15 Films that Moved Me

Here’s a list of fifteen movies I’ve watched that stirred me, some provoked me into a new perspective and others came close to shaking me from what I currently believed. Still there may be others that moved me because of its whole package: great actors, superb storyline and its over-all impact.

From the first movie I cried to my current I-will-never-get-tired-of-watching-this movie, these are the fifteen films that moved me.

Hand-picked, with cherries on top. Cheers!

1. Fly Away Home

Fly Away Home is a 1996 film based-on-true-story of a daughter Amy and her father leading a flock of geese from Canada to a wildlife refuge in US.

I watched it long ago, perhaps in my third grade and as far as I remember, this is the first film where I cried. And I think I related with Amy’s character when she took care of the geese since birth and took the mother role since I’m a huge animal lover.

What with the lack of family and young adults (in puberty) film nowadays, I think this is a must-see for kids at my age (when I watched the film that is) giving a child’s take on independence with a great deal of family values to learn from.

OT: I do think they focus too much on animated films these days for kid’s genre (think Toy Story 3, Despicable Me, Megamind, what else?), I understand that that would get a larger audience than motion pictures but I think putting real people in movie screens would leave stronger messages than do pop-out cartoons, especially for kids who grew up playing PSP and Wii.

Just you know my two cents.

Anyway, Fly Away Home bagged a lot of Best Family Film Awards in its time and unbeatably the first one on my list.

2. The Land before Time

IKR, after saying they should put real people in movie screens, here I am with an animation picture for a close second. Land before Time just had me, but who wasn’t?

Remember the adorable Littlefoot (Apatosaurus), the stubborn Cera (Triceratops), the enthusiastic Ducky (Saurolophus), the aerophobic Petrie (Pteranodon) and quiet Spike (Stegosaurus). These characters were surely unforgettable as this franchise spanned twelve sequels and a TV series.

Not to mention the loads of merchandise it brought to the market.

This film is all about adventure, friendship and family values. It’s a great classic Disney film*. One you will watch with your kids in a lazy Friday night over popcorn and soda. I’ll definitely get a copy of this movie franchise in my collection, you know for future years.

Plus its OST, Diana Ross’ If We Hold on Together is such a perfect match. Whenever I hear the song playing in the radio, my mind wanders back to these little dinosaurs’ adventure vividly, like it’s my own, as if transmitting me into a childhood memory.

*But it’s not Disney alright, I just think it has the lasting kiddie magic Disney has.

3. My Sassy Girl

I think everybody I know loves My Sassy Girl, including me, despite the fact that I’m in the anti-everything-Korean crowd.

When I first watched the film with my sister, it was still the time when no one was talking of it yet, no one’s writing it as their favourite film in slum books yet, except for my good friend who gave me the DVD saying that’s the best Korean film she’s watched by far. So my sister and I watched with highest hopes.

Unfortunately, the first half of the movie (if you remember, the film is animatedly cut like a basketball game) ended and I was totally embarrassed because I promised my sister that it’s definitely a to-watch-for. The first half was like dragging, total nonsense, slapstick comedy (well, at least compared to the high hopes we’ve set).

But the second half surprisingly met our expectations, especially the 10 Rules Scene which had us whispering awww’s and sniffing back tears.

I like the transition of the lead characters from the first half to the second half: Jun Ji-Hyun, from the bratty girlfriend to the girl with a forlorn love life history; and Gyeon-Woo, from the underdog boyfriend to an independent guy patiently waiting for the love of his life.

If the first half made the audience laugh at their silly adventures and somehow relate (or want to relate), the second half gave the characters HEART so you’ll know where they’re coming from.

And JJH is such a darling. The movie won’t be as captivating as it is without her.

OT: When 500 Days of Summer was released, they were saying like it’s the next MSG, so I also watched it with highest hopes. Even though (for me) the big first part was boring, but I was expecting it to turn around one way or the other. In the end, I found the film a total drag. Ugh!

What would be the next My Sassy Girl kaya? :)

4. 50 First Dates

50 First Dates is a story of Henry (Sandler), a womanizer veterinarian who falls in love with Lucy (Barrymore) who suffers from anterograde amnesia where each day’s memory disappears overnight.

Despite Lucy’s amnesiac drama which brought tears for some really sappy scenes, I still regard this as a happy movie. It’s like a fairy tale with the total knight in shining armour that is Adam Sandler: funny, charming, handsome in his own right, maginoo-pero-medyo-bastos kind of guy. With beer-gut! Haha!

Who could resist a man who would love you so much he’s willing to prove it every single day, make you remember all those moments you had together? I would definitely dig a man like that.

And I have always found Drew charismatic, an absolute sweetheart.

Years after watching this film, I found out that maybe the film wasn’t totally fiction. This true story is just worthy of awww’s beyond words.

5. The Breakfast Club

Watching a good young adult’s film is something I will never pass on. So when I saw The Breakfast Club on HBO one soggy afternoon, I watched with absolute interest (you have to see beyond the little cracks and crooked lines that characterizes decade-old movies; it’s a 1985 film by the way).

The Breakfast Club is a teen drama following five teenagers, each from a different high school clique, as they spend detention together, as they realize they’re not as different as their stereotypes were defined.

The film starts with Brian Johnson from the brainy clique reading a letter to their principal, who asks them to write an essay of who they think they are:

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong...and what we did was wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us... in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed.

At the end of the film, this letter was slightly altered to reveal that each of them is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal all in their own unique ways. The lines that set these cliques apart were blurred as they discover that they’re not at all different from another. And the difference might exactly be what the others need.

This is my most favorite young adult film to date (topping Mean Girls and whathaveyou, Easy A?). In fact, this film ranked No. 1 on Entertainment’s Weekly list of 50 Best High School Movies. It’s a must-see! Especially if you’re a high school student.

I figured I'd cut this list into parts, since this already gives me leg cramps, and translation problems. Haha! :)

thinking april

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