Top 10 90’s Movies, Part One

I have never been a big movie buff – when I was a kid, I was only allowed to watch one hour of TV a week.

You read that right.

A week.

So I didn’t watch a lot of movies, and since I was in a very formative phase of my life in the 90’s, the ones I did see made an impact. This week’s Top 10 is the Early Years countdown, listing the movies from when I was starting to building memories and friendships, some of which I, luckily, still have today.

These count down approximately in order of maturity. 🙂

10. Edward Scissorhands. What I loved most about this movie was the music, which I would listen to every night laying ear-to-speaker on my tape deck. I imagined another tale of a valiant knight flying over hill and dale to find and explore an abandoned castle. Probably for a princess.  Interestingly, Mom told me that when I had the accident and was in a coma, seven years after this movie came out, this was one of the few tapes or CDs I “asked” to hear in the hospital, and I wanted it played over and over again. I wonder if I still thought about that story?

9. Bill and Ted. Released in ’89, it counts in this countdown of 90’s movies because I didn’t discover it until it was not only out on video, but out of the new release section and thereby $0.99. (Remember that?) My junior high best friend and I marathon-watched the movie, quoted it and copied the poses for important pictures, like 8th grade graduation. To this day, I still call Beethoven “Beeth-Oven,” (much to the chagrin of my Beethoven-loving companion when I visited Vienna in ’99) Socrates “So-Crates,” and, when the occasion arises, utter “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.”

8. Newsies. So! Many! Cute! Boys! Christian Bale when his teeth were still Welsh! Max Cosella whose comedic timing I only grow to appreciate more and more. Now its a musical and I see how many of my friends like it, and we can cry out together, “We made the papes!”

7. A League of their Own. As someone who loved the old TV show Homefront and the corresponding music, hair, and shoes, I loved this movie and still think its funny – some badass women in here. (I haven’t told Cohiba this, but I *may* have named my daughter after one of the characters. Not exactly after her, but because I heard what the name sounded like as it was being yelled, and I liked it.)

6. Robin Hood. When I went to high school, I had just moved to posh West County to start a new high school. (Just like Brenda and Brandon Walsh in 90210!) This was one of the few movies I actually saw in the theater just before school started and the soundtrack was the very first CD when I got a CD player. I was wearing a new outfit I got to the movie and imagining how my life was going to change.

5. Beauty and the Beast. Probably my favorite Disney movie, in part because of the time that I watched it, I had just broken up with this guy who was a complete douchebag, but I was still sad. It helped my 15 year old heart mourn. (Although, I went to see the Lion King on a date with my very first boyfriend, and after Pocahontas came out, but boyfriend senior year sang the male part to “If I Never Knew You” and dedicated the song to me.  It was so romantic.)

4. What About Bob? So many lines to quote! My mother and I can still have a whole conversation using lines from this movie and several others (two of which will be on the next Top 10!)

3. The Crow. In ’95, was where any other movie? So much angst: “It can’t rain all the time.” And a soundtrack that still kicks ass. “I am the chosen one.”

2. Clerks. I’ve talked about this before: when this movie first came out, it was kind of a yardstick of cool. I was cool.

1. Little Women. I didn’t want to see this when it first came out but when I was visiting my real father’s family, my cousin asked me to watch it with her.  This was one of my last visits to see them and one of the last times I was with her.

Honorable Mention: Better Off Dead. This was a small movie 80’s that I was embarrassed to like back in the day, but I saw it so many times I still know it by heart, even Ricky’s mom’s accent. It just so happens to be a skiing movie, and Cohiba loves it as well, though we didn’t know that about each other when we were kids. It was something were found out later, and we both love that we both liked this movie