A couple of movies

[kenjari]

Julie and Julia
I really wish that this movie had been a straight biopic about Julia Child, starring Meryl Streep, because those were the most joyful parts of the film. The Julie Powell segments were not nearly as good. Powell just isn't the most likable woman - she often came off as whiny and self-centered. Working her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking seemed to very quickly become less of an interesting and fulfilling project for herself and more of a way for her to promote herself and feed her own self-image. However, many of the scenes of Powell cooking were pretty good.
Luckily, the Julia Child segments were magnificent. I loved the warm lighting and rich colors used in those scenes. And Meryl Streep was so very, very good. She is really nothing like Julia Child, and yet, her performance was so perfect, so convincing, that I utterly believed her. She portrayed Child as very lively, fun, joyful, and even sexy. I loved watching her.

District 9
I really liked this movie because it was very interesting and thoughtful. It dealt with issues of marginalization and exploitation while still being entertaining and having plenty of action. Plus, the special effects were rather stunning, without being too in-your-face about how amazing they were. It also had two things I really enjoy in sci-fi: a dystopian near-future and aliens who are extremely different from humans. Wikus' transformation had a strong kinship with Kafka's "Metamorphosis", especially in the way it revealed things about the people and institutions around him. The parallels between the MNU corporation and the Nigerian gang in District 9 were pretty interesting, too. One warning, though: if you are very squeamish or not strong of stomach, you may want to brace yourself - this film has a significant amount of gore and yucky stuff, which is often splattery.

Comments

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Julie Powell's new book is about learning the butchering trade... and about the affair she had after Julie and Julia came out. Go figure.

[ladybird97.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you on Julie and Julia, but I'd also recommend that you read Julie Powell's original book. It is so much better than the Julie Powell that you see in the movie! It's one of my favorite books. (She's written about how unhappy she was with the depiction of her in the movie, too.)

But yes, the movie was half of a really brilliant movie about Julia Child, and I adored that half of it.