Old School Movies

I’ll never forget the day I stayed home sick from school, and my mom let me watch Dirty Dancing. I was enthralled , and I wanted more. I asked my mom if she had any other “old movies” I could watch. Now as an almost-thirty year old (yike!) whose favorite movies are much older than I care to admit, I understand how that probably sounded to her. Much to my husband’s dismay, while I’ve seen Dirty Dancing many more times after that sick weekday morning, there are a lot of movies from our childhood that I haven’t seen.

Now, when I saw “our childhood,” that’s a subjective phrase considering Ron is 5 years older than me. It doesn’t seem like a big gap now that we’re 28 and 33, but when I was obsessed with the Power Rangers as an 8-year old, Ron was 13 and close to starting high school. That said, here are a few movies Ron has “schooled” me in:

1. Forrest Gump – my age at release: 6 – I cried 5 times during this movie. Ron actually made sure I was done crying before another super sad scene. Honestly before I finally watched this with Ron, I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it. It’s such a strange movie (the way they alter historic events to include or be changed by Forrest, his country-wide run), but truly awesome.                                         
2. Major League – my age at release: 1 -WILD THING! I always put off the movies Ron wants me to watch. I never think I’ll like them, but luckily I cave when I know I’m in the mood for it. Dude I totally loved this movie. I definitely have a soft spot for sports movies (Remember the Titans is one of my all-time faves), but Wesley Snipes as Willy Mays Hayes is awesome, and Jake Taylor is total heart eyes emojis. I think it’s his lips.                           
3. The Crow – my age at release: 6 – I procrastinated with this movie so hard. It was one of Ron’s old favorites, but not one I had ever heard of before he told me about it. The premise is odd: a couple is murdered the day before their wedding and then the guy, Eric, comes back a year later to avenge his fiance’s death. This all happens immediately so I’m not ruining anything here. The movie was definitely intriguing because the star, Brandon Lee (Bruce Lee’s son, not Jet Li’s) was killed by an accident onset when he was struck with a bullet that was supposed to be a blank. I ended up really liking the movie (but it could have been the 4 craft beers Ron and I split that influenced that opinion). 
4. He Got Game – my age at release: 10 – I’m honestly unsure what this entire movie is. Considering it stars Denzel Washington and Rosario Dawson, you would think it would be a good movie. The plot isn’t even bad, but there are so many random weird scenes (the hours long credits and subsequent shots of people shooting basketballs, “Big Time” talking about drugs, alcohol and girls, the borderline porn scene at Tech U, etc), I was laughing more than I was paying any kind of attention. And I HATED the ending. AND the background music was SUPER dramatic. I do love Denzel though! 
5. Sandlot – my age at release: 5 – Considering one of the older girls on my lacrosse team in high school (I played lacrosse my freshman year – I know, I barely believe it myself) used to say, “You’re killing me, smalls” on the regular, I’m surprised it took so long to watch, but it is an instant classic. It’s such a feel-good movie, an epic-summer tale for a kid, an adventure every little kid of the 90’s would have wanted to be a part of.