Independence Day, Special Effects, Phenomenon, 1996
Summer Season: What worked and what didn’t – The Cable Guy, The Nutty Professor, Eraser, Mission Impossible, The Rock, Twister. Gene and Roger get into it.
Home Video – Nixon
Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews
Original movie reviews untainted by time!
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5 thoughts on “Independence Day, Special Effects, Phenomenon, 1996”
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As much as I enjoyed Independence Day and have to disagree with them, it is one of the few critic-proof blockbusters of the 1990s. I didn’t bother though to watch the sequel Independence Day: Resurgence.
The year of 1996 in general seems to be saturated by big-budget blockbusters. Shortly after the summer of ’96, feeling that younger audiences are out of touch with classic films, Roger decided to write a series of essays on classic films. Because of Roger’s writing and knowledge in classic films, these films have new audiences.
In early 1997, Roger was interviewed by Canadian talk show host Allan Gregg and he pointed out the saturation of blockbusters in 1996. You can actually find a portion of the interview on YouTube called “Roger Ebert on modern moviegoers”.
Independence Day is so incredibly awful. It’s like a cornball all star game with Will Smith as the MVP. I passed on it that week and chose to see the John Travolta film which wasn’t great either. 1996 was not a great year. 95 was so much better.
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Both ID4 and Michael Bay’s The Rock were garbage. I wanted to walk out of both. Gene was right about The Rock, it was just over the top action, action, action and no substance at all, just like today’s movies.
Michael Bay paved the way to the bombardment of action and special effects, so theatergoers don’t have the time or energy to think…because the more we think the more we’ll realize how crappy the movie is.
Are you reading this JJ Abrams and Alex Kurtzman?????