The Saturday Matinee ~ a preview

There used to be Saturday matinées, I mean, theaters do still show features on Saturday afternoons, Saturday afternoon showings are on the schedule, but it's not at all the same as what used to be Saturday matinées. Not that long ago theaters showed the grown-up movie at night, but Saturday afternoon was for the kid's movie - not that theaters snooped around looking for some movie that would be appropriate for kids, but studios made movies just for kids, movies just for every local theater's Saturday matinée. Today every movie is made for everyone and every movie is made to be a breakthrough hit - way back when, every Saturday afternoon you could go see space ships, Frankenstein, Jerry Lewis, Hercules, mutants, haunted houses, Godzilla, mad scientists, etc, etc, etc . . . movies never meant for parents in the evening, these were made just for us.

one of the 'girl's back to school movie sleepover with grampa' nights with just a couple of my granddaughters

Not all these movies were good, many were pretty dreadful - but a great many were really good, and some were masterpieces. I count myself an expert on both (what I call) 10 year old boy movies and on how to interest your kids to watch 'old movies', even B&W movies. I know what movies will encourage than to try more and which ones to steer clear of. I've raised 6 children and currently have 12 grandchildren, and they all love old movies. At the end of every school year and at the end of the summer before they return to school, we have boy movie sleepovers and girl movie sleepovers with Grampa. My 10 year old grandson just told me the other day "Grampa, Christopher Lee is the best Dracula but Peter Cushing is even better as Prof Van Helsing".


In these review/recommendations I'll guide you to picking great films that you can enjoy as much as your children will, and films that will open up a whole world beyond what advertisers and our consumer culture tell our children they're supposed to be excited to see. And, here's the dirty little secret; when your kid goes to school and is the only one there who knows who Ray Harryhausen and Steve Reeves are, they come out from under the dreaded peer pressure, they carry a sense of self confidence . . . my kids were the cool kids because they knew all kinds of stuff the other kids didn't know!

[in these reviews I will be suggesting movies you should watch, not going through all films and reviewing if they are good or bad - these will all be recommended movies. Now, in recommending these films I will, necessarily, be talking about them . . . my interest will not be to set forth the plot and reveal particulars of the course the movie takes, however any time you talk about the director's choices, the sets, the performances, etc, you will be describing aspects of a movie someone has yet to watch - so, this paragraph should be counted as a general spoiler alert]

This is the introduction to my series of "The Saturday Matinée" movie recommendations. . . as I continue to publish other suggested films, this space will provide links to those entries in the series. Please do check out my first Saturday matinee family movie recommendation ~

"The Saturday Matinée ~ preview" _{(an introduction to this movie review series)}

1. The Saturday Matinée ~ "Mysterious Island"

2. The Saturday Matinée ~ "Horror Of Dracula"

3. The Saturday Matinée ~ "This Island Earth"

The Christian & Private Study - A 'How To' Guide

• 'How To Study The Bible'

• 'The Christian Library'

• 'Christian Life Lessons'

Regular, Normal Christianity

Preface ~ "The Premise And Definitions"

1. "The Bible"

2. "God"

3. "Jesus of Nazareth"

4. "The Trinity"

5. "Man, Sin, And Spiritual Death"

6. "The Covenant, The Promise, The Covenants, And The Gospel"

7. "The Atonement - Law & Grace" _{(coming soon)}

LOGISMOS

1. "The Seasons"

2. "Why Do We Write?"

General Fussing About ~

1. "Vampires"

2. _{(coming soon)}

Miscellaneous

"The Best Halloween Movie"

"Do I believe in love at first sight? Yes - sort of . . ."

"Leonard - The Best Dog Ever"

MickeySr: Getting to Know Mickey Haist, Sr