The Top 5 Greatest Movies From My Childhood

Movies always had a huge impact on me when I was growing up. I think they did on all of us. As you get older, however, movies become less of something that you experience and more something that you do. So here are the top 5 movies that had the greatest impact on me. Keep in mind I'm in in my 20's so these movies were made in the 80's and early 90's.

5. The Neverending Story.

The Neverending Story was about a bullied boy who went into a fantasy world by reading a book. The book-world of Fantasia is dying and a young warrior and his horse set out to find out how to stop the Nothing that is destroying their world. Also, the main character has pretty much the best name ever, Atreyu. Sucks it was ruined by some crappy band.

fantasia will die because you ruined my name

The Neverending Story world was populated with grandiose scenery, colorful backgrounds, elaborate settings, and incredible characters such as the Rockbiter.

These hands...need some lubriderm

There was a Luck Dragon, some crazy guy who flew on a bat, another crazy guy who rode on a snail (it's a racing snail), Atreyu that hunted the Purple Buffalo, and the Child-like Emperess. Just to name a few. Oh and those statues that opened their eyes and killed you. Those always scared the bejesus out of me. Yes that's right, The statues in this movie will give you nightmares. To this day I still get spooked when I see something that looks like them.

ahhhh

As the movie goes on, the bullied child figures out that the book is relying upon him to write its chapters, thus giving him a sense of power that translates into real world self-confidence, yada yada yada. The sickly sweetness of the ending was enough to keep this from being any higher than number 5.

4 Willow.

I'm still surprised at how many people who grew up in the 80's have not seen this movie. OK, with the rampant level of midget hatred out there today, maybe I'm not that surprised.

they are just acting short to get attention

But this movie was produced by Lucasfilm and George Lucas, directed by Ron Howard. THE George Lucas and THE Ron Howard. How have people not seen this? Like the Neverending Story, the world of Willow is populated by fantastic scenery, characters, and amazing special effects that mostly don't look dated. I won't go into the plot, because it's a typical Tolkeinesque fantasy with lots of traveling and action along the way. But Val Kilmer is amazing as Madmartigan, the greatest swordsman to ever live.

i told you he was a great swordsman

This is a great movie, but can be a little over-long. And this movie only intensified my hatred of midgets. Especially those with magic acorns. Which is, like, all of them.peck!

3 Clue. Yes, Clue. A movie based on the Parker Brothers board game. I know what you are thinking, but it can actually be a successful formula. Just look at Pirates of the Caribbean.well, look at it

I can't even begin to describe how clever this movie is. It's like every episode of Scrubs put together, only it's not corny. You see, Clue is a comedy at its core. Tim Curry is at his prime here as the main character in a mansion filled with blackmail, mystery and ... MURDER! The bodies keep piling up while everyone is scrambling to find out who killed whom and who is dead and the different plot twists along the way.

mrs. peacock IS a man!

The best part about the movie are the multiple endings. That's right, Three different ways to how it could have ended, who could have been the killer...and each one makes perfect sense. There are no plot holes here, no matter how hard you look and no matter how many times you watch it. And I've watched it plenty.

exhibit A

2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is that a jose canseco bat?

The old one, not the new one. Ahh, I can still remember going into the theater with my brother and seeing this movie. Just doing this segment makes me want to order a pizza. What memories! It was like the now-classic cartoon series, only darker and with...cussing!

The greatest part of this movie is that it was able to really show the difference in each turtle's personality. Especially Leo and Raph's. The action was awesome by 10-year-old-kid standards. And Casey Jones (The class is Pain 101. Your instructor is Casey Jones) is everyone's favorite madman in a hockey mask... well second favorite.

tell me you didn't pay money for this

The Shredder was pretty cool in this movie, and April O' Neil was great. The only problem was that in the sequel, they decided to drop her (or maybe she didn't sign) for a better looking but totally not-April-like April. April isn't a push-over, dammit. Get it right. Oh well, I can forgive and forget. I'm done with this piece and my pizza still isn't here. And you know what they say. Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.

i made another funny!

Ninja Vanish!

1 The Princess Bride

So we make to the last and greatest movie from my childhood, and probably the best movie of the 80's. This movie had it all. As the creepy grandfather says in the beginning - giants, torture, true love ! And it's not even Janet Reno's Dance Party.

I can pretty much tell you every line from this movie by heart. Anyone who has seen it can. It seems like it was made to be the most quotable movie ever.

The story follows Buttercup and her true love, Wesley.

wait till she finds out about the crabs i gave her

Wesley goes off to find his fortune so they can be married but he never returns. In the meanwhile, Buttercup is forced to marry the evil Prince Humperdink, a man she does not love.
Before her wedding night, however, she is kidnapped by three men working for the Prince: Vizzini(inconcievable), Fezzik(anybodywantapeanut), and Inigo Montoya (youkilledmyfatherpreparetodie).

stop right there! routine finger check

When a Man in Black starts following them, the trio of kidnappers are out to stop him.
The Man in Black has to pass three trials, one of finesse, one of strength, and one of intellect.
i know what you're thinking: did I pee in my own glass or yours?

I don't want to spoil the movie for those of you who haven't seen it. I imagine a lot of guys are dissuaded by the title. It sounds girly. In fact it's not. There are fire swamps, swordfights, deaths, daring escapes, and Andre the Giant.

crabs of unusual size? i don't think they exist

The movie was a book before it was a movie, you see. A book by William Goldman. The same William Goldman that wrote Lord of the Flies, which is a pretty sick book. If you have your doubts about seeing this, know that it is more manly than Ivan Drago eating raw meat and washing it down with beer. And, lastly, because of its quotability, this is the perfect movie to play drinking games to.