Fourth of July movies, part 2

 Here's my list, in no particular order besides the first two, which I've already discussed. 

1. Independence Day

2. Jaws

3. Born on the Fourth of July. I like this movie, but it's actually a little heavy for holiday viewing. The main character was born on the 4th, as the title suggests, and the early sequences featuring a recreated Fourth of July parade and fireworks in small-town American really capture the nostalgic appeal of the holiday, even as theses are set up as an ironic contrast to what unfolds. This movie is on most of these types of lists (with the title and war themes, how can you not include it?), so it's really on with #4 that I start to diverge. 

4. Frogs. This is one of those so-bad-it's-good horror movies about reptiles attacking a family as it begins to celebrate Fourth of July on its Southern plantation island estate. I'm not sure about the cult status of this film, and I'm definitely not convinced it's the best of this type of "bad" movie. It's bad, yes, but Sam Elliot and Ray Milland (and even Joan Van Ark) elevate the acting quite a bit, and it's pretty hard to be dignified when all the other minor characters are being attacked by snakes and turtles (the frogs, oddly, mostly seem to watch). We accidentally watched this on the Fourth of July this year, without knowing it had a Fourth of July connection, so I'm just thinking it's serendipity and that the movie was begging to be put on the list. Plus it is eerie and strange to watch this dysfunctional rich family assemble for its annual Fourth celebrations on the lawn. There's lot of passive-aggressive behavior and cutting remarks, which makes it seem like an authentic rich family to me. The cinematography is also good, as others have pointed out, though the "horror" just mostly looks like well-shot nature images of reptiles intercut with people thrashing on the ground as they are being "attacked." We're just supposed to assume from the intercutting that this is what's happening. That's a lot to ask from parallel editing, and the effect is more boring than funny. But there are lots of other reasons to watch, if you've got nothing better to do. 

Original fireworks photo, from about 2005. Captured on Nikon digital camera.

5. Brokeback Mountain.  This inclusion is also serendipitous, I think, in that I recently read the short story for the first time and have been thinking about the excellent movie. There's a scene where the Heath Ledger character fights some men, in an unexpected and somewhat excessive explosion of violence. After he easily dropkicks the men, who had been offending him by cursing in front of his young children, he's shown against a dark sky illuminated by fireworks. (This makes me pretty sure it's a Fourth of July celebration, though I really don't remember.) Some have apparently criticized the scene as an unnecessary display of masculinity, but, like this writer, I tend to just appreciate the beauty and ponderous nature of the shot. It is a movie, after all.  

Well, this is getting too long again, so I'll add a part 3 for the last few movies.