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It took me about 30 seconds of watching this video before I realized that I recognized just about every line of dialogue being spoken. This (fake) trailer for The Legend of Zelda Movie (1987 style) isn’t just a wonderful pastiche of classic 80′s teen films, it’s an out and out rip-off. And it’s done wonderfully well.

And once you’ve watched it, watch it again with a side-by-side comparison of the film clips the trailer is based on. Can you name all the movies it’s based on?

I just finished watching Nowhere Boy, the bio-pic about John Lennon’s adolescence. Among the other things that go on during the film, we learn the reason why, at five-years old, John leaves his mother and goes to live with his aunt. The plight of that lonely little boy brought tears to my eyes. That didn’t used to happen.

In the last year and a half, I find myself feeling a lot more empathy towards little children in film, especially little boys. No doubt because I can project the love I have for my little boy onto these characters. Hey, I can even feel for little alien children in some films.

But it’s not like I couldn’t feel (and perhaps empathy isn’t the right word, perhaps it’s pity) for children in films before. It’s just much more authentic feeling, and intense now. For all I know, maybe I’m not normal in this area. Maybe most people have a genuine empathy for little people that I just lacked until I had one of my own. I’m curious about that.

Now, here’s the sad part of this post. As I write this, I’m in bed. Jenn, who is trying to sleep, is asking why I’m typing so loud. And I am typing loudly. Unfortunately, my newfound empathy doesn’t extend to trying to my wife. Instead I just gave her a snarky answer. A lot of good this movie empathy does me in real life. Sorry, Jenn.

PS: Aaron Johnson, who plays Lennon in Nowhere Boy, played the leading role in another film I watched this week, The Illusionist.

Are you like me? Do you identify actors as (not with, but as) the role they play in the Harry Potter films?

Jenn and I watch our fair share of British films; Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and a host of other great films that we describe as British. As a result, we often see the same actors in the films we watch. Then we play the game; I know that actor, they were… [insert Harry Potter character here.]

So, when we saw The King’s Speech on Friday (and let me recommend it, wholeheartedly,) my enjoyment of it was increased threefold when I was able to determine that Elizabeth was played by Belatrix, Churchill was played by Wormtail, and Dumbledore was King George V.

PS: Pippin, from those other movies often shows up when we sit down to watch a British film.