Cozy Quilt Cinema

Love, Simon (2018): A Perfect Score, a Ferris Wheel, and the Courage to Be Seen

We finally watched Love, Simon (2018) and gave it our first-ever perfect score, 9 of 9 on the Stitch Count! This week we're curling up with the story of a kid counting down the days to graduation with one big secret, a string of anonymous emails that turn into something like falling in love, and a Ferris wheel ending that had us both tearing up. We talk about what it means to live in a closet that's also a kind of protection, the jokes that teach you to hide before you even know you're hiding, and what it feels like when the people who love you finally just... see you. It's a sweet movie, maybe even a little too sweet at times, but it earns its feelings honestly. And sometimes that's exactly what we need, a story that doesn't have to hurt to mean something. Grab your blanket and join us for Love, Simon, a perfect 9 of 9 Stitch Count score, and a long talk about the courage it takes to walk forward after coming out.

Boy Meets Girl (2014): The Trans Rom-Com That Cracked My Egg

Some movies entertain you. Some movies find you at exactly the right moment and crack something open. Boy Meets Girl (2014) is both. This week Beth and Michelle curl up with Eric Schaeffer's tender, sex-positive trans romantic comedy set in small-town Kentucky, the story of Ricky Jones, a 21-year-old trans woman with big dreams, a best friend named Robby, and a chance encounter with a Southern debutante that changes everything for all of them. It's imperfect, it's organic, and it was absolutely perfectly timed for one trans woman. We talk trans representation in 2014 versus now, the difference between tolerance and acceptance, why this film doesn't need a villain, and what it means to finally be seen by the people you love most. Wrap yourself up and hit play. Happy Pride!

Pieces of April (2003): The First Pancake, a Broken Oven and I Feel Fine

Pieces of April (2003), written and directed by Peter Hedges on a shoestring budget and two digital camcorders, is a small film that quietly breaks you open and leaves you with the pieces. Katie Holmes plays April, the black sheep, the first pancake, preparing Thanksgiving dinner for an estranged family that has never really seen her, using an oven that doesn't work, in a building full of strangers. Meanwhile her mother Joy, played by Patricia Clarkson, is dying of cancer and riding in a station wagon toward a meal she's not sure she wants, cooked by a daughter she's not sure she knows how to love. This one got personal. We talk about first pancakes and found family, about Bobby and his suit, about a squirrel funeral that was never really about a squirrel, and about what it means to mourn something before it's even gone. Stitch Count: 8 out of 9.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012): Outcasts and Found Family with Pat Green & Allaina Humphreys

What does it cost to be truly seen by another person and what does the world do when it doesn't know what to do with you? This week, Beth and Michelle climb into the blanket fort with two extraordinary guests to unravel Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom (2012): a story of two lonely twelve-year-olds who decide to stop waiting for the world to make sense and just run toward each other instead. We talk found family and the uniforms we wear to prove we belong, compassionate authority versus institutional indifference, what first love looks like when you've never been shown you're worth staying for, and why the children in this film understand something the adults have spent decades forgetting. It gets emotional. It gets real. It gets a little bit into D&D metaphors and we are not apologizing for that. Joining us today are two people who do the work of being seen and helping others reclaim that, every single day. Pat Green is a columnist, author, documentarian, and freelance photojournalist with over 20 years of storytelling behind him. He's the editor-in-chief of GenX Watch, Executive Director of the Thrive Initiative Trauma-Informed Creative Arts Program, and the author of the Hearts of Glass series, a GenX coming-of-age saga about found family, resilience, and what it means to survive the decade that raised us. Find him at patgreenauthor.com [https://patgreenauthor.com/]. Allaina Humphreys is a graphic designer, accessibility consultant, and civic leader based in Bolingbrook, Illinois. She's the Chair of Bolingbrook Pride, VP of DEIA for Illinois Now, and one of only 15 people selected nationally for the Emerge America electoral training cohort. She's a disability advocate, a mother of three, and a person whose entire body of work centers the full humanity of every person in the room. Find her @allainahumphreys on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn or, as she'd be the first to tell you, just Google it. She's the only one. THRIVE AND SURVIVE: FIRST AID Sunday, May 31, 2026 | 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM Fountaindale Public Library, Meeting Room A 300 W Briarcliff Rd, Bolingbrook, IL 60440 Pat and Allaina are hosting an afternoon gathering for survivors, artists, writers, and truth-tellers centered on healing, creativity, and connection. The event marks the premiere of the very first issue of the Thrive & Survive Zine: First Aid, a survivor-created zine exploring the stories, art, poetry, and creative tools that help people keep moving forward. The afternoon includes live readings, interactive creative experiences, real conversations about survival, and fundraising for local organizations supporting survivors. All are welcome. For questions: patgreenauthor@gmail.com Also mentioned in this episode: Michelle spotted a shirt and we are legally obligated to share it: the "I'm White But Not That White [https://www.godaintpetty.com/products/i-m-white-but-not-that-white-unisex-tee]" tee from God Ain't Petty

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Retrospective: More Than a Caricature

This week we're curling up with a film that, we believe, has been misread by its own trailers for twenty-five years. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), directed by Sharon Maguire, written by Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis, and Andrew Davies, and starring Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant is not, it turns out, a film about a clumsy woman falling into love. It's a film about a woman falling into herself. We revisit Bridget's diary entries, her Chardonnay budget, and her genuinely iconic fireman's pole moment with fresh eyes and find something we didn't expect: a protagonist who owns her mistakes with more dignity than most films afford their leading men. Along the way, we look at the slow-burn case for Mark Darcy, the sexiest fight scene not involving a hammer, and why "I like you just as you are" hits harder at the end than it would have at the beginning. We also run the film through the Stitch Count (the Castellini test, Gaze and Inclusivity, and the Tremors Gold Standard) and come out the other side with 5 out of 9 stitches holding it all together. Tighter than you'd think, but perhaps looser than it should be. This one's dedicated to one of our listeners, Nicole. Happy birthday! Music by https://pixabay.com/users/pianocafe_kumi-35185506/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=370804 from https://pixabay.com/music//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=370804%20[https://pixabay.com/music//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=370804]