poetry. “ Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: An example of a big Summer Movie that wasn’t very big until long after it was released. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Works even better now than in 1982, especially in the director’s cut that has supplanted the release version.
15. BACK TO THE FUTURE “Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?” – Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) Year of Release: 1985 Box office: $210,609,762 (USA) Why Was it So Great: With a brisk pace and just enough plot complications to keep things humming, this perfect date movie is extremely watchable, the kind of flick you’re drawn into every time you come across it on television. Michael J. Fox possesses the same screen appeal as a young Mickey Rooney or Jimmy Stewart, feisty and witty, but hapless and endearing as well. Put him in the middle of a cute time travel tale that breeds jokes, along with a great supporting cast, and the audience can’t get enough. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Inspired a long string of comedies with TV stars and a far-out concept. Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – Jokes about Tab and Pepsi Free date it a bit 20 years later. Anybody for a remake?
16. FRIDAY THE 13th “Doomed... You're all doomed.” – Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $39,754,601 Why Was it So Great: Some of the best horror movies have the same simple appeal as a ghost story told around a campfire, a fact referenced in a scene where campers tell ghost stories around a campfire. Everyone who has ever been camping has felt a little afraid at night – it’s a part of human hardware. Other movies may have already exploited the theory, but Friday the 13th actually takes place in a summer camp where people are being killed one by one. What a great idea! The filmmakers got a bit too clever with a whodunit plot that excluded a great villain, but they made up for that with the first sequel. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: An avalanche of slasher movies that never stops. Does it Still Hold Up Today (***) – Subsequent sequels and other slasher movies have surpassed it. New viewers expect Jason.
17. INDEPENDENCE DAY “Let's kick the tires and light the fires, big daddy!” – Capt. Jimmy Wilder (Harry Connick, Jr.) Year of Release: 1996 Domestic Box office: $306,124,059 Why Was it So Great: Everybody loves fireworks, and Americans especially love them on the Fourth of July. This movie gave us plenty!
“I just remember it being a big to-do, and everybody going to the theaters, and it was packed,” recalls Red Eye actress Rachel McAdams. “It was a fun, fun summer movie.”
One of the greatest alien invasion epics ever made, ID4 (as the terrific ad campaign dubbed it) has a large cast of likeable, recognizable actors engaging in all sorts of fun bits of business; a wonderful buildup swiped from Arthur Clarke’s Childhood’s End; imaginative and creepy aliens, and of course, lots and lots of things blowing up. Okay, so it’s a knock-off of War of the Worlds – but it’s a kick-ASS knock-off. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Stopped Hollywood from making any more sci-fi/action movies where lots of stuff blows up. Just kidding. Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – Real remake of the War of the Worlds may diminish its spectacle.
18. GLADIATOR “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?” – Maximus (Russell Crowe) Year of Release: 2000 Domestic Box office: $187,670,866 Why Was it So Great: One may quibble with just how historically accurate ancient Rome is portrayed in this movie – beautifully rendered via CGI, it still looks more like rebuilt ruins than the garish metropolis it was. But one can’t quibble with the film’s entertainment value. Where most sword and sandal epics save their huge battle scenes for the end, this one puts it right at the beginning, and with the lead character established, the film follows him through his various adventures. It had been a long time since Hollywood had produced a star-studded epic set in the Roman Empire era, and when this became a hit, studios thought that’s what people wanted. Nope. People want a good story well played, and Gladiator delivers. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Lots more hysterical, historical sword swinging. Does it Still Hold Up Today (***) – Viewed more now as one of many such sword and sandal movies.
19. SHREK “You, uh... you don't entertain much, do you?” – Donkey (Eddie Murphy) Year of Release: 2001 Domestic Box office: $267,652,016 Why Was it So Great: A grumpy ogre and his unwanted donkey companion are coerced into undertaking a quest to rescue a captive princess from a dragon, but find that the quest – and the princess – are not what they seem. Animation studios have been building cartoon characters around known personalities since the 1940s, and Shrek follows the tradition of using big name stars as the voice cast. Would Shrek still work if it was cast with anonymous voice actors? Probably. But these people became stars because of their personalities, and their personalities come through in their performances, aided greatly by DreamWorks’ 3-D animators. Thus, the movie’s comic storybook plot is enacted by Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow in different bodies!
"Shrek was the perfect summer movie because it was the first to finally put an exploding bird, rats-on-a-stick and a Bob Dylan tune together in the same film,” says Eric Darnell co-director of Madagascar. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: More CGanime features, including Shrek 2. Also, Shrek’s green face on every known retail product. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Timeless.
20. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT “I am so scared! I don't know what's out there. We are going to die out here! I am so scared!” – Heather Donahue (Heather Donahue) Year of Release: 1999 Domestic Box office: $140,530,114 Why Was it So Great: Remember back in the Friday the 13th entry when we were talking about campfire ghost stories? This movie distills the concept to perfection by removing even the camp from the equation, putting our babes directly in the woods. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez added extra layers of immediacy by giving his cast of three actors – Donahue, Josh Leonard and Michael Williams as an amateurish documentary crew searching for the title legend in the New Jersey wilderness – minimal instructions and orders to stay in character and keep filming. The result: by absorbing the viewer in a first person viewpoint, the character’s sense of unease, panic and ultimate horror becomes our own. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Mockumentary becomes the national pastime. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – New viewers still totally creeped, even at home – as long as the lights are out.
21. JURASSIC PARK “I spared no expenses.” – John Hammond (Richard Attenborough)Year of Release: 1993 Domestic Box office: $357,067,947 Why Was it So Great: Remember how we said Steven Spielberg has a terrific instinct for what an audience wants to see in a movie? No?!? Did you start reading in the middle of the article? Well, here he reacts to a yearning within many people to see live dinosaurs. Working from Michael Crichton’s story, Spielberg lets us have it both ways. Characters in the movie want to see dinosaurs as much as we do, find a way to make that happen and suffer from the unfortunate end results when the darn things break loose and start eating folks. Despite some discussion of natural law and chaos theory, the script is disappointingly jokey and predictable. But the main attraction here is just seeing these extinct beasts, beautifully rendered by all the power of modern special effects. In other words: how much plot does a zoo need? Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: More dinosaurs (and other monsters)! Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – F/X have improved, so viewers aren’t quite as forgiving of any of the film’s faults.
22. THE THING “I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is.” – Clark (Richard Masur) Year of Release: 1982 Domestic Box office: $13,782,838 Why Was it So Great: A Summer Movie set in the winter – in Antarctica?? That’s right, but the deep chill you’re feeling has nothing to do with the temperature. Director John Carpenter gives a fright film almost the equal of his Halloween with a second take on John W. Campbell Jr.’s classic story “Who Goes There?”, delivering all of the story’s psychological unease, and adding on a relentless string of shocks. Like Christian Nyby’s first version The Thing From Another World (1951), Carpenter’s film features an excellent ensemble giving natural performances in outré circumstances. But his crew isn’t quite as garrulous, heightening the pressure cooker atmosphere as a shape-shifting alien monster infiltrates a remote scientific research station, threatening all life on Earth. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Minimal, due to low profits, but creative influence shows in hundreds of films that followed. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Thrills are based on psychological story, and f/x still hold up.
23. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY “Chill out, dickwad.” – The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) Year of Release: 1991 Domestic Box office: $204,843,350 Why Was it So Great: James Cameron’s The Terminator was a B-level action thriller with the bodybuilder star of Conan the Barbarian as its villain. But it made a believer out of everyone that saw it. For the sequel, Cameron poured in buckets of money. But he also poured in a lot of other powerful ingredients, including his lead actor Schwarzenegger (now a superstar – and the movie’s hero), lead actress Linda Hamilton (now a feminist icon), and some new special effects tricks. The time travel plot isn’t strictly logical, but it made possible a great adventure that raised the bar for big budget modern action epics. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Broke the $100 million budget barrier and won. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Still one of the best sci-fi action movies ever made.
24. CADDYSHACK “You're rather attractive for a beautiful girl with a great body.” – Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $39,800,000 Why Was it So Great: After Animal House, filmmakers scrambled to engineer the same kind of comedy hit, but no one came up with quite the same kind of magic until those same guys (Harold Ramis and Doug Kenney, along with Brian-Doyle Murray) came up with this simple idea for a golf course comedy. The main plot about a poor caddy trying to golf his way into a future is forgettable. What makes this movie so great is its easygoing rambling into the antics of all the characters: from Chevy Chase’s slacker golf pro, to Rodney Dangerfield’s society invader and Bill Murray’s psycho groundskeeper, the laughs just refuse to let up. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Career Viagra for Bill Murray. Not so much for the rest of the cast, though. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Yep. Funny rules.
25. THE BLUES BROTHERS “We're on a mission from God.” – Elwood Blues (Dan Akroyd) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $57,229,890 Why Was it So Great: Nowadays, the idea of Not Ready For Prime Time Players turning their Saturday Night Live skit characters into feature films is kind of a joke due to the great number that have failed. Well, kids, there’s a reason why so many of these get a shot, and that reason is The Blues Brothers.
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi loved blues music, and created characters to perform it on stage and TV. Then Aykroyd and John Landis (Animal House) turned the concept into a story idea that grew and grew to hilarious proportions. A plot about a pair of seedy Bluesmen trying to put their band back together was given a mock spiritual aspect when the boys are born again and go on a holy quest to save the Catholic orphanage that raised them. The climax features a chase sequence that holds the record for destroyed police cars. And if you never got a chance to visit Chicago in the 1970s, then this movie is the next best thing.
“I think one of the reasons it connected so well with its audience, including me, is its complete sense of anarchy: the mass destruction of the authoritarian regime was wonderfully and hilariously realized on the freeways, in shopping malls, in high-rises, all done straight-faced and behind sunglasses and unsmiling heroes,” says Desperation director Mick Garris. “Plus, the music was killer and they really blowed shit up real good.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: More TV skits become movies. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – As timeless as the blues.
Slightly warmer today…but not by much, at least, there wasn’t ice on the car…
Smallville last night was mostly crapsville…took too long to get anywhere and the ads lied- nobody died. Braniac supposedly did but I’m not buying it…although Spike was prettey decent in it…the only good thing in the episode- too bad they’ve finished with his storyline for now…I have a bad feeling we’re in for a run of some bad episodes…time to switch to Alias…
SUPERMAN RETURNS teaser was just that a teaser…but like cleavage and whale tail- it was a damn good tease…90% of what made it work was the old John Williams music, though…and Brandon Routh seems to make a good impersonation of Chris Reeve…really hope the movie’s good- I kinda like the original Donner movie, the first half of the movie is great but Gene Hackman just ruins everything for me…
Read the new Runaways comic last night- this is what a good superhero comic is like folks…especially like the little comments about Sol Cal natives in snowy weather and ‘interesting’ Mexican cuisine- so far I have not found any pickles in the Tex-Mex food here…
FROM CINESCAPE:
So without further ado, CINESCAPE’s 25 Greatest Summer Movies of all Time.
1. JAWS ”Well, this is not a boat accident. It wasn't any propeller, it wasn't any coral reef, and it wasn't Jack the Ripper. It was a shark.” – Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) Year of Release: 1975 Domestic Box office: $260,000,000 Why Was it So Great: A terrorized community. Three men thrown together by crisis to face an apparently supernatural enemy. This is the stuff of myth, but Steven Spielberg, working from the best-selling novel by Peter Benchley, brought it down to earth just enough, letting us feel as if we knew these people, this community, and shared their experience when this mysterious creature invaded.
The main character may have been a policeman, but as portrayed by Roy Scheider, Chief Martin Brody seemed like he could be anybody. The colorful shark experts Quint (Robert Shaw) and Hooper were a bit out of the ordinary, but Brody was just a guy who moved to a small town and took a job as head cop to support his family until something better came along. Benchley trimmed his story down to essentials for the screenplay. (Did you know that Ellen Brody and Matt Hooper had an affair? Check out the book’s sexy padding.)
Spielberg delivered the goods with intelligence and craftsmanship, since, above all, he usually has a terrific instinct for what an audience wants to see in a movie. Just as Alfred Hitchcock made people afraid that they’d be attacked in the shower after seeing Psycho, Spielberg made people afraid of the ocean. A lot of people were even afraid of wading pools!
It seems like sharks were a minor concern before Jaws – sailors and bathers in the oceans had to watch out for them, but unless you’d encountered them firsthand (or foot), you didn’t think about them much. In movies, you’d occasionally see a diver being menaced by one, or see pirates fed to them, but they weren’t a major menace. But Jaws changed all that. As word spread of lines forming outside of theaters, local TV news crews scrambled to find shark bite victims to interview, promising “a real life Jaws” in promos. Producers slapped together as much stock footage of sharks as they could find for “true life” documentaries (a practice that has exploded into “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel – they’ll have a whole Shark Channel next). Stores began to fill up with cheap shark-themed merchandise. Local newspapers put t-shirt iron-ons in their Sunday editions featuring drawings of Great White sharks and messages like “Sharks like people.” The USA had never seen this kind of furor over a movie – it was like Jaws was the Beatles of cinema.
“I think that was one of the great American classics,” says Red Eye director Wes Craven. “I saw it in a theater out in Long Island, which is essentially the place where it took place and the whole summer everybody was running in and out of the ocean in panic ever time someone screamed shark. It made such an affect on the whole. We were laughing and scared at the same time. You can watch that movie over and over again and it’s just a classic.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Dominating popular culture throughout the summer of ’75, as well as infiltrating all forms of media, Jaws created the Summer Movie Blockbuster as we know it. By the end of the year, Hollywood studios were trying to figure out how to get another Jaws into theaters next summer. The movie business would never be the same. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) Like we said before, all movies must be weighed against Jaws.
2. STAR WARS - EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE “Use the Force, Luke,” – Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) Year of Release: 1977 Domestic Box office: $460,935,665 (gross includes 1997 special edition) Why Was it So Great: George Lucas knew that audiences wanted to see a really, really FUN movie, the kind of movie they hadn’t received from Hollywood in a long time. A typical ‘70s feature ends with all the main characters dead. Lucas gave them something old (serial-style thrills) combined with something new (state-of-the-art f/x and an expansive sci-fi universe). The result was a movie folks wanted to see again the next day, and many of them did.
“I was in high school and it was the first time you really felt a dynamic with the audience going on that you never felt before,” says Charlie and the Chocolate Factory director Tim Burton. “It’s really the first ‘modern’ [movie] I can remember.” Lasting Impact on Summer Moviegoing: Before Star Wars, a science fiction adventure was rarely considered anything other than a silly low budget affair. Afterward, it became the leading fixture of the Summer blockbuster mentality for studios and audiences alike. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Although this point is debatable, since you need to identify which Star Wars you’re talking about. But despite George Lucas’ occasional revamping, the essential core film remains a winner.
3. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK “It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.” – Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) Year of Release: 1981 Domestic Box office: $242,374,454 Why Was it So Great: If George Lucas was inspired by movie adventure serials for Star Wars, he and Steven Spielberg (along with writing buddies Philip Kaufman and Lawrence Kasdan) all but recreated them with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Professor. Indiana Jones was a typical 1930s chapterplay hero – an All-American guy who just happens to have a job that gets him into dangerous situations. Okay, cliffhanging isn’t usually part of an anthropologist’s day, but in the movies it comes with the territory, especially when the artifact you’re hunting for is a powerful biblical icon that the Nazis are after, too. Raiders gives us memorable characters and keeps them in action from beginning to end.
“The whole vibe, the whole nostalgia of the time, it’s got a wink to you,” says The Island director Michael Bay about its lasting impact. “Harrison Ford was such the everyday guy who was a hero. He was really accessible and had some fun about himself. The Nazi’s were so super evil, it was like a comic book.” Lasting Impact on Summer Moviegoing: Forever redefined the term “action-packed”. Now even James Bond movies have to have chapterplay-style thrills. Also the first film to combine action & horror in a big way. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – still the best of the Jones films
4. STAR WARS - EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK “You'll find I'm full of surprises.” – Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $290,158,751 (gross includes 1997 special edition) Why Was it So Great: George Lucas blew away audiences with the first chapter of the Star Wars saga, but while everyone expected more of the same from the sequel, Lucas (with director Irvin Kershner and company) delivered more than we bargained for in every way. Despite the fact that it ends in multiple cliffhangers, Empire has a satisfying mix of drama, humor, action, and special effects – all more advanced than that of the previous chapter. New planets, new characters, new creatures – everything was expanded but still built on the same fantastic universe. We couldn’t wait to see more.
“It was a little more grown-up,” says Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan. “Everything I had found a bit disconcerting about it as a ten-year-old made a lot more sense to me later on. I would definitely rank it as the best now, but I have to say the first one still has a special place in my heart.” Lasting Impact on Summer Moviegoing: Never again would a sequel be necessarily expected to be inferior to the original. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Whatever version you choose remains vital.
5. ALIEN “You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.” – Ash (Ian Holm) Year of Release: 1979 Domestic Box office: $78,944,891 Why Was it So Great: Hey, Lucas & Spielberg! Time to give somebody else a chance on the list! Boiled down to its simplest form, there’s really nothing new about Alien. It’s exactly as pitched: a haunted house movie in space.
“Ridley is a terrific filmmaker and took the material seriously and did it right,” says Land of the Dead director George A. Romero.
You can point to It!, The Terror From Beyond Space, Planet of the Vampires and Queen of Blood as direct inspiration, but Alien is essentially an update of Cat and the Canary. Maybe that’s why it works so well. Or maybe it’s all the trimmings. The idea of working class space travel that had been brewing for years in movies like Silent Running is perfected here, setting up a crew of space truckers as prey for a classic monster in a perfectly believable space castle. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Science fiction and horror are no longer necessarily separate categories – and can combine for big returns. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Yep. Especially in the restored directors cut.
6. ANIMAL HOUSE “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” – Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon) Year of Release: 1978 Domestic Box office: $141,600,000 Why Was it So Great: National Lampoon was the premiere humor magazine of the 1970s. Unlike today’s National Lampoon movies, which only bear the brand name of the magazine, Animal House was created by writers and performers from the magazine and radio show, successfully translating their irreverent style onto the screen in a tale drawn from their own university experiences.
“That movie amazingly still holds up whether it’s nostalgic for me, or for my son who saw it and loved it,” says Young Blades creator Billy Brown. “He’s 14, almost 15 and it seemed to work for him. I think that’s true for any great film. It will stand the test of time, but there’s not a lot of them any more.”
Directed by John Landis, who’d proved to be a kindred soul through Schlock and Kentucky Fried Movie, it reinvented the teen comedy genre with an adult sensibility. Set in an infamous frat house in 1962, it’s almost like it’s the story of what the Beach Party characters might’ve been like when they weren’t on vacation. That is, if Frankie and Annette were having drunken sexual relations on the football field. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Changed comedies forever. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – College is still college.
7. AIRPLANE! “Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash.” – Jack Kirkpatrick (William Tregoe) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $83,400,000 Why Was it So Great: Imagine a MAD magazine parody of a lame 1970s Airport sequel about a troubled passenger flight to Chicago, only on film with actors instead of drawings on a page with type, and it takes 88 minutes to read it. Now imagine it’s much funnier than you can imagine, with the cast populated by familiar character actors and the jokes coming so fast you can’t laugh at them all the first time through. Now imagine that a duck is deaf, but knows how to read lips, and yet can’t tell what the other ducks are saying because they don’t have lips. Now stop imagining, wipe that stupid look off your face and go see Airplane! again.
“Airplane! came out when I was writing for Saturday Night Live,” says Young Blades creator Dan Angel. “I saw it in New York, and nobody had made a movie quite like that, but it harkened back to the Marx Brothers’ movies where you could have a movie full of ridiculous gags and just enjoy it on that level.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: The first brainchild of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team, every movie spoof is judged against it. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Surely it’s just as funny now as ever.
8. E.T. – THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL “Maybe it was a pervert or a deformed kid or something.” – Michael (Robert MacNaughton) Year of Release: 1982 Domestic Box office: $434,949,459 (gross includes 2002 special edition) Why Was it So Great: A hapless spaceman, accidentally left on Earth, bonds with the suburban boy that takes him in. A fable wrapped in sci-fi clothes, enchanting to both children and adults. Incredibly manipulative, but irresistible.
“E.T. is our generation's Wizard of Oz,” says the film’s star Dee Wallace Stone. “It touched everyone's heart and allowed them to feel, believe and love. We laughed. We cried. We loved. How much better can it get?”
E.T. Fun Facts: 1. The little girl who plays Gertie grew up to be the hottie in Fever Pitch. 2. E.T. is really some sort of puppet. 3. Jewish director Spielberg felt so guilty for filming this Christ metaphor that he made a whole movie about the Holocaust. 4. The 2002 re-release was colorized. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: With this unabashed family film added to the list of summer blockbusters, Hollywood started to realize that any type of movie can make over 100 million dollars, as long as people like it. Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – Needless digital tampering may have improved clunky f/x, but damage the film’s purity.
9. FINDING NEMO “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.” – Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) Year of Release: 2003 Domestic Box office: $339,714,367 Why Was it So Great: Yeah, it’s a movie about a guy searching for a lost kid, as well as a road movie and a buddy comedy ala Midnight Run. But what makes this a great Summer Movie – aside from the fact that it’s very well written and acted – is that it takes place almost entirely underwater. Summer, to many of us, means beaches, oceans, etc., and Nemo has lots and lots of beautiful blue water. More than The Abyss. More than the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Even more than that chick surfer movie. Even when Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Dory are getting stung by jellyfish, or when Nemo (Alexander Gould) is stuck in the filter, we feel calm and relaxed because of all the flowing tropical colors. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Continued domination of CGanime features over traditional anime. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Hasn’t aged a bit.
10. BATMAN “I have given a name to my pain, and it is Batman.” – The Joker (Jack Nicholson) Year of Release: 1989 Domestic Box office: $251,188,924 Why Was it So Great: Superman (1978) introduced the idea of making movies about superheroes into big budget, all-star special events. Batman revived that idea, casting movie stars like Nicholson, Kim Basinger and Robert Wuhl -- er, Michael Gough in major roles. But it was the decision to hire (of all people) the team behind the hit supernatural comedy Beetlejuice as the leading creative forces that make Batman what it is, and surprisingly, it all works very well. Danny Elfman’s score is big movie music but has an edge to it. Michael Keaton brings a lot of humanity to his Bruce Wayne, and lets the costume do the work for him as Batman. And Tim Burton brings his unique visual genius as director. Together, they gave us, for the first time, a Batman adults could love. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Made comic-book movie adaptations a regular part of the season. Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – We expect better action scenes from superhero flicks these days (see next entry).
11. SPIDER-MAN “You do too much -- college, a job, all this time with me... You're not Superman, you know.” – Aunt May Parker (Rosemary Harris) Year of Release: 2002 Domestic Box office: $403,706,375 Why Was it So Great: Around the turn of the century, we found that because of advances in digital special effects, the movies can now show us anything that can be imagined. However, we also learned that that didn’t necessarily make for great movies – CGI could bring skeletal mummies to life, or put Bruce Willis on a runaway comet, but it still takes great writing, acting and direction to make a great movie. Spider-Man has it all. Sam Raimi understands that the character’s appeal is multifaceted, and gave us a superhero movie with great pathos, humor, romance and action. The film’s technical achievements just build on all that, making a great movie even better.
“It excited me about what you can do with visual effects and how you can make a great superhero movie,” says Daredevil/Ghost Rider director Mark Steven Johnson. “That was the first movie that really got the emotion right. I love Peter Parker and I love Mary Jane and I loved seeing them come to life.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Greenlighted even more Marvel superhero movies Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Matched only by its excellent sequel
12. DIE HARD “Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.” – John McClane (Bruce Willis) Year of Release: 1988 Domestic Box office: $81,350,242 Why Was it So Great: Television made Bruce Willis a star and, as ridiculous as it may seem now, in 1988 no one gave him very good odds of being a movie star. What’s more, Willis’ NYPD cop was a bit off the beam from the aging anti-terrorism expert hero of Roderick Thorp’s source novel. But John McTiernan’s movie combines a wisecracking, vulnerable Willis very well with an expertly crafted, tightly wound clockwork plot that still takes advantage of every opportunity for fierce action. We can take for granted that a superman like Rambo could conquer a platoon of thugs holding an office tower hostage. But when a funny and clever human like McClane does it – barefoot and bleeding all the way – we take him into our hearts. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: A smart action movie could be just as successful as a dumb one. Title became slang for its “man-in-a-box” plot. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Only a few 1980s references date it.
13. FAHRENHEIT 9/11 “I'm a war President!” – President George W. Bush (George W. Bush) Year of Release: 2004 Domestic Box office: $119,194,771 Why Was it So Great: Michael Moore is not an ideal documentarian, better at showing his passion and sense of humor than presenting a clear message against Gulf War II in this powerful film. He often strays from that message in his most successful work, overstating criticism – is anyone watching really pro-war? – and using unfair tactics in ambushing congressmen on the issue. On the other hand, he’s almost lenient when discrediting President Bush. The list of Bush’s failings, from his attendance record in office (on vacation 42% of the time) to his waffling on defense issues (the “war president” supported huge cuts in soldier and veteran benefits), could have been much longer. A purely Bush-bashing film would’ve been much easier to make, and had a lot more jokes. Moore sees the issues as being much bigger, and wants us to see them that way, too.
“What amazed me the most about this movie was that the Bush administration never responded to the film or even tried to deny the charges it so strongly presented,” says Re-Animator/King of the Ants director Stuart Gordon. “Instead Michael Moore was dismissed as a ‘propagandist’ in the press and labeled a traitor. They couldn't argue with the film because it was all true and they knew it.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: A documentary as a Summer Movie blockbuster? Does it Still Hold Up Today (***) – Bush is still in the White House. Well, when he’s not on vacation. But this will never have the same white hot relevance it had in the summer of 2004 (and an election year, no less).
14. BLADE RUNNER “The report read ‘Routine retirement of a replicant.’ That didn't make me feel any better about shooting a woman in the back.” – Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) Year of Release: 1982 Domestic Box office: $27,580,111 Why Was it So Great: A futuristic sci-fi opus with one of the leads from Star Wars? Cool, bring on the popcorn! At least that’s what everyone thought. But when Ridley Scott delivered a daring film based on a Philip K. Dick story that was more about ideas than action, execs at Warner Bros. were a bit perplexed. Adding some voiceover narration and doing some editing to emphasize the story’s detective/film noir aspects didn’t help any, and the film failed to earn back its budget. But the core audience that saw this tale of a future where the line between real and artificial people has begun to dissolve was impressed, and the film’s reputation has grown steadily ever since.
“The concept is so strong, and I think that it often gets overlooked today,” says Skeleton Key director Iain Softley. “Today’s movies, there’s a lot of cutting to the chase, but there was a lot of peripheral detail in that world that is memorable to this day. Plus Rutger Hauer’s speech at the end is a piece of poetry. “ Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: An example of a big Summer Movie that wasn’t very big until long after it was released. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Works even better now than in 1982, especially in the director’s cut that has supplanted the release version.
15. BACK TO THE FUTURE “Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?” – Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) Year of Release: 1985 Box office: $210,609,762 (USA) Why Was it So Great: With a brisk pace and just enough plot complications to keep things humming, this perfect date movie is extremely watchable, the kind of flick you’re drawn into every time you come across it on television. Michael J. Fox possesses the same screen appeal as a young Mickey Rooney or Jimmy Stewart, feisty and witty, but hapless and endearing as well. Put him in the middle of a cute time travel tale that breeds jokes, along with a great supporting cast, and the audience can’t get enough. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Inspired a long string of comedies with TV stars and a far-out concept. Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – Jokes about Tab and Pepsi Free date it a bit 20 years later. Anybody for a remake?
16. FRIDAY THE 13th “Doomed... You're all doomed.” – Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $39,754,601 Why Was it So Great: Some of the best horror movies have the same simple appeal as a ghost story told around a campfire, a fact referenced in a scene where campers tell ghost stories around a campfire. Everyone who has ever been camping has felt a little afraid at night – it’s a part of human hardware. Other movies may have already exploited the theory, but Friday the 13th actually takes place in a summer camp where people are being killed one by one. What a great idea! The filmmakers got a bit too clever with a whodunit plot that excluded a great villain, but they made up for that with the first sequel. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: An avalanche of slasher movies that never stops. Does it Still Hold Up Today (***) – Subsequent sequels and other slasher movies have surpassed it. New viewers expect Jason.
17. INDEPENDENCE DAY “Let's kick the tires and light the fires, big daddy!” – Capt. Jimmy Wilder (Harry Connick, Jr.) Year of Release: 1996 Domestic Box office: $306,124,059 Why Was it So Great: Everybody loves fireworks, and Americans especially love them on the Fourth of July. This movie gave us plenty!
“I just remember it being a big to-do, and everybody going to the theaters, and it was packed,” recalls Red Eye actress Rachel McAdams. “It was a fun, fun summer movie.”
One of the greatest alien invasion epics ever made, ID4 (as the terrific ad campaign dubbed it) has a large cast of likeable, recognizable actors engaging in all sorts of fun bits of business; a wonderful buildup swiped from Arthur Clarke’s Childhood’s End; imaginative and creepy aliens, and of course, lots and lots of things blowing up. Okay, so it’s a knock-off of War of the Worlds – but it’s a kick-ASS knock-off. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Stopped Hollywood from making any more sci-fi/action movies where lots of stuff blows up. Just kidding. Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – Real remake of the War of the Worlds may diminish its spectacle.
18. GLADIATOR “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?” – Maximus (Russell Crowe) Year of Release: 2000 Domestic Box office: $187,670,866 Why Was it So Great: One may quibble with just how historically accurate ancient Rome is portrayed in this movie – beautifully rendered via CGI, it still looks more like rebuilt ruins than the garish metropolis it was. But one can’t quibble with the film’s entertainment value. Where most sword and sandal epics save their huge battle scenes for the end, this one puts it right at the beginning, and with the lead character established, the film follows him through his various adventures. It had been a long time since Hollywood had produced a star-studded epic set in the Roman Empire era, and when this became a hit, studios thought that’s what people wanted. Nope. People want a good story well played, and Gladiator delivers. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Lots more hysterical, historical sword swinging. Does it Still Hold Up Today (***) – Viewed more now as one of many such sword and sandal movies.
19. SHREK “You, uh... you don't entertain much, do you?” – Donkey (Eddie Murphy) Year of Release: 2001 Domestic Box office: $267,652,016 Why Was it So Great: A grumpy ogre and his unwanted donkey companion are coerced into undertaking a quest to rescue a captive princess from a dragon, but find that the quest – and the princess – are not what they seem. Animation studios have been building cartoon characters around known personalities since the 1940s, and Shrek follows the tradition of using big name stars as the voice cast. Would Shrek still work if it was cast with anonymous voice actors? Probably. But these people became stars because of their personalities, and their personalities come through in their performances, aided greatly by DreamWorks’ 3-D animators. Thus, the movie’s comic storybook plot is enacted by Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow in different bodies!
"Shrek was the perfect summer movie because it was the first to finally put an exploding bird, rats-on-a-stick and a Bob Dylan tune together in the same film,” says Eric Darnell co-director of Madagascar. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: More CGanime features, including Shrek 2. Also, Shrek’s green face on every known retail product. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Timeless.
20. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT “I am so scared! I don't know what's out there. We are going to die out here! I am so scared!” – Heather Donahue (Heather Donahue) Year of Release: 1999 Domestic Box office: $140,530,114 Why Was it So Great: Remember back in the Friday the 13th entry when we were talking about campfire ghost stories? This movie distills the concept to perfection by removing even the camp from the equation, putting our babes directly in the woods. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez added extra layers of immediacy by giving his cast of three actors – Donahue, Josh Leonard and Michael Williams as an amateurish documentary crew searching for the title legend in the New Jersey wilderness – minimal instructions and orders to stay in character and keep filming. The result: by absorbing the viewer in a first person viewpoint, the character’s sense of unease, panic and ultimate horror becomes our own. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Mockumentary becomes the national pastime. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – New viewers still totally creeped, even at home – as long as the lights are out.
21. JURASSIC PARK “I spared no expenses.” – John Hammond (Richard Attenborough)Year of Release: 1993 Domestic Box office: $357,067,947 Why Was it So Great: Remember how we said Steven Spielberg has a terrific instinct for what an audience wants to see in a movie? No?!? Did you start reading in the middle of the article? Well, here he reacts to a yearning within many people to see live dinosaurs. Working from Michael Crichton’s story, Spielberg lets us have it both ways. Characters in the movie want to see dinosaurs as much as we do, find a way to make that happen and suffer from the unfortunate end results when the darn things break loose and start eating folks. Despite some discussion of natural law and chaos theory, the script is disappointingly jokey and predictable. But the main attraction here is just seeing these extinct beasts, beautifully rendered by all the power of modern special effects. In other words: how much plot does a zoo need? Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: More dinosaurs (and other monsters)! Does it Still Hold Up Today (****) – F/X have improved, so viewers aren’t quite as forgiving of any of the film’s faults.
22. THE THING “I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is.” – Clark (Richard Masur) Year of Release: 1982 Domestic Box office: $13,782,838 Why Was it So Great: A Summer Movie set in the winter – in Antarctica?? That’s right, but the deep chill you’re feeling has nothing to do with the temperature. Director John Carpenter gives a fright film almost the equal of his Halloween with a second take on John W. Campbell Jr.’s classic story “Who Goes There?”, delivering all of the story’s psychological unease, and adding on a relentless string of shocks. Like Christian Nyby’s first version The Thing From Another World (1951), Carpenter’s film features an excellent ensemble giving natural performances in outré circumstances. But his crew isn’t quite as garrulous, heightening the pressure cooker atmosphere as a shape-shifting alien monster infiltrates a remote scientific research station, threatening all life on Earth. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Minimal, due to low profits, but creative influence shows in hundreds of films that followed. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Thrills are based on psychological story, and f/x still hold up.
23. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY “Chill out, dickwad.” – The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) Year of Release: 1991 Domestic Box office: $204,843,350 Why Was it So Great: James Cameron’s The Terminator was a B-level action thriller with the bodybuilder star of Conan the Barbarian as its villain. But it made a believer out of everyone that saw it. For the sequel, Cameron poured in buckets of money. But he also poured in a lot of other powerful ingredients, including his lead actor Schwarzenegger (now a superstar – and the movie’s hero), lead actress Linda Hamilton (now a feminist icon), and some new special effects tricks. The time travel plot isn’t strictly logical, but it made possible a great adventure that raised the bar for big budget modern action epics. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Broke the $100 million budget barrier and won. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Still one of the best sci-fi action movies ever made.
24. CADDYSHACK “You're rather attractive for a beautiful girl with a great body.” – Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $39,800,000 Why Was it So Great: After Animal House, filmmakers scrambled to engineer the same kind of comedy hit, but no one came up with quite the same kind of magic until those same guys (Harold Ramis and Doug Kenney, along with Brian-Doyle Murray) came up with this simple idea for a golf course comedy. The main plot about a poor caddy trying to golf his way into a future is forgettable. What makes this movie so great is its easygoing rambling into the antics of all the characters: from Chevy Chase’s slacker golf pro, to Rodney Dangerfield’s society invader and Bill Murray’s psycho groundskeeper, the laughs just refuse to let up. Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: Career Viagra for Bill Murray. Not so much for the rest of the cast, though. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – Yep. Funny rules.
25. THE BLUES BROTHERS “We're on a mission from God.” – Elwood Blues (Dan Akroyd) Year of Release: 1980 Domestic Box office: $57,229,890 Why Was it So Great: Nowadays, the idea of Not Ready For Prime Time Players turning their Saturday Night Live skit characters into feature films is kind of a joke due to the great number that have failed. Well, kids, there’s a reason why so many of these get a shot, and that reason is The Blues Brothers.
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi loved blues music, and created characters to perform it on stage and TV. Then Aykroyd and John Landis (Animal House) turned the concept into a story idea that grew and grew to hilarious proportions. A plot about a pair of seedy Bluesmen trying to put their band back together was given a mock spiritual aspect when the boys are born again and go on a holy quest to save the Catholic orphanage that raised them. The climax features a chase sequence that holds the record for destroyed police cars. And if you never got a chance to visit Chicago in the 1970s, then this movie is the next best thing.
“I think one of the reasons it connected so well with its audience, including me, is its complete sense of anarchy: the mass destruction of the authoritarian regime was wonderfully and hilariously realized on the freeways, in shopping malls, in high-rises, all done straight-faced and behind sunglasses and unsmiling heroes,” says Desperation director Mick Garris. “Plus, the music was killer and they really blowed shit up real good.” Lasting Impact of Summer Moviegoing: More TV skits become movies. Does it Still Hold Up Today (*****) – As timeless as the blues.
posted by Catterpillarboy at 5:48 AM
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