My oldest son and his wife recently moved closer to us, and of course, we were delighted. This means we can have dinner from time to time and jet over to their place in under an hour.

See how they did that? Closer to us, but not too close. That feels intentional. I respect the strategy.

Before the move, my son was constantly talking about unique television shows and movies he’d discovered. Whenever they’d visit, he’d start a conversation with, “Have you ever watched…?” This would be followed by a description of some obscure series or movie that sounded either fascinating or mildly concerning. 

Most of the time, we’d end up watching it.

I honestly can’t tell you how much little-known entertainment we’ve been exposed to because of my son. Things with subtitles. Things with long pauses. Things where “nothing really happens, but it’s about something.” Apparently, that’s a genre now.

In return, he’d ask me about classic movies. This led to long conversations about movie history, acting styles, themes, genres, and so on. We’d also talk about how strange it felt to sit around watching TV or movies and actually enjoy it, as if we should be doing something more productive. 

Even before he moved closer, my son suggested we should do a movie podcast together. The idea was simple enough: we’d choose movies to watch together or separately, then record a conversation about them.

And just like that, “Movie Nights With Dad” was born.

I didn’t know how it would work, and I could offer little to no technological advice. OK, I could offer none.

But I could watch movies. I could talk. And I could possibly offer some witty banter or at least a mildly coherent opinion about why I liked or disliked a movie.

That’s my skill set.

We decided to choose films from one of the many lists floating around the internet titled something like “The 50 Greatest Classic Films of All Time.” These lists are usually compiled by people who use words like “seminal” and “influential” and have strong feelings about lighting.

We started in October with Alfred Hitchcock films. Then we decided to get really classic and examine some of the greatest silent films of all time. We felt it was important to look at these because many of them were “firsts” – the first epic, first science fiction film, first action film; these movies were pioneers.

Watching those silent films was, to be honest, brutal. Educational, yes. Important, probably. Entertaining? That’s debatable.  We still enjoyed aspects of all of them.

Still, we fancy ourselves hardcore cinephiles now, which I assume is a title you give yourself after sitting through several hours of black-and-white facial expressions and reading title cards. We feel a little proud of ourselves.

Somewhere along the way, it hit me how strange all of this really is. Who would have ever thought that amateurs – who may or may not have many viewers – could have their own broadcast and channel that anyone could access? Who would have thought people could record their own radio show and make it available to the entire world?

I’m genuinely in awe of my son and his technological prowess. What he doesn’t know, he researches and figures out. He’s even fashioned short clips from each episode, which have ended up getting way more views than I ever imagined.

I don’t understand any of it. 

And if you think I’m bragging or giving our “show” a shameless plug, you are absolutely correct. I can’t help myself.

In the end, though, the whole thing is really just a great excuse to watch movies and share something with my son. It’s been fun to hang out, laugh, and actually discuss movies we like.

So far, we haven’t really found too many we dislike. Yet.

I also keep calling it a podcast, which I thought was something people listened to. But our “podcast” is actually made up of YouTube broadcasts. We have a “channel.” All you have to do is Google “Movie Nights With Dad on YouTube,” and there it is.

Again, I don’t fully understand how most of this works.  I do know that “subscribing” costs no money.

We currently have about 800 subscribers, and after February, we’ll have 20 episodes under our belt. Most of our subscribers are people we don’t know.

Some family and many friends either aren’t fans or ignore us altogether. Go figure.

We’re not upset. To each his or her own.

Besides, the best part isn’t the subscribers or the views. It’s sitting down with my son, watching a movie, and talking about it afterward. 

And if that means I occasionally pretend to know what an “algorithm” is, I’m OK with that.