Independence Day - 1996

Said it before, will say it again, I write about whatever I want.   Bittttttches.   I love this movie.  Independence Day feels gloriously 90's.  The 90's were an awesome time to be seeing movies, and an awesome time to be a kid.  I remember watching this, maybe not in theaters, but when it came out on VHS.  I was 9 or 10 at the time, and everyone at my elementary school was talking about this movie.  The quote of the year was "Hello boys, I'm baaaaaaaack" and if you didn't get it you weren't cool.  Of course for me, I got it, but still wasn't cool - but that's a different blog.

I miss feeling like movies are special.  I miss feeling like movies are something that everybody will love.  When these big summer movies come out now they're normally just so bad that they're not momentous.  I watched the new movie San Andreas yesterday at the theater, and it was just so bland.  It's all bad CGI, it's characters are undeveloped, over-makeup-ed, and desperately fake looking....it's just got no heart, no soul, and no like-ability to it.

Movies like ID4 had a huge emphasis on the characters.  Sure, they weren't like the most developed ever and followed some typical roles, but they were human, they were made to be imperfect.  One thing which I used to see and don't any more is the presence of realistic looking actors.  I hate how, in movies that come out now, everyone has to look so fuckin tough and/or beautiful.  Every man has his trademark 5:00 shadow, a ripped 6-pack chest, and a head of hair so thick you could stand on it.  Every girl has grade A tits, a flat stomach, and looks like a total bitch.

I miss actors like Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman.  Both are really good looking men, but they weren't the Hollywood look that is escalating now.  I just feel like Hollywood is invading us with unreal looking stars, and it makes them harder to relate to, for me.  No one looks real.  In the new Avengers movies, there isn't a single character who looks real to me.  I know that Hollywood has been pushing the strong and beautiful all along, but they used to let real actors act, and they used to not care as much about things like origin and body type.

I guess I feel like someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn't get a chance to be a major film star now.  People would gripe about his accent and he wouldn't get cast in a movie where he plays a robot.  "Why would a robot have an Austrian accent?" would make the producers back their money behind a more acceptable American star.  Back in the 80's and 90's, I just don't think there was the big money pressure.  People made movies to make money, just like now, but they also were allowed more creativity, weren't pressured to make as much money.  It wasn't like every single movie HAD to be #1 at the box office.

I dunno.  It's hard to quantify.  I just love Independence Day.  With 2 sequels coming, I'm sure it'll get ruined just like Star Trek and the upcoming Star Wars, but you know, fuck it.  The original is a fucking classic.  Not quite a movie review per say, but you don't need a plot and scene analysis.  If you haven't seen this movie, something is wrong with you.  Go see it.