Jurassic Park (1993)

By dint of its script by the late science fiction novelist Michael Crichton, blockbuster computer graphics by George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic, and movie direction by Steven Spielberg, Jurassic Park still remains the greatest dinosaur movie ever made. It's funny, it's scary, it's iconic, and it's not yet been matched (though Peter Jackson's King Kong tried for a fraction of its 3-hour runtime). Never before had we seen a T-Rex or velociraptor in all its jaw-dropping (and jaw-crunching) infamy. Plus the late Stan Winston's gutteral, amped-out dino roars made us pee our pants clear to next Tuesday's wash. Only in Jurassic Park can you ... SEE world-famous paleontologists (Sam Neill and Laura Dern) use sonar technology to assist their fossil digs as Sam's character sadistically lectures a toothsome preteen on the smorgasbord tactics of the velociraptor. HEAR rockstar mathematician (Jeff Goldblum) lecture the jaded capitalist (the late Richard Attenborough) on his doomed approach to genetic engineering and, incidentally, theme-park development. WINCE at the capitalist's oft-repeated mantra "Spared no expense!" SHIVER as your heart drops to the pit of your gullet just before you read the words "Objects in this mirror are larger than they appear" or (if you are an attorney) your torso drops to the pit of a T-Rex gullet! SMIRK as the beefy programmer (Wayne Knight) tells the dilophosaurus "I have nothing on me. I have no food on me!" The fear is palpable -- oh yeah, the flop sweat is running down the small of your back, but that's not flop sweat running down your leg. Jurassic Park -- proudly serving up nightmares for 16 years now. Watch it again and say it with me: "Where's the goat...?" 5 stars.