With summer vacation -- and Summer Reading -- both quickly approaching, that means we're already firmly entrenched in another annual tradition: the blockbuster movie season.
While there's plenty of money-making movies that come to theaters in the "off-seasons" (Avatar and Titanic are the only movies to ever cross the $2 billion box office mark, and they were both December releases), summer remains the season for big action, big special-effects efforts to crowd into theaters and attempt to win over their audiences.
With the latest entries in the Iron Man, Star Trek, and Fast and the Furious franchises already in theaters, it's shaping up to be a summer filled with superheroes, sci-fi, and high-action blockbuster fun at its best. So while you're waiting for your personally most-hotly-anticipated theater release (or if you've already seen it at the theater), check out our Top Ten list of summer blockbuster classics. (All free and available on DVD @ your library, of course!)
Tracy's Picks:
As you know from earlier posts, this is one of my favorite films of all time. And, for me, it defined the summer of 1977. This swashbuckler disguised as a space opera had it all -- adventure, comedy, heartbreak, and even a hint of romance.
-- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Harrison Ford created another iconic character in archeologist Indiana Jones. This adventure takes us all over the world in the 1930s, as Indy tries to stop the Nazis from discovering the Ark of the Covenant. Along the way, Indy meets old friends -- and an old flame.
-- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Who wouldn’t identify with this adorable little alien who only wants to go home? With help from Elliot and his friends, E.T. manages to be reunited with his ship after some (slightly) scary encounters with the government.
-- Ghostbusters (1984)
Who you gonna call? Three parapsychologists hope that you call them when you encounter a ghost, that’s who! They are hired to remove a ghost from a New York penthouse. The ghost takes the physical shape of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and leaves a lasting impression on the citizens of New York City.
Ms. B's Picks:
-- Batman (1989)
Look, let me be honest: I don't really like this movie. (Quite a hard thing for a die-hard Batman fan like myself to admit!) Michael Keaton's Batman suit makes him move like he's wearing a snowsuit, Jack Nicholson forgoes the roll of the Joker in order to simply play Jack Nicholson, and Tim Burton's Gotham City is more Alice in Wonderland than gothic New York. Yet I appreciate this quirky, box-office-smashing flick for putting Batman back squarely in the public's eye. Without Michael Keaton, there would have been no Christian Bale.
-- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Okay, so there's some kid in this movie, alongside some "Governator" or some such. But let's be honest: the real star of the Terminator movies is Sarah Connor, action heroine extraordinaire. Alongside Sigourney Weaver's kick-butt Ellen Ripley (from Ridley Scott's Alien movies), Sarah Connor is the female action hero done right. She was an ordinary young waitress until the events of the first Terminator movie swept her up into a world of killer androids, time travel, and an A.I. intelligence bent on wiping out the future of the human race ... once it's been invented. (Time travel complicates everything.)
-- Independence Day (1996)
There are two types of aliens in sci-fi stories: the good ones and the bad ones. The aliens of Independence Day definitely fall into the latter category. Showing up one July 2nd, an attack force of visiting aliens promptly begin their attack on Earth, bent on wiping out the humans to take the planet's resources for themselves. Serious subject matter, when you put it that way -- but the summary belies the high-action, high-humor fun that is really what the movie is all about. Watch it for the third act, when Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum band together to save the day with a recovered alien ship and Jeff's trusty Macbook. (It's exactly as much goofy fun as it sounds.)
-- Men in Black (1997)
Independence Day may be fun, but I generally prefer my sci-fi movies to have a little more finesse than that. "Finesse" may not be a word that would most obviously apply to a film like Men in Black, but it's important to take a look at what the movie actually does. Poking fun at sci-fi tropes, conspiracy lore, and life in a big city, Men in Black was, at its premiere, that wholly unusual phenomenon: a truly original Hollywood film. The MIB is the government organization in charge of all the aliens currently living out their lives on planet Earth. Just one hitch: none of the Earthings can know they're there. The bizarrely-awesome comedy that plays out in this story is absolutely not to be missed.
-- The Mummy (1999)
If not for this movie, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. This Indiana Jones-style throwback adventure/horror flick became such a favorite of mine that it inspired my interest in two very different areas. This fun, 1920s-set film is technically a rebooted remake of the Boris Karloff classic, but with its tongue set very firmly in cheek. When a group of adventurers inadvertently disturb the tomb of a cursed Egyptian mummy ... well, you know the rest. Aside from piquing my interest in Egyptian mythology, my admiration for the story's main character inspired me in a different way. The true heroine of the story? Evelyn Carnahan ... a librarian. Who wouldn't want a job like Evy's?
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