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Our Favorite Summers: 1993
Filed under: Fandom », Summer Movies »
1993 holds a really special place in my heart for one reason: Jurassic Park. While I had seen some event movies in my 11 short years, there had never been a movie like this. It was the first movie I had to wait in line for -- and the line seemed huge because it actually went outside the Southwest Plaza Mall.
To this day, I don't know when it first appeared on my radar, or how I saw my first bit of footage. All I remember is that T-Rex foot coming down in the mud with a sinister squish, and knowing this was going to be one hell of a movie. And it was. I'll never forget that first shot of the brachiosaurus. I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing. When the shot expanded to the swamp filled with dinosaurs, my mind knew it was that new thing called CGI, but my heart was half-convinced Spielberg really had cloned dinosaurs. It sounds pretentious, but I knew movies were going to never be the same again. This was the future, and I was going to see it. If you could go back in time and tell young Beth that she'd be employed to write constantly about it well, she wouldn't be surprised. She knew she wasn't going to be a paleontologist, anyway.
So large does Jurassic Park loom in my memory that it's kind of funny to see what else was released that summer -- and how drastically the idea of a "summer blockbuster season" has changed since the 90s. Let's revisit, shall we ...
To this day, I don't know when it first appeared on my radar, or how I saw my first bit of footage. All I remember is that T-Rex foot coming down in the mud with a sinister squish, and knowing this was going to be one hell of a movie. And it was. I'll never forget that first shot of the brachiosaurus. I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing. When the shot expanded to the swamp filled with dinosaurs, my mind knew it was that new thing called CGI, but my heart was half-convinced Spielberg really had cloned dinosaurs. It sounds pretentious, but I knew movies were going to never be the same again. This was the future, and I was going to see it. If you could go back in time and tell young Beth that she'd be employed to write constantly about it well, she wouldn't be surprised. She knew she wasn't going to be a paleontologist, anyway.
So large does Jurassic Park loom in my memory that it's kind of funny to see what else was released that summer -- and how drastically the idea of a "summer blockbuster season" has changed since the 90s. Let's revisit, shall we ...
R.I.P., Sydney Pollack, Dead at 73
Filed under: Obits »
Oscar-winning director and occasional actor Sydney Pollack died of stomach cancer on Monday at the age of 73. The New York Times has a fairly astute and comprehensive obituary that details his achievements behind the camera, which include The Way We Were, Absence of Malice, Tootsie, and The Firm. He was nominated for three directing Oscars, winning for Out of Africa, and directed a dozen different actors in Oscar-nominated performances. To me, it seems like Pollack never quite got his due. Despite the majority of his films being above-average in quality (and at least one, Tootsie, being a genuine classic), he was rarely mentioned in the same breath as the other 1970s and '80s powerhouse filmmakers. Maybe he wasn't prolific enough: In a 40-year theatrical career he made just 21 films, and only a few were major box-office blockbusters.
People liked him, though. I know I did. His frequent supporting roles (sometimes in his own films) gave moviegoers a face to go with the name, and he always came across as a friendly, knowledgeable man, the kind of guy you could chat with. (It's a pity his final onscreen performance was in the wretched Made of Honor. Then again, Orson Welles' last film was the 1985 Transformers movie, so Pollack's in good company.)
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