Category Archives: The Big Screen

Happy Birthday, Kris Kristofferson

Kristoffer “Kris” Kristofferson is an influential American country music songwriter, singer and actor. He is best known for hits such as “Me and Bobby McGee”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”.

Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – )

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50th Anniversary of Jaws

Jaws Poster

On June 20, 1975, we learned that it was no longer “safe to go back into the water.”

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45th Anniversary of The Blues Brothers

From Wikipedia:

The Blues Brothers is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by John Landis. It stars John Belushi as “Joliet” Jake Blues and Dan Aykroyd as his brother Elwood, characters developed from the recurring musical sketch “The Blues Brothers” on NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. The film is set in and around Chicago, Illinois, where it was filmed, and the screenplay was written by Aykroyd and Landis. It features musical numbers by rhythm and blues (R&B), soul, and blues singers James Brown, Cab Calloway (in his final feature film role), Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Chaka Khan, and John Lee Hooker. It features non-musical supporting performances by Carrie Fisher, Henry Gibson, Charles Napier, Kathleen Freeman and John Candy.

June 20, 1980

Maximum Overdrive

Who made who?

First Motion Picture Theater

The first motion picture theater was called a nickelodeon because admission was a nickel.

It opened in McKeesport, PA on June 19, 1905.

Anniversary of Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park Poster

June 11, 1993

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Anniversary of Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City. It also stars Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis, and features Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, and William Atherton in supporting roles.

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Anniversary of WarGames

In 1983,

A Computerized Voice Asked You…

Shall We Play A Game?

Wikipedia Link

YouTube Link

Happy Birthday, Clint Eastwood!

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (May 31, 1930 - )
Clinton “Clint” Eastwood, Jr. (May 31, 1930 – )

Clint Eastwood is an American film actor, director, producer, composer, pianist, businessman, investor, and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide.

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Anniversary of Star Wars

Star Wars

May 25, 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters.

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Anniversary of Alien!

Alien was released on May 25, 1979 in the United States and September 6 in the United Kingdom. It was met with critical acclaim and box office success, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, three Saturn Awards (Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright), and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other nominations. It has been consistently praised in the years since its release, and is considered one of the greatest films of all time. In 2002, Alien was deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2008, it was ranked by the American Film Institute as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre, and as the thirty-third greatest film of all time by Empire magazine.

The success of Alien spawned a media franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys. It also launched Weaver’s acting career, providing her with her first lead role. The story of her character’s encounters with the Alien creatures became the thematic and narrative core of several sequels, prequels, and crossovers.

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Happy Birthday, George Lucas

George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. (May 14, 1944 – )

George Lucas is an Academy Award-nominated American film producer, screenwriter, director and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the epic Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones.

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May the 5th

May the 4th Be With You

May the 4th

RIP Iceman (Val Kilmer)

Val Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025)

C’mon, we all know him as Iceman!

Val Edward Kilmer was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a leading man in films in a wide variety of genres including comedies, dramas, action adventures, westerns, historical films, crime dramas, science-fiction films, and fantasy films. Films in which Kilmer appeared grossed more than $3.8 billion worldwide. In 1992, film critic Roger Ebert remarked, “if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it.”

Kilmer started his film career in the comedy films Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), before transitioning to dramatic films. He rose to prominence for playing Iceman in Top Gun (1986), Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991), Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993), and Batman / Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever (1995). He also gained acclaim for his roles in Willow (1988), True Romance (1993) and Heat (1995). His later film roles include in The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), The Saint (1997), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Alexander (2004), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), Déjà Vu (2006), and The Snowman (2017). Kilmer made his final film appearance in Top Gun: Maverick (2022), reprising his role from the original film.

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I think I heard something…

15th Anniversary of How to Train Your Dragon

Anniversary of Sound of Music

On this day in 1965, The Sound of Music was released in the United States.

March 2, 1965
March 2, 1965

85th Anniversary of Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American epic historical romance film adapted from the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell. The film was produced by David O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures and directed by Victor Fleming. Set in the American South against the backdrop of the Civil War and the Reconstruction era, the film tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh), the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, following her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland), and her subsequent marriage to Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).

Wikipedia Article

How to Train Your Dragon