Gladiator (5 Stars)

When it comes to films, my son Benjamin is in the same place that I was in 2002. I rarely went to the cinema, at most four times a year. I watched films on television, and I occasionally borrowed films on VCR tapes from Blockbuster. There were some films that I liked, but I didn't really know films, if you understand what I mean. In 2002 I hadn't even heard of "Pulp Fiction", which shows how limited my film knowledge was. Benjamin doesn't often go to the cinema – mostly when I drag him along – and he watches most of his films on Netflix.

Benjamin is visiting me this weekend, so I sat with him watching "Gladiator". I occasionally glanced sideways at him and saw he was sitting with an expressionless face. I thought he might be bored, so after an hour I paused the film and asked him what he thought. He replied, "This is one of the best films I've ever seen". His face was blank for the rest of the film, but I'd misinterpreted him. He was overwhelmed. The action, the emotion, the opulent backdrops, it was something he'd never seen before. My son might not be a big film fan like his father, but he has good taste. When we spoke afterwards he was wildly enthusiastic about what he'd just seen.

I don't know whether he will ever be a film fan like me. He's more interested in computer games, mostly on his Play Station 4. That's a time-consuming hobby which leaves little opportunity to do anything else. Let's see how he develops. At his age I played a lot of computer games. I had my first PC in 1990, and I spent a lot of time playing adventure games. I couldn't go back to it now. I've moved on.

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