What were the years of the Civil War? *Thinks back to Glory. "1861-1865." When did the Titanic sink? *Thinks back to Titanic. "1912." When was the Writers' Strike? *Thinks back to what won Best Picture that year. "2007-2008." This is how films help us in a practical way. See enough movies about true-life events, and they'll be engrained in your head. I can't tell you how to solve an algorithm of U x 76 pi, or even if that is an algorithm at all, but I can tell you all the important events of 1991 because The Rocketeer was released that summer. Does it make sense? Not much, but there it is. Want us to be able to remember our anniversary? Take us out to see a movie. We'll remember, if nothing else, by the release date. Are you really paranoid about us not remembering the day we got married? After the service, tell the driver of the car not to take us to the airport and our honeymoon, but to make a beeline for the nearest showing of Madea's Giraffe Exploitation (working title). It may seem silly, but it helps us. And then we're able to fire back a lot of details about that day, if the movie left a big enough impression (good or bad). "Of course I remember, honey. You wore white that day." "That was my wedding dress." "And here I am, not wrong."