Revealed In Time

Monday, January 11, 2016

The Crown (NetFlix 2016)

Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II and Matt Smith as Prince Philip

I have been waiting so long for a film about young Queen Elizabeth II and about her life with Philip and early years as the queen.

This looks amazing!!!

Friday, January 8, 2016

Words of Wisdom

Something pretty for Cinderella Week.

Where there is kindness

There is goodness

And where there is goodness

There is Magic

Have Courage and Be Kind

We truly live in a dark world. Just turn on the news and how often is there ever anything good ever being reported? Courage is a difficult attribute to obtain and kindness even more so. In Cinderella, Ella's mother tells her that key to happiness is to have courage and be kind. For where there is kindness there is goodness and where there is goodness, there is magic. Those words are pretty much that whole tagline of the story.

Where there is kindness, there is goodness

Ella's life was one tragedy after another. Her mother's death. her father's remarriage, the coming of her terrible stepmother and idiot stepsisters, her father's unexpected passing, being made a servant in her own household, being mocked, teased, harassed and berated for no other reason than she was beautiful and kind. This poor girl definitely got the full barrel.

People asked, "Why didn't she just stand up for herself? Talk back to her stepmother? Be independent?" Well, truthfully, Ella had no where else to go. She was as at the mercy of her stepmother and one misspoken word from her stepdaughter would be reason enough to kick her out. It is truly one of the hardest things in the world to hold your tongue when someone has offended you. I have a hard enough time with it, I can't imagine being in Ella's position when her whole livelihood was on the line everyday.

All Ella had was her kindness to get her through. If you notice in the film, whenever Ella replied back with a kind word, Lady Tremaine and her daughters left her alone. Ella was not gunning for a fight or be the one who had the last word. For the most part she would rather be left alone than have to deal with the cruelty of her stepfamily who seemed determined to make her life miserable.

Where there is goodness, there is magic

Ella's kindness is what defines her to everyone around her. Her kindness found in her actions and her temperament empowers that goodness that is inside her. Now, being good can be viewed as boring. Our generation looks down on and despises those that are good in portrayed media (books, movies, television). We all empathize with the misunderstood villain (Magneto), pity the unwanted son (Loki), admire the vengeful daughter (Lady Morgana). Being good is just to common or is it? I just wrote that good news is hard to come by, so why are good people in books and movies looked down upon?

Because it is so difficult to be good in a dark world

We don't despise the heroes because they are good; we despise them because they make being good seem so easy and natural. Superheros such as Captain America and Superman are tossed aside, because they are literally too good to be true (I love those two, by the way! So it's nothing against them). However, if being good was easy then we would have nothing to strive for in our day to day lives. Goodness and being good will always be so much more difficult than evil and being evil.

Ella's mother said that magic comes from goodness. Now Disney meant that magic of Cinderella's wish to go to the ball, but magic in everyday can have various terms. While I don't believe in magic, I think that what can be obtained from kindness and goodness are far greater ideals such as love, honor, nobility, loyalty, generosity and happiness. All of these were Ella's rewards in the end and that it is probably what her mother wanted more for her daughter than simply a pretty dress and a golden coach.

Have Courage and Be Kind

If one attribute can be reaped from Cinderella (2015) it is that a woman (or anyone) does not have to conform to survive in this world. While Ella's nature may have seemed to perfect in the dark world she was living in, that doesn't defeat the fact that people loved her for the person that she was. Courage and kindness may not get you a prince and a crown, but it can save you from a life of sorrow and pain. I'll be honest, it's a daily struggle for me to have courage and be kind. I have a short fuse and little to no patience. I'm not perfect, but when I'm able to be kind to others and face my fears, I feel that I have not only made myself better for a few seconds, but also someone else may have been made better too.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Ever After

This is my absolute favorite movie and I have never reviewed it! It seems Cinderella Week is the best time do so. I saw this great film when I was about 7 or 8 years old and completely fell in love! It's a definite family favorite and even my brothers enjoy it. Probably what I loved the most about Ever After is that story in itself seemed very real. Every character in the story is real and personable in some way. Danielle's early childhood loss of her father and neglect and mistreatment from her stepmother, Henry's refusal to accept his position as the future king of France, Jacqueline's torn loyalty's between her mother and sister, and her friendship with Danielle, even Rodmilla's conflicting feelings are brought to light in a heartbreaking scene between her and her stepdaughter. Ever After's extraordinary storytelling of a young woman's journey from servant to queen, darkness to light and despair to salvation rings true for any human heart.

Danielle's journey from servant to princess.

When eight year old Danielle de Barbarac loses her father, she is left in the care of her new stepmother who wants nothing to do with her. Ten years later, eighteen year old Danielle is a servant in her own household that is deeply falling into debt and ruin. For her stepmother, Rodmilla de Ghent and her two daughters, vain and cruel Marguerite (her mother's favorite) and quiet, reserved Jacqueline they rely on the help of Pierre Le Pieu, a wealthy benefactor who has his eye on Danielle.

One day Danielle has an unfortunate meeting with the handsome, but rash Crown Prince Henry who is running away from his home, his life and his subsequent future as the next king of France. Danielle is rewarded for her silence with a great deal of money that can help her release her friend Maurice from being sold to the America's. While attempting to free Maurice later that day, Danielle once again runs into Henry in the palace courtyard and impresses him and the other courtiers with her educated mind and knowledge of decent human dignity.

"So let me believe that I am someone else"

Henry himself is equally impressed by such a young women and sets out to find out who she is. Danielle pretends to be a wealthy courtier from out of town and evades him by giving him her mother's name and proceeds to disappear. Meanwhile, Henry has issues to hammer out with his demanding father, King Frances, regarding his future as king. When his son balks at the idea of an arranged marriage, Francis makes a compromise and tells Henry that he has one week to find true love or he will make Henry's arranged marriage official at the masquerade ball he is throwing in honor of the artist in residence, Leonardo da Vinci.

When Rodmilla receives the news of the impending ball, she wastes no time in preparing both daughters (primarily Marguerite) by any means necessary to catch the crown prince. Meanwhile, Henry and Danielle, who still has Henry believing she is a wealthy courtier, are thrown together in more unexpected (but hilarious) circumstances and in a very short space of time find themselves falling in love. Henry believes he has found true love and plans to make Danielle his wife.

However, that's easier said than done and Rodmilla sets out to destroy Danielle in any way she can and to have Henry make Marguerite his wife. Through trial and triumphs Henry and Danielle eventually find themselves together, happily ever after, proving that the road to love is never easy, but if it is real, then it is always worth the sacrifices that life requires from us.

Considered the best retelling of the beloved fairy tale, Ever After has every traditional genre for everyone. History, comedy, drama and romance are all fused together to create this delightful love story. While the historical accuracy regarding the royal family of France may be off, it makes lovely portrait of the needed equality between royalty and the common man. The costumes are absolutely stunning and rich in detail. I loved every single gown that Danielle wore and this film is a definite must for any costume drama lover.

No matter how many times I re-watch this movie, I find myself falling in love all over again. While admiring the beautiful heroine, laughing and crying through the crown princes' coming of age story arch, loathing both Rodmilla and Marguerite, forever believing that Henry's parents are completely awesome and hoping that everyone will have friends as loyal as Danielle's and Henry's. Ever After is the story of the human heart that breaks, heals and finds the courage to love, forgive and above all live, not for one's self, but for all others around you.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Cinderella Week: Day One ~ Rules and Tag

Yahh! It's finally here!

Rules

#1: How it works

To participate, you can join in by reviewing one or more Cinderella titles (found here) on your own blog AND/OR filling out the tag questions found below. (Really, that's all there is to it! ;))

Important: when you complete any posts (reviews, your tag answers, etc.), paste your direct post links back here in a comment on this kick-off post as I'll be posting a grand link-up at the end of the week.

#2: Giveaways from Heidi and Hamlette

Heidi's prizes are listed in her kick-off post (click the banner on top) and Hamlette is giving away beautiful prizes at her site

I reviewed the Cinderella movie from last year

Read it here

Cinderella Party Tag:

1. In the vast array of fairytale heroines, what particular character qualities most define Cinderella?

     - Always her strength and courage to do what is right especially in the face of adversity. Strength, courage and kindness are repetitive themes in every Cinderella film that has been made and these qualities can oftentimes be severely overlooked in the grandness of the magic of the original story.

2. What are some of the deeper, big picture differences you see between retellings where both stepsisters are nasty and others where one is nasty and one is kind? How do you think the two takes differently develop/illuminate/affect Cinderella’s character and also the overarching story itself?

     - It's good and interesting to have different takes on the stepsisters so as to avoid stereotyping and making a dull and mundane story. In some tellings both sisters are beautiful, in others they are ugly, but in every case there has always been at least one nasty stepsister (a consistent character type in Grimm's fairytales), because our heroine needs that opposite ugly nature to illuminate her beautiful nature and to inform the readers that a good heart is far more valuable than a pretty face.

3. Are you an animal lover? Would you eagerly count mice, lizards, cows, and geese as friends? Dogs and cats?

     - I like animals, but I not a huge lover. However, if I was stuck in a house with a wicked stepmother and two stepsisters, having some animals around may be the only reasons to stay sane.

4. After asking question #3, I realized how remarkably many of the adaptations I’ve seen have Cinderella either horseback riding or involved with horses. Have you ever ridden? If so, have you ever ridden sidesaddle or bareback?

   -I've only ridden once for about 15 min., but it was bareback and so much fun!

5. Your favorite Cinderella dress/s?

6. Do you ever think of Cinderella while doing your household chores? :)

     - Only when I'm scrubbing the floors

7. What major character traits do you think are essential in a faithful prince?

      - Honesty, bravery and morals

8. Your top THREE favorite fairy tales (as in the original folk tales, not adaptations).

     - Beauty and The Beast, Toads and Diamonds, Marushka and the 12 months - A Slavic Cinderella Story. Click to read the original versions.

9. Your top FIVE current favorite fairy tale/legend type films (BESIDES any Cinderella adaptations).

- Disney's Beauty and The Beast, Maleficent, The Swan Princess, The Princess and The Goblin and Disney's The Little Mermaid.

10. If you could play Cinderella and the story could be set in any region of the world and any time period, what would you pick? And what would your dream ‘ball gown’ for it be like?

   - The American West (Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, etc.) in the 1950s on a cattle ranch.

11. And (purely for fun :))… what color/s do you immediately associate with Cinderella?

- White, yellow/gold and every shade of blue! (With no small amount of glitter and bling!)