Please recommend...

[schild]

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

[schild]

Or, since 6th grade boys are shitheels, IT.

[Cyrrex]

I have a boy exactly this age, and here's what we've experienced:

Princess Bride - haven't tried it yet.  I obviously fucking love that movie, but am trying to remember if a 6th grader will appreciate it.  I am skeptical.

Jurassic Park - yep, he liked it a lot, wants to see part 2 now.

Avengers (including Ironman, Thor, etc) - HELLS YES.  If they have not seen it, this should be number one on your list.

Spiderman - Good, but not nearly as popular as Avengers stuff.

Batman - All were hits with him.  Talking the newer stuff here.

Time Bandits - was okay, but mostly forgettable

Pacific Rim - Totally loved it, saw it twice.  To be honest, this needs big screen and big sound.

Goonies - Yep, definitely a good choice.  Holds up well.

Back to the future - is okay.  Fun to see how they predicted the future would look like, but I would put it lower on the list.

Pixar/Disney stuff - Nothing really stands out.  Getting into that age range where this shit is not interesting, or they will not admit to being interested in it.

LOTR/Hobbit - Fairly good, but borderline scary.  Maybe too long, he gave up on it before Return of the King.  Preferred Hobbit.

Avatar - middle of the pack.  Also needs big screen/sound.

Indiana Jones stuff - thinking of trying this next.  Not sure it holds up well.

Star Wars - liked, but didn't love.  Can't go totally wrong with the original series.

X-Men:  Surprisingly ambivalent.  I think the first movie is quite weak, so that turned him off from seeing any of the others.

Star Trek - zero shits given.  Doesn't want to see it.

New Karate Kid - well liked.  I need to try the original.

[Chimpy]

Princess Bride - haven't tried it yet.  I obviously fucking love that movie, but am trying to remember if a 6th grader will appreciate it.  I am skeptical.

I first saw that movie when I was in like 5th grade and loved it.

[Merusk]

Lord of the Flies.

They're 12, not 7.

Good point.. Let's see in 86 I was allowed to go to the theater alone with my friends for the first time.  We watched Transformers: The movie.  Include that one, since TF are back.

Here's other movies I saw that year:  Labrynth, Top Gun, Crocodile Dundee, An American Tail, The Great Mouse Detective, Highlander (though not until it was on VHS and at a friend's house so that was probably 7th grade) 

I was also big in to Robotech which is painful to watch as an adult but I bet sons today would still love it. (I'll have to pull the dvds out of storage when we get a house and see)

[Paelos]

Remember the Titans
Back to the Future
Hook
Night at the Museum
School of Rock
The Sandlot

[01101010]

Good point.. Let's see in 86 I was allowed to go to the theater alone with my friends for the first time.  We watched Transformers: The movie.  Include that one, since TF are back.

First one I saw was in 82, The Dark Crystal.

[veredus]

Some stuff I haven't seen mentioned yet that has gone over well the last couple of years with my 7th grade boy.
Young Guns, might be a little to violent.
Croods
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, he read the shit out of these books in 5th grade though so that might help.
Christmas Story went over really well this year around the holidays with my 7th grader and 2nd grader
Willow
Titan AE
Clone Wars

[Miasma]

Pacific Rim - Totally loved it, saw it twice.  To be honest, this needs big screen and big sound.

Yeah so long as they haven't seen it already Pacific Rim on a nice big screen would be a huge success.

[Signe]

Lord of the Flies... they should read it instead.  Srsly.

[Viin]

Pacific Rim - Totally loved it, saw it twice.  To be honest, this needs big screen and big sound.

Yeah so long as they haven't seen it already Pacific Rim on a nice big screen would be a huge success.

Until they start talking about how implausible it is and how crappy of a story it was .. 

[Yegolev]

You're old too.

Super old.  I can't be trusted.

[shiznitz]

So many great ideas in this thread that never would have occurred to me.

They went with Pacific Rim.  None of them had seen it and it popped up on the first page of Amazon Video.

And yes, this was on our new 80" TV with theatrical sound system..

[Cyrrex]

So how did it go over with them?  Did they feel as if the plot was too derivative?  Did they complain about the unlikelihood of giant mechs being a better solution than giant tanks?  DID THEY NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE SHALLOWNESS OF THE CHARACTERS AND QUESTION THEIR MOTIVATIONS??

 

[Yegolev]

It was brought to my attention that The Goonies is full of bad language and such, which I really don't remember.  I didn't remember all the smoking and swearing in Ghostbusters, either.  Did someone go back and put questionable material into the movies that I watched in the 1980s?

[Phildo]

"I am the Gatekeeper, are you the Keymaster?"  Not the subtlest of metaphors.

[Cyrrex]

"I am the Gatekeeper, are you the Keymaster?"  Not the subtlest of metaphors.

No way kids that age pick up on that sort of thing.  Hell, you could have called it Dickmaster and Taintkeeper, and my boy would still have zero clue.

As far as Goonies...only people not fully in their right mind would think there is too much bad language for kids that age.  Of course, that might include most women.   

[shiznitz]

So how did it go over with them?  Did they feel as if the plot was too derivative?  Did they complain about the unlikelihood of giant mechs being a better solution than giant tanks?  DID THEY NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE SHALLOWNESS OF THE CHARACTERS AND QUESTION THEIR MOTIVATIONS??

 

They said it was "pretty good" with that "nothing impresses me" nonchalance of pre-teens.