Julie & Julia – Movie Review

First off let me state that this is a chick flick. I knew I was in trouble when the first thing you see after slipping the disc in the machine is 8 previews for upcoming chick flicks. My wife wanted to see it so I went ahead and brought it home (with another movie that we both could watch together).

Now I will qualify my review by stating that I didn’t watch it completely in real time, that is to say, I speed things up a bit. If you turn on the captions and do a little speed reading you can play the movie at the next higher speed and catch most of it in a greatly shortened time. You don’t always get the same dramatic effect because you are changing the pacing and the background music and some of the delivery of the dialogue but it is amazing what you do get. It is kind of like speed reading through a dime store novel that you just don’t have to hang on to every word.

I also need to state that I am not a fall over myself Meryl Streep fan. She is a very good actress and has portrayed some very strong roles but I have never become infatuated with her the way many critics have. That said she does a fine job of creating an affectionate and loveable Julia Child that melds well with the subject of the film, namely Julie Powell’s adventures with Child’s book and subsequent fascination with the author herself.

Amy Adams who portrays Julie Powell is a remarkable actress, one I am sure we well be seeing more of in the future. The range of her talent is the fact that we had just watched two movies back to back (the other being Night at the Museum 2 where she plays Amelia Earhart) and didn’t even realize it until the ending credits of the second movie.

The movie has its moments some of which you can really relate with the characters but I think that there was a lot of plot lines and story definition that was probably left on the cutting room floor. There were interjections of detail that I was unaware of concerning the character’s lives that added significance to the movie. There were also some self interpretations and philosophies added that seemed out of place and more of the director and writer’s fancy than actual events from real life. That of course is expected to some extent (literary license is the common phrase I believe) and therefore didn’t become too preachy as the film went along.

With all that said I give the film a solid 5 as it delivered pretty much as promised being well laid out and well presented. The story was captivating if not riveting and the characterizations were fairly entertaining. I am sure that women will find this vastly more entertaining than the men will but that is what chick flicks are about anyway. This one won’t have you rolling in the aisles but it won’t have you weeping in them either. By the way, they didn’t take the easy but cheesy Hollywood way out for the ending and I applaud them for that. You’ll know what I mean if you see it.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Night at the Museum 2 – Movie Review

I finally got a copy of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian to watch. If you watched the first one and liked it you will probably like this one as well. Just be aware that this one didn’t have quite the depth that the first one had. No synopsis here because you should already have some idea of what kind of movie it is and what it is about, more so if you’ve seen the first one, so really there is no need. There are some really good performances made by some of the cast and that makes this one worth watching.

Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart did a delightful job and was one of the characters that actually pulled of the period she was portraying with energy, spunk, and vigor. It helped to drive the show forward and added that memorable touch we love so well.

The multi talented Hank Azaria delivers yet again by working with the director to come up with just the right comedic touch of voice and character for Kahmunrah. Be sure to catch the extra “Phinding Pharaoh” to see a behind the scenes look at what might have been. By the way, Hank is also the voice for Abraham Lincoln and the Thinker.

Jonah Hill is surprisingly left off the credits as Brundon the Security Guard (thank you IMDB.com). His scene with the main character Larry Daley is delightful. I honestly thought they were going to include him later in the movie as part of the plot but he only got the one scene. It was a keeper. If you have ever heard the phrase “United States of don’t touch that” and wondered where it came from, wonder no longer.

As I said before there wasn’t a lot of depth to this one, there could have been more cameos though the ones they had were pretty cool. Some of the cameos were pretty quick and short lived which was probably done deliberately to give those that like to watch a film over and over again to see what they missed something to look forward too. That is alright if there is enough reason to watch the film a second time. This one doesn’t.

But it is worth watching once, especially if you liked the first. Also a reason to look for the alternate ending in the extras. Overall I give it a 7 because even if it could have been better, I was still able to sit back and just enjoy and that is what these movies are all about.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.