Top 10 Nostalgic Movies (of My Time)

 I almost never have the time to sit down and watch a movie. Sitting down and watching a two hour movie seems almost impossible for me. Between  work, family, pets, and everything else it just never happens. But there are some movies that stop me in my tracks. When I see them I have to  stop and sit and enjoy. When the credits finally roll through I realize what a sweet, warm feeling I have running through my body. The movie's story, the characters' emotions and the outstanding soundtrack to songs that are now only played on the oldies station...GASP! There are movies that will take you back to the good old days and make you laugh and reminisce about the good and not so good times.  These movies make you smile, sometimes cry but they always remind you not take life so seriously. 

1. Pretty in Pink is one of my favorite Molly Ringwald movies. A smart girl from the wrong side of the tracks and the rich popular guy that loves her.  Come on! Who doesn't love that story line. Who didn't feel left out in high school, feeling like you don't fit in with anyone that matters.  Then you have an epiphany, the cool kids were bored and more screwed up then you. The last scene and the song! Priceless. Truly a classic.

Movie from my collection

2. Sixteen Candles   is another Molly Ringwald movie. This movie is more lighthearted and fluffy. The young girl who fades into the background when she is with her family but makes a lasting impression with everyone else. It's a coming of age story with a lot of laughs (her grandparents exchange student), gasps (Yes! she actually gives the dork her panties), and the revelations (the boy of her dreams finally confessing his love). Anthony Michael Hall at his youngest with braces. Great movie!

Movie from my collection

3. Grease tells the stories of a group of high school kids in the 1950s, but the movies was made in the late 70s. You have the 1950s fashion/style and lingo but you also had a great cast like John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. Grease is a movie like no other, it features singing and dancing that is still recognized today. Main story line focuses on a wholesome exchange student and a leather-clad student that have a summer romance that stretches in to the school year. I can recite every word of every song in that movie and I have karaoke footage to prove it. 

4. Saturday Night Fever features John Travolta at his finest, literally. His character's weekdays are filled with boredom. He's still living at home with his parents in Brooklyn, N.Y. and has a dead end job. But his weekends are filled dancing the night away at the local disco. When a big competition is announced, he convinces a beautiful and talented young lady to be his partner.  As the two train for the big night, they start to fall for each other.Who doesn't remember waiting for Friday night to come around so you can dress up, go out with your friends, and dance and drink the night away. The only place to listen to this amazing soundtrack is on the oldies station now which is a shame because the soundtrack for this movie is GROOVY!

Movie from my collection

5. Revenge of the Nerds is about a group of geeky college students that are evicted from their dorm when another fraternity the Alpha Betas, takes over their building. The university forces the nerds to live in the gym, so they relocate to a run-down house. The Alpha Betas repeatedly humiliate them so the nerds plot revenge with some unlikely reinforcement. At the end of course the good guys always win out and the nerds gets the girls. This was the original Big Bang Theory. 

6. Legally Blonde is by far the most woman empowering movie of all time. Reese Witherspoon plays a girl that has it all. Except a proposal from her long time boyfriend. Why? Because she is too blonde, too perky, and too ditzy. You know what they said about a woman scorned. She rallies all of her resources and gets into Harvard Law School, determined to win him back. But she gets a better surprise at the end! Was I the only one that cried at the end during her speech? 

7. Police  Academy has six movies in the series but my favorite is the original. All movies were made in the 80s. The movie is about a new mayor that  announces a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits. The movie followed a group of misfit recruits in their attempts to  prove themselves capable of being police officers, and succeeding both in spite of and because of their eccentricities. I laugh from beginning to end  with this movie. The other movies in the serious were great but the original is definitely the best!

Movie from my collection

8. The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most inspiring movies of all time. It inspires you to never give up, to make the best of what you are given,  and it reminds you to appreciate a great friend. The movie is set back in the 1930s. Tim Robbins plays Andy, a tax attorney that is sentenced to two  consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover and is sentenced to a tough prison. The movie follows Andy's 19 years in prison, while there he forms a friendship with Morgan Freeman and experiences brutality of prison life. They play this movies on t.v. several times a year and  I have to say it never gets old. 

9. Cinderella (the original Disney cartoon). Everyone knows Disney's version of Cinderella. They even remade the movie with real people but nothing beats the original. I remember getting this VHS tape for my birthday and watching it obsessively. Cinderella had such a warm and gentle heart and I wanted to wake up with mice singing and  birds chirping. The lesson that Cinderella wanted to teach us is never give up on your dream, because a dream is a wish that your heart desires. 

10. Overboard is my favorite movie with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Goldie is a spoiled married heiress that is accustomed to the life of the idle rich.  While waiting for her yacht to be repaired in rural Elk Cove, Oregon, she passes the time by hiring a local carpenter to remodel her closet.  The carpenter and heiress have a fight that prevents the him from finishing the closet. Later that night as the yacht is sailing away, she falls  into the cold ocean and is rescued and taken back to Elk Cove. After learning of this and of her amnesia the carpenter rescues her from the hospital and makes her believe they are married and have four boys. She becomes his stay at home wife/mom. At the end it works out but this movie reminds you that sometimes you don't know what you need but the universe does and it will come to you when you least expect it. 

I hope that next time you catch one of these movies you get the same feeling I get. I hope you laugh and cry and sing, Remember the good old days are gone but we always have the movies to take us back.  Now if you will excuse me I think I'll go pop a movie in.