List: Movies to Share with Your Valentine

Posted on February 14, 2008 at 8:00 am

In 2008, I did a Valentine’s Day tribute to great movie couples, from Mickey and Minnie to The Princess Bride and with suggestions for all ages. Here’s a list of five of my all-time favorite falling-in-love (or realizing you’re in love) stories for teenagers and grown-ups. Cuddle up with your valentine and a bowl of popcorn and enjoy these movies about how love makes us crazy and immeasurably happy at the same time.

1. Moonstruck Cher won an Oscar as the bookkeeper who has given up on love until she meets the brother of her fiance, who tells her:

Love don’t make things nice – it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and *die*.

2. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet find that they really don’t want to forget each other, no matter how painful love can be.

3. You’ve Got Mail This third version of the story of a couple who are at war in person, not realizing that they are tender lovers through the mail, updates the story to the computer age. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have so much chemistry on screen that we know from the first moment what it will take them the whole movie to discover — they are meant to be together.

4. The Philadelphia Story On the eve of her wedding, socialite Tracy Lord’s ex-husband shows up with a couple of journalists and we get to watch three of the greatest stars in Hollywood history sort out their affections. This movie has everything: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart (who won an Oscar), George Cukor as director, wit, heart, and romance and an important lesson about how sometimes it is not about falling in love but recognizing that we have already fallen.

5. To Have and Have Not

As tough guy Humphrey Bogart meets the even-tougher Lauren Bacall (only 19 years old when this was filmed), we get to see the real-life romantic sparks that gave the on-screen love story some extra sizzle. Watch her tell him how to whistle.

And be sure to check out Beliefnet’s other Valentine thoughts and recommendations.

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Short: A Valentine’s Day Romance in Reverse

Posted on February 13, 2008 at 11:15 pm

Thanks to SlateV for sharing this charming short film about finding the only person in the world who sees things just the way you do:

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Should Miley Buckle Up?

Posted on February 13, 2008 at 5:56 pm

A blog post by Consumer Reports points out that in her record-breaking 3D concert film, Miley Cyrus and her dad ride in the back seat of a Range Rover on the way to rehearsal — without their seatbelts. Cyrus senior has issued an apology.

“We got caught up in the moment of filming, and we made a mistake and forgot to buckle our seatbelts,” he explains. “Seatbelt safety is extremely important.”

The blog post inspired a stream of angry comments. Miley Cyrus has some passionate fans –who knew they read Consumer Reports, though? But if the young woman Forbes called “a cultural and merchandising icon” uses her onscreen persona to sell everything from movie and concert tickets to keychains, t-shirts, throw pillows, and beach towels, she has to recognize that she influences more than the decision about which backpack to buy. She has been a wonderful role model for young girls, a welcome contrast to Lindsay Lohan, and Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears. It seems a small point to criticize her for failing to buckle up when we are so glad to have a pop star who seems like a well-behaved, respectful girl. But because she is so intensely observed and imitated, everything she does is a lesson. In this case, the lesson is that when you make a mistake, you apologize. Good for Consumer Reports for pointing out that Miley should have buckled her seatbelt, and good for Miley’s dad for acknowledging their mistake.

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Interview: “Jane and the Dragon’s” Martin Baynton and Richard Taylor

Posted on February 13, 2008 at 8:00 am

jane%20and%20dragon.jpg One of the highlights of NBC’s “Qubo” children’s educational program schedule is Jane and the Dragon, created by author Martin Baynton and Oscar-winning animator Richard Taylor, visual effects designer for the The Lord of the Rings series. Jane and the Dragon is a CGI series about a medieval girl and her friend, a vegetarian dragon. Jane does not want to be a lady-in-waiting. She wants to be a knight. I spoke to Martin and Richard about the show as they visited Los Angeles to attend the Annie Awards; the show has been nominated for the most prestigious honor in animation.

How did the show come about?

MB: I wrote the books over twenty years ago when my children were both very young, and they’ve been in print ever since. It’s always a book I’ve been extremely fond of and you get so attached to them you want to see them grow and flourish. In the literary field you hear horror stories about having books made into film. But meeting Richard it was clear he wanted to honor what the book was trying to do.

RT: Martin sat with us for an hour and a half at a picnic table in our back courtyard, and thatâ€™s all it took. We shook hands and had a deal.

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Interview on Chivalry Today

Posted on February 12, 2008 at 1:07 pm

Scott Farrell of Chivalry Today interviewed me about the portrayal of chivalry in movies, and the podcast is available on the website (you can skip the intro and start about halfway through). We talked about some of the Hollywood greats, like The Adventures of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe and some recent knight-related stories for kids like “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything.” And we talked about how movies about knights and chivalry can give families a chance to talk about the way the ideals of that era continue to inspire us.

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