2020’s summer blockbuster season has been put on hold because of the pandemic, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the movies from the past that we flocked out of the sun and into air conditioning for. Welcome to The Ringer’s Return to Summer Blockbuster Season, where we’ll feature different summer classics each week.
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August 21, 2020
A History of Movie Costars Hating Each Other
Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze didn’t get along nearly as well as their on-screen chemistry in ‘Dirty Dancing’ would suggest. But they’re far from the only actors to seethe at each other while the cameras weren’t rolling.
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August 21, 2020
John Turturro’s Brilliance Is in the Tiny Moments
It’s a smirk. Or a blink of an eye. Or a whisper. It’s what makes the actor behind ‘Barton Fink,’ ‘Rounders,’ ‘The Night Of,’ and more so good.
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August 20, 2020
How “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” Saved ‘Dirty Dancing’
The Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey–starring movie was just an indie that no one believed in—until a song came along that lifted it to legendary status
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August 14, 2020
A Journey Back Into the Nihilistic Hellscape That Is ‘Apocalypse Now’
Rewatching Francis Ford Coppola’s war epic for the first time in over two decades reveals new insights into a flawed but powerful film
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August 6, 2020
The Weird Delight of ‘Pee-wee’s Big Adventure’
Paul Reubens passed away on July 30 at the age of 70. Among many other things, he’ll be best remembered for Pee-wee Herman and his revelatory work as the character in 1985’s ‘Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.’
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July 31, 2020
Which Movie Aliens Would Wreak the Most Havoc on Humanity?
The vulnerable-to-water aliens from ‘Signs’ are not particularly menacing if you have a super soaker around, but many other film extraterrestrials are not so easily batted back
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July 30, 2020
M. Night Shyamalan Talks ‘Signs,’ Twists, and Crop-Circle Tattoos
The director chats about his most joyous, most alien-centric film 18 years after its release
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July 24, 2020
‘Step Brothers’ and the Peak Summer of Blockbuster Comedy
Filled with movies like ‘Tropic Thunder,’ ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall,’ and the Will Ferrell–John C. Reilly classic, the dog days of 2008 were a great time to laugh in theaters. And also one of the last.
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July 17, 2020
‘Clueless’ Is Still the Best Jane Austen Adaptation
Twenty-five years later, the classic Amy Heckerling teen rom-com is also the cleverest remake in a very crowded field
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July 10, 2020
The Ridiculous Fear of ‘Boyz n the Hood,’ Revisited
On this weekend in 1991, John Singleton’s debut film became a box-office hit. It also became a lightning rod for people looking to write off Black movies as violence-inducing.
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July 9, 2020
‘Point Break’ Is the Silliest Classic Ever Made
Only the combination of Kathryn Bigelow, Keanu Reeves, and Patrick Swayze could produce something as equally absurd, profound, and well made as this 1991 movie
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July 8, 2020
Ranking the Best Seven Action Scenes In ‘Point Break’
From raiding a bank-robber hideout, to skydiving with a parachute, to skydiving without a parachute, here are the best moments from Kathryn Bigelow’s wacky 1991 action film
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July 3, 2020
Could the Hero of ‘Independence Day’ Have Really Learned How to Fly a Fighter Jet in One Night?
Fighting a horde of aliens is no small task, but then again, neither is operating an F/A-18 jet. So we asked some military pilots: Could Russell Casse have actually saved the world?
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July 3, 2020
Roland Emmerich Is the True King of Explosions
The director of ‘Independence Day’ hasn’t been memed as much as Michael Bay, but his films are just as absurd
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July 2, 2020
‘Independence Day’ Is the Ultimate, All-Encompassing Sci-Fi Film
Twenty-four years ago, aliens invaded earth, and only Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum could stop them. But ‘Independence Day’ is more than a summer sci-fi flick—it’s a loving homage to some of the genre’s greatest tropes.
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June 26, 2020
Things Don’t Line Up Very Often: The Magic of ‘Out of Sight’
For much of the ’90s, it seemed like Steven Soderbergh—once Hollywood’s hot new director—was deliberately making movies with limited buy-ins. Then came along George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, and an Elmore Leonard novel about a suave but unlucky thief.
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June 26, 2020
‘Out of Sight’ Made George Clooney a Movie Star
Steven Soderbergh’s Hollywood breakthrough wasn’t quite a blockbuster, but it boosted its star to the top of his profession, and made a lasting impact on the industry at large
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June 25, 2020
‘Face/Off’: The Advice Column
It starts like every other workday. But then your employer asks you to undergo a risky experimental face transplant with a criminal mastermind, who is also your sworn enemy, to save a major American city from a devastating attack. What do you do?
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June 22, 2020
The Best Weddings in Movie History
From the Italian wedding in ‘Goodfellas’ to the quaint backyard of ‘Father of the Bride’ to Tony Montana pushing it to the limit, these are film’s 20 best nuptials
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June 18, 2020
‘Jaws’ Is the Perfect Blockbuster
The beauty of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 classic is that you can choose how to watch it: as a summery, shark-bitten thriller or as an allegory about the failed leadership of institutions
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June 12, 2020
How They Made It: The Haircut Scene in ‘The Bourne Identity’
Matt Damon, Franka Potente, an awkward director, some shears, and a bottle of Jagermeister came together in 2002 to create one of the most surprisingly sexy scenes to ever appear in an action movie
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June 5, 2020
How ‘The Goonies’ Helped Create a Modern Franchise Template
The wacky 1985 classic from Amblin Entertainment, Steven Spielberg’s production company, was an early example of the type of kid-centric movie for adults that has become a blockbuster staple in recent years
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May 22, 2020
Brad Pitt Took His Shirt Off in ‘Thelma & Louise.’ Men Were Never the Same.
For more than a decade, the ideal man was a muscle-bound warrior more focused on heroism than human connection—Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Van Damme. Then Brad Pitt showed up in 1991 with a blow-dryer and a cowboy hat.
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May 22, 2020
‘House Hunters’: The Overlook Hotel Edition
Jack Torrance is a troubled writer looking for solitude; Wendy Torrance is a stay-at-home mom constantly worried about her gifted son. Their budget is $6.5 million. Just like ‘The Shining,’ this probably won’t end well.
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May 21, 2020
‘The Shining’ Will Turn Us Around and Around, Forever and Ever
Just as Jack Torrance has always been the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, Stanley Kubrick’s classic has always stirred cyclical debate