Brandon Nighthawk's Blog of the Various!: Independence Day 1996 & ID4: Resurgence Spotlights!!!

It is now The Fourth of July and how apropos it is for Me to present a spotlight of one of the greatest blockbuster movie franchises ever...

ID4 was great then and it still is. What's great in the past still is now IMO! So this was the biggest movie along with Twister (see My big spotlight from earlier) of the year of change that was 1996 (Sting from WCW was an example as he said it himself!) that was an absolute can't miss and I anticipated this so much back then. I remember it like it was yesterday when Me and My Family which was My Grandparents & Mom all went to The Kenrick Wehrenberg Theater in Crestwood on Watson. We usually all went together for epics like this for example we did the same with 1993's Jurassic Park. Here's a pic of what that great fun show looked like back then :)

Here is some of the awesome posters👽

I knew of the director beforehand Roland Emmerich & his writing partner Dean Devlin with their great Stargate movie two years prior...

which really was the start of My modern extraterrestrial frame of mind so when this came about, I was astounded and looking up at the theater's ceiling thinking are they up there while we're seeing this new alien movie :o? I knew Bill Pullman from Spaceballs and Jeff Goldblum from numerous films including 1986's The Fly. I briefly knew Will Smith. Of Course I knew Randy Quaid from Christmas Vacation which this film maybe his best! It was cool to see Adam Baldwin because he was in Predator 2 and Brent Spiner because he was Star Trek: The Next Generation's Data! There were many people from other things like Eric Avari from Stargate and a couple from Mrs. Doubtfire. Harry Connick jr. from Copycat, Raphael Sbarge from one of My all-time favorite movies My Science Project was here and so was Dan Lauria. Even Rance Howard (Ron's dad) and WWF's Joe Fowler was there as well!

Now there was a very BIG & KEY scene for Me. My Mom got Me one of the Alien Harvester action figures from Venture and they were made by St. Louis's own Trendmasters which they were close to My favorite toy company and like Kenner, they had a ton of fantastic licenses and their headquarters were right in Downtown St. Louis which from My location I could be there within 15 minutes or less. So, when I first saw the little boy playing with Trendmasters' great Godzilla figures, I was very surprised and thrilled about it and really that feeling still remains with Me to this day and to think Emmerich would make his own Godzilla movie short two years later in 1998 and Trendmasters would make those as well😮

Now another thing that I was really liking and noticing was how the women were changing their looks and becoming hotter come 1996. I actually started noticing it a bit earlier with Sunny in the WWF in the middle to late 1995 but definitely in early 1996. Here's this picture of her advertising AOL back in 96. Its such a shame how today's society never acknowledges this history of the early days of the Internet, this is how things fall to Oblivion, but you cannot say I'm not doing My part 😀

By time I first saw Twister, I thought Helen Hunt & Jami Gertz looked incredible and keep in mind this was before I saw ID4.

The two women in this film Independence Day really caught a young, 15 year old Brandon's attention (I hope there's still teenage boys that is wowed by women now like I was then) which was Margret Colin & Vivica A. Fox, here they are together

However, I was pretty stunned how Fox was and that her character was a stripper :o She was quite hot & beautiful and really, she was the first black babe that I felt about like that.

Here's the epic trailer, notice S.E.T.I. in the beginning👾

SCENES👽👾

We Came in Peace for All Mankind, this scene is so darn haunting🌑🌎

They Arrive which this is so awesomely bleak👽👾

Time's Up!! The special effects are so incredible and still holds up to this day IMO and keep in mind 1996 is when they made so many movies seem like a huge event with such explosive effects that I still prefer as I speak😎

Here is Area 51 and the Alien Harvester Autopsy!!!

The President's Speech is one of greatest ever🎆

The Score is by British composer David Arnold who did 1994's Stargate and he really changed the game for movie scores that year and it continues this very moment. Any big movie score fan and even composers will tell you that so listen to this wonderful epic🎵🎶

So now here's the sequel from 2016

I love this cool video they made that totally takes itself seriously and it's called The War of 1996!!!

Here's the posters of the 2016 epic sequel...Independence Day: Resurgence! I saw this 3 times at the show, twice on the IMAX[/b] screen :o I waited 20 years for the sequel, and it happen.

Now many of the original cast members return including Pullman, Goldblum, Spiner & Storey, Fox, Hirsh and Loggia makes a very special appearance here before he passed away. The Madame President is played by Sela Ward. I like older women and she is still really, really nice. The kids are grown up and played by different people. Liam "Baby Thor" Hemsworth plays a good part. William Fitchner, Patrick St. Esprit, Charlotte Gainsbourg & DeObia Oparei is the same as usual and Angelababy is kinda sweet and a nice looking Asian babe.

Now like so many movies over the past decade or perhaps even longer it's so fast paced, if you blink the scene will be over and you're like what just happen? It's a very dark nature film despite most of the world has become one nation. Things happen when you least expect it with characters being killed off and you're like why did this happen? The magic of truly great and fun films has been gone for quite a long time and has absolutely zero feeling of the first one however this film is a really cool and an entertaining one which serves as a definite sequel which I was glad because I'm so tired of reboots so here's the Trailer!!

SCENES👽👾

The Opening Sequence!

The Alien Queen Harvester and Action!!

The Score is by Harald Kloser & Thomas Wander whom are partners with Emmerich and even has some additional credits of making his films. Their score is tremendous and if you know [b]Emmerich's[/b] other recent epics such as 10,000 B.C. & 2012 then you know what to expect this to sound like. Personally, I prefer David Arnold's original ID4 score and his style, but I have grown accustom with their scores since the early 2000s:)

BONUS: Here is My ID4 Merchandise that have. First is My Independence Day figures by Trendmasters When I first saw these over at the South County Venture, I was quite thrilled about how they look seeing them on the pegs of good, classic times😀

Now, if you see and focused on My great Header above, then you saw Venture. They were such a great département that was in the Midwest that I have a ton of memories of that. The picture I provided below is of the Venture in South town near Kingshighway & Chippewa. I will talk more about this location as well as the others in time😃

Here's the Blister Card to one of My Alien Harvesters. I have always loved the design of this and how Trendmasters made their packaging so darn cool.

Here's the Venture Price Sticker...look at that😀

Here is My really cool Inside ID4 CD-Rom for Windows 95 that I got at Best Buy in South County. When I first got this, I thought it was truly incredible and was so was the experience💿

Here is the really fun Scrapbook❕

My original VHS that I got from Star Video, it was one of THE last things I ever got from them📼

Here is My 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray of Independence Day with is truly epic with all of the deleted & extended scenes IN the actual film that makes the movie much grander and also the Independence Day: Resurgence Combo Pack together, I love feeling these covers📀