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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

A Movie Game I Play With My Kids

I love movies. I studied film in college and teach film classes. I watch movies all the time, talk about them all the time, and so on.
About 5 years ago I started playing a game with my kids called 'as this movie is to you...' where I would look at a relatively recent film and compare it to a film from my own lifetime, or vice versa.
Unclear? here is a broad example.

1939 is called Hollywood's Golden Year, widely considered the year when the best crop of movies to be released in a single year was issued. Son of Frankenstein, Ninotchka, At The Circus, The Man They Could Not Hang, Destry Rides Again, The Women, Gunga Din, Tarzan Finds a Son, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Only Angels Have Wings, and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man were the c-list movies that year! Dark Victory, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men, Wuthering Heights, Stagecoach, and Gone With The Wind were some of the movies nominated for Best Picture in 1939.
So here is how the first half of the game is played. I am 49 years old so 1939 was 28 years before I was born. What were the biggest movies made 28 years before you were born if you were-

39?- All the King's Men, 12 O'Clock High, and A Letter to Three Wives
29?- Anatomy of a Murder, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Ben Hur
19?- Hello Dolly!, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Midnight Cowboy

Here is how you do the second half of the game.
I remember seeing Big Trouble in Little China in the theater the week it came out and really loving the experience (what can I say - I'm a cult movie kinda' guy). I have seen the film a ton since it was released the year I turned 19. So - what cult/fringe movie came out the year you turned 19 if your current age is-

39?- Fargo, The Cable Guy
29?- Beerfest, Lady in the Water
24? (it takes a few years to ID a cult hit)- Hobo with a Shotgun, I Am Number 4

We play this game for fun, but there is a fair amount of information about trends in film if you pay attention.

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