Fuzzy First Movie Reviews

When I was a kid, my parents were very selective about the movies they took me to see. We've also never had cable, so it was years before I saw unedited versions of many of my favorite movies. One of the most trying experiences in elementary school was dealing with all the “You NEVER saw ________?!” that my incredulous friends would ask, right before telling me who Luke's father was. Eventually, I was old enough to see movies on my own, but had already missed so many. Maybe someday I'll list the top ten major movies I've never seen or only saw recently(like The Goonies or Young Guns), as well as embarrassing ones I have seen(like Cabin Boy). I try to see 3-5 movies a week through Netflix but its tough to catch up given how many new movies come out each week. Maybe someday I'll at least catch up to my peers so I don't hear “You NEVER saw ________?!” from my co-workers.

About a week or two ago I was reminiscing about the first movie I saw in the theaters. I thought it was Annie, which I remember so vividly because I REALLY wanted to see E.T. My mom wanted to see Annie and was afraid I'd develop a taste for weird science fiction type things and one day make a living designing catalogs for that weird subject matter, while spending my free time writing about it on the internet. A commercial before Annie for Reese's Pieces got my hopes up for a moment, thinking they were playing a joke on me and really did take me to see what I wanted. I've never been so disappointed in my life. Of course, a few weeks later they relented and took me to E.T., and my mom's concerns were clearly unwarranted.

This weekend I saw An American Tail for the first time. That's definitely one for the major missed list, but what's really significant is it triggered a memory of The Secret of Nimh, the first Don Bluth movie I ever saw and, more importantly, the first movie my parents took me to see. I would have been 7, maybe 8 years old, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. What I do remember is that it was part of a double feature, and was preceded by Song of the South, which must have been rereleased given the 1946 date I'm looking at right now. I think my mom had some of those songs on vinyl, since I'd heard ”Zipadeedoodah” before and was singing it long after I saw the movie. Given that fact, I think my mom took a bigger risk following up with Annie rather than E.T. The older I got, the further apart our tastes were. To this day I still hear about how she and my dad fought to stay awake during The Transformers: The Movie and didn't understand what in that film had moved me. By the time I was old enough to go to the movies alone, I think they were as glad as I was.