Mom and I went to go see Julie & Julia yesterday afternoon. Mom has wanted to 
go see it ever since we saw the preview during Angels and Demons back in May. It looked cute, but I've never considered myself a Meryl Streep person. Again, I generally go see movies that involve explosions and/or fart jokes. But this movie looked good, so we marked it on our calendars and planned on going.
go see it ever since we saw the preview during Angels and Demons back in May. It looked cute, but I've never considered myself a Meryl Streep person. Again, I generally go see movies that involve explosions and/or fart jokes. But this movie looked good, so we marked it on our calendars and planned on going. Let me just say that this movie is EXCELLENT. Mom fully believes that it will be nominated for Best Picture this coming Oscar season, and what with their changing the rules and allowing more nominees this year, that may well happen. 
At a minimum, Meryl Streep should be nominated for Best Actress! I don't recall watching much Julia Child on TV growing up, although I know that I occasionally saw her on PBS at the 'Rents' house. My strongest and earliest memory of Julia Child involve the Dan Ackroyd sketch on Saturday Night Live. BTW, the movie showed this scene and that just was the icing on the cake to me! Having seen this movie, though, I may never picture her in my mind again without seeing Meryl Streep's face.
At a minimum, Meryl Streep should be nominated for Best Actress! I don't recall watching much Julia Child on TV growing up, although I know that I occasionally saw her on PBS at the 'Rents' house. My strongest and earliest memory of Julia Child involve the Dan Ackroyd sketch on Saturday Night Live. BTW, the movie showed this scene and that just was the icing on the cake to me! Having seen this movie, though, I may never picture her in my mind again without seeing Meryl Streep's face.The movie spans the years of Julia Child's life, starting in 1948 when she and her husband moved to Paris until the 60's when her famous cookbook was 
published. Interspersed in with Julia's life is a year in the life of Julie Powell, of a modern day New York woman as she cooks/blogs her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. I found this juxtaposition very effective from the beginning, as we see the Childs arriving in Paris, driving past the Eiffel Tower, and arriving at their new home, and then we see the Powells driving through New York, past a water tower-type thing, and then arriving at their new apartment, over a pizzeria. As Julia encountered road blocks first in her quest to learn French cooking and then in the publication of the book, so would Julie in her attempts to stuff a duck or boil a lobster. Likewise, we saw the ladies' celebrations in either Julia's finally forcing the woman in charge of the Cordon Bleu to allow her to graduate or in Julie's learning that she has actual readers who aren't her friends or family. (BTW, I can appreciate that joy!)
published. Interspersed in with Julia's life is a year in the life of Julie Powell, of a modern day New York woman as she cooks/blogs her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. I found this juxtaposition very effective from the beginning, as we see the Childs arriving in Paris, driving past the Eiffel Tower, and arriving at their new home, and then we see the Powells driving through New York, past a water tower-type thing, and then arriving at their new apartment, over a pizzeria. As Julia encountered road blocks first in her quest to learn French cooking and then in the publication of the book, so would Julie in her attempts to stuff a duck or boil a lobster. Likewise, we saw the ladies' celebrations in either Julia's finally forcing the woman in charge of the Cordon Bleu to allow her to graduate or in Julie's learning that she has actual readers who aren't her friends or family. (BTW, I can appreciate that joy!)Late in the movie, after Julie's blog becomes well-known enough for there to be an article in the New York Times about her, she received a call from a reporter asking for a comment on the fact that Julia Child was not happy about the blog. While this may have been true to life, both Mom and I agreed that this was a bit that could have been glossed over or even left out of the movie. Odds are that Julia Child, being close to 90 at that time, didn't understand the concept of blogs and had not read it. I couldn't see any reason for her to have had problems with it.
So finally, as I've already said, I loved this movie. Turns out that maybe I am a Meryl Streep person. After all, I've loved two of her last three movies - the other being Mamma Mia. I've googled the real blogs that Julie Powell wrote - I may have to read through them. Although I may just truck myself and my Borders gift card to ... well, Borders, and get her book. I would consider getting Julia Child's book, but let's face it, I'm not going to learn French cooking... after all, I'm more an Easy Mac girl.
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