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Friday, December 21, 2012

Movie Memories 09 | Laith Preston
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Movies, there are just so many stories I could come up with about movies that I'm not really sure where to begin.

When I think about movies, like most everyone I recall the smell of the popcorn and the quiet in the theater as the previews began, the excitement building as the hero wins through against seemingly impossible odds. However, one of my earliest memories of watching a movie is actually not seeing it on the big screen, but rather sitting on the love-seat in my parents room all nice and comfy with a blanket watching the movie unfold on television.

There are a number of movies that I first remember enjoying this way but foremost in my mind are Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Black Hole. I suppose given my love of all things Sci-Fi these two sticking out shouldn't be that much of a shock, the music, the characters... the robots... from VINCENT and poor beat up old BOB to the evil MAXIMILIAN...

I can fondly recall assembling a two barrel laser gun like they had in the movie out of Legos. Now there are a number of parts of the movie that people tend to think poorly of, but to me the film still stands well as a genre classic.

Speaking of classics, throughout my youth my parents made sure that I saw many of the classics, from The Longest Day and Lawrence of Arabia, to Evil Under the Sun and Murder on the Orient Express. They covered most everything.

One somewhat more recent one I recall enjoying watching with my folks was The Parent Trap. No not the recent one with Lindsay Lohan but the original 1961 version with Hayley Mills. When the remake was announced I was right along with my parents fearing that a treasured childhood movie would be ruined.

I was very pleased when it came out and not only had they not ruined it but they had done a reasonable job of moving the story into modern day rather than trying too hard to recapture the original.

Then they had to cast Lohan in a new Herbie movie... but that's a story for a different post.

Laith Preston is a voracious reader, aspiring writer and jack of many trades. When he is not at his day job as a web application developer, he can be found wasting way too much time on various pastimes in Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife, and three kids. You can find his aimless meanderings at his blog: http://laith.wordpress.com.

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