Thirtieth Anniversary Triple Threat!

“Alright, alright, alright!”

Everybody loves a good movie. This year, 2023, marks the thirtieth anniversary of three of my favorite films. Those three films are Jurassic Park, Dazed And Confused, and Tombstone. Jurassic Park is arguably my favorite film of all time. Dazed And Confused is my favorite coming-of-age film. I consider Tombstone to be the greatest western of the modern film era. All three of these films have stuck with me since I first watched them. This year I will be revisiting all three of these films via reminiscent posts, action figure or music reviews, behind the scenes looks, and a few in-depth looks at some of the actors, directors, and crew that worked on these films.

I vividly remember seeing Jurassic Park at the old Prien Lake Mall Cinema I, II, & III (torn down in the late 1990’s and replaced by a Cinemark fourteen screen theater). I remember the cinema being packed and being pinned into my chair by the morbidly obese lady that sat next to me. I also remember how it was raining when I left the theater and now any time it rains on a warm day, I get the itch to watch Jurassic Park. At the time, collecting action figures or other toys wasn’t very important to me. For that reason, I completely skipped over collecting any toys from the film release. Since then, however, I’ve become a fan of the Hammond Collection and the Amber Collection from Mattel and have posted a few reviews on toys in those collections over the years and a few this year with more to come. I love this film. It’s perfect in every way.

When I first started seeing trailers for Tombstone, I had my doubts about the film. It was a western being released in a time when new western movies were relegated to TBS and the classics were available on AMC or TMC. The western was dying a slow death in cinemas during the late 1980s and early 90s, and Tombstone just didn’t seem like it would work. Thankfully, I was wrong. The film was loosely based on Wyatt Earp’s time in the town of Tombstone, AZ, with his brothers, Virgil and Morgan, and his friend, John “Doc” Holliday and the events leading up to and including the Earp Vendetta Ride. I remember sitting in the old Oak Park Cinema VI with my entire family watching the film. It rekindled my interest in the American West and would ultimately lead to a family trip to Arizona to not only visit the historical town of Tombstone, but to see sites where the film was shot and other areas of the state as well. I’ll review the film itself (the only one of the three that I haven’t reviewed yet) later this year and I’ll also take a look at locations, behind the scenes information, and the actual events that the film is inspired by throughout the year.

While I have vivid memories of watching Jurassic Park and Tombstone in the theater, Dazed And Confused was a much stranger beast. Unlike the other films, I didn’t see Dazed And Confused until I was in college. I watched it alone on VHS in my dorm room and then multiple times on cable television after that while attending college. It didn’t grab me initially. In fact, it sort of bugged me. Some of the film’s characters, specifically Mike, Tony, and Cynthia, annoyed me to a certain degree. As the years went by, however, I came to realize that the reason these characters got on my nerves was because I was so much like them. The film’s soundtrack is amazing and includes some of my favorite tracks and artists of all time. I also fell in love with Austin, TX as a result of this film. As far as what I’ll be looking at this year for the film, my biggest plan is to visit Austin again for the sole purpose of checking out a few of the actual locations where the film was shot and grab a burger from Top Notch (and to hang out with family). I’ll also take a look at the film’s soundtrack as well. Other than that, I will probably do a few posts about the careers of some of the actors after the film’s release.

I hope that you will join me this year on this trip down memory lane. I appreciate each and every one of you for checking out my posts. Let me your favorite films from 1993 in the comments section. See you soon!