I’ve concluded that February is the suckiest month of the year. I don’t know who decided to make it a month of romance, but as a cabin-fevered woman who is sick of the snow and who hasn’t had a night out since last year, I can say definitely that at least they were smart enough to associate it with chocolate. Date night, whether out and about or at home right now, is also family night… at least until I can find babysitters that aren’t working and/or the snow stops flying so my mother in law will drive down to watch the kid.
We’ve been watching movies, as we are wont to do, and have decided to relive some of the glory days with our kid this month-ish, to help us fight such unpleasant old-people discoveries that have cropped up this winter (such the realization that nose hairs now must be trimmed). Unfortunately for both me and my husband, this has only managed to make us feel old as heck and even more decrepit than usual.
If you’re looking to relive some of those glory days, here’s some titles on Netflix that we watched this month. You may choose to make your date night at home without the kid, however, cause if they’re a smarty-pants little 7+ year old, they might say some unforgivable things.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was one of those movies that I showed to all of my relatives after catching it in a single-theatre screening way 16 years ago (sob). In retrospect, it probably made my mom, aunt, and grandparents feel old as heck, and this was my come-uppance. I thought for sure that this one would be a solid winner with kidlet. I mean, it’s got martial arts in it. People throwing daggers and stuff. Action, adventure, not too much romance. And Chow Yun Fat’s easy on the eyes, if you know what I’m sayin’. I was also all squee about it cause Netflix has a sequel-ish original out now, and HECK YES, I need to rewatch the original first!
Kid: PFFFT. That’s impossible. Nobody can fly like that.
Me: … sigh.
Being born in the late 70s, I was a solid child of the 80s. Computer animation and those futuristic special effects? That was cool. And I may or may not have insisted on an 80’s TRON poster in my husband’s man-cave. So naturally when I saw TRON Legacy on Netflix, I saw an opportunity to share with the kid not only of my early childhood , but also my teenager years, when I used to go be into the whole rave scene. ‘Cause Daft Punk.
Me: LOOK KID! It’s Daft Punk! They did the music for Tron! I used to listen to them when I was a teenager.
Kid: Why do they wear helmets? That’s stupid.
Me: …
If you check out the greatest movies of all time, Forrest Gump will be on that list somewhere. I mean, it’s one of the greatest movies of all time. I don’t even know how to explain it. It just has everything that makes it work just right, like a John Irving novel. It’s acceptable for everyone, but it deals with complicated issues. And there’s absolutely nobody my age who hasn’t seen Forrest Gump, unless they’ve somehow hidden under a rock. On Mars. With their fingers in their ears and their eyes shut. In my opinion, that makes it practically required pop culture essential watching.
Kid: This movie is boring. It only has people talking in it.
Me:
Well, then. Daddy and I will just have to do date night at home after 8 PM, kid.
