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What are you watching with your teenagers? (1 Viewer)

Zen Butler

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I have a bit of a PM-a-thon going on with a few other members. We lay out the ages of our teens(no names) and discuss what works and what doesn't.

What films, modern or classic, have you had success with?
i.e that they have liked and sat through the whole film.

[Hopefully, this doesn't turn into criticism on the films one choses(allows) or the films themselves.]

I'll start:

Ages: 16 and 19

Recent Success:

Adventures of Robin Hood (16y/o)
Cold Mountain (16 y/o)
Bill Cosby: Himself (both)
Sabrina (1954) (19y/o)
Napoleon Dynamite (both loved it)


Recent Failures:
Children of Paradise (19y/o)
The Untouchables (both)
Company of Wolves (both)
 

WilliamG

Supporting Actor
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Aug 6, 2001
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513
This is gonna be good. I'm so proud of my 18 year old daughter. She absolutely LOVES older, classic movies. And all without my prompting.

Recently watched:
Arsenic and Old Lace (she ADORES this!)
North By Northwest
Casablanca
Rebecca (even when it hits TCM she watches)

Then:
The Sons of Katie Elder
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
The Quiet Man

Also, last night she saw Bill Cosby, Himself and is reciting lines from it! I didn't mention that she purchased six of the eight movies listed. That's my girl!:D
 

Kevin Hewell

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Zen, I would be interested to know the genders of your 16 and 19 year old kids and if that had any influence on what they liked and didn't like.
 

george kaplan

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Considering that my son (age 4), already watches a bunch of classics (e.g., The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Meet Me in St. Louis, In the Good Old Summertime, Buck Privates, Fantasia, The Adventures of Robin Hood, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, etc., etc.), I hope that by the time he's a teenager that he'll be well on his way to enjoying all kinds of films.
 

Zen Butler

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I'm sorry Kevin, you're right I forgot that aspect.
They are both male.
Not to mislead either, they are not my sons but younger brothers for which I was awarded guardianship 18 mos. ago. May be a factor.

William, are we bragging or what? WOW! what a nice list. 100% success rate?


Would certainly love to hear from actual teenage HTF members. Andrew, what classics do you like? Enlighten us "geezers."

BTW, I hosted this pic for you, keep getting the redX from IMDB



[ IMG]http://home.att.net/~zenx/elizabeth.jpg[/IMG ]
(just squeeze the outside brackets)
 

Tim_C

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Heh, I'm a sixteen year old who loves classic films. There are some movies that have been deemed classics that I dislike ("The Searchers," "Jules and Jim") and there are others that I love ("Vertigo," "The 400 Blows.")

I fell in love with classic films pretty much by myself. Neither of my parents ever had much interest in older films, and didn't ever try to show me any.

As odd as it sounds "The Lord of the Rings" partially got me interested in film - after watching "The Fellowship of the Ring" I couldn't find any new releases that lived up to it - so I wandered into other sections of the video store. That day I rented "Casablanca" (I remembered seeing it high on the AFI list,) and "Grave of the Fireflies." I loved both movies and from then on most of the movies I rented were from the "old releases" section of the store. There's only been a limited amount of really great films made in the past two decades or so, and I was very happy to have a huge new world of great films opened up to me. (As stupid and cliche as that sounds, that's kind of how I actually felt.)

I have a pretty eclectic taste in film - my top ten favorite films consist of four movies made in the 21st century (all three "Lord of the Rings" and "Minority Report) one from the 80's ("Amadeus") and the rest were made before 1970. ("Vertigo," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "The Crowd," "The 400 Blows," "Singin' in the Rain.") My favorite director is Hitchcock, and I really love silent movies.

Of course, I now have an incredibly large (for my age) DVD collection that has cost me far too much money.

I never want to fall into the trap of believing that because I'm a teenager who likes classic movies I'm "obviously more sophisticated or cultured or intelligent than everyone else my age." A few teenagers I've talked to on the internet are like that, and I really don't want to sound that arrogant. Maybe classic films do generally require a tad more patience (and perhaps) intelligence than most modern films, but you really can't judge intelligence by someone's taste in movies. I'm far from being a genius, and I know people more intelligent than me who have actually tried to watch older movies and didn't like them.

And I didn't mean to make such a long post, especially since I'm not really staying on topic, so sorry.
 

Zen Butler

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Tim, when your post is as thought out(and good) as yours, the length is surely welcome.

Cynical HTF members, look at this young man's taste.

Bravo
 

WilliamG

Supporting Actor
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Zen-
YES, we ARE! (and darn proud of it- and her- too!)
'Course, this is from the same young lady who at this very moment is in the living room watching "Redneck TV" (Jeff Foxworthy and the gang) and is busting a gut laughing :) But, hey, the world needs more of that laughter!

Tim-
That's wonderful. Keep it up.:emoji_thumbsup: You mentioned "400 Blows" twice in your post. I've never (sorry) heard of that one :b before; will have to check it out!
 

StephenA

Screenwriter
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I got my younger sister to watch all kinds of movies, though she just turned 13 last Christmas time. I made a thread about it a couple years ago. Right now she's going through a phase where she usually doesn't want to watch things with me, but I'm hoping that will pass. All spring she said she didn't want to see Spder-Man 2, and then a week or 2 ago she told me she did. I'll have to try to get to see it with her before it leaves theaters.
 

Phil_La

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I'm 19 years old, I started watching classics just over a year ago. These are all on my top 20 list:

1. Charade
2. Vertigo
4. North by Northwest
6. Dr. Strangelove
7. Rear Window
8. Breakfast at Tiffany's
9. Manchurian Candidate (1962)
11. Spartacus
12. Great Escape
18. Frenzy
19. Pickup on South Street

I think Charade and North By Northwest were the first two I bought. I don't even remember why I decided to buy Charade, but it turned out to be my favorite movie. I've enjoyed every Hitchcock movie I've seen so far (both Universal box sets, the Criterion box, NBW, and To Catch A Thief). And I'm getting the Warner box as soon as it's released. Of course, I don't think Torn Curtain or Family Plot are "great" movies, but entertaining at least.

I love Audrey Hepburn. She was probably the reason why I decided to check out Charade in the first place. After that, I bought the Audrey Hepburn collection (Breakfast At Tiffany's, Sabrina, Roman Holiday) and The Children's Hour.

I didn't like Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina. I'm pretty sure I don't like him, but I've only seen bits of Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. I'll check those out eventually.

I'm starting to really like film noir. So far I've seen The Killers, The Killing, The Killer's Kiss, Kiss Me Deadly, The Third Man, Touch Of Evil, Pickup on South Street, and Rififi. I enjoyed Pickup on South Street the most, then The Killing and The Third Man.

Cary Grant and James Stewart are my favorite actors as of now. I picked up Arsenic and Old Lace recently and like it very much. Also bought Anatomy of a Murder, which I'm watching tomorrow.

I probably wouldn't have started checking out older movies if it weren't for my music tastes. I started listening to older jazz and progressive rock about 3 years ago, then I decided since I like old music, why not try out old movies?

Movies I didn't like:
The Lady from Shanghai: I didn't get very far. Couldn't stand Welles' Irish accent.
Rififi: I didn't think it was "bad", but I didn't enjoy it much.
The Ruling Class: hated it, I was expecting something else.
Brazil: I understand it, I just didn't like it enough to watch it again.
The Seventh Seal: I didn't like it or hate it, it's just not for me.

My DVD list is below with my personal ratings, I own every movie I've liked so far.

Oh, forgot Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I noticed the actor who played Charlie Cheswick in Cuckoo's Nest, had a similar role in the X-Files episode "Elegy". I found that interesting.
 

Jeff Gatie

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Get "The Philadelphia Story". Easily one of Grant and Stewart's best and it has the incomparable Katharine Hepburn when she was young and quite a striking beauty (not that Kate's greatness did not extend well past her looks).
 

SteveSs

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I have a 14-yr-old daughter. She will watch anything musical. She even sat through Carousel, which I can't stand. I don't know how many times I've come home from work and found her watching West Side Story, Singing In the Rain, or Music Man. One of our big faves is Broadway Melody of 1940, which came in the Cole Porter collection. She's currently in rehearsals for a local production of 42nd Street, another film we all love.
 

Ken_McAlinden

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A teenager is old enough to have strongly formed opinions about what they like and don't like (to a fault, if I remember my own teen years). If they have an interest in older films, let them pick something. If you are trying to cultivate an interest, give them choices in genres in which they seem interested. My oldest is 8, but my wife is a high school teacher, so teenagers loom large in her legend. :)

Regards,
 

Matt_H

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I've watched the following with my little brother(he's 12 but that's pretty close)
The Manchurian Candidate
The Good,the Bad, and the Ugly
Once Upon A Time in the West
The Exorcist
The Great Escape
Charade
Enter the Dragon
Dawn of the Dead
Blazing Saddles
The Omega Man
The Thing
Most of the Monty Python movies
and we just watched Freaks last night
Gooble Gobble!

Might watch Citizen Kane with him tonight
(I'm just 20 myself and have been "discovering" the old classics forever)
 

Dom

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Have a 15 year old daughter

Success:

Run Lola Run
Princess Mononoke
Lost In America
Pee Wee's Big Adventure
Shattered Glass
A Beautiful Mind
Time Bandits
King of the Hill Animated Series
Chocolat
Big Night
Soap TV Series
The Virgin Suicides

Failure:

Master and Commander
Looney Tunes Golden Collection 1
Futurama (Didn't like it myself as well)
Do The Right Thing
GroundHog Day
Disney Treasures MM in Black White
 

Herb Kane

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I already like this guy... :D

Phil, draw the blinds, turn off the ringer on the phone and spend the night with Bogie and The Maltese Falcon... and I'd almost guarantee your list will change.
 

JonZ

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Recently watched with G/F and her 15 year old son:

Kill Bill Vol2
Barry Lyndon
The Way Of The Gun
Crossroads (THe Walter Hill one)
1941
Donnie Brasco
Citizen Kane (G/F had never seen it)
Robocop Dir Cut
Blade Runner (I was very impressed he made it thru the entire film)


He also went with us to see Collateral sicne there was nothing else playing he was interested in seeing.

He saw Irreversible in my collection and asked if he could watch it. He heard some kids on the school bus talking about it. I told him "No"

Hes been pestering me to watch Re-Animator. He knows its one of my favorites.I told him he'd have to wait until next year since I was 16 when I first saw it in 86.
 

Zen Butler

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Dom, that's very interesting. Many of the films in your success list have fared well here also.

More specifically,

Run Lola Run
Princess Mononoke
A Beautiful Mind
King of the Hill Animated Series
The Virgin Suicides


Dom,


Really? this did well? Please explain.

More TV Series Success:

Family Guy
X-Files (their favorite of my picks)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (their pick, I must admit, I warmed to this show immensely)
La Femme Nikita (19 y/o only)
Band of Brother(16 y/o loved it so much, he saved his allowance and purchased his own set)
 

Rob Gardiner

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When I was in my early teens, my mom had the good sense to sit me down in front of the TV to watch PSYCHO and SOME LIKE IT HOT, both of which I loved.

It is because I was introduced to 2 classic films, containing the theme of cross-dressing, by my mother of all people, that I turned out to be the well-adjusted adult I am today. :)
 

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