“This is the worst summer for movies ever.”

I’ve made that statement a number of times over the last four or five years, and every summer seems worse than the one that preceded it.  Two years ago, I declared 2010 to be a total waste, but then 2011 rolled around and I found myself thinking, “Man, 2010 was great: Inception, Toy Story 3, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World… so many good movies!”.  I have higher hopes going into 2012, if only because a summer that features Batman and Wes Anderson can’t be all bad (then again, Dark Shadows).  Still, it seems like the summer movie season isn’t what it was when I was younger.  Yes, summer is generally synonymous with the loudest, dumbest movies the studios have to offer, but that doesn’t mean they all have to be disposable junk.  Consider some of the great movies of summers past: Jaws (the original summer blockbuster), Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future are all crowd-pleasing entertainments that have stood the test of time and become bona fide classics.

For many moviegoers of a certain age, there is one summer three decades ago that stands apart from all the rest: the summer of 1982.  It may well be ground zero for an entire generation of movie lovers: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, The Thing, and even Tron were all released within a few weeks of each other, collectively blowing the minds of BMX-riding kids with feathered hair across the country.  I was only seven years old that summer, which means I didn’t see all of the movies on that list until later in life, but several of them (sorry, Tron) hold a spot on my all-time favorites list, and are titles I return to again and again for entertainment and inspiration.  I’m not alone; in fact, many of the films released that summer are considered groundbreaking, even epochal, and they’ve influenced countless others (even you, Tron) in the ensuing decades.  Read the rest of this entry »