Julie & Julia (one down, four to go)

I thought Julie & Julia was pretty fabulous. Being a vegetarian, the dishes weren't exactly as mouth-watering as they may have been for other viewers, but I could still appreciate how pretty all the food looked. But what really caught my eye, of course, were the people and the places. Queens in 2002 is hardly ancient history or very different from today so far as I can tell, but I always enjoy seeing cramped apartment lifestyles, not gonna lie. Of course, the scenery that stole the show was definitely Julia Child's story, mostly the Parisian parts. Although, the tidbit of suburban Massachusetts life toward the end was also a kind of sweet nostalgia.

But the real show-stealer was Meryl Streep, no surprises there. As I said over dinner last night, putting it down now, Oscar nom (and perhaps another win) for Meryl right there. No doubt in my mind. Of course, it would also be wonderful to see the rest of the fabulous cast recognized (when Jane Lynch appeared as Julia's sister Dorothy, it was WONDERFUL, I was very excited to see her; I'd only realized she was in the film when the opening credits were rolling and boy oh boy she and Meryl Streep looked like they were having SO much fun inhabiting their larger than life personas (both personality and size wise, of course)). Julie Powell was easy to roll your eyes at and label as a bitch, but I've always thought Amy Adams is a wonderful actress and despite being frustrated with Julie at times, I certainly thought she was relate-able on many levels. I mean, in an age such as this, whoever has a blog or even a facebook or anything where they can post their thoughts and feelings want validation for them? Isn't it beyond thrilling when someone recognizes your thoughts are worthy to read? And it is so very easy to let that inflate your ego, to take over your life, and I can sympathize with Julie for falling into that trap. It's not as if it takes a particularly vain person to have it happen to, Julie isn't by nature a narcissistic person, but she, like the rest of us, just wanted appreciation and when she got it, she became addicted to it like a drug, and anytime she didn't have anything to show off or if she got negative feedback, it crushed her.

Anyway, I apologize for rambling on far too much about this and surely repeating myself, but I think those who call Julie Powell as a character a bitch are not understanding why she acted as poorly as she did at times. Granted, I myself am a self-centered bitch, so maybe I simply want to show how it's not Julie's fault so I can accept my own nature. xD

Regardless, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep did a fabulous job, and Jane Lynch, and Stanley Tucci, and simply everyone was just so much fun to watch in the movie. I deeply enjoyed myself.

On another note, I am a preview freak. The more trailers that come with a movie, the better, even if they're movies I have no intention of seeing (this is not counting horror trailers, because horror trailers scare the living bejeezus out of me and are usually way way way frightening). And I was BEYOND thrilled to see a preview for The Lovely Bones during Julie & Julia. I hadn't seen a preview for it yet, but I'd read the novel several years ago, the summer before my freshman year of high school, and stayed up until 9am to finish reading it. The preview did NOT disappoint me in the least. I forget many of the finer points of the novel, but it all looked so good, I had to bite my tongue very hard to keep from crying just from the trailer. I am very, very excited for the movie. Hurrah Peter Jackson!

As for his production credit in District 9, I still haven't gotten to see it yet, but I am set on seeing it this Tuesday. And today, in a bit less than three hours, I will see Tarantino's glorious Inglorious Basterds. I am very excited for that. Beyond that, I plan to see Taking Woodstock (having been filmed in my area, most people I know are planning to point out their friends' cameos as extras) this Friday when it comes out (I leave Saturday midday to return to school), and the other movie I am determined to see before I return to school is The Hurt Locker. I also have The Class on DVD from Netflix to watch... and I have a lot of packing still to do having just gotten home from Venezuela.

So I better end this entry now and prepare myself for massive movie exposure! I love it!

PS: Saw the Mad Men season 3 premiere finally. Although it felt a bit slow (but that might just be because it's been a while since Mad Men's been on), I attribute that to SO much catching up. I was slightly sad to see so little Peggy, but it's fab seeing her with her own secretary. The Brits seem a bit off, Pete's as entrancingly yuppie/obnoxious/self-centered as ever, Betty's all preggers, Sally should totally be a lesbian, and Salvatore Romano remains one of my favourite characters on the show. HIGH FIVE Bryan Batt, because you are beyond fabulous and so wonderful to watch as one of the show's many fascinating characters. And a less pronounced high five to Joan for being BAMF.

Stealing From My Livejournal Part XV

As I use my livejournal for little else except for movie rants and decided to switch over here, I thought I'd recruit some older posts so as to show a history. I'll bother with new ones as they come to me.




From December 25, 2008:

"Saw Milk. Omg so good. Such a quality film. Sean Penn is stunning as Harvey Milk, giving an excellent performance as quite a character that I knew was going to prove interesting from the first scene were he picks up his unknown-to-be-several-year-boyfriend James Franco (also absolutely fabulous, but I'll get to that later) shortly before e turns 40. Gus Van Sant really deserves a directing nod for this feature, it was wonderful. It was constructed so well with the time lapses done appropriately and the comedic and dramatic portions complementing very well. And, although this is all of course based on fact, the kind of self-mocking scene when the first real female character appears, replacing Scott/James Franco as the campaign manager and all the guys (they're all gay, of course, including little mister Sharpay's brother from High School Musical; he was adorable xD) react rather oddly, all being used to their sausage fest. Of course, the girl is assertive and a lesbian, so that contrasts a bit from the feministic behaviour of a lot of the guys on Milk's team. The supporting cast was fabulous too; Sean Penn didn't quite steal the show from them, they managed quite well. Josh Brolin, of course, as Milk's eventual assassin, played off so well, like a real person rather than just some homophobic douche, which could have easily been portrayed. But no, White was a more interesting character than that, wanting to work alongside Milk even though he didn't in the least support Milk's gay rights platform, and only snapping when it's appropriate, when he's lost his job and can't get it back and he just can't take that a gay man is upstaging him. Then, of course, you get Milk's team. Emile Hirsch was wonderful, James Franco was perfectly stunning, and Diego Luna was absolutely insane (which is spot on for his character). James Franco's Scott was just so perfect, I wish I could be a gay man and have a boyfriend as awesome as him (and avoid anyone like Diego Luna's character). That tender scene just shortly before Milk's assassination, when he calls Scott and talks to him, not long after Diego Luna's character hangs himself, leaving Milk perfectly alone to be assassinated, and tells Scott that he misses him as they watch the sun rise, is so beautiful. There are so many wonderful scenes in the film, but that scene... arguably my favourite.

Anyway, the point of that ginormous paragraph of a review is that Milk is an amazing film, and I highly recommend it. I was totally tearing up at the end even though you know from the opening minutes if you didn't already know anything about Harvey Milk that he's going to die by the end of this movie, assassinated, it was just that strong. It's not just the message that Harvey Milk is trying to bring (one that is still so prominent today; his time really wasn't that long ago), but the emotion that the film carries. I feel like I'm there with him, or I wish I had been at times.

Oh and a little weird note: the costumes and hair in that movie were so perfectly period. I loved it.

So that's one of my films to see down. Plenty to go."