I’m a film geek. As a kid, two of the movies I enjoyed the most were The Blues Brothers (1980) and Conan the Barbarian (1982)... you know, typical kid movies. Remembering back, I know that the massive car chases of The Blues Brothers just thrilled me, and as for Conan, who doesn’t love a barbarian-takes-revenge-on-the-snake-cult-leader-who-killed-his-parents story?

Given that these were the movies of my childhood, it comes as no great shock to me that while I love all film genres, action films are what I love the most. Have I seen the latest and greatest award winning drama? Probably not. Have I seen all the Fast and Furious movies? Damn straight.

Almost nothing makes me smile like going into a movie theater with a screen the size of Montana and a bleed from the ears sound system to experience the newest cinematic action extravanganza involving an ex-Special Forces cyborg who is forced to drive a rocket propelled tank in an illegal race through the streets of Manhattan against a gang of drug dealers who tried to blow up the orphanage of the cyborg’s youth. And for those of you who would question how a cyborg has a youth, get out of my theater.

That being said, I’m actually very opinionated about what makes for a great action film. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll go see any action film. But only a very few do I hold in high regard as great.

One of these great action films, and one of my personal favorites, is The Rock (1996). It has all the elements of a great action film: Reluctant hero. Sweet cars. Helicopters. VX-poison gas. This movie was directed by Michael Bay, who, in a career spanning only 10 movies so far, has directed 3 of the greatest (by my standards) action films of all time; The Rock, Armageddon (1998), and Bad Boys II (2003). (And his other films weren’t exactly action slouches.)

Unlike most directors, Michael Bay has an official website and an official fan forum, and I’ve been a member of this forum since around 1997-1998 (close to the beginning). In 2004, the webmaster, Nelson, asked me if I would be interested in writing an essay for the official website about why I was such of fan of The Rock, and write it incorporating ideas of visual perception. I was thrilled at the opportunity to use my knowledge of visual perception and apply it to one of my favorite films. And then to have it posted on the offical website? That is a level of awesome that still makes me smile... almost as much as seeing a Michael Bay film.

You can read my essay here.

Michael Bay’s next film, Pain and Gain, will be in theaters on April 4, 2013. That is also where I will be.