Stand by Me

I always have a hard time explaining why this movie is in my top 10 favorites of all time. Because it's definitely not a go to "cinephile" pick or modern classic or horror or indie pick like most of my picks are, and my reasoning of "it was the first R rated movie I ever saw when I was like 8 or 9 when my dad fell asleep on the couch and that memory will always stick with me" (true story btw) probably isn't the great reason people expect. Seeing it today for the first time in theaters, I think after countless rewatches it finally clicked for me the why. This movie taught me a lot about storytelling, character writing, and world building from a really young age. I feel I know a whole lot about these characters and this town after only spending 90 minutes in their world. So yes, you can sum it up to nostalgia but I think the greater reasoning is that this was my first dive into loving film before I really viewed film as an art medium or way to convey story. Watching this with an audience who I'm assuming a majority of were seeing this for the first time based on their reactions of laughter, cringe, and sniffles in the crowd was also incredible and I'm forever grateful to my local arthouse theater for giving me this experience at least once in my life in a pretty packed theater. The old guy sat behind me who wouldn't shut the fuck up as if this was the first time he'd ever been a movie theater, less incredible though.