Back in late 2013 into early 2015, Dad and I had a DEFFFFFINITE “year of movies.”
See, I was in visiting MOST weekends. And there was a redbox outside a gas station a couple of blocks from my parents’ house…along my route to GET there. So it was literally a matter of pull in one driveway, pull up to the machine, pick a movie or two, swipe my card, get the discs, hop back in the car, and be at the house.
And for basically ALL of 2014, MANY Friday nights were “redbox nights” with Dad. Also had movies that I flat-out BOUGHT, whether “new” or cheapo-bin stuff; or already had; or Netflix, or something from the library. Some nights, we’d end up getting through TWO movies in one sitting. Most often, though, it was at least one movie per weekend, if not a couple.
I realized I still had a LIST of those movies that I kept in 2014. I can’t remember for CERTAIN on all of them which ones Dad and I for sure watched together, but I’ve got the entire list below, and marked with an asterisk the ones that are pretty likely we watched together (and some of them included Mom watching, but she often wasn’t a fan of much of what we’d watch).
And that’s another thing I’ve had in my mind lately: trying to think of “favorite movies” that Dad had. And I feel horrible and rotten and all that that I really can’t think of any. Like…no singular movie that I knew of, KNOW of, can recall offhand that he considered any particular “favorite.”
I know that he watched TONS of movies, especially the last few years, that he’d randomly check out on Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming apps…not to mention random stuff he’d DVR from tv. And even with all our Redbox nights, he always vastly PREFERRED high-action flicks; not necessarily VIOLENT, but stuff that was exciting to watch with plenty of action, stunts, etc.
And that would be my criteria a lot of times: “just some action-looking flick.” Or back then, we’d have some idea of stuff that had been in theaters that would be “coming soon to home media” that we’d LOOK FORWARD TO watching together. There were movies that I specifically passed on seeing in the theater, so that I could see them with him. (Other times, even if I had seen a film in the theater, I would enjoy watching it AGAIN with him!) And there were times that it’d turn out HE had already seen a movie, but he’d be glad to watch it again with ME.
Just the other day I was in Walmart, and kinda muddled along and found myself in the movie section…looking for a movie that we might watch together.
And I’m increasingly regretful of allllll the evenings the past several years that I was “content” to just watch “whatever” on my own. That I didn’t MAKE more time, put in MORE EFFORT, to just grab something, and go watch a movie with him.
While I got to share SOME of the earlier Marvel Cinematic Universe films with him, I had wanted/intended to make a point of sharing the ALL. Especially after a new medical scare back in 2018 that I’ll forever associate with my seeing The Meg by myself in a theater and crying; I’d had these grand intentions of “subjecting” him to the entirety of the Marvel films, in order.
We got through Iron Man.
I think we’d started Iron Man 2, but he wasn’t feeling wonderful that night or something, or it just wasn’t grabbing him, and he was falling asleep and…we just never finished it.
I THINK I got to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming with him; as I think about it, I remember some scene with Spidey and the (Washington Monument?) that we both agreed was rather spectacular (and not something we’d actually want to watch in “3-D”). I also know he and Mom actually (with zero prompting from ME!) watched Spider-Man: Far From Home one time without me!
Even as recently as the afternoon of the 29th, I was “planning” to–once he was back home–giving the whole run of films another go with him (and Mom).
Regretting that I let the “project” slip off into taking-time-for-granted-land for so very long…far longer than intended.
But now I’m headed down a mental path I need to leave alone; so gonna just end this post with the aforementioned list of 2014 films that I myself saw–and WordPress seems to have transformed my asterisks to bullets, next to the ones I’m reasonably confident Dad also saw (with me).
- 2014:
Cars
Cars 2 - Red 2
The Day After Tomorrow
We Bought a Zoo
Firefly: The Complete Series
Serenity
Man of Steel
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - Taken
- Captain Phillips
- Escape Plan
- 42
The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Taken 2
The Croods
Frozen
Patch Adams
As Good as It Gets - The Trouble With the Curve
The Sound of Music
Frozen
Saving Mr. Banks - Paranoia
- It Could Happen To You
- Gravity
- Old Boy (2013)
Frozen - Saving Mr. Banks
Cliffhanger
The Vow
Life as We Know It
LOL
Braveheart
Just Go With It
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Reasonable Doubt
Titanic
Divergent
Something Borrowed
The Spectacular Now
Failure to Launch
Drinking Buddies
The Notebook
Facing the Giants - Star Trek: Into Darkness
Easy A - Grudge Match
Dear John
40 Days and 40 Nights
This Means War
Mean Girls
The Change-Up - The Switch
- The Island
Next
Faster
Avengers
Mary Poppins - Fast and Furious 6
Grumpy Old Men - Blitz
Grumpier Old Men
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Frozen - 12 Years a Slave
X-Men: Days of Future Past
The Contract
Cloverfield - Wanted
- The Takers
Swingers
Cop Out
30 Days of Night - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
- Poseidon Rex
Independence Day
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids - Red Dawn
Jurassic Park III
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (2) - Non-Stop
Robocop - Primeval
Saving Mr. Banks
Pulp Fiction
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Her
The Lego Movie - 3 Days to Kill
Philomena
300
Guardians of the Galaxy
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Batman: Assault on Arkham - Rage
- God’s Not Dead
- Transcendence
The Fisher King
Amazing Spider-Man 2
The Iron Giant
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Enough Said - Need For Speed
- In the Blood
- Draft Day
The Big Lebowski
Mrs. Doubtfire - Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Avengers (2012)
Friday Night Lights - Walking Tall: The Revenge
- Godzilla (2014)
TMNT: Turtles Forever - Limitless
Transformers: Age of Extinction - Contraband
- Bullet to the Head
- The Bank Job
The Fault in Our Stars
xxxxx
Neighbors
Brick Mansions
Sextape
Blended
Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Fire With Fire - Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat II
Expendables 3
The Giver
Prometheus
Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever
Country Strong
Into the Storm
Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the TMNT
The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies - Argo
When the Game Stands Tall - Jersey Boys
- Left Behind (2014)
- Erased
- Hercules (2014)
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Now You See Me
The Life of Walt 