My Most Influential Movies Growing Up

• Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (it introduced me to absurd humor, and I loved the variety of characters during Pee-Wee's quest to get his bike back)
• The Professional (it was the first "adult" movie I had seen when I was 12, and I thought the dialogue was fascinating, and I fell for the lead characters and their complexity)
• Angus (one of the most real movies about high school that I have seen)
• Beauty and the Beast (gorgeous animation, beautiful songs, and a female lead who is bookish and brave and smart)
• Big (it made me want to grow up and join the adult world)
• Clueless (sharp, funny dialogue that was quotable to me as a kid)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (it was one of the first "dark, gritty" movies I had seen, and it made me love movies in that style, as well as appreciating the maturity in the story when I was 7).