This week, a sixth-grade girl comes of age awkwardly in a lovely adaptation of a Judy Blume classic and two boys who meet in the Italian Alps grow up and apart (and together) again.
I wish I could say I could no longer relate to the feeling you describe of Margaret being "off-limits", but nope, I asked my sister if she'd go with me so I wasn't a weird guy in the back by myself.
I hear you. My thought after seeing this was, "I absolutely have to take my daughters (who are 15 and 11) to see this." And then I immediately worried about how mortified they would be if I did it. (Their mom, OTOH...)
That reminds me of the time I wanted to see The PowerPuff Girls Movie and recruited a friend so I wouldn’t be the only late-20s guy in a sea of girls and their mothers. So instead there were two of us.
In 1994 I was painfully single and a big movie nerd so had to see THE LION KING to see what all the fuss was about. Saturday matinee (late in the run but still packing them in). If you took a picture of the audience you’d see pretty solid rows of parents and children. Then one row of that with a two seat break, me, two seat break, more parents and children. I learned a lot that day about perception.
One of my favorite (in retrospect) cinematic outings was seeing Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade with my eighth grade daughter. We both loved the film, but there were moments in the movie that were so accurate and so close to reality that we literally could not look at each other.
This is off topic, but I just subscribed and I’m so glad. Keith and Scott, I used to read you all the time in the aughts, before whatever happened at AVC. Very nice to find you again!
Interesting take. My wife is Jewish and I was raised Catholic, so our situation w/r/t our daughters is similar to the couple in the film, in that we have not been active in giving them spiritual direction but would not discourage them if they were so compelled. So far, neither have tried Margaret’s journey here, but I do love the model the film sets for her curiosity and the way a relationship with God might give her some of the answers she’s looking for.
As a PSA: the documentary JUDY BLUME FOREVER on Prime Video is very much worth your time. Not groundbreaking stylistically, but Blume is warm, open, unapologetic, and really funny in the interview sequences. And it's moving in ways I had not expected, particularly in the sections dealing with the letters of the kids who wrote to Blume over the years, which gave a sense of the tremendous influence she's had on generations. (She also struck up long, ongoing correspondences with some of them.)
Seconded. I too watched JUDY BLUME FOREVER, and it was great to learn about the author that was an adolescent favorite of mine. It really piques my interest in seeing MARGARET as well.
I wish I could say I could no longer relate to the feeling you describe of Margaret being "off-limits", but nope, I asked my sister if she'd go with me so I wasn't a weird guy in the back by myself.
34 and still working on it!
I hear you. My thought after seeing this was, "I absolutely have to take my daughters (who are 15 and 11) to see this." And then I immediately worried about how mortified they would be if I did it. (Their mom, OTOH...)
I just bought tickets for the family for Friday night. Will report back on how mortifying it is for the kid.
That reminds me of the time I wanted to see The PowerPuff Girls Movie and recruited a friend so I wouldn’t be the only late-20s guy in a sea of girls and their mothers. So instead there were two of us.
Brings to mind a random moment from Phantom Menace.
"This is getting out of hand! Now there are TWO of them!"
In 1994 I was painfully single and a big movie nerd so had to see THE LION KING to see what all the fuss was about. Saturday matinee (late in the run but still packing them in). If you took a picture of the audience you’d see pretty solid rows of parents and children. Then one row of that with a two seat break, me, two seat break, more parents and children. I learned a lot that day about perception.
One of my favorite (in retrospect) cinematic outings was seeing Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade with my eighth grade daughter. We both loved the film, but there were moments in the movie that were so accurate and so close to reality that we literally could not look at each other.
You're right that Superfudge was the magnum opus of the Fudge series
I remember preferring Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, but I haven't read them since thy were age-appropriate for me
It's the Mad Max to Superfudge's The Road Warrior. A little more raw and unpolished, though with its own charms and defenders
so in this one does God finally tell her where he got that cowboy hat before running over Allison Janney or
“God, what are you making this about you! Can’t you see I’m hurting here?!l”
This is off topic, but I just subscribed and I’m so glad. Keith and Scott, I used to read you all the time in the aughts, before whatever happened at AVC. Very nice to find you again!
Welcome aboard, Mark! This is a really great community and I hope you dig it.
Aw, thanks!
I wrote about Margaret for Think Christian! Absolutely loved this movie. https://thinkchristian.net/are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret-listening-for-gods-still-small-voice
Interesting take. My wife is Jewish and I was raised Catholic, so our situation w/r/t our daughters is similar to the couple in the film, in that we have not been active in giving them spiritual direction but would not discourage them if they were so compelled. So far, neither have tried Margaret’s journey here, but I do love the model the film sets for her curiosity and the way a relationship with God might give her some of the answers she’s looking for.
As a PSA: the documentary JUDY BLUME FOREVER on Prime Video is very much worth your time. Not groundbreaking stylistically, but Blume is warm, open, unapologetic, and really funny in the interview sequences. And it's moving in ways I had not expected, particularly in the sections dealing with the letters of the kids who wrote to Blume over the years, which gave a sense of the tremendous influence she's had on generations. (She also struck up long, ongoing correspondences with some of them.)
Seconded. I too watched JUDY BLUME FOREVER, and it was great to learn about the author that was an adolescent favorite of mine. It really piques my interest in seeing MARGARET as well.