Plot Monkeys

Anyone who visits this blog probably knows I’m a movie nut. (So are the other monkeys!) But I have to say I have a special fondness for the summer blockbuster.
So, yes, I (and my family) helped contributed to the $148 million triumph that was Spiderman 3.

We all liked it a lot. Tobey Maguire is one of those guys I just can’t figure out. He looks so boyish and geeky and…nondescript sometimes. Including as Peter Parker. Then he puts on that suit and WHOA. The black Spidey suit was especially hot. I liked the special effects in this one (and I am usually NOT a big fan of CGI graphics.) But the sandman stuff was way cool. And the ending of this one really took me by surprise. So, a thumbs up on Spiderman 3.

This summer promises to be an especially expensive one. We’re already making plans to go see Shrek 3 in 2 weekends, and Pirates 3 the weekend after that. We’ve penciled in the new Harry Potter, The Transformers, Fantastic 4 part 2, and others.

There’s just something about going to see the big movie when the rest of the world is first seeing it, too. I don’t want to hear people talking about a movie I’m dying to see…I want to be the one talking about it!

I remember when Titanic came out, we not only went on opening day, we checked my older daughter out of school early that day so she could come with us! (She was in elementary school!)

Ditto with all the Harry Potter movies and the Lord of the Rings movies. My kids probably should have had another designation on their “excused absence” slips: summer blockbuster day!

But it goes back further. Not quite to what is generally credited as the very first summer blockbuster…that was Jaws. And I was not allowed to see it. (It has since become one of my very favorite movies.)

But I definitely remember seeing some major movies on opening weekend.

I was not a Star Wars manic like Julie…in fact, I didn’t even get to go see the movie until the summer after it came out. (My Dad finally took me and my brother…he wasn’t (isn’t) much of a sci fi fan.)

But I did go to see Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi within a couple of days of their opening.

I stumbled onto Raiders of the Lost Ark and had to go see the sequels the moment they came out. (2nd one…blech….3rd one…YAY!) Was drooling and rabid to see Terminator 2 and Aliens! I think I’m seeing a theme—the sequels are the ones that suck me in!

But there were a few originals that grabbed me, too…like Independence Day. And Jurassic Park! (Loved the book so I was just dying to see the movie, which was quite different but also very satisfying.)

Funny, the blockbusters that I saw right when they opened are among my “must stop” movies. Does anyone else do this? I can have a DVD or a VHS of a movie I like sitting right on my shelf…yet if I’m flipping channels and I stumble across one of them, I will STILL stop and watch it! Commercials and all! I’m like this particularly about Jaws, Raiders, Independence Day, Day After Tomorrow, National Treasure, Signs, Alien(s), and more.

So what about you? Anybody else really excited about the upcoming summer blockbusters? What are you looking forward to…and what are your “must stop’s?”