We all watched and loved Disney right? And a bit of Warner Bros, Don Bluth films too and of course my childhood film memories include frequent viewings of Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Back to the Future. I wanted to include a couple of wild cards but I'll go with the films I remember watching the most, aside from the obvious.
A Night at the Opera
This may be a strange film to pick for childhood BUT as an avid Marx Brothers fan from a young age. This is actually a family favourite as well as fond film from childhood and is also one of my favourite films of all time. Groucho, Chico and Harpo find themselves travelling across the ocean, supposedly from Italy, to New York so that their friend Ricardo can perform at the opera. Harpo is the beatdown assistant to the current lead singer of the opera company, Chico just seems like some guy who drifts in and Groucho is a wise ass business manager to a wealthy older woman. So far so Marx Bros, but the classic scenes, jokes and even the music just make this film so darn good. One of the most hilarious scenes sees more and more people crammed into a tiny room on a ship which is preluded by a dinner order so confusing, I don't know how the actor playing the waiter kept a straight face. Funnyily enough, I was going to name my blog after a line from the film...wonder if everyone who was have enjoyed it...
Herge's Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun
I'm a huge Tintin fan so this had to be included. Not confusing the title with 90s TV series that animated all of Tintin's adventures, this feature film version combines The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun into one adventure where Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy travel to Peru to find where Professor Calculus has been taken as well as investigating a curse that has driven 7 scienetists, experts and explorers into comas. The animation still looks amazing to me and the 2D animation looks as if it was lifted from the comics. We had this and Explorers on the Moon (another combi of two stories) on VHS and I wore it out. I was over the moon when I found a weird three film boxset that included this gem. No luck on the Moon film though.
The Empire Strikes Back
Obviously Star Wars was going to make it into the picks this week. This was the most watched out of the originals. This was also the first Star Wars film I ever saw so hold a place in my film heart. Usually the middle film isn't always the winner but with new planets, new places, new faces, new creatures, first appearence of Yoda and that iconic freezing of Han Solo scene oh and the big 'twist' that only very few people knew about, the moment that has been paraodied to death, so many great lines but my personal favourite "Laugh it up fuzzball!"
