It’s hard to describe what it was like seeing Jurassic Park in the theater for the first time as a kid.

Picture this… You’re a teenager going to see that big blockbuster everyone’s been talking about, but it’s 1993. There is no YouTube. There’s basically no internet. No spoilers. You’ve seen the trailers, and they’re carefully done so as not to give away the big reveals. So you know this is some kind of dinosaur movie, but you don’t know much else.

And then the dinosaurs show up. And they look 100% fucking real.

Even today, that movie’s special effects hold up, and that’s for three reasons:

• They had CGI, but used it sparingly because it wasn’t ready to be all the effects in a movie yet. Where they could use practical effects, they did. And they did an astonishingly good job with them.
• The dinosaurs are shown sparingly until the audience is practically begging for the various “money” shots - which are then provided, with perfect timing. It’s like cinematographic edging.
• Spielberg was at the absolute top of his game. Scenes were thoughtfully executed and beautifully shot. The water in the glass scene? People in the audience were dead silent, holding their breath. Then the T-motherfucking-rex appears, and it’s glorious. Everyone screaming and shouting, half-thrilled and half-terrified.

It changed movies, permanently.