Julie and Julia

I have the same complaint that Julia Child had about the blog. It seems more like a gimmick than a real effort at enjoying cooking. The movie was the same way – I enjoyed the Julia bits, but could care less about Julie. The only other redeeming quality was just the concept of the movie – moving back and forth in time. But, everything about the Julie character seemed forced – and the dialog was just dreadful… just there to service the plot, “Gee what should I do? I know, a blog. But what should I write about? Hmmm.. how about cooking”. There have to be a dozen better ways to make the Julie character settle on her choice. She comes across looking like a cartoon.

Adaptation

This movie spirals in on itself so much that it’s difficult to figure out just what your watching. See a movie unfold as it’s created… but then, it’s all just a script with actors, isn’t it? Truly an original. The ending was perfectly woven into the movie too – as the writer runs out of ideas, he turns to his dorky brother and we get car chases & drugs & alligators eating people.

It’s Complicated

Oh, I guess this was entertaining… But what kind of people are these? It bugs me when the characters in a movie have these amazing lives… Everyone is a rich lawyer, rich architect, rich business owner (and a cool business like a bakery). I guess people like these do exist, but something about it just bugs me. I’m sitting here trying to figure out I’m going to eat dinner, drop some stuff off at goodwill, update my blogs, edit some photos, do my emails, and water the plants all in the couple hours of “life” I have after work. Now THAT’s complicated.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Some people sigh when they’re very sad, and others sigh when they’re very satisfied. But as I sit here in my one room apartment, typing by candlelight and hiding from the baseball team that would surely like to see me dead, I’m sighing because I just don’t know what to say. Violet, Klaus and Sonny were exactly as I had pictured them, so were their adventures, and general look and feel of their world. But, the movie was missing a certain coherence, a word which here means, something to tie all the bits together. It was a great movie to watch, but difficult to appreciate as a complete film. The problem is the books are just too short, and too dijointed – it’s difficult to adapt them into one story. What this movie needed was a whole new story, but that would have betrayed the whole point of the books in the first place. So, I sigh, because the movie didn’t have a chance in that regard. But, I did like it purely for the asthetic value.