When I went to see this one, in the Spring of 1999, I knew nothing about it. Basically, I went because the effects in the trailer looked so good.

I remember leaving the movies, after watching it, with a headache. I think the flick just gave my mind too much to process – between the effects and the story – and that plus it being allergy season led to the pain. And, since we (meaning my wife and I) saw it during the day, the headache got worse when we walked out of the darkness of the theater into the bright daylight. (Don’tcha just hate it when that happens?)

But, I was very impressed. And, when this one came out on DVD, I grabbed a copy of it on Day One.

Every chance I got, I watched it again, in the weeks that followed. It got to the point where it was really starting to annoy my wife. If I had a dime every time she walked into the family room, caught me watching it, and said “You’re watching that movie again?”…well…I would have a whole heap of dimes, at the least.

I watched it so many times that I pretty much had the script down to where I could mouth the words while watching it. So, yeah, you can say this is one of my all-time favs. I also liked the the second and third features that came in the series. But, not as much as the first.

It’s now almost ten years after it first came out. And, just recently, late one night, I was flicking channels and noticed this on HBO. What happened? I stopped to watch it for a while – even after all these times that I’ve seen it before…and, it’s still good, at least to me.

The Lord said, do whatever you have to do. And he didn’t say “Joe, be polite.”

Morgan Freeman was awesome, as he usually is, in this one for me.

Can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?

If you were/are a fan of the Star Trek franchise, going back to “The Original Series,” I don’t know how you cannot laugh at this movie. Gosh, it’s spot-on. And, I enjoy it every time I see it.

My parents turned me on to this one when I was about 17-years old (or thereabouts). It’s a classic. Ruth Gordon rocks it.

Oh, tales to tell on why this is a favorite of mine…

First, I was a wanna-be-punk rocker in the early-to-mid ’80s. White-collar professional during the weekdays. Biker-jacket and chains at night and the weekends.

Second, I was into the music and story of the Pistols – and I loved Deborah Spungen’s book “And I Don’t Want to Live This Life.”

Third, I got lucky on this one – my friend Mike and his (then) girl-friend (now wife) Lisa had won tickets to see a sneak-preview showing of this movie in New York City. At the time, I had just broken-up with my girl-friend of three years and was somewhat bummed. Knowing I was into this stuff and was now down, Mike and Lisa asked me to join them to see the show. That was very cool.

Plus, the night we went, was the same night as Game 6 of the NLCS. And, while I wanted to see the Mets lose, it was very interesting to see Manhattan go nuts after the Mets won.

Lastly, Gary Oldman. Is he an actor’s actor, or what?

Ya’ know, sometimes it’s the B-movies that grab our fancy. And, for some reason, this one got mine. (Funny, most B-movies with Mary Woronov back then usually grabbed my attention, at the least.)

And, for what it’s worth, I probably had a Post- “Last Starfighter” three-month crush on Catherine Mary Stewart when this one came out and was led to it like a moth to a flame…

I realize that I’m probably just one among maybe a dozen people in the world who felt the same way when I say this…but…I thought this was one funny movie.

Zuzu Petals!

Some of the best movie dialogue, script, lines…whatever you want to call it…ever…

It was the summer of 1978. I was 15-years old.

In those days, you really didn’t know too much about a movie before you saw it. And, when it came to seeing this one, back then, that was the case. My friends and I just jumped on the #4 bus (if I recall the number correctly), took a 30-minute ride (or thereabouts) down Richmond Avenue to the Island Theatre to see some flick called “Animal House.”

You know, there’s an expression that people throw around that goes along the lines of “I laughed so hard I nearly pissed myself.” They just say it – even though it’s hardly true. Well, that day, back in the summer of 1978, when we went to see this movie called “Animal House,” I truly did laugh so hard that I nearly pissed myself. Up until that point in my life, I had never see something in the movies that was that funny. (I’m just glad that it stayed at ‘nearly.’ Can you imagine that bus ride home, with my friends, if my bladder hadn’t held up? It’s spots like that where you earn a nickname that says with you for life – and not the good kind of nicknames.)

Now, of course, part of that back then was the shock value – because I had no idea, at least not fully, on what to expect going into the movie. And, it’s true that surprise/shock can lead to laughter, if done correctly, as much as it can to terror, etc.

However, the beauty of this one, now, is that I’ve seen it countless times. And, I know everything that’s going to happen, when it happens, how it happens, before it happens. Nonetheless, I still laugh, today, when I watch this one. Does it get any better than that?

Joe Girardi’s favorite movie! And, one of mine too.

O.K., so, this one took home five Academy Awards including Best Picture. Obviously, Joe and I are not the only ones who really enjoyed this flick.

I could probably watch that scene where they do the reenactment of the battle of Carthage at the gladiatorial games everyday and not get bored of it.

Hey, if you’re a guy and this movie doesn’t do something for you, then you should probably start taking a testosterone supplement or something…

I saw this one when it first came out on DVD. Yeah, Brad Pitt mumbled his way through it…as he often does. However, Angelina Jolie was super-sultry here…as she often is. And, Vince Vaughn was vintage Vince Vaughn…as he often is and does…

So, I watched it a few times on DVD – liking it more and more each time. And, then it was picked up by HBO. I think every time I came across it on HBO, I stopped to watch some more of it again.

That’s always a test for me when it comes to movies that I like…if I come across it on T.V., will I stop, and watch it, again, for a somewhat extended period, even though I’ve seen it many times before?

The answer for this one is: Yes. In fact, if I knew it was on right now, I would watch it a bit – just for kicks.

That said, one night I stumbled across this one being aired on one of the FOX cable channels – and they were showing the unrated verison where the fight scene in the home improvement store was extended, with Mondo Bongo no longer being playing in the background, and there’s one sequence therein with an ATV and a chaingun…and it was just terrible.

You know, sometimes, the stuff that ends up on the cutting room floor deserves to stay there. For me, the original verison of this one is the way to go.

Ross Geller said it best…the sexiest movie ever. Well, at least it seemed that way when it was 1976 and I was a 13-year old boy. Mmm…Jenny Agutter going commando. This was the first movie that I ever saw twice in a movie theater. After I saw it the first time, I went back the next week to see it again.

I’ve mentioned in the past that, from 1978 to 1992, I was really into the NFL thing. However, I then became disenchanted with pro-football.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved playing football. I loved the strategy of the game. And, I loved hitting people. So, to this day, there’s a part of me that digs football – it’s just that I don’t follow the game as a fan.

Nonetheless, some of my all-time favorite movies are football movies. And, of those, this one may be my all-time favorite football movie. The character of Phillip Elliott struck a cord with me. And, of course, this flick gets two-thumbs up for the way they told it like it is, or, at the least, was, in terms of what goes on in pro-football.

Just for the fun of it, this off-season, I thought I would share some trailers of my all-time favorite movies. (Assuming I can find the trailers.)

I’ve seen this movie…well…I dunno…maybe 100 times? It’s the first movie that I ever owned on VHS. My parents bought it for me after I watched the movie on Wometco Home Theater over and over again. This was when movies first started coming out on VHS and they were expensive. I think my folks paid over $100 for the tape at the time.

Actually, I can Rocky-Horror-it in the sense that I could probably mouth every word of dialogue from it, real time, simultaneously, while watching it…