A cinephile in the making

Day 23

On my free time there are plenty of things I like to do, and watching TV (may that be for movies, shows, documentaries, etc) is one of them.  Last night, before watching the latest episode of The Last of Us, I realized that I besides that one show, I'm not really watching anything else at the moment.

Looking for what to watch I came across what I thought it was the movie "12 Monkeys", a movie that, even though is an old film, I haven't watched so I decided to sit down and watch it, just to be surprised that it wasn't the movie, but a TV show based on the movie.

The fact I have never watched 12 Monkeys made me think about a thing I've been doing for the past few recent years: watch old movies, may I have seen them before or not.  The 7th art (as we tend to call it back home) is one of those passions of mine but it was not a thing I was really encouraged to by my parents or siblings, and I have very few anecdotes related to going to the movies with either my parents or my brothers.

In my whole life I've only went to the movies 4 times with my parents, and mind you that we are talking about prior to 1995, because after that I do have a clear recollection of my life (I think).  You remember on previous post how my parents were basically not interested in my hobbies?  Well, the disconnect between me and them is a historical thing and yes, sounds worse than what really is but bear with me for a second.

The earliest memory of my parents and I at the movies were for the following: watching a documentary about the Dominican Dictador Trujillo called "El poder del Jefe" (The power of the Boss) back in 1991 at Cine Triple theater, and then again, at the same theater for "El poder del Jefe 2".  I do enjoy documentaries, but for a then 5/6-year-old and subsequently 9/10-year-old me, this was not the idea for a fun time at the movies.

With my mom the experience was a bit different, she still is a university professor and at the university, they had a movie theater where in two different occasions she took me and my brothers to watch The Super Mario Bros. movie and the very first Jurassic Park, not counting how bad the Super Mario Brothers movie is, this was definitely an upgrade than watching a very serious documentary.

After those experiences, I rarely went to the movies, and I was limited to whatever was playing on the TV or the occasional movie my brothers would rent or bring home but keep in mind one thing "family movie night" was not a thing with my parents.  As I grew older, I started going to the movies with my friends and family on a regular basis, a habit I still have.  That said, there are many movies that I barely remember watching or that I didn't understand much when I was a child or that I simply never watched.

What I've been doing for the past few years is revisit classics, watch movies that pop-culture references a lot or check why certain movies are considered the best of the best.  For example, the trilogies of Indiana Jones or Back to the Future were classics I barely remember, and I was able to revisit them and understand a lot better the value of those movies and why they are great.  Classics like E.T., which I never watched when I was younger, made me WOW even more about Spielberg.

One movie I rewatched recently was The Goonies, and OMG, how did parents allow kids to watch that? It was very funny when I watched it and compared it to the outrage certain movies have made in recent years, and I'm like "Didn't these people grew up watching The Goonies? What the hell happened to them?"

Another recent example of a movie I never watched back in the day was "The Sound of Music" and the only reason why I watched it recently was because when I visited Salzburg, Austria that freaking movie form 1965 still very alive in that city.  I didn't understand the excitement of the tourist, but after watching the film (which i great btw) I realized why.

With all that said, there are many classics that I want to watch: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, JAWS, Citizen Kane, A clockwork Orange, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Schindler's List, and many more and the main reason is that I want to be able to appreciate the medium as best as possible.

Tomorrow, the nominations for the 2023 Academy Awards will be announced.  Should be an interesting day for cinephiles. 

Talking about what genre and movies I like is a bit more complicated topic, and that will be for another day.

Exhibit A: me holding a real Academy Award

Movies are definitely magical; I'm a big guy and a camera trick made me even bigger while making my friend Peter a hobbit.