What would summer be without at least one trip to the beach? Truthfully, for me one trip is about enough. I have way too many childhood memories of sandy sandwiches and horrific sunburns. And from a swimming perspective, ever since I first saw “Jaws,” I’m strictly a pool man.

With the holidays approaching, my thoughts turn to parties, and the uptick in food and alcohol consumption that goes with the season. I’m girding myself for the onslaught. Drinking can be treacherous for many people, but I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy it over the years. Though technically a depressant, booze usually cheers me up and fortifies me, particularly when confronting a room full of relative strangers.

As you might expect, I watch all genres of movies all the time, and loving the medium as I do, I pretty much enjoy them all. But I hold a particular affection for a good western. I love the fact that conflicts in these films are framed in fundamental terms: cleaning up a lawless town, or reclaiming stolen land. There’s black and white, and very little gray. And though guns will be drawn and blood spilled, it’s all happening so far away — in both time and distance — that you feel at a safe remove.

1998 was a banner year for movies of all types and sizes. Though the gargantuan “Armageddon” led the pack at the box office, there were many other smaller, wonderful films that did not force us to witness the end of civilization as we know it.

In the majority of cases where a single film evolves into a highly successful franchise, no one has any clue this might happen at the outset. Surprisingly often, success in Hollywood is the result of happy, fortuitous accidents.

With Netflix increasingly focused on promoting their robust lineup of original programming, I find myself turning more and more to Amazon Prime for great older titles, often referred to as “classics.”

Who can say why one year yields so many more memorable films than another?  Somehow, a number of dynamic factors and elements coalesce to create something extraordinary, as happens with a superb Bordeaux vintage, or for that matter, an outstanding film. There are tangible reasons, of course, but a mysterious alchemy is also working its magic.

To understand the power of “the cinema” in our past, and the comfort and escape it offered our forebears, we need only think back to the Great Depression, when many people would skip a meal to be able to afford going to the movies.