I love the movies, but with a young child, my wife and I don’t get to go to the movies as often as we used to.

Lisa and I have a tradition of watching the Oscars together because it was one of the first things we did together — ever. We used to make an effort to see movies in a theater or rented at a store we thought would be nominated, resulting in a fun culmination of cheers and jeers on Oscar night.

We even once had the thrill of watching the Academy Awards in Vancouver, B.C., on a big screen in a neighborhood bar and grill. Vancouver, you might recall, is a movie town. (For instance, Lions Gate Films is based there and is a studio named for Lions’ Gate Bridge.) That night was a blast.

These past couple of years we haven’t been able to see many movies. Oscar night isn’t the same, except for the award for best animated feature. On Sunday, while watching the Academy Awards, we longed for the days when we went to the movies a lot.

Cinema is a fine art, albeit one of the newer ones. “Fine” in that term that doesn’t mean quality so much as an art form that has become a discipline. One way to think of it is there are applicable rules and guidelines that can be taught in schools. I took some theater classes in college and one was film, fiction and theater. I compared the book “Catch-22” to the movie for my final report.

What makes for good cinema? Well, that remains in the eye of the beholder, because there are so many film theory perspectives.

I tend to like the movies that engage me emotionally, visually and mentally. I find TV shows to be too predictable. I am sick of watching shows about cops, doctors and lawyers. Movies provide performance entertainment that is stimulating. They take chances. My masseuse says the body relaxes when it cannot predict what comes next. I believe that holds true for watching performances, whether on a stage or a screen.

Which movies take the most risks, are unpredictable, engaging and compelling? The high-quality films, ones that get nominated for Oscars.

My son is to the point where he can watch a full-length animated feature at home. The first one he watched all the way through was “Ice Age.” It won’t be long before we take him to a movie theater.

There is a huge difference between watching a movie for kids at home and watching it at a theater. It’s much more fun to be in front of a big screen and hearing the laughter of children.

In the long run we hope our son appreciates film as an art form in the same way his parents do.

Tribune Managing Editor Tim Engstrom’s column appears every Tuesday.