15 movies that have stayed with me…

When I first started this list (three or four days ago), I panicked and couldn’t think of any movies I’d seen, ever. Now I’m wishing I could do way more than 15! So, here are a few lists:

Childhood

Watcher in the Woods – Bette Davis, spooky house & trees, child possession & kidnapping, aliens, what’s not to love?
The Dark Crystal – Jim Henson + Brian Froud = LOVE
Back to the Future – Time travel, great music, Christopher Lloyd as a mad scientist…whee!!!
Labyrinth – see number 2
Time Bandits – weird, dark, British
ET – alien comes and befriends a child (I am seeing a theme here, are you?)
Wuthering Heights (with Laurence Olivier) – I was seriously too young for this, but hey, a ghost, a forbidden & lost & returned love, a child saved off the streets, an undying romance…
Star Wars – seriously, if you don’t know Star Wars, I can’t be your friend anymore.
The Goonies – pirates, bad guys, kids saving the world, underground paths to hidden treasure
2001: A Space Odyssey – aliens, sentient computers, need I say more?
Oliver – MUSICAL! I have the easy piano book and I played the songs over and over and over
It’s a Wonderful Life – I love and hate this movie every year.
Amadeus – Oh my goodness: fantastic geniuses are real people, too!
Spaceballs – I love me a good parody and this one is GOOD
Drop Dead Fred – silliness. lots and lots.
Bedknobs & Broomsticks – magic, music, and mischief

High School

Untamed Heart – who doesn’t love this movie? (teenaged boys, probably)
The Piano – a mail order bride who speaks only through her piano gets her piano taken away from her by her uncaring new spouse runs off with the man who offers it back to her
Monty Python and the Holy Grail – probably my most often quoted movie. I don’t even realize I’m doing it.
Rocky Horror Picture Show – I first saw it when I was 14 and there’s no turning back after that.
Benny & Joon – crazy girl falls in love with crazy boy? oh yes.
Fried Green Tomatoes – crazy girl falls in love with other crazy girl and runs a cafe? I never could decide if I liked the book or the movie better. Both had scenes that the other one didn’t have that I ADORED.
The City of Lost Children – French, weird, dark. Loved it!
A League of Their Own – I have been known to watch this more than once back-to-back. I don’t even like sports, but I love this movie.
Lady Jane – I love a movie that can make me interested in real, actual history. This one was beautiful.
Total Recall – Once I found out that there were BOOKS and STORIES like this, I went on a three month Philip K. Dick reading binge. It was awesome! I can’t believe they’re remaking it.
The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen – Weird, Dark, British. Check!
Dead Poets Society – I remember that we could get Mrs. Sanders off topic for an entire day in school if we mentioned this movie. It was that awesome and controversial. I just loved the idea of young men running around spouting poetry. I wanted to find me some of those. Where were they? (Hiding from me!)
Pretty Woman – Ah, who can forget the story of the prostitute in love? I have no idea what our parents were thinking letting us watch this movie, but we loved it so much!
Four Weddings and A Funeral – I still love this movie. I can’t help it. British, silly, love, yup!
When Harry Met Sally – I love movies that feature finding each other over and over again throughout the years. I don’t know why. I just do. This is my favorite of this kind.

College/Post College

Sliding Doors – Alternate futures played out back and forth across timelines, possibly my favorite movie of all time
The English Patient – again with two timelines being told at the same time, undying romance, war that is mostly off-screen
Clerks – this one just says “college” to me
Rebecca – Nick brought this to my attention and I love, love, love the creepiness and story.
Pride and Prejudice, the six hour version – Colin Firth. Enough said.
Bladerunner – I saw this when I was a child and loved it, but we watched it and read it and talked about it enough in college that that’s where my brain puts it when I’m thinking of movies.
The Nightmare Before Christmas – Was this college? Or high school? No idea. Just a favorite. I sing the songs in my head a lot.
You’ve Got Mail – our first internet/love movie. Whee! Love everything about it.
The Long Kiss Goodnight – Love how she transforms from this perfect vision of wife/mother to this scary ninja spy lady. Love Samuel L. Jackson, too. I will watch it any time it is on.
Men in Black – He’s wearing Edgar like a suit!! Ok, so that was really gross, but the rest of the movie: silliness, aliens! EEE!
Dark City – Dark & weird. Really weird and really dark. Sometimes I have nightmares. I won’t say I love it. I just can’t stop thinking about it.
French Kiss – French. French. French.
A Room With a View – I want to crawl inside this movie and live there.
The Talented Mr. Ripley – Creepy…and awesome…and creepy…and I just think about it and shiver.
High Fidelity – I don’t know why I love it, but I do. I am not even a big fan of the music.

Post-Children

Chocolat – French…chocolate…nostalgia for the past…mmm
A.I. – Robots, kids, the future, the sadness of it all.
Amelie – French (for real!), weirdness of the happiest kind
Gosford Park – British, nostalgia for the past when people who had people that did things so they didn’t have to?, manners
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – British, I cried when it started, I don’t know why I was so excited
Love, Actually – British, lots of stories to follow, LOVE
Possession – British, what-if storyline, two stories to follow
Wall-E – future, robots, LOVE
Kate and Leopold – time travel! LOVE…the whole thing….
The Lake House – time travel! LOVE…the house, the quietness, the waiting….it was just exquisite
I, Robot – Robots, humans, what’s the difference?
Sense and Sensibility – British, LOVE, manners, and Alan Rickman. Lots of Alan Rickman.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – weirdness, lots and lots of weirdness
Til There Was You – LOVE, what-if storyline, awkward, awkward love stories
My Best Friends Wedding – LOVE, silliness, lots of silliness.

After I got started, I couldn’t stop, obviously. I’m still thinking of movies that ought to be on each of those lists. Hmm…Netflix is calling my name….