Tag: #EmpireStrikesBack

  • Watching Movies

    I’m a big movie fan, and I especially love awful, really bad movies. As a huge MST3k fan, that should come as no surprise. But, I still remember the wonder, and awe of going to see “Empire Strikes Back” in a theater with my dad and brothers. When I think back on it, it was like I won the lottery with “Empire” being my first movie. It set the bar pretty high.

    I also love sharing the movies that I grew up watching with my daughter. Some movies hold up really well, and some were not as good as I thought they were. But not all 80’s movies for kids are created equal. I’m not sure my six-year old daughter is ready for a melting Nazi.

    And today, I started to wonder when I can start watching dramas with her. You know, grown up dramas where what all the adults do is talk a lot, and the movie usually ends hopeful, but also a little sad. You know, like “Ordinary People,” Chariots of Fire,” “The Verdict” “The Big Chill” “Places in the Heart” “A Room with a View” “Broadcast News” “The Accidental Tourist” and “Dead Poets Society.”  

    When I was growing up, we didn’t get cable, but we got a VCR, and rented movies. My parents would rent a movie for us boys, usually an action movie like “Jaws” or “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and then the parents would rent a grownup movie, like from the list above. And out of all of those movies, the first one that I remember sitting through, and not leaving after the first boring talkie ten minutes, was “The Accidental Tourist,” which when I think about it, was an odd choice for 11 year old me to sit through, and enjoy.

  • New Star Wars Trailer

    My kid is crazy into Star Wars right now. I hope it lasts the rest of her life, but I will take the enjoyment that we are both getting out of the movies. And books. And cartoons. And TV shows. And all of the other things that Disney wants to release.

    Just as it happens, last night I was watching a documentary on the making of the original trilogy, so seeing he new trailer this morning just made everything come full circle. And here I am, watching this new trailer that seems to be an attempt to tie all 9 movies together as one giant narrative. Regardless of how the last movie is, and it doesn’t really matter – we will all go and see it – there are now nine movies telling a story that everyone can’t seem to get enough of.

    Why do I keep coming back to Star Wars? Empire Strikes Back was the first movie I ever saw in the theatre at five years old. I can still remember the excitement and fear, and thrill of sitting in a packed theatre with my dad and brothers, sharing that experience of witnessing that movie. What I took away from that movie, and still take away from it, is that you always go to bat for your friends, and you have to face your fears.

    Loyalty and courage.

    And here is the new Star Wars trailer…

  • Old v New Nerds

    The first movie I ever saw in the theatre was “Empire Strikes Back.” I was four, and the experience was life changing. The excitement of going to a movie, sitting in a theatre, and sharing the moment in a communal setting. Then there was the movie, which set my imagination free in a million different directions. I remember my father and brother trying to explain “Star Wars” to me so I would understand what was happening. What I remember most was the importance of friendship, and having the courage to face your fears.

    And then I didn’t see that movie again for nearly 5 years, but it was a very important part of my like. I had “Star Wars” toys, and books, and talked about it incessantly with friends. I remember once being at a friend’s house, and all of us guys discovered that in this house, they had a copy of “Empire” and we stopped everything to watch it. (That was back when a VHS of a popular movie could cost $90.) To be a fanatic with the source material was difficult. It relied on memory and debate.

    Now, I have a kid, who loves “Star Wars,” and she can watch Empire anytime she wants. Her fanatic desire to see the source can be met anytime she wants. Having noticed this, I wonder what affect this instant access to source material has had on fandom. Clearly it has exploded in the last 15 years, and did home video have anything to do with it?