5 Awesome Movies From Summer 1997

Remember what blockbuster summer movies were like 15 years ago? Pop Focal does. Here's our list of the best from 1997.

5. The Lost World: Jurassic Park

When the original Jurassic Park hit theaters it blew audiences away. It was ahead of its time on digital effects and included the greatest actors to come out of the ’90s including Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight and Jeff Goldblum. Jeff Fuckin’ Goldblum.

So, whenever a movie does amazingly well in theaters it’s inevitable we get a sequel. Such is the case as The Lost World. While this wasn’t a rehash of the same story from the first movie (they saved that for the third movie), this film eventually brought the dinosaurs to San Diego, we assume because the T-Rex loves Comic Con.

Critics were split down the middle, some hated it, some loved it. Despite your opinion on Dinosaurs Take California: Jurassic Park, the movie broke records and would have been the top grossing movie of the year had it not been for Jack and his sinking ship.

Also, those kids really grew up:

4. Starship Troopers

While Men In Black was the equivalent of the DMV of Aliens, Starship Troopers was the atom bomb of alien battles. Actually, I’m pretty sure they actually did try to nuke the “bugs” in the movie.

Noteworthy of awesomeness is the inclusion of Denise Richards (in her prime) and NPH himself. Also, boobs.

3. Liar Liar

LOLz! LMAO! HFSTGIF! Jim Carrey.

We really liked Jim Carrey in the ’90s. He was our version of Jerry Lewis. He just mugged for the camera, made weird sounds and threw himself around a lot. That, kids, is called slapstick humor.

Jim would go on to make a bunch of other movies including Ace Ventura, a movie where he makes funny faces, weird sounds and throws himself around. Later, he’d go on to make Bruce Almighty, a movie where he makes funny faces, weird sounds and throws himself around.

But forget about the repetitiveness of his career, this is when he was in his prime. This was his Citizen Kane. Liar Liar represents the high point in Jim Carey’s career.

2. Men In Black

Did we mention we had an unhealthy obsession with aliens back in the ’90s?

In 1996, Will Smith punched an alien in the face(?). We thought that was so cool! “Welcome to E’rph!” That movie made a ton of money so let’s just make an entire movie where Will Smith punches, shoots and wrestles aliens. Cha-ching!

The ’90s existed between wars. We didn’t have the Soviets or Iraq to be worried about. More than anything, we were scared shitless of aliens. In ’97, a meteor came by Earth to say “Hi.” which prompted a cult to freak out, understandably assume a spaceship Greyhound bus was hiding behind it and promptly killed themselves in a mass suicide to get on board.

So, with aliens on our minds, Men In Black premiered in theaters and raked in $250M (in the US) when all was said and done. So, we liked it.

1. Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery

It really was an innocent time we once lived in. In 1996, audiences sitting down for Independence Day were treated to this trailer (above). It showed an original character, created by Mike Myers, who was funny. Keep in mind, 60s culture was making a small comeback in the late-90s, disco retro was a thing and the idea of a character out of that decade just clicked.

Add to this the movie turned out to be funny. It had a ton of catchy, one-liners, a funny plot and the bad guy isn’t revealed till you see the movie — Dr. Evil. It was perfectly marketed, perfectly executed. 10-10-10!

Since this is a list celebrating what was positive about 1997, we’ll for a moment ignore what this really was. This one success gave birth to an over-confident Mike Myers who for the next 15-years would beat a dead horse over and over. When he finally let up on the horse, he’d kill another horse just to beat it some more. Austin Powers is to movies what The Macarena is to music. Sure, we enjoyed it at the time but now we contemplate biting into cyanide pills at the sight/sound of it.

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