The Impossible Task...

Narrowing your childhood nostalgia faves to just one, if you can.

The Pagemaster. That surrealist genre-bending experience changed the way I saw movies when I was seven years old, and I'll never let go of it no matter how flawed it is.

Not impossible at all.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

__________________

Jurassic Park.

Said this in reviews I've done of the series... some people had their seminal movies with Star Wars, later on some people had maybe Independence Day or the LOTR trilogy... this generation has the MCU.

For me it was Jurassic Park.

I mean, sure, before it there was TMNT (1990) or before it stuff like Superman: The Movie, or The Goonies etc... but I never saw those at the cinema...

I was 11 when JP first arrived, saw it opening weekend 1993, and it pretty much shaped my cinema-going tastes forever.

It's got everything... horror, adventure, science-fiction... a little comedy, great characters and actors... the greatest CGI ever to be put to screen (yes, even when compared to today's effects... and I don't care what anyone says)... and is genuinely fun to watch.

I can still smell the popcorn and picture in my head the cinema's lobby, when I hear the JP Main Theme start.

__________________

For me, it's Abbott and Costello movies. Here in New York, WPIX-TV (channel 11) showed Abbott and Costello movies every Sunday, and whenever possible, I was sitting right in front of the TV watching them.

__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

Jaws.

My pick is underwhelming compared to the rest of you, I suppose, but it's Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. Young me loved it. Current me doesn't give a **** about it.

On the other hand, I was also a fan of Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and even 2001: A Space Odyssey and I managed to watch them a couple times since my Dad was a fan of them, but I didn't watch them as much as BHC2.

I also watched Mall Cop a lot back then.

__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd

Home Alone for me.


Home Alone was the first movie I watched in the theatres. Back then going to the theatres was a big thing, unlike now. The whole concept of watching movies was a big thing. At home, we still hadn't purchased cable TV (which had entered into Indian markets), and so were left with only two channels to browse through. Of which one showed American and British shows for two hours a day. It's funny now looking back, and comparing it today's times when I can just watch anything I want at home.


Anyways, it was a memorable morning show for me, and a movie I thoroughly enjoyed. Did the same for the sequel.


I have rewatched both those movies countless times, and they still feel fresh and entertaining. I even enjoy the third.

Childhood: Dumbo
Teenhood: Alien

A John Boorman Movie actually, The Emerald Forest. A kid gets abducted into the rainforest. What was cool about it was that this kid became a part of the tribe, and has to go trough all types of tests to become a man. Like being bitten by fireants and other things. I have avoided seeing it again, cause im worried it will ruin the memory i have.

Honourable mentions would include:
-King Kong (76’)
-Ruckus. Fun movie, and actually a funny little story tied to it. It has basically stolen the story straight from First Blood, the book. And it was released 1 year before First Blood, with Stallone.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8tS4UeLHmoI

The Neverending Story, probably. I can trace my love of fantasy and maybe even animals to that movie.

I'm actually pretty happy about making this board. I ask so many people this question and many similar ones, and over 90% of the time people tell me how hard it is to narrow the answer to just one pick. But everyone here's having an easy time with it. This place actually really cheers me up sometimes.

The Exorcist

Pagemaster is a big one for me too, especially since Adventure always reminded me of my dad lmao. My pick would probably be Land Before Time as I think that film really shaped my appreciation for atmosphere and texture in film.

Batman '89

It is difficult but if pushed to pick it would probably be Chaplin's The Gold Rush.

First saw it as part of a Chaplin season one Christmas in the mid to late 90's. The films were shown first thing in the morning and I recall curling up on the floor in front of the fire watching them every morning.
But as a grown up The Circus has become my favourite of the Chaplin films.

For me, narrowing your childhood nostalgia faves to just one is just about impossible because I didn't watch movies when I was a kid. But if you count being a teenager as a kid then it would be: Logan's Run, which I first watched when it came out at the theater.