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"All girls are princesses." Alfonso Cuarón's 1995 version of the Burnett classic moved Sara Crewe to a New York boarding school in wartime, lost money in theaters, and then sold two million tapes. The attic, the locket, Miss Minchin: a sleeper that became a childhood staple on video.
The one sweater, the wish list, the telescope on the balcony. Mandy Moore's first starring role turned Nicholas Sparks's 1999 novel into the sleepover weeper of 2002, got torn apart by critics, earned an A from audiences and was still being called one of the most romantic films ever made years later.
"Funny how? Do I amuse you?" Martin Scorsese's 1990 life of mob associate Henry Hill: the Copacabana tracking shot, Joe Pesci's Oscar, and the fastest two and a half hours in gangster movies. The film that taught a generation how wiseguys talked, and the one that inspired The Sopranos.
Michelle Trachtenberg with a composition notebook, Rosie O'Donnell as Ole Golly, and a sixth-grade class that finds the notebook and reads what she wrote about them. Nickelodeon's first movie, with the Hey Arnold! pilot playing before it.
"Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking." Meryl Streep's whisper-quiet Miranda Priestly, the cerulean sweater speech, the red stiletto with the pitchfork heel. The 2006 film out-earned every previous movie of its three leading women, ran as counter-programming to Superman Returns, and defined what a personal assistant looks like in the public imagination.
Clarice Starling, Hannibal Lecter behind the glass, fava beans and a nice Chianti. Jonathan Demme's 1991 thriller opened on Valentine's Day, swept the top five Oscars, and remains the only horror film ever to win Best Picture. Lecter is still the AFI's number-one movie villain.