Welcome to the Raising Cinephiles Newsletter!
The Raising Cinephiles podcast is moving to Substack! This means a weekly newsletter with film recs for families, insights on raising movie-loving kids, all accompanying the podcast.
The Raising Cinephiles podcast is moving to Substack! This means a weekly newsletter with film recs for families, insights on raising movie-loving kids, and continued podcast episodes featuring guests from the film industry.
Why the move? Being a single mom in the entertainment world is tough, but these inspiring guests give me hope, and I want to share that with you all!
Here's the deal: the podcast will be free for all subscribers during the first week, with the entire archive and new edits available to paying subscribers. There will be a free monthly newsletter for everyone, but the weekly one is for subscribers only.
This Wednesday, Joshua Triplett will be on the podcast.
Joshua is an actor, writer, producer, musician, father, and husband. He recently starred in 47 Days with Jesus and is releasing an album this week. This is a conversation about art, opportunity, and how including his family in his work passed his passion to his two daughters.
What Miles and I are watching…
In the last couple of weeks, I took my son, who is currently 2.5 years old, out of the country for the first time. Los Angeles to Rome is a 12-hour flight, and bless my child cause he slept most of the way there. He is obsessed with trains, so I downloaded The Little Engine That Could, Polar Express, and many Thomas the Engine films. I also got painter's tape with train tracks, put it all over his seat tray table, and brought a couple of trains. Between those two things and some sleep, he did exceptionally well.
Upon returning and battling jet lag, I put on a slightly different film to see how he’d respond: Panyo, the Hayao Miyazaki film. He was mesmerized. We’ve developed this ritual, which I love. In the early mornings, like 6:30a, we go to the family room and cuddle on the couch. I lay on my side, and he sits in the crook of my knee, calls me the ‘Momma Car,’ and I drink my coffee. He drinks his protein drink (Orgain, which we do instead of milk), and we watch a movie together. The jet lag makes the timing more like 5:30a, so the movie helped me drink two cups of coffee while we cuddled. Sometimes, he’ll get up and play, but with Panyo, he stayed cuddled and into the movie the entire time. It was such a pleasure.
Family Films in Theaters
I’ve noticed a trend of movies doing anniversaries or rereleases. The Lion King's 30th anniversary is one I might take my kid to in a theater. If I do it, I’ll let you know how it goes. And if you have a teen and want to introduce them to horror, you’re in luck. This week, Close Encounters is in theaters.
There’s also Despicable Me 4 for the grade school-age kids. I’ve not watched 1-3, so I’m unsure that the film is for us. And if you are one of the few who hasn’t seen Inside Out 2, that’s still available, and it’s made it to a billion dollars at the box office. Family movies, I hope that means you’re making a proper comeback!