Once there was a boy…

At age five, his parents got a divorce. That was bad, but the boy was lucky. He had an awesome Mom, wonderful grandparents, and they all loved him very much, so he never really missed his father.

He and his Mom moved away from home, ten hours by car, to the border city of El Paso, Texas. Mom had to work evenings at the hospital, so the boy was home alone a lot.

There was, however, a new thing called "cable". You could pay to have TV channels transmitted over a cable that ran into your house and eventually hooked onto your television. No more rabbit ears. El Paso’s feed came from the movie capital of the world, Hollywood, California.

So, the boy spent many of those lonely evenings watching old movies. He was making lots of new friends (well sorta) pouring in over the cable feed from the West Coast...

The boy loved weird, creepy TV shows like The Munsters, Lost in Space, Star Trek, Land of the Giants, The Twilight Zone, and Night Gallery.

He also liked some of the funny shows like Gilligan's Island, F Troop, I Dream of Jeannie, and Bewitched.

As for movies, he loved anything with monsters. There was Dracula, Frankenstein, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, Gwangi and anything with dinosaurs. His favorite was Godzilla, a gigantic, fire-breathing sea monster from Japan. There were a ton of movies with him! 

The boy also loved the slapstick comedy of Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Martin and Lewis, and the bug-eyed Don Knotts. There were also dashing, strong, men-of-action on the TV screen, too - swashbucklers, Tarzan, and exciting Westerns with John Wayne.

At age twelve, the boy and his Mom decided to move back to what they called "home", a old house on 320 acres in Callahan County Texas, that folks called the "Linscomb Place". To get there, you left the nearest town, drove 21 miles South, then turned left on a dirt road and drove another 4 miles. We're talking the dictionary definition of nowhere. But, still it was home. Goodbye cable TV. Goodbye Whataburger. Out there, TV reception consisted of three channels, one semi-clear (NBC), and two (ABC and CBS) that were completely dependent on their mood that day.

What ever would the boy do?!

Love becomes Focus

Luckily, there were, however, movie theaters in nearby Abilene (only 30 miles away), so the boy dragged his Mom along as "parental guidance". His first movie that summer was about a man-eating shark called Jaws. It changed everything - the way the boy looked at movies, the way they made him feel. Films could be emotional, intelligent! Now, they could be scary and realistic! The cinematic experience was a welcome assault on the senses, especially when living on an isolated farm.

As years rolled on, films debuted such as Star Wars, Alien and Raiders of the Lost Ark. There were Star Trek movies! The boy loved it… all of it!

He also loved lists. When he was about ten, and used to visit his grandparent’s farm, he would bang away on their old manual typewriter. Using his latest issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, he'd type up numerous lists from each monster-packed issue. It was tedious, since he didn't yet know how to type, but one-by-one, he would soldier on. He’d fill the white pages with titles like The Wolfman, The Pit and the Pendulum and The Horror of Dracula. He ordered his lists by category (vampires, werewolves, mad scientists, etc.), by year, by movies he'd seen, by movies he wanted to see. He liked the thought process of ranking movies top to bottom, best to worst. He liked the summation of the lists, his own process of validation.

Meanwhile, his Mom was kinda starting to get a little worried. His grandparents certainly thought he was nuts...

As the boy grew into a young man, his appreciation of film matured. He started to take note regarding directors, screenwriters and composers. He liked to read about how films were made. He treasured "movie nights" with friends. He took film classes in college (God bless you, Dr. Joyce Carroll). He REALLY treasured conversations with fellow film enthusiasts. His brother introduced him to a TV show called At The Movies, hosted by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and he loved it when they debated a film's merits, gave it a "two thumbs up".

Like his sister, he started collecting movies, first on VHS, then on DVD, and finally on Blu-ray. He even became a little sad when "streaming" became a thing, and there was no logical reason to collect physical movies anymore (but he still does anyway).

He witnessed film technology grow and change through the years. Ray Harryhausen made skeletons walk with stop-motion. Steven Spielberg gave us digital dinosaurs using a new thing called Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI). Pixar partnered with Disney deployed 3D computer animation to digitally animate a toy cowboy named Woody. James Cameron created an entirely new world called Pandora, using Motion-capture. The face of movies was changing, and the young man loved it. Still, despite all the innovations, he still admired the old ways and the old films, too.

He also began to be more critical of films. He learned what he liked, and it wasn’t everything. He re-evaluated is tastes. He re-watched films he did not like, or understand, as a child. On some, he changed his mind. Some he's still trying to figure out. He just doesn't like A Clockwork Orange or Natural Born Killers. He's not crazy about Woody Allen and those based on plays by Tennessee Williams.  2001: A Space Odyssey puts him to sleep every time. Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979), a Sci-Fi "masterpiece", never goes anyplace, so it loses me.  

He DOES, however, love films directed by John Ford, William Wyler, Martin Scorsese, Frank Capra, Clint Eastwood, Judd Apatow, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro. It's hit or miss with John Huston or Quentin Tarantino. But after all the years, his gold standard for filmmaking still are the films of Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.

The boy, even as an old man, will always love science fiction, Westerns, monsters and ESPECIALLY films that combines these elements.

That’s just who he is.

An idea is born...

Moving on... the young man grew older, and hatched an idea. As life became retrospective, he felt a growing desire: "How do I pass on some of the interesting stories from my life in a creative way?" The old written "life story" was too common and boring.  So he swirled around some ideas in his cluttered head, and eventually something began to take shape... he loves telling stories... he loves movies... he loves lists... The answer was right there - create a list of his favorite films, review them, and craftily incorporate parts of his life within those reviews.

Should be a piece of cake, right?!

The man started his list on scrap paper, then created more details in a Word document. He quickly transferred the film list into a spreadsheet. But a question remained... how to present this to my target audience (aka my offspring). It seemed kind of dumb to just email them a spreadsheet, especially when the subject is a visual medium. He needed to show pictures from the films, or better yet, link to some movie clips! That would draw them into his little story-passing scheme!

He also made a decision early on that his list must be more than one-shot films. However, he prefers stories with a beginning and and ending. Therefore, Dad's list includes Mini-series and Limited Series. The quality of some of these offerings is too incredible to pass up. That adds masterpieces to the list such as Lonesome Dove (1989), Band of Brothers (2001), and Chernobyl (2019). Though they span several episodes, they are in fact, a complete "film".

Of course, a website, on the World Wide Web, aka The Internet, was the only way to go, and the man knew just enough there to be somewhat dangerous...

As he worked on his idea, it was anything but easy. But eventually he produced his first list. This was his Top 40 films (you know, like the radio "Top 40" hits). Then it grew into today's Top50 Films. These are his absolute most important films.

His list is vastly different than "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies" This is not IMBD’s "Top 100 Movies Bucket List". This is not even a list published by Esquire magazine or the Chicago Sun Times. It is his, targeted at his many adoring fans, all three of them.

The Top50 Films consists of his fifty absolute favorites. These are movies that he has watched over and over. Each one has touched him in some way and he feels they connect to who he is, his life, his past, his sorrows, his desires. Each one elicits emotion from within him. These 50 treasures require a full-page, Review (Warning! These have spoilers). Within you will find details about the film, as well as, many of the man's life details - the memories, the history. His hope is that someday his offspring will read a Review and say, "I never knew Dad liked sharks?" or "He wore women's lingerie?!"

From all this, another idea arose. There were at least 200 films that didn't make the Top 50 cut. But like a nice piece of Rib-Eye, they are still important to him... whence came the Prime 200. These are films he considers be almost perfect. These are essential to understanding the film tastes of this regular Joe. However, rather than a full-page review, these gem's evaluation became what Dad now calls "Mini Previews"; emphasis on the "pre". They're brief and mostly spoiler-free. Included within these are: one quote, a reason to watch the film, and a small paragraph to entice you to give it a watch.

From there, things just went crazy. He had more films he wanted to share, so he created the Next 200. Then he felt bad because so many great films were left out, so he created Another 200 reviews. But wait! There are more wonderful movies that he is compelled to share and review! That was the genus of 200 More mini-previews!

He was finally finished! Well, not exactly...

Then in a surge of insane creativity, Dad decided to re-organize the whole thing. What was he going to do in retirement anyway?

Today, Dad's Movie List (aka the "DML" - which they are calling it now) uses a 10-star ranking system. There really is no way to limit the number of movies deserving a made-up title, such as Prime. If a film meets the criteria, then it gets the rating. The first new page was called Dad's 10-Star Movies - these the big dogs, ones he feels are perfect. The site had to be totally overhauled, but it was well worth it. 

And so, on it goes... Dad is constantly reviewing more films. Be it old classics he never saw, or new releases that just hit theaters for the first time. My wife, bless her soul, is illogically supportive. She actively hawks my site and dinner parties and, really, any event involving friends. I do appreciate it. 

A film reviewer's work is never done! 

That is the brief history. The man, with his limited web-page skills, created the film site you see before you.

He hopes, perhaps, that it will save you time when you can't decide on a movie on a Friday night. Or you just want to see a list of Top 20 Space Operas-Ranked. Or it's date night and you have no idea what a Rom-Com film even is.

As always, please ENJOY!