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Dec 2, 2022

80s Kids Nostalgic Movie Art



Minors Making Movies: The phenomenon of Childhood Narrative Filmmaking and how it brings folks of all walks of life together


From Steven Spielberg, to the guy you just bought your insurance policy from – many kids growing up had aspirations to be filmmakers and made amateur narrative movies, which we took very seriously at the time of production!


Spielberg’s new film “The Fabelmans” tells the story of Steven’s youth, growing up naturally with the love of filmmaking and an innocent creative eye. And although Spielberg may the most famous, many current actors, writers, and directors started their careers by picking up the family video camera, putting together a “cast” (ie: a group of friends) and shooting visual stories just for the sake of making them. These participants range from Oscar Issac and Val Kilmer to M. Knight Shaymalan, Wes Anderson, JJ Abrams and many others. But, it wasn’t just A-listers who made these backyard blockbusters. Many people from all walks of life participated in narrative homemade flicks when they were young, including some who became working professionals in media and others who followed different paths in life, but retained the positive memories of creatively making amateur movies with their friends when they were kids.


I and many others have discovered that finding time to reconnect with lost childhood creativity can truly help to re-ground ourselves emotionally in our strenuous adult lives. A few years ago, I decided to bring back some of the original “cast members” of a short film we made in 1989 and create a new show around the old story and footage. This project was the beginning of what has become the @growingupmovies platform. I can’t wait to share the finished product with you so please subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@growingupmovies

Once we have enough subscribers, I’ll release the show there. In the meantime, for more on Minors Making Movies, check out the following links from Growing Up Movies:


THE BET: The 1989 kid-made movie that started this all:


TRAILER: GROWING UP MOVIES presents ASSHOLES IN ARBITRATION

Adults repurposing “The Bet” movie we made as kids


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Nov 11, 2022

Pound Puppies Are Back!

Growing Up Movies returns this week with new 80s Retro Toys content featuring the oh so lovable POUND PUPPIES! These adorable plushies have been making a comeback in recent years and since the 1980s, they’ve been a #forceforgood toy, raising awareness for the plight of homeless animals. What a great segue to real pet adoption and another reminder of how we can connect to our childlike creative core through nostalgically revisiting the toys we loved! Please subscribe to the YouTube channel if you dig this nostalgic nurturing, check out growingupmovies.com, follow us on the social media platforms and stay tuned for more fun!


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Nov 10, 2022

Adult Coloring Books: Comforting, Calming, Creative

Eight years ago, I set out on a mission to make a digital short internet series, using scenes from a narrative home movie I made when I was 12-years-old. As a lifelong filmmaker, I’ve always had the itch to flex my creative muscles, but this new project led me on an exploration to discover ways that we, as adults, can exercise our childlike creative instincts, and apply the positive outcomes to our daily lives. A psychological strategy of innocence designed to bring moments of calm and soothing to our frantic adult worlds, all too often consumed by work, relationships, responsibilities, and putting food on the table. But when we were kids and life was simpler, we were ALL creative and we were creative just for the sake of being creative. Who says that this must stop when we grow up? Why can we not reconnect with our inner creative child through the things that we loved to do when we were young? With Growing Up Movies, I hope to inspire others to wake up and work out our creative muscles, not for money or to impress others, but for the calming satisfaction of doing so.


One simple, relatable, and widely available way is through ADULT COLORING BOOKS. This has been a growing trend over recent years and a testament to the notion of reconnecting to our creative childlike selves through a familiar activity we all performed when we were young. The reviews and testimonials are all over the internet, proving that this method of relaxation really works and you don’t have to be self-conscious about your own artistic abilities because all you have to do is stay within the lines! Or not 😉 There are a slew of these coloring books out there, ranging wide in subjects, attracting our adult eyes, but also cultivating our childlike sensibilities. A handful of these subjects are: animals, scenic, design, art deco, swear words, sex, patterns, mindfulness, cars, fashion, and of course – pop culture nostalgia.


ACBs also provide examples of how our young creative selves can bask in the pop culture iconography that nurtured us when we were growing up. I was surprised (but not really) to find numerous ACBs out there that cover all kinds of 1980s and 1990s trends, from toys to cartoon characters, pop music, hair styles, technologies, and other fun stuff that can bring back positive memories. This is a powerful combination. It’s not that we all had awesome childhoods we want to relive. For many of us, childhood was difficult and packed with trauma. But there were always those areas of love and escape. And the physical things we grew up with like toys, candy, Halloween Costumes, and roller skates can embody this sense of escape and freedom. As does the natural instinct to be creative just for the joy of it. So pick up some crayons, coloring pencils, or markers – find a few minutes and ideally, a quite space - and get some of that stress out on paper, in this healthy, therapeutic, and ultimately just FUN way!


For more fun, please check out the Growing Up Movies videosode about Adult Coloring Books along with a few links I came across in my research on the topic. Enjoy and Stay Creative!!


From Growing Up Movies:


Latoya Nicole – LOVE what she does:


Funny and unique selection here:


Best ACBs of 2022 reviewed:


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