Glenn Beck praises the Dark Knight

Just listened to Glenn Beck praise the Dark Knight. How ironic that conservatives are praising a comic book movie, considering how comics were nearly destroyed by a previous generation of politicians.

Classic 80's movies like Wargames

I loved watching movies on the big screen when I was a child. I recall that one of the first movies I ever saw in a theater was Popeye. I still remember the fear I felt as Robin Williams fought that Octopus at the end, and how cool it was to get a book based on that movie.

Our family enjoyed attending sci-fi movies in the theater. We saw Star Trek II and IV together, as well as Return of the Jedi and Aliens. My father was a big fan of sci-fi comics like Flash Gordon when he was a kid ... the sci-fi movies of the 1980's brought the genre to a whole new level of quality and excellence.

One movie I wish we had seen in the theatres was WarGames, the now-classic doomsday scenario for the electronic computer age.



Talk about being ahead of it's time! WarGames showed us a hint of the future, where security issues for computers has become paramount in today's world.

Well, it looks like I'll finally get my wish, as WarGames will be rereleased in select theatres on July 24th, for one night only. The showing will include interviews with the stars, Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy, as well as the film's creators. There will also be a peek into the making of the sequel, Wargames - The Dead Code. Can't wait to check it out.

Candidates for top 100 movies list

Damian and I had a discussion about movies today, and it inspired this post. At some point, we plan on coming up with a definitive top 10 or top 100 movie list that is scientifically based and QUANTIFIABLE (i.e., Citizen Kane won't be number 1 b/c people in the industry were impacted while the general public forgot about it). Anyway, here are some movies/trilogies that I think will make the cut of our top 100:

Four great Spielberg movies

• Jaws -- it set he standard for music. The image of the great white shark from that movie is Iconic. It was a huge hit.
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- More Iconic movie scenes -- Spielberg at his best. Huge hit.
• E.T. -- Ditto.
• Jurassic Park -- Set a new standard for realistic special effects that stands to this day. Huge hit.

The Matrix Trilogy-- A movie that came out in March spawned a Summer and Winter blockbuster. The first movie was probably not a huge box office hit, overall, but it's impact is quantifiable. Oft-imitated in other movies, television, and commercials. Anecdotally, the movie inspired great conversations at work about the nature of reality -- great philisophical primer for the masses.

The Sixth Sense -- M. Night Shymalan's greatest work. Thank God for this movie, or else we would not have had great follow-ups that I loved like Unbreakable and The Village.

Original Star Wars Trilogy -- No apologies. The masses have spoken.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy -- This movie opened the door to other fantasy books, like Narnia, to be made into movies, as well as being the first trilogy (that I'm aware of) to have the sequels greenlighted before the first movie was released to the public.

Wizard of Oz -- #1 with a bullet.

The Godfather 1 and 2 -- when the aliens arrive and they want an example of movie-making, I'll say, "You want a movie? Here's two!"

Ghost -- arguably the best romantic movie ever.

West Side Story -- Iconic.

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I'm pretty sure Damian and I will have more sci-fi/action movies on our list. Here are some random Summer/Winter Blockbusters from the past 30 years that may make the list (the masses have spoken):

• T2
• Spiderman movies
• Superman I and II
• Batman
• X-Men
• Transformers
• Alien and Aliens
• Harry Potter movies
• Titanic
• You've Got Mail
• Shrek
• Finding Nemo
• New Star Wars Trilogy