Mad Ramblings of a Movie Geek 06.11.08: The Ghost of Summers Past
Posted by Jordan Bruns on 06.11.2008
Some memorable summer movies from my formative years...
Welcome to the issue 9 of Mad Ramblings of a Movie Geek! As we all know, the summer movie season is upon us. I don't need to explain the lure of multiplexes in the hot summer months. If you are a movie fan at all then you already know what I'm talking about. Like fireworks, swimming, and cookouts, going to the movies is a regular activity for some this time of year. Recently I've been forced to ponder whether an air-conditioned movie theater, the company of others, and two hours of escapism have the same meaning to me at 26 that they did at 16, or even 13, or even 10? The answer is most obviously no. But I'm not here to lament for my lost childhood. I'm here because I'm feeling nostalgic and the need to reminisce about previous summer moviegoing experiences has reared its ugly head. So, as I sit here nice and sunburned (because I got it in my head that I could spend an hour in the sun without a shirt on), that is exactly what I plan to do. Let's get right down to business, going in chronological order.
1989
What better way to begin this column than by mentioning the first truly memorable summer moviegoing experience I ever had. I was between first and second grade. I played Little League, and I was in Cub Scouts. Thanks to HBO, I had become obsessed with movies like Young Guns and Die Hard(my parents were pretty liberal about letting me watch R-Rated movies). One night after baseball practice, my mom took my older brother, some of his friends, myself, and one of my friends, to see Michael Keaton in Batman. OK, so technically Nicholson received top-billing, but he was a bigger star at the time. And he's Jack Nicholson. My only exposure to the Batman character up to that point had been the old Adam West TV show, so I had no idea what I was in for. I was not expecting a murderous Joker, a vigilante Batman, or such a dark, gothic atmosphere. I loved it. I begged my mom all summer to take me to see it again, but she refused to sit through it again because it was "too violent." When I finally did see it a second time, it was my dad who took me. He wasn't much of a fan, either. I guess Tim Burton's take on the caped crusader was too intense for the folks to handle.
My Mad Ramblings
This is the movie largely held responsible for re-vitalizing the superhero genre, even though it might have pissed off some ardent comic book fans expecting something more faithful to the source material. It never bothered me, though. I loved the way Nicholson's Joker killed so mercilessly and often laughed with maniacal glee before or after doing so. I was thrilled to see such a detached, stoic Batman, and as I got older, I learned to appreciate the brooding that Keaton brought to his alter ego as well. Mind you, I was 7 years old the first time I saw this movie, so naturally when you get older you pick up on things you never noticed as a kid. And did I mention how hot Kim Basinger looked as Vicki Vale? To me none of the sequels matched up to this one. Truth be told, Batman and Robin made me downright indignant.
1990
One year later, not much had changed. It was my last year of Little League but I was still holding strong in the Scout Department. The big movie of the summer was supposed to be Dick Tracy, but the movie I most anticipated was Young Guns II.
My Mad Ramblings
As a 7-year-old, I became enamored with Young Guns. I couldn't get enough of the guns blazing, bullets flying fury of its action sequences, or the 1980's jargon that accompanied the plot. Still, a sequel seemed strange at best, given Doc's voiceover at the end of the first one. I was an 8-year-old watching the PG-13 rated follow-up with my dad in the theater. I remember it not being what I expected at all. It all seemed kind of dark and unpleasant to my 8-year-old eyes, watching these characters I had grown to love either totally obliterated or facing a bleak future. I didn't like it as much as the first one, I still don't. But to this day I retain my fondness and appreciation for both movies.
1994
Moving ahead four years, I was between sixth and seventh grades. I had long since abandoned Little League and Scouts, and had taken to barricading myself in my bedroom writing mock movie scripts. I've always had a very active imagination, you see. It was sometime in July of that year when I first saw Forrest Gump. I saw it again two weeks later, in a different state, with a different audience. Looking back, it's easy to forget that Forrest Gump was a summer release. After all, summer movies don't usually sweep the Oscars. But there was something about this movie that caught on not just with audiences but with everyone. Maybe it was the whimsical plot, maybe it was the quotable dialogue, maybe it was the way Tom Hanks portrayed Forrest with such lovable goofiness. Or maybe it's because it's just a damn good movie. Hell, the movie's almost nothing like the book from which it was adapted yet the world still managed to fall in love with it.
My Mad Ramblings
It could be that Forrest Gump came out at just the right time. By 1994 the baby boomers had comfortably settled into middle age, and many of them had children who were the same age as their parents were during the tumultuous times depicted in the movie. It had been twenty years since the end of Vietnam, meaning Robert Zemeckis could create an aura of nostalgia and sentimentality for such an unsettling time in our country's history. The character I most related to when I was younger was Lt. Dan. Since I was going through growing pains at the time, I easily saw myself in his situation as someone who felt cheated and unappreciated due to the accolades of a more successful friend. Granted, I didn't get my legs blown off in Vietnam, but at that age I always related to troubled movie characters.
1996
What a difference two years can make. I was about to enter high school, so my priorities were beginning to shift a bit. I was equally concerned with what crowd I would fit in with than with what movies I'd see that summer. I also had a social life- sort of, it really picked up when I started driving. Still I found time to venture to the cinema to watch that year's big summer release, Independence Day. At the time The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air had just ended and Will Smith was not yet the mega star he is today. All that changed one July weekend. In fact, to this day, whenever Will Smith stars in a major summer release, it opens over Fourth of July weekend.
My Mad Ramblings
Even as a 14-year-old, I knew Independence Day was short on plot but heavy on action. The eye-popping special effects were very impressive, but 12 years later, special effects have undergone a massive quantum leap. Last Fourth of July I watched this movie for the first time in years and it has dated a bit. In retrospect it probably would have worked better as a miniseries than a summer action movie- after all it shouldn't be so much fun watching a post-apocalyptic world. Despite its flaws, Independence Day was, at the time, acceptable summer escapism.
1999
To me, this was really the last year where summer was defined by what was at the box office, as it was the year the first Star Wars prequel hit theaters. Beyond that most of my summer was spent at the local coffee shop, chain-smoking cigarettes and meeting people who would shape my life for years to come. I digress… I had no idea how bad The Phantom Menace was when I first saw- I was too wrapped up in the hype and anticipation- it was the first new installment of the franchise in 16 years. Unfortunately it now bears the mark of being the worst movie in the series. I will spare the mad ramblings here. If you've seen it then you know what it's like and if you haven't you're probably never going to. You're missing out on a kick ass lightsaber battle but that's about it- I always fast-forward through the pod racing sequence.
Now
I don't go to the movies like I used to, not even in the summer. Thanks to DVD it's cheaper just to hit the video store, head home, maybe fix a stiff drink, and watch the movie of your choice in all its widescreen glory. It's still not the same. There's no popcorn; there's no audience; there's no sense of awe and excitement. One goal I am setting for myself this summer is to go to the movies more often, at least to see all the "big" releases before they hit video store shelves I'll let you know how that works out for me.
I apologize for things being so short and sweet this week. But, I'm no Ernest Hemingway and when you're writing for the internet audience, sometimes it's best to get straight to the point. As always, feel free to email me with any feedback. I've gotten a lot of helpful comments from readers, but no actual emails as of yet. If you have anything you want to say but don't wish to have it viewed by the public, don't hesitate to contact me.
