MOVIE MONDAY: About Time & The Spectacular Now

As we walked out of the theater after seeing ABOUT TIME with two of our teenaged sons, we were all grinning -- and both the boys said it was one of the best movies they'd ever seen. I think (perhaps) they related to the main character who experienced a bit of trouble with girls, only to triumph in the end -- after the family time-travel legacy allowed him to correct some of his mistakes. The movie was funny and sweet, and the father-son relationship was exactly what I wanted it to be. I wasn't as wild about it as the boys were, but their enthusiasm is infectious, and I have thought about the movie a number of times since we saw it. Wouldn't mind seeing it again.

THE SPECTACULAR NOW is another movie we viewed with two of our teens in tow. I was pretty excited about it, having loved 500 DAYS OF SUMMER. I was thinking "romance," which made the actual subject-matter a bit of a surprise. Yes, there was romance, but mostly there was a high school senior deconstructing under the influence of alcohol. The movie is much more about his struggles with family and relationships than it is about love, and my heart hurt as I watched it. So much pain in the world, so much we hide. The "Now" in this movie is not the healthy now, but it is the now a lot of people experience. Which makes it an important, realistic movie, but not an easy one to watch, especially for parents of this age group.

Next week: CATCHING FIRE!