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  Celebrates Blockbusters!
by Eric San Juan
May 22-26, 2006
Everyone loves a good summer blockbuster. Who
but the most soul dead can avoid getting caught up in the
swollen hype, sprawling billboards and ceaseless action of
summer’s biggest films? Even if you’re not a fan
of such gloriously guilty pleasure cinema, it’s tough
not to get dragged into following the make-or-break nature
of the summer blockbuster season. These are films into which
a lot of money is invested. A huge commercial success
can keep a studio solvent and launch top dollar careers (do
you think Peter Jackson could have made the wildly expensive King
Kong were it not for the smash hit Lord of the
Rings films?), creating names that become legend.
By contrast, a big commercial flop can dash reputations to
pieces, and in some cases even put a studio under. When a
blockbuster fails, it can only fail BIG.
Read More >> |
 20 Years Of Summer Blockbusters
by Lex M
May 23, 2006
What’s this, you ask? Twenty years of summer blockbusters? But we all know that the summer
blockbuster phenomenon started unexpectedly with the release
of Jaws in 1975, and was perfected two years
later with the Earth-shattering arrival of Star Wars.
Shouldn’t it be “31 Years of Summer Blockbusters”?
Or if nothing else, shouldn’t we start with the legendary
summer of 1982, when any given week would see the release
of such true classics as E.T., Fast
Times At Ridgemont High, The Thing, Blade Runner, And Jekyll And Hyde...
Together Again?
Read More >> |
 DIMP
Plays: Block Busters Sink Or Swim
by Eric San Juan
May 25, 2006
Memorial Day Weekend is here, and with it the
start of the summer blockbuster season. Big movies. Big crowds.
And highly over inflated expectations. This summer it is (once
again), sequel, sequel, sequel, with superheroes and pirates
taking center stage in the race for your theater going dollar.
Which blockbusters will sink, destined to be remembered as
flops? Which presumed mega-hits will live up to the hype and
expectations, swimming to memorable summer classic status?
The staff weighs in on what big hits they think will make the
cut and which films will get the axe from viewers.
Read More >> |
 Aliens -
Collectors Edition
by Comedian
May 2006
I had one mission in the summer of 1986. One
all encompassing goal so totally consuming that for a brief
period of time I even forgot about naked women. That pursuit,
that goal, that Raison D’Etre, was to see Aliens.
I tried three or four times to sneak into a
theater, and even had a friend’s mother buy us tickets,
but was never able to get in since it was an R rated movie
and I was only 14. Finally, I pestered my parents to the point
of exhaustion. They acquiesced to my whimpering, took pity
on me and we went to see it.
Read More >> |
 Indiana
Jones And The Temple Of Doom
by Eric San Juan
May 2006
Somewhere along the line, Indiana Jones
And The Temple Of Doom became the Indiana Jones film
fans love to hate. Or at least the one the fans love to somewhat
dislike.
It’s true, Stephen Spielberg had a lot
to live up to after Raiders Of The Lost Ark,
which was pure distilled action/adventure film perfection
and iconic from the first moment it hit the screen. As a kid,
I wanted to be Indiana Jones. I wanted to dodge the nightmares
of Rube Goldberg and explore dank caves and have totally wild
chases. Indiana Jones was so awww shucks cool, it never really
occurred to me that he was the same guy who was Han Solo in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes
Back. He was just Indiana. And man was he awesome.
Read More >> |
 Mission:
Impossible
(Special Collector’s Edition)
by Shawn McLoughlin
May 2006
The prospect of making a theatrical film out
of a now-dated television series may have been daunting, and
possibly intriguing, to potential script-writers. It had been
over 23 years from the time the original Mission:
Impossible left the television airwaves, and nearly
a decade since a failed attempt to re-launch this Cold War-era
series when even the ramifications of that war were all but
non-existent. Thankfully, it landed in competent hands that
realized the difference between what is relevant and what
is cool, but more importantly, how to combine them.
Read More >> |
 Star
Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
by Eric San Juan
May 2006
Let’s cut right to the chase: I fall into
the camp that declares The Empire Strikes Back the best of the Star Wars films.
Which means I also fall into the camp of people
who actually have an opinion regarding what the best Star
Wars film is.
Which means some of you are probably surfing
off to another page even as I type this.
I was seven years old when Star Wars:
The Empire Strikes Back hit the theaters. I can remember
it vividly. Just a few years prior, my aunt had taken me to
see the original Star Wars at a little single-screen
theater on Main Street called the Rialto. It’s an Indian
movie theater now, but at the time it had all the fantastic
stuff. I saw Nazi faces melt there, and the guy from the shark
movie get sunburn at night and Elliot find an alien in his
yard. It was two blocks from my house. I loved it.
Read More >> |
 Jurassic
Park Adventure Pack
by John Felix
May 2006
Steven Spielberg. Creator of the modern day
blockbuster. Well regarded as a master of cinema in both light
fare and serious topics. Cynical Oscar-hound that has to make
a serious film every five years to make up for his previous,
goofy action flicks? Possibly. A pretty good director with
daddy issues? Most definitely. But this review isn’t
to discuss my own personal conflicting feelings for Spielberg’s
output (which can be described as a love/hate/love/hate/love/love/hate
relationship), we’re here to discuss the Jurassic Park
films, all which have been released in a handy box set.
Because the world needed one more Jurassic
Park release – at least, until the HD-DVD and
Blu-Ray discs come out.
Read More >> |
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