From Disney to 'Godzilla,' the Movies Are Here to Stay

What is it about the movies that captivates our minds and inspires our imaginations? What about these films causes us to suspend our disbelief and immerse ourselves in their intricacies? Is it the actors and their performances that enthrall us? The writers and their fascinating stories? Or is it simply our inherent desire to escape reality and indulge our inner need for romance, violence, comedy, drama, and mystery?

There's no right or wrong answer as every individual has their own reasons for loving movies. In my case much of it comes from the urge to stimulate my senses and emotions- to draw creative energy from the fictitious settings and characters. Not so that I might blindly steal from them, but in the hope that I can be inspired in ways normal stimuli cannot achieve. It all began with Disney.

My first visit to the theater was in 1990. The movie? "101 Dalmatians". I was one and half at the time and quite likely had no idea what was going on. Despite my lack of cognitive abilities, I was fascinated with the images before me- or so I'm told. Like many children I would later grow up to adore Disney films. To this day I can't get through "The Lion King" without crying, nor can I resist buying up Disney games, DVDs, and memorabilia. I've seen a large portion of Disney's animated movies- from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" to the "Princess & The Frog" and I've loved every second of it. My personal favorites being "The Emperor's New Groove", the aforementioned "Lion King", and "Peter Pan".

As I grew older my taste expanded beyond animated films. These days I've found an affection for the "Planet of the Apes"movies "Pulp Fiction", the "Terminator" films, and -of course- the "Godfather" trilogy . While my memorabilia collection pales in comparison to those of my father and uncle, I do have a respectable gathering of movie-related goods. Some of my favorites? Look no further than my other favorite movie series besides Disney.

The King of The Monsters, "Godzilla", has been good to me. As a child I loved finding one of his movies while channel surfing and have always bought up anything I could find with his likeness. You'll find a few of my favorite figures pictured above. You'll find Godzilla '54 standing off against MechaGodzilla '74. Wait... who's that little fellow between them? Oh! That's a Jawa bobble-head from the "Star Wars" series. Why's he holding Christmas gifts? He was part of a special, holiday giveaway. I was lucky enough to snag the little guy who now lives on my dresser with numerous kaiju from the "Godzilla" films. That big one is the latest iteration of MechaGodzilla, Kiryu- my favorite kaiju.

You'll see a slew of "Godzilla" promos in another of those pictures. While almost all are reprints, I adore them all the same. I've gotten my hands on promotional posters from all three "Godzilla" film eras - Showa, Heisei, and Millennium. The poster pictured alone is an original promo from "Godzilla: Final Wars", the last "Godzilla" film to be made.

Mankind has always pondered its infatuation with the stage. No matter how bad the movies are, we keep getting our popcorn and watching them. Sometimes, like in the case of "Robot Monster", it's these bad films that hold our interest even more than the great ones. Heck, one of my favorite movie series happens to be "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

While I've seen a lot of movies in my twenty-one years on earth, I know I've barely scratched the very surface of the ever-expanding catalogue of movies in existence. Every weekend myself, my younger sister, and my father find the time to watch a new movie together. We will likely continue the tradition until we drop our snow-globes and utter our final, cryptic words.

*Note: This was written by an Associated Content contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own movie articles.