Movie Review: Julia & Julie

'Julia & Julie' is a movie based on two books – Julie Child's memoir, 'My Life in France,' and the book 'Julia & Julie' by Julie Powell. The latter was a follow-up to a blog about a year-long project Powell undertook to sort of kickstart her life: Cook every recipe in Julia Child's seminal cookbook, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking,' (all 524 of them), over the course of a year. I've read 'Julia & Julie,' but not 'My Life in France' (yet).

Typically, I get annoyed by changes made when adapting popular books into movies, especially when they are big plot updates (I'm talking to you 'Cold Mountain' and 'My Sister's Keeper'!) – if the book was so good and worthy of adaptation, why are you changing the entire point of it? So, let's get the inaccuracies out of the way first: There was no big, dramatic, potentially marriage-ending fight in 'Julia & Julie'; Julie Powell wasn't a failed novelist – she was a sort of wannabe actress; turning 30 and finding out that she potentially might not be able to have kids were the catalysts for starting the project - she didn't have that group of uber successful friends that she was sort of trying to show-up by starting her blog; also, she had 2 cats and a snake (I know, big change, huh?).

Strangely enough, considering that it's based on true stories, none of these updates irked me (with the exception of the fight, which became way too much of a plot crux to have just been made up out of thin air). In fact, I was more offended by the trailer for the Peter Jackson adaptation of 'The Lovely Bones' we saw beforehand than I was by any of the changes they made to the book's plot (Seriously. Have you read that? Watch the trailer here and tell me what you think.).

I thought Meryl Streep & Amy Adams were pitch perfect (I found it hilarious the costuming decisions they made to try to make Amy Adams look a little “thick” - if there is one thing Amy Adams isn't, it's thick. Also, Meryl Streep is only 5'6". Julia Child was 6'2". Conveying that must have taken a lot of work!). Stanley Tucci, one of the most underrated and underused actors around, was also perfect in his role as Paul Child, and I expect we'll start seeing Chris Messina, who played Amy Adams's husband and who we recently saw in 'Away We Go', a whole lot more. Jane Lynch was a bit over the top as Julia Child's sister, but the scene after her wedding (trying to keep this spoiler free, everyone), is why the industry's all abuzz about Streep's guaranteed Oscar nomination.

I laughed (less than the preview would have you think, though) and I cried, and enjoyed pretty much every minute of the movie. Definitely recommended for Streep fans, foodies and everyone in between. 7.5 Twix bars!

Movie Review: (500) Days of Summer

I'd been looking forward to (500) Days of Summer so much, I easily could have wound up hating it. Luckily, I didn't. I thought it was smart, funny, original, and reassuringly relevant to relationships that 20-somethings have in this day and age. Until the end.


I'll leave this spoiler-free, and just say the ending was too darn cutesy. It made it feel like the whole film had just been a build up to one kind of lame, predictable punch line from a Readers Digest jokes page. And it's too bad, because Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great (though it's hard to get used to him having such a deep voice), his friends realistic, the soundtrack fun. It's hard to not feel like Zooey Deschanel was playing herself – equal parts pixie and sassy hipster, unaware of how beguiling she is – but she was perfect as the titular Summer.

There were other problems (An architect? Really?), but this is the kind of movie that I think will get even better upon repeat viewings, as you get to know the characters better. 7.75 Twix bars!

Movie Review: The Proposal

My hopes weren’t too high for this movie. I’m not big for the prat falls of ‘Miss Congeniality,’ and I’ve never seen ‘Two Weeks Notice.’ I'm really more of a Sandra Bullock-in-Speed person. So while I find her very likable and am super into the fact that she married that motorcycle guy (though I can't help but wonder how on earth she's okay with him starring on a television show essentially designed to kill him), I was more attracted to ‘The Proposal’ by Ryan Reynolds (who I found just delightful in ‘Definitely, Maybe’) and Betty White (who is just delightful period). No one was more surprised than me to realize, upon leaving the movie theater, that I liked it more than ‘The Hangover.’ I was pretty embarrassed by this, but thankfully, over post-movie fresh fruit margaritas and mojitos, Sarah confessed that she did too.



Let’s get the negative stuff out of the way first: They really tried to make Ryan Reynolds seem a lot younger than he is (He was supposed to be playing a guy 3 years out of college. Can't you tell? He’s listening to an iPod! Look at this hip jacket and messenger bag he wears ALL the time!), the immigration officer part was way over the top at the end, and there’s this gag that almost works, where, because it’s a small town, one person appears to do every job (general store manager, catering staff, stripper, you know). If that one person wasn’t played by Oscar from 'The Office,' I think I would have been annoyed by it.

Negativity done. There was way more to like about this movie.

Most importantly, I laughed out loud. A lot. The “naked” scene has gotten a lot of play on the talk show circuit, and its payoff was much funnier than I expected. There was also a scene that involved Sandra Bullock's character, a hard-nosed, high-powered book editor, singing wildly inappropriate song lyrics ("Sweat drips off my..."), and a second scene with Ryan Reynolds doing an amazing falsetto that had my throat hurting from laughing so hard. Betty White was everything you’d hope for – over the top granny-rific, not above guilt-tripping her children & grandchildren by pulling the What-if-I-Die-and-this-is-the-last-thing-I-remember card, and with some great one liners ("She sure comes with a lot of baggage."). Mary Steenburgen played Ryan Reynolds’s mom, and she’s just so darn nice and mom-like, I really loved her. (Sometime after the early 90s - 'Prancer,' 'Back to the Future 3,' 'Philadelphia' - it seems like Mary Steenburgen began just playing herself. I feel equipped to say this, since I saw her actually play herself on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm.' So she really must just be the nicest person ever. Who’s with me?) Also, she wears really great sweaters in this movie.

Sure, the movie was full of overused rom-com clichés (They hate one another! Her parents died when she was young! She forgot what it was like to have a family!), but there were also bits that felt, if not original, at least fresh. Laugh out loud funny, I will gladly queue this up for any girl bonding night in the future. 7.5 Twix bars!

(Sidenote: I get a lot of flack for the fact that all of my Twix bar ratings fall between 6.5 and 8. There's a reason for this: I am not actually a movie critic. Shocking, I know. But I’m not getting paid to go see everything. So, if I've committed to paying $11 to see something, I expect to like it. If you get rated less than a 7, you disappointed me. If you get more than an 8, I will buy your DVD for our collection and probably also give you to someone for Christmas. If you fall somewhere in between, you did your job. I also try to consider/balance how much the movie was Trying, and a few other highly mathematical factors, but there's the basic logic. Do you disagree? Let me hear it!)

Movie Review: Away We Go

There's a problem with great movie trailers – it's almost inevitable that the actual movie can't live up to the promise. This was the case with 'Away We Go, a trailer that I've been swooning over since it debuted early this year. Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie – a lot – but, like when a single is the best song on the album, I couldn't help but feel a little let down.



'Away We Go' could almost have been two separate movies. The first half is knee-slapping funny, telling a road trip story about an almost-loser couple (Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski) redeemed by their love for one another, searching for a new place to settle down and raise their first child. As in a classic road trip story, we meet quirky characters, like the boozing middle aged couple that takes their kids to the greyhound racetrack. Allison Janney and the brother from 'My Boys' were seriously hilarious. But it's the second quirky character that really stole the show – Maggie Gyllenhaal's LN (Ellen). She's a wacky liberal professor, who we first meet with two children too old to be breast feeding doing just that. We learn that her family doesn't believe in strollers and all sleep in the same bed, and they dismiss the idea that one must "make a living” - it's just the right amount of over-the-top to be laugh out-loud funny (And if you don't believe me, just ask the guy behind us in the theater – I'd hate to hear how loudly he guffaws during actual comedies.).

Alternating with the funny characters, there are some real poignant moments. We meet Maya Rudolph's sister and learn that their parents died when she was 22. We meet the couple's college friends, who have an amazing marriage and a big, ol' happy family of adopted children – and learn that they've suffered through 5 miscarriages. We meet John Krasinksi's brother, whose wife has just left him and their young daughter. As the movie meanders along, the quietly uplifting sobriety of these plotlines takes over, leading to a final 3 minutes that are completely (and satisfyingly) dialogue-free.

Aside from the brilliance of Maggie Gyllenhaal and some truly beautifully framed shots (the movie was directed by Sam Mendes, who must have really needed a Happy Couple story after the disaster that was 'Revolutionary Road.'), Maya Rudolph is insanely likable in the movie, and I was almost able to forget the John Krasinski is Jim Halpert (I won't go into the details, since it'd be a multi-tiered spoiler alert around the last season finale of 'The Office' and the movie, but there were two minor plot points just too close to the Jim and Pam relationship for me to ignore).

What I enjoyed most about the movie was being put directly into the middle of the couple's relationship. We didn't have to learn how they met, or watch them fight and realize that they're in love, it was a given that this was the real thing, and I really enjoyed that rare-in-the-movie-world stability. 7.75 Twix bars!

Movie Review: Sunshine Cleaning

I’d been really looking forward to ‘Sunshine Cleaning’, so I was relieved the preview wasn’t better than the movie (I’m talking to you ’17 Again’).



‘Sunshine Cleaning’ is more melancholy than the title implies. Centered around a stuck woman, Amy Adams plays a single mom who never quite got to the life she expected after high school. She’s been meaning to take classes to get her real estate license, but she isn’t. She’s dating her high school boyfriend, who had (of course) been the quarterback to her head cheerleader – but he's married to someone else. Her son is mildly troubled (he does things like lick his teacher's leg) and needs to be sent to a private school. Private school requires money, so she ropes her slacker sister (Emily Blunt) into running a crime scene cleanup business (she's heard from the quarterback-turned-cop, Steve Zahn, that there's serious money to be made there). The slacker sister still lives at home and floats between crappy waitressing jobs. Their mom died when they were young, and we know she's got some unresolved issues because she wears black nail polish.

I challenge you to find a more likable person onscreen than Amy Adams. Seriously. She's pretty hard to not love. So while the movie had its issues, I care very little about them.

Issue #1: The kid part was pretty under developed. And short of not dying, didn't Alan Arkin play this same benevolent-grandpa-to precocious-child character in that *other* Sunshine movie?

Issue #2: Wear less eye makeup, Emily Blunt.

Issue #3: Unresolved love interest much?

Just like the trailer, the movie made me cry, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't seem like the whole thing been had shown in the preview. There were surprises (IE: new things to cry about), like Clifton Collins/Frankie Flowers as a friendly one-armed cleaning supply store owner. And, total bonus points for featuring Eric Stoltz’s kid sister from ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ in a bit part – she’s still got some teeth on her!

7 Twix bars!

Dibs.

'Away We Go' was high on my list of movies I'm looking forward to in '09, largely because of the kind-of-out-of-nowhere pairing of John Krasinski and Dave Eggers. Entertainment Weekly's on-board now too - and look, a trailer:

On their way in '09, Part 4

And to conclude this series on Coming Soon to a Theater Near You, let’s dive into those that I’m definitely the target audience for, but there’s just something holding me back from. For lack of a better title, we’ll call it The Wishy Washy Chapter.

The Brothers Bloom (May 29) – Quirky, bright colored movies that get better with each watching – that is my type of movie (I even love that American Express commercial by/with Wes Anderson.), and that is the type of movie this trailer is trying to convince me ‘The Brothers Bloom’ is. But, just how the Duplicity trailer makes me squirm because of how forced the Steven Soderbergh-wannabe pacing is, I just am not quite feeling it with this one.



The Year One (June 19) – This is brought to us by Harold Ramis, the genius behind ‘Ghost Busters’ (And Caddyshack and Meatballs and Stripes), and he co-wrote it with the writer of some of the finest episodes of ‘The Office’ around (including ‘Michael’s Birthday’ and ‘The Convention’). It stars Michael Cera, being given a chance to break out of his puppy love teenager skin, and Jack Black who I actually still find very funny. So, I have high hopes that this will in fact be so-stupid-it’s-brilliant and the back-in-time hit that ‘Land of the Lost’ wants to be. (Total aside: When you search for 'The Year One' on IMDB, the first recommended title is 'The Talented Mr. Ripley,' complete title: "The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley")



Funny People (July 31) – If you’re Judd Apatow and you’re famous for taking minimally known actors and turning them into brilliant leading man comedians in unexpectedly hilarious roles, doesn’t casting Adam Sandler seem kind of like a step backwards? Maybe not – if the point of his character is that he’s the high-ranking comedian mentoring Seth Rogen. Aside from that, this looks about par for the course for Judd Apatow movies: Bromance + Poignant plot that people will forget about in the face of some out-of-nowhere gross-out humor. Has the magic worn off? TBD. But Judd Apatow’s movies – specifically ‘Knocked Up” and ’40 Year Old Virgin’ –always feel about 10% too long, and that’s exactly how I feel about this trailer.



Julie & Julia (August 7)– Meryl Streep and Amy Adams are clearly best friends for life, and I like both of them very much. This is a movie about redemption through cooking (or it should be, if it’s an accurate adaptation of the book, which is described as: “The story of Julie Powell's attempt to revitalize her marriage, restore her ambition, and save her soul by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I, in a period of 365 days.”), and I love the idea here. It should also be noted that I think this is the first mainstream movie based on a blog (sure, the blog was turned into a book, which is now being turned into a movie), but how’s that for Adapted Screenplay? I would have much higher expectations for this movie if: A. I had gotten around to reading the book yet, and, B. I hadn’t seen ‘Doubt.’ As is, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Taking Woodstock (August 14) – The description is generic enough – “A man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969” – but coming to us from Ang Lee, you know the movie will be anything but. This is a man who directed the quiet, period piece ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ the special effects-laden, indescribable ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and the sweeping epic ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ He’s only taken a misstep with ‘Hulk,’ so expect good things here, especially with a cast featuring Emile Hirsch and Paul Dano, young actors who are incredibly smart in their role choices (‘There Will Be Blood,’ ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ ‘Into the Wild,’ ‘Milk’…Yes, we’ll forgive you for ‘Speed Racer’, Emile).

Inglourious Basterds (August 21) – As is the case with most things Quentin Tarantino, I can’t tell how much I’m supposed to be laughing. This one is going to be all review-dependent, as with ‘Grindhouse’ (nay) and ‘Kill Bill’ (yay) before it.



The Informant (October 9) – They should rename this, because not only is it the world’s most generic title, it also sounds too much like the year’s early bomb, The International. But this is a pairing of Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon, so I’m hoping for ‘Bourne Identity’ action in a ‘Traffic’ pace.

On their way in '09, Part 3

So far in our series on 2009 movies, we’ve discussed those I’ll be first in line to see, and those that I can’t even be bribed to see. Now, let’s discuss those that could go either way, depending on that precise mathematical equation of (Peer Pressure + Industry Buzz) / Emotional Reaction to Trailer.

First, what I'll call "Movies I’ll Pretend to Not Be Interested In, But Which Will Be Very Easy to Convince Me To See":

The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past – When I saw the preview for this, I don’t think this is what it was called. It’s is a horrible title, and – like the rest of the world – I am over Matthew McConaghey and his varied attempts at playing himself. But my love for Jennifer Garner is pure and a Breckin Meyer comeback has been a long time coming.



The Proposal – I’m equally intrigued by the I’m-Wacky-and-Loveable Sandra Bullock vehicle, ‘All About Steve,’ coming out, but for some reason (**cough cough ‘Definitely Maybe’ cough**) I prefer Ryan Reynolds over Bradley Cooper. Plus, let’s be honest, this is directed by the woman who did ‘Step Up,’ a movie franchise I watched some of every day of this past weekend. I’m there.



Fighting – I really wanted to see that kickboxing movie ‘Never Back Down,’ but never quite made it. Good thing I waited, because this upcoming one has really upped the ante, by replacing high school with the streets of New York, the annoying Dino from ‘Life as We Know It’ with Channing Tatum (speaking of ‘Step Up’), and Djimon Hounsou with Terrence Howard, who gives one heck of an NPR interview. Unfortunately, there’s no Volchek, but there is Luiz Gusman.



Fame – Kherington from last season’s ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ is the only semi-recognizable one among the students in this upcoming remake, but some (me) might argue that it’s exactly that type of cast that made ‘Center Stage’ so wonderfully craptastic and addictive. No trailer yet, since this isn't coming out until the Fall.

On their way in '09

The Oscars and Sundance are over, so it’s time to start really getting revved up for the year in movies. The industry has fully recovered from the strike, and the stream of releases will be steady. Some will look familiar (sequels, book adaptations, remakes). Some will sound familiar (Perhaps you’ve seen a romantic comedy before?). A few will even be all new. Over the next few days, I’ll be highlighting those I’m looking forward to, those I’m looking forward to hating on, and everything in between.

First up – what I really can’t wait for:

• Sunshine Cleaning (March 27) – I cry at this preview every time. And then laugh out loud when Emily Blunt falls on the stained mattress. Heartwarming story about a quirky family, starring Amy Adams and featuring the totally underrated Steve Zahn? (I’m not even being sarcastic about that last part). Can’t wait.

• 17 Again (April 17) – I have been waiting for this movie for almost 6 months now. I dare you to watch the preview and feel differently.

• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17) – This is a no brainer. Warner Brothers – the big meanies – pulled this from their 2008 schedule, because, due to the strike, they were missing a big summer blockbuster. The second to last book (for the movie versions, the 7th and final book is being divided in two), this one gets even darker, and is being directed by David Yates, who did the 'Order of the Phoenix.' I have a feeling it will be worth the wait.
  
  
• Away We Go (June 5)– I hadn’t heard of this movie until this morning, and the plot description left me wanting: A couple who is expecting their first child travel around the U.S. in order to find a perfect place to start their family. But, it’s directed by Sam Mendes, stars John Krasinski and was written by…Dave Eggers?!? I’m there.
  
  
• (500) Days of Summer (July 17) – Not even accounting for her acting choices, with an album produced by M. Ward, and an engagement to Death Cab for Cutie front man Ben Gibbard, Zooey Deschanel has done a pretty good job at proving she deserves the title Indie It Girl, and this movie should further cement it. Considered one of the best films at Sundance, the “offbeat romantic comedy” pairs her with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and is the first-time directorial effort of a well-regarded music video helmer (think Spike Jonze but in the 2000s).

• All Good Things (July 24) – The cast includes Ryan Gosling, Frank Langella, Kirsten Dunst, Philip Baker Hall and…Kristen Wiig? It’s the first feature film from the documentarian who brought us ‘Capturing the Friedmans’, and because it’s from the studio who released ‘The Visitor’ and ‘Milk’ in 2008, I’d expect it to be an early Oscar favorite.
  
  
• Nine (November 27) – This one I’m really curious about. It’s a musical from the director of ‘Chicago’ and stars Daniel Day-Lewis (He replaced Javier Bardem. About both of them, I say: He sings?), as a famous film director struggling to find harmony, professionally and personally, with the women around him. Those women include: Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and Kate Hudson. For those of you keeping track at home, that would mean every single cast member, save Kate Hudson, is an Oscar winner. She’s needed to up her game for a long (long) time now – could this be a career reboot for her?

Come back tomorrow for more on what's coming in 2009, including movies I completely intend to ignore (Hint: I didn't see 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' the first time around.)