The African Queen (1951)

The African Queen is one of those movies that is much better than the book, at least in my opinion. I guess why I love the movie over the book is that in the movie Rose and Charlie actually fall in love whereas in the book they get married simply because Charlie “compromised” Rose. The movie is exciting. Taking place during WWI, Rose and Charlie are attempting to get down the river to a large lake where a large German battleship is stationed. They are planning on blowing up the battleship with Charlie’s boat, The African Queen. Rose is played by Katherine Hepburn and Charlie is played by Humphrey Bogart. The movie is great and is fun to watch!

Jurassic Park 3 (2001)

Jurassic Park 3 is the last of the first trilogy of Jurassic Park movies, before it became Jurassic World. Although a lot of people don’t like the movie, I always thought it was fun. It reunites the audience with Alan and Ellie. Alan goes to Site B, promised money. Unfortunately for Alan, Kirby lied to him. He needed someone to help him find his son, so he promised money he didn’t have. Of course, dinosaur mayhem ensues, especially with those ever present Raptors. Quite an enjoyable monster movie.

Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997)

Jurassic Park: The Lost World is the last of the sequels written by Michael Crichton. In it we learn of another island, Site B, where they were also breeding dinosaurs. Audience favorite, Ian Malcolm, returns to this sequel to remind us that chaos shall reign when we mess around with nature. And we have T-Rexes ravaging the streets of San Diego. Afterwards we are able to set up a nature reserve so that the dinosaurs can thrive without human interference. The movie is perhaps not as good as the first one, but still an enjoyable dinosaur movie.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Strictly speaking, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not a fantasy movie. There is no magic, no gods, but the choreography is not of this world. No one in real life fights like that, like they are flying through the air. The sets acting and choreography make this movie one for the ages. It’s beautiful. The movie is not in English, but in Chinese with English subtitles, but the language barrier does not detract from the overall beauty of the movie. You watch it for the beauty not for any sort of coherent plot. But it does have a plot, a beautiful plot that doesn’t need a lot of words to have it make sense. This movie is in the book 501 Movies to Watch Before You Die.

Aquaman (2018)

Aquaman is a fun adventure romp set in the DC universe. In it Arthur, the titular Aquaman, and Princess Mera must go on an epic quest to find the magic trident and stop Arthur’s brother from destroying the world. Was there plot holes in this movie? Yes. Did it matter? Not really. I went in to see Jason Momoa run around in an epic quest without his shirt. I got that. I was, and am, happy.

Jurassic Park (1993)

The beginning of a franchise and an era, the first Jurassic Park has it all. Dino mayhem, people running and whether or not cloning these ancient monsters was really that great of an idea. One of my favorite scenes is when Alan and Ellie first see the dinosaurs, before the mayhem starts. It is a classic tale that could only come from the mind of Michael Cricton. It shows what mayhem can ensue when men play with forces they don’t understand. Such a classic giant monster movie.

Them! (1954)

Them! Is one of my  all time favorite giant monster movies. I always think about it when we get an ant infestation in the house. Fortunately, the ants we get are normal size! The characters  are great and the storyline is fun! A fun fact, they originally filmed this movie in color but decided that the ants were too pretty and so decided to make it black and white. Leonard Nimoy also has a cameo as Soldier in Crowd. It was also referenced in Antman and the Wasp, and why wouldn’t Antman be watching a movie about giant ants?