Movie Monday ~ Don’t Let the Love of Classic B&W Films Die! – Part Two

In 2019 we are looking to the future, and the horizon is bright! One of the wonders of our world is the ability to enjoy the old with the new and share it with future generations. 

This holiday break I was able to share several B&W films with my 25 year old son. This is a yearly tradition in our household.  Not just B&W films, but the classics. I have four children, their ages are spread out (14 to 25) so I only subject them to a few at a time so it isn’t torturous. Surprisingly, while they object at first, they usually get into the movie after the first 30 minutes or so. Some of you may have noticed from my tweets (@AmyJRomine), this year I shared Abbott and Costello with the two younger kids and the Thin Man series with the eldest. 

Liking the idea of revisiting the classics? Check out part one of this post. Here are the last five in a list of 10 B&W films I highly suggest for 2019. Most can be found on Amazon or TCM. These are in no particular order as I love them all. 

Bringing Up Baby – (Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn) - While trying to secure a

$1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby. Both a very young Grant and Hepburn captivate with sharp banter and physical comedy rarely replicated in today’s films.

Casablanca – (Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman) - In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. We all know this classic love story and B&W is the best version.

The Maltese Falcon (Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor) - A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette. This signature classic changed the face of noir films for the ages. Do not miss this classic suspense thriller! By the way, did you know the 1941 Maltese Falcon is a remake of a movie from 1931 starring Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez and was originally penned by Dashiell Hammett who also created The Thin Man.

The Little Princess – (Shirley Temple, Richard Greene, Anita Louise) A little girl The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer, but I have to admit the scene where the Temple  finds her father is tear-jerking and too perfect to resist!

is left by her father in an exclusive seminary for girls, due to her father having to go to Africa with the army. Needless to say you had to expect at least one Shirley Temple film on the list. I was torn between this and

Arsenic and Old Lace – (Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane) - A drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family. Hollywood has attempted to remake this classic four times without success.  Frantic, funny and full of delightful physical comedy this once stage play turned movie is one not to be missed!

 So those are the final five of ten. You can see the fist list here. All can be found on Amazon and are shown regularly on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Also IMDB (the links are used in this blog) usually has a list of places you can purchase and or rent movies. I would love to hear your feedback, suggestions you have for the list!

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Saturday Seven - June 8th 2019

Happy Saturday, what have you been up to this week? Here is a rundown of highlights for the week. I hope you find them useful in your life! My goal as a person and a writer are to always Pay-It-Forward, so please let me know how I can help you. YES, YOU!
Enjoy your weekend & this post! Amazing things to come!
~Amy

What am I Reading? -  I have read so much in the past few months and are so behind on reviews! The goal is to post all of them this week! Be looking for reviews of The Surge by Donna Elliot, Gavin by Russell and Holly Kothe, Angel Eyes by William Worthy & The Mother of All Things by Gabriel Blake.

What am I Listening to? –  A lot of upbeat music. Black-Eyes Peas, Toby Keith, Fun, Kelly Clarkson, etc. Keeping me motivated!

What Quote am I pondering? –  Not really a quote, just a word. Something I have encountered in several random conversations this week. The word is Honor. It seems the weight of this word has lessened in the past century. Our current generation and our children do not seem to know the true meaning of the word, and this makes me sad. ~ Honour (or Honor) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as valor, chivalry, honesty, and compassion.

What am I Researching? –  Oddly enough writing fight scenes. It is one of the facets of my writing I struggle with. Been interesting. Also been researching Grant money. Applied for an Awesome Grant – that is literally the name of it – to help with the launch of Writing Warriors United. We shall see, fingers crossed!

Yummy Meal of the Week – Butternut Squash Chili – Roasted butternut squash with black beans, corn, and taco seasoning. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. Simple, fast, Yum!

What did I Learn? – I learned there is literally a plastic island the size of Texas in the middle of the ocean. So disturbing, right? Makes we think of Wall-E and his little compression boxes. You’d think we could find a use for plastic. Why can’t we build something? Genius brains! Get to work…please?

What am I Watching? –  I watched the Dark Knight with my son. Forgot how awesome this movie is and what a loss of a wonderful actor it marked. Heath Ledger as the Joker is – in my humble opinion—unmatched. The Chris Nolan series of Batman movies are my favorite! Always worth a re-visit when looking for something entertaining.

*BONUS Content ~

The Writing Warriors United blog is up and running. I even taped my first ever YouTube video. The topic is the Kernel Idea! Please take a gander, give me a like and subscribe! (all links listed below)

Have any thoughts on my week’s activity or want to make a recommendation? Drop me a line or a tweet. Never want to miss a blog post or a Saturday Seven? Join my mailing list, and I will be happy to send it straight to your inbox!

Check out a recent Podcast I was interviewed on ~ Write Away Podcast - https://tinyurl.com/y6e7q4d3

Special Treat! ~ If you haven’t seen it yet, please check it out my teaser trailer for Finders is out! https://tinyurl.com/y4zkjugu

Links

Angel’s Eyes by William Worthy – https://tinyurl.com/yyv6ngl7

The Surge by Donna Elliott - https://tinyurl.com/y2lxzqkz

Gavin by Russell and Holly Kothe - https://tinyurl.com/yydtcrtq

The Mother of All Things by Gabriel Blake - https://tinyurl.com/y4hl84jx

Plastic Island - https://is.gd/LC9bNi

Writing Warriors United - https://tinyurl.com/yyhcz9wg

Writing Warriors United on YouTube - https://youtu.be/WgLouBBcves

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Super Hero Sunday ~ We are Strong, Not Indestructible

Whether we like to admit it or not, we’re all human. We do not come from some faraway planet, making our physical makeup stronger than the average human. We have our limits. The trick is knowing where our boundaries lay and how far beyond them, we can stretch without doing any permanent damage.

We have hope for all people, especially when they make a misstep. We send them love and prayers, hoping they will come to their senses and turn away from the shadows they find themselves cloaked in. In truth, it rarely happens to those who bask in the worlds glow. The notoriety and fame become a heavy burden to bear.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” This infamous line from Spiderman works on so many levels and is a saying we should all take to heart. As strong women, we do have a responsibility to ourselves as well as the people in our lives.  It is beautiful to be strong, but strength can also be our biggest weakness. 

When we find ourselves using alternative means to keep up our granite mask, we must, for the sake of our own sanity, step back, and reevaluate our intentions.  In every superhero tale, there is a pivotal moment when the hero can cheat and take the easy way out, to stop the bleeding without repairing the wound. As we all know, stopping the bleeding does not cure the patient, it just extends their lives for a time. As I said, we are strong, not indestructible. We can be wounded and take a lot from time to time. As the people we are, we many times find it necessary to hide our weaknesses. Something inside tells us we cannot have cracks in the armor, or show any kind of weakness once we have established ourselves as a superwoman.

Screw that—to be blunt—there is NOTHING worth your mental or physical health. Taking that path, using the easy way out, is the path to the dark side. It is a one way street to the hall of doom with little means to indeed turn back. You may seem incredible at first, but then that crack you were trying to conceal becomes an ugly scar that grows bigger and bigger, eventually revealing the darkness you have taken into your soul.

Am I melodramatic? Probably. All I know is I never ever want anyone to feel pity for me, I never want to be known as the fallen hero. I do not want my obituary to be, “Sad, but not unexpected.” We all make mistakes. We all stumble. It is a part of life people, it’s unavoidable, even for superheroes.  It is what makes us the people we are. It is part of the profile. We take our hits and battle on. We overcome the obstacles in our lives with time, grace, and honor. We must first and foremost be heroes to ourselves before we can be a hero to anyone else. We must be able to look in the mirror and be proud of what we see. If you take a misstep, you can recover. You can rebuild the trust you have broken. It is an ambiguous stance to take. It is a hard life to lead, but it is the price we pay for being our own heroes, and we are the ones who ultimately benefit in the end.

It takes more strength to ask for help than it does to stand alone….

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