There is just something nostalgic about watching old movies. Not movies from 5 years ago, but way back, in the 90s that have peers give me puzzled looks when I tell them about it, leaving me with the conclusion that they have never seen these classic movies before.  


The Joy Luck Club (1993) has to be one of my absolute favorite movies. I'm so impressed by how the director managed to translate the feelings of the book to the movie, such that I felt it with al my heart. Probably the saddest tear jerking moments in the movie were when Ying Ying St Clair accidentally drowned her baby in his tiny little bathtub (although that certainly wasn't in the book), and when Suyuan had to abandon her twin babies by the road to escape the Japanese soldiers. 


Heaven and Earth (1993) chronicles the true life events of a Vietnamese girl, Le Ly, throughout the Vietnam War during the 1950s, and how she survived life, rape, love and loss in her life. I'd have to say I was somewhat disappointed by the movie. It dragged on just a little too much in the beginning as it brings the audience through life in Vietnam before the Americans came to fight the French and Japanese, leaving very little screen time to develop Tommy Lee Jones' character as the silent but disturbed hero. Again, probably the most disturbing and upsetting moments included how Le Ly was raped by two men of the Viet Cong when she was on the verge of an execution, how she was forced to turn against her own personal principles and convictions and turn to prostitution to feed her starving son when years of hawking cigarettes and beer to the American troops couldn't raise enough funds, how she finally found a man, Steve Butler, (Tommy Lee) who truly loved her and brought her back to San Diego for a new future, but how their past eventually had a way of creeping back to their lives: how Steve, US Marine had trouble justifying his acts of killing innocent people during his service and unwittingly took it out on Le Ly and their children, how Le Ly willingly accepted him despite his erratic behavior to try and help him change, and how Steve eventually took his own life. Need to read the book now!


Speed (1994). What do you get when you combine the LAPD, a bus full of passengers and a deranged police officer-turned-bombmaker? Pure action awesomeness. 


The Rainmaker (1997) is adapted from John Grishmam's novel about a rookie lawyer who helps a poor family gain compensation from a powerful insurance company who had failed to cover the medical expenses for their leukemia-riddled son. A ghastly reveal of how insurance companies are a bunch of fat cats attempting to squeeze the money of you as Matt Damon's character slowly brings to light every hidden policy and sneaky clauses of the company, and the lengths in which these powerful fat cats took to keep them under wraps to avoid a multimillion payout. 


Independence Day (1996). Will Smith fights aliens from outer space seeking the destruction of the Earth. Loved this. You need to watch this. B


Species (1995). Thanks to this movie, I can never go around watching an alien freak show without thinking that at any given moment, aliens are hibernating inside the bodies of people that will come bursting out in guts, gore and tentacles. Just like in Aliens. And speaking of Aliens, it was that show that left me screaming in bed when I was a young girl, thinking that there'll be a big slimy alien lurking under my bed just waiting to impregnate me through the mouth. 


Jerry McGuire (1996). Hello, who can forget Tom Cruise's iconic "You. Complete. Me", followed by Renee Zellwegger's teary "You had me at hello"


Volcano (1997). I'm glad that no volcanoes exist in Singapore, but if they did, I'd want Tommy Lee Jones to come and lead us to safety. 


Twister (1996). Same with vicious cyclones, but with Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton instead.


Dance with Me (1998). Vanesse Williams and Chayanne make latin dance look so hot. 


The Haunting (1999). Think twice when you're asked to participate in a sleep study that happens to be in an old mansion, that turns out to be haunted. 


Entrapment (1998). I'd be suspicious as hell if my employer at the insurance agency asks me o hunt down at art thief, like hello what is the police for? But who can forget how Catherine' s slender figure helped her worm her way through a room full of laser beams while blindfolded as Sean Connery trains her. 


Practical Magic (1998). One of my favorite movies when I was a young girl that is about two withes, played by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman who get into trouble when the spirit of Nicole's boyfriend whom they accidentally kill comes back to haunt them. 


The Bodyguard (1992). This movie practically shot Whitney Houston to fame, along with the song "I Will Always Love You", with Kevin Costner who plays a bodyguard and has to protect Whitney, a music star, from some stalker. 


Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). Crude humorous cops hunting down the Chinese mafia in L.A. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover make the awesome power cop couple. 


Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (1984). Its Indy (Harrison Ford) back again! 


Rain Man (1988). Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic man who finds him millions richer with the death of his father, only to have the will contested by his brother, Tom Cruise. One of the first few shows that document the tribulations of living and dealing with autism. 


Home Alone (1990). Everyone's ultimate favorite stay-at-home Christmas movie.


Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991). Linda Hamilton could have given Jillian Michaels a run for her money with arms like those and pull-ups that made me at the knees. 


So yes, as you can see, my fascination with these "old" movies continue to delight me. Am still on the lookout for the third film adaptation of Little Women (1933), starring the late Elizabeth Taylor and June Allyson. I shrieked in horror when I was informed by the mother that our DVD had gone missing =(


Shall do a review of some recent movies in the next post when I rewatch them again. Til then, its time to watch Men in Black again!