Movies are the memories of our lifetime. We need to keep them alive.

~ Martin Scorsese

1) Any moment Hugh Bonneville has in Notting Hill, from his brief, drunken rendition of “Blue Moon” to him giddily searching for Anna while wearing a rugby shirt.

2) The background music in the 1985 Anne of Green Gables mini-series, my absolute favorite book-to-movie adaptation, and its whimsically sad but hopeful tones.

3) Lilly chasing down Michael and Mia in The Princess Diaries, undoubtedly clunking along in the private school curse of penny loafers and screaming, “Not you, I don’t even know you!” to other students.

4) Seeing the two old men that my sisters and I always said resembled our grandfathers during “The Soldiers of the Old Home Guard” in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

5) The booming opening beat of “Tradition” that plays just as Tevye rides his cart off-camera in Fiddler on the Roof and the quick shots of Jewish symbols that follow.

6) Mr. Keating teaching his students about “carpe diem” in Dead Poets Society, always reminding me of the high school English teacher who showed us the scene while studying “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.”

7) The opening credits of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, taking you through the making of chocolate as if it’s a video Mr. McFeely brings over on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

8) The dreamy Paris sequence in An Education.

9) The unfailing sunniness of “That’s How You Know” in Enchanted and how Patrick Dempsey’s character represents the truth about those people who never question why others burst into song in musicals.

10) Caractacus Potts using his breakfast-making machine in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

11) The madness of the hotel arrivals in The Parent Trap, underscored with Glenn Miller music.

12) The Pevensies playing hide-and-seek to the tune of the Andrews Sisters’ “Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!” in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and how the music fades when Lucy stumbles into the spare room.

13) The post-meet-cute scene in the live-action 101 Dalmatians, cleverly disguising a quiet, yearning marriage proposal for its primarily kiddie audience but making it so sweetly clear to anyone older.

14) The wedding-themed musical number at the end of Muppets Take Manhattan.

15) Cameron Diaz dancing and singing along to “Mr. Brightside” in The Holiday.

16) The “How Long Will I Love You” montage set in the Tube station in About Time, which is just as romantic to me as it is delightful.

17) The old-school opening logo in Disney movies.

Cinema is a mirror that can change the world.

~ Diego Luna