Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Still a heck of a lot of fun.

Special effects have advanced over time, but it’s hard to top the stop-motion magic conjured by Ray Harryhausen.

When the master of mayhem unleashes sword-wielding skeletons, it doesn’t really matter if you’re five or 75 — it’s thrilling.

Tracking Jason and his plucky warriors as they pursue the Golden Fleece, dodging enemies of all shapes and sizes, this is perfect matinee fodder.

While it hit theaters before my time, I kept the dream clicking, playing it on in-store TV’s at Videoville back in the day.

Just doing my part to keep cinema alive.

One Million Years B.C.

Something for every demographic.

This wild ‘n woolly 1966 adventure flick offers Raquel Welch in a fur bikini, plus Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion dinosaurs terrorizing the prehistoric landscape.

Are you not entertained?

Some might quibble with the fact humans and dinosaurs are living in the same time period, which seems to fly right in the face of historical reality, but the filmmakers couldn’t care less.

“We didn’t make it for professors,” Harryhausen said. “Who probably don’t go to see these kinds of movies anyway.”

Well, except for the professors who wanted to study the physics of Raquel’s physique, that is…

Clash of the Titans (1981)

Old school is the best school.

When they remade this film, they had the best greenscreens available, yet the result felt fairly lifeless when compared to what the original created with stop-motion and practical effects.

While director Desmond Davis sprinkled in distinguished thespians like Maggie Smith and Laurence Olivier to class up the joint, it’s true lead Harry Hamlin is upstaged by a mechanical owl.

But we’re not really here for the L.A. Law alum.

We want Medusa droppin’ serious side-eye and a rubbery Kraken making bodies hit the floor (of the ocean), and this childhood favorite delivers in style.