The young David studies the last ten minutes of "Woman in Red"

Head First is ten years old. We’ve been asked to ponder the number 10 and write a little something.

Rejecting “My 10 favourite games”, “My 10 favourite snacks” and “My 10 best lists”, I decided to just take the number, and apply it elsewhere.

I consider myself on the verge of being a grumpy old man, so I thought it would be nice to ponder a time when I was a little less grizzled – 1982. The year I was 10.

To recall the details of myself at that age, I have one sure-fire point of reference – I take a look at what was on at the cinema that year. People say they can remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard about Kennedy’s assassination. I chart my development via Gremlins and Back to the Future.

Looking back at 1982, the biggest grossing movies of that year include:-

• Blade Runner
• The Thing
• ET
• Poltergeist
• The Dark Crystal
• Tron
• First Blood

Now, upon seeing this list, I wanted to sit down and write something scathing about the paltry offerings of today’s cinema in comparison to the infinitely better offerings from my youth…

Of how these movies of classic status hold seniority over any pretenders to the throne that may arise in these times of remakes and scant originality.

I wanted to take a great big bite out of the Hollywood of today, and talk of how a 10 year old kid in 2009 is missing out, of how imagination needs feeding, and the nourishment on offer today would mean that the next generation’s creativity will be underweight.

I wanted to hold “Knowing” or “Wolverine” up against Blade Runner in an attempt to prove once and for all that things were better in the old days.

…But then I thought of a few films that I really enjoyed this year.

Not just enjoyed, but would actively recommend.

Films like District 9, Watchmen and Star Trek.

And then there are the films that I would still really like to see…. Moon, Up and Black Dynamite.

All films that I would have thought were cool as hell when I was ten, and I’m sure the ten year olds of today would like too.

Which kind of ruins my old man rant.

Kids these days…

They don’t know how lucky they are.

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