Be Kind. Rewind.

I still remember in the mid-80’s when our family first got a VCR. The four of us went to the store and looked at these crazy machines that would supposedly let us watch our favorite movies at home. It sounded crazy. I remember thinking I couldn’t believe my parents were going to spend this crazy amount of money on this new invention. Plus, my parents never bought stuff like this so I was super excited.

Before we knew it, the local appliance store in our tiny little town started renting movies. As you can imagine, it was slim pickins. We didn’t care. My sister and I were both born with the ability to watch the same movie or TV show over and over and over again and love it just the same. Oddly enough, my own children have inherited this quality. Matt thinks we are so strange. I can remember the look on my Mom’s face when we’d, again, grab Girls Just Want to Have Fun even though we had just rented it the week before. But we didn’t care. We loved that movie.

My sister and I were reminiscing about all of our favorite movies that we’d watch over and over and over again and I thought it’d be fun to share our list. (For some of the obscure ones, I’ve added descriptions and links in case you have no clue what we’re talking about. We liked some weird ones.)

Back to the Future—of course. A 1980’s staple. MJF was hot.

City Slickers—Hellllllloooooo!!!

Splash—I’ve always loved Tom Hanks. Those damn scientists need to leave Daryl Hannah alone!

Breakfast Club—I remember thinking I got away with something big because my parents were letting me watch it and it had the F word in it multiple times! And Judd Nelson in those black gloves…dreamy. And what on earth was sushi???

Pretty Woman—we were surprised our Mom let us watch this one but, then again, my sister was too young to know what a lot of it was about. At least for a couple of years.

Weird Science—Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith (was he ever in another movie?) star in this where they make a woman who is played by Kelly LeBrock? Man, we loved this movie. Was there anyone more gorgeous than Kelly in the 80’s? Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful…remember?

Big Business—this is one of those weird ones for us to love. We are huge fans to this day of Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin. (Have you seen Grace and Frankie? Lily is awesome in it.) Bette and Lily play two sets of identical twins who were separated and adopted by completely different families—one rich and one poor. The movie is set later in their life when they meet in the “big city” while working on a “big business” deal. We loved, loved, loved this movie! I tried to rent it from the library but they only have it on VHS tape!

Ruthless People—another Bette Midler classic! She is the wife of Danny Devito who has her kidnapped by Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater. They chain her in the basement and she loses a bunch of weight and the kidnappers and Bette become best friends and act revenge on Danny. Such a great movie!

Mannequin—Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall in their finest piece of work! Kim turns into a real woman and falls in love with Andrew. Classic romantic movie! Hollywood (Meschach Taylor) was our favorite character!

Santa Claus the Movie—we watched this year round and still have to watch it together every Christmas Eve. Nothing makes if feel more like Christmas than this Dudley Moore/John Lithgow favorite!

Clue—we were obsessed with this movie. Obsessed. And the game. We even had the VCR Clue game and played it constantly.

Three Men and a Baby—hilarious, kind of scary and a cute baby! Who could ask for more!

Baby Boom—this movie began my love affair with Diane Keaton. Do you remember this one? Diane is a big business woman who has a baby left to her and leaves the big city for Vermont and starts her own baby food company? Love it!

Doc Hollywood—another Michael J. Fox classic

Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead—Christina Applegate stars in this one, along with a very young and dorkishly handsome Josh Charles. Christina is left in charge of her siblings after the summer babysitter dies. She gets a job at a big corporation and hilarity ensues…along with a little romance!

Dirty Dancing—no one puts baby in the corner.

Ferris Bueller—we could probably still act this one out word for word if you asked us to.

Adventures in Babysitting—who else wanted to be Elizabeth Shue???? I was obsessed with her. This movie was hilarious especially because I babysat non-stop. And it said the F-word!! EEK!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun—Janey and Jeff all the way, baby!!

What were some of your favorite movies growing up? Were you like my sister and I…did you like to watch them over and over?