Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Just for summer fun, please participate!

This idea is completely stolen from the latest Entertainment Weekly but as I read the piece, I had one of those "moments of clarity" where events of your childhood come flooding back to you.

Remember when you were a kid, how exciting everything would be. How you would totally look forward to even the stupidest things?

The Entertainment Weekly was talking about Summer popcorn flicks. Blockbusters. Unforgettable experiences. These days movies can tend to be long, expensive, and for the most part, forgettable. But what came flooding back to me, was the memories of seeing summer movies at matinees, riding my bike in the scorching heat across the city to catch a double-feature. Watching the same movie 5-10 times before it left town! Thinking back to when I was a kid, I watched A LOT of movies MANY times each. This day and age I am lucky to get out of the house once every few months, or even have enough time to watch a movie on-demand.

So I thought it would be kind of fun to take a blast to the past and list my top-5 all-time summer blockbuster flicks. Feel free to pop up your list, I would be interested to see which movies I omitted!

1. Jurassic Park. I am talking about the original! Firstly, I love the book, and can read it over and over again, but the move, OMG. Check your history books folks, this was THE FIRST digital sound picture. I still remember the preview at the beginning of a giant CD that zooms on the screen, then writing scrolls its way onto the disc "The Digital Experience" and then BAM, the disc explodes all around you! Then you are rewarded with LOUD awesome dinosaurs for the next two hours. Absolutely unforgettable movie-going experience and that flick still holds up today.



2. Die Hard with a Vengeance. YEAH! My best memory of this movie was that was the first movie shown at Bend's (Oregon, look it up) first, stadium-seating, all-digital movie theatre. I love this movie because I thought it was a pretty original idea, lot's of smart twists, and great chemistry with Willis and Sam. I do NOT like the second movie, but this one I probably saw at least 10 times at the theatre and about 25 times overall! The bomb explosion at the very beginning rocked that place.


3. Pulp Fiction. Eh, I am actually unsure if this was a summer pic or not, most admittedly these were hazy days for me, but regardless, this movie sets a new standard, started my love of Quentin Tarantino movies (I later saw Reservoir Dogs, which some argue is better, but I think "Pulp" is the pinnacle). So because I saw this at least seven times (one of which my Dad actually made us walk out!), this is a classic and makes the list.

4. Back to the Future. I was about 7 or so when this came out, so hands down this movie was THE BOMB and I cannot wait until little Jacoby is able to watch these with me for the first time. All three are actually decent, but this one, plus blasting "Power of Love" all summer long, makes it the most memorable for me.


5. Ghostbusters. Why such a small pic? Anyways, THIS movie scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it (I was 6 or 7). I remember the library ghost seen absolutely freaked me out, so much in fact that I would LEAVE THE THEATRE for a few minutes as that scene was played and then go back in. I loved this movie though and probably saw it about 20 times or so...I actually remember seeing it with a double feature of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, as well as View to a Kill, and I believe Back to the Future, once.
If I was to add a modern summer blockbuster to this list I would have to say "Pirates of the Caribbean". This movie came out of left field and blew everybody away. I did not include it because I was in my mid-20's when I saw it, and only twice in the theatre...but I betcha some little kid rode his bike to the theatre and saw it tons!
So what are your top summer blockerbuster flick memories?


7 comments:

  1. I didn't watch all that many movies growing up... the biggest I can remember as a real little kid were the TMNT movies.

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  2. Have you seen Inception yet? Talk about a Blockbuster...

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  3. You reminded me of when I was a kid, and we would sit with our bowl of cereal waiting for the TV test pattern to become the starting of the first day of the new season of fall Saturday cartoons! We'd have the new shows and their channel and time all written down ahead of time, so we knew what to watch and when.

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  4. 1. The Dark Knight
    2. The Dark Knight (it was that awesome)
    3. Jurassic Park
    4. Kung Fu Panda
    5. Mamma Mia

    I was doing research the summer after I graduated when Dark Knight and Mamma Mia came out. So most of my summer movies come from that year.

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  5. 1. Terminator 2
    2. Pirates of the Caribbean (first one)
    3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
    4. The Dark Knight
    5. Batman

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  6. Wow...where to start.

    1. Braveheart
    2. Saving Private Ryan
    3. A Whole bunch tied for third.

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