The Film Club

A few years ago, I read the Film Club, a book by David Gilmour (amazon): the true story about David Gilmour's decision to let his 15-year-old son drop out of high school on the condition that the boy agrees to watch three films a week with him. In the months thereafter I caught up on a long list of great movies I had not watched yet.

In recent weeks our Netflix queue has been primarily 80's and early 90's movies to watch together with the kids. (I can assure you nobody dropped out of school.) It's interesting how much faster movies have gotten in recent years: more action per minute, more effects and explosions per movie. It drives our kids a little crazy when we watch older movies. Either the movie plot is really slow and boring to them, or the suspense is drawing them in and it's killing them. My son often runs out of the living room as the grinding suspense is eating him alive.

Ferris Bueller, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future 1,2 and 3, The Truman Show and on and on. We're also watching the MacGyver.

Tonight on the menu: Romancing the Stone.