Independence Day at 25: Four Things You May Have Forgotten About 1996 s Highest-Grossing Movie
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Some people like “Independence Day” for its campy take on “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”; or for its technical achievements, which won an Oscar and set director Roland Emmerich on the path for becoming
the disaster director du jour; or for establishing Will Smith as the “King of the Fourth of July.”
Other people like me watch the movie religiously every time the Fourth of July rolls around. Let’s face it, when Smith’s Capt. Steven Hiller promises his step-son Dylan (Ross Bagley) fireworks, and you get them in the form of alien vessels crashing to the ground after a high-flying intergalactic space battle, why bother leaving the house to deal with traffic for your local fireworks show? And as Patricia (the positively perfect Mae Whitman) says “Happy Fourth of July, Daddy,” to President Thomas J. Whitmor
Itâs a golden age for actors in their golden years
By Don Aucoin Globe Staff,Updated February 11, 2021, 3:48 p.m.
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James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson â 84 and 90, respectively, at the time â took a curtain call on opening night of The Gin Game on Broadway in 2015.Jemal Countess/Getty Images
At 86, Sophia Loren has won acclaim for her performance in âThe Life Aheadâ as a Holocaust survivor and former prostitute who bonds with an orphaned Senegalese street kid named Momo.
At 88, Cicely Tyson became the oldest performer to win a Tony Award for best actress for her portrayal of an elderly woman who sets out to see her beloved Texas hometown one last time in âThe Trip to Bountiful.â Tyson returned to Broadway for âThe Gin Gameâ at 90, opposite James Earl Jones, who was then 84.