Flashback Friday-Marie Antoinette (2006)

In her own time, Marie Antoinette’s reputation depended on  whom one spoke to. She was either liked and respected by the elite because of her status or hated by the common person.

The 2006 movie, Marie Antoinette, with Kirsten Dunst in the lead role, starts with her marriage to Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman). Their marriage, like all royal marriages is an arranged one. Marie lives in the lap of luxury and becomes quite spoiled. Her job as queen is bring a royal heir into the world, but her husband is not too eager to do the deed.

Director Sofia Coppola has a very interesting take on her subject. Most of the movie is light and frothy, which makes sense because Marie and Louie were teenagers when they married. The film does get dark as it follows the characters  as French Revolution starts and ends of the monarchy in France.

I happen to like this movie. Ms. Coppola’s approach is to present her lead characters as an ordinary young woman (well as ordinary as a Queen Of France can be) whom she hopes that the young women who watch this movie will relate to. But there is also enough history to keep the movie grounded in the time period.

I recommend it.

 

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Flashback Friday-2gether (2000-2001)

Back in the early 2000’s, it was hard to not ignore the boy band craze. These bands (regardless of your opinion of their work) were everywhere.

In 2000, MTV premiered 2gether, a satire of the boy bands who ruled the airwaves.

The members of the band were as follows-

• Jerry O’Keefe (Evan Farmer)- “The Heartthrob”
• Chad Linus (Noah Bastian)- “The Shy One”
• Doug Linus (Kevin P Farley)- “The Older Brother”
• Mickey Parke (Alex Solowitz)- “The Bad Boy”
• Jason Q.T. McKnight (Michael Cuccione)- “The Cute One”

It takes balls for a network to spoof it’s own cash cow. At the time, it was funny, but I look at the program now and I would think twice about watching.

Do I recommend it? Probably, but only if I feel nostalgic.

Flashback Friday- Julie and Julia (2009)

There is something about good food that brings people together.

The 2009 movie, Julie and Julia is about food and how it brings people together.

Julie Powell (Amy Adams) dreams of being a writer. But, like many writers, she has a day job. In post 9/11 New York City, Julie works in a call center speaking the survivors of the attack. To create a balance in her life, Julie decides to try to recreate every recipe in The Art Of French Cooking within a year. She documents her progress on her blog. In 1950’s Paris, Julia Child (Meryl Streep) is an American housewife who is taking French cooking lessons at the Le Cordon Bleu. The classes lead her collaboration on a cookbook, which she hopes to sell to other American housewives.

This movie is interesting because both main characters take a chance. Julie’s attempt to recreate the recipes and documentation of her progress will lead to her success. Julia who is looked down upon for wanting to become a cook, eventually becomes a success. Taking a chance is never easy, but the results are well worth it.

I recommend it.

Free Range Children?

One of the stories that has been in the news recently is in regards to the Meitiv family from Silver Spring, Maryland.

The children, a 6 year old girl and a 10 year old boy were walking by themselves in their neighborhood. A concerned adult called 911. The children were taken to child protective services and the parents were accused of neglect.

I understand the reasons for the state to step in, but this is ridiculous. Yes, there are pedophiles and sick people out there, but we cannot keep our children on a leash forever. It is detrimental to their emotional health and their ability to grow into confident, emotionally stable adults if a parent keeps their child on an emotional leash for far too long.

When I was growing up in the 1980’s, it was expected that once a child reached a certain age, he or she was given a certain amount of autonomy. I remember walking to and from school by myself many times. Granted, the school was only a few blocks away, but I still walked by myself. I clearly survived the experience, as did many adults of my generation.

Every kid is different. There are some children who need the presence of an adult when they are traveling and there are some who don’t. I’m not advocating, in any stretch of the imagination, letting our children walk alone without an adult every time. But that does mean that the parent has to be with the child every waking moment of their life.

To put it simply, every parent must at (as much as it may go against their nature as a parent) some point, to let their kids be independent. The state is good for many things, but when it steps in needlessly, it is a waste of time and energy for all invovled.