Julie & Julia

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Originally uploaded by Nishka

Julia Child helped define American gourmet cooking, and lived an incredible life all around the world, Julie Powell worked in a cubicle in New York and didn’t know how to elevate her life into something she wanted it to be. After a suggestion from her husband Julie decides to cook her way through Julia Child’s cook book in one year and write a blog about it. As Julie learns more about cooking & Julia she begins to learn more about herself and soon becomes a sensation across the internet.

I have to start this by saying that I adore Nora Ephron, and while my directorial style is nothing like hers I think she is a great female filmmaker and writer. Julia & Julia is the kind of film that Nora Ephron can take and make it into something special, much more special than what it would be in anyone else’s hands.

Going into Julie & Julia I trusted Ephron’s prowess as a writer & director but I was worried that dividing the film between the beginning of Julia Child’s cooking career and Julie Powell’s modern life would split the films focus too much and as a result it would feel disjointed and we’d never manage to connect with either character. I have to say I was surprised. Not only did Julia & Julie’s stories manage to mirror each other’s beautifully, but I instantly fell in love with Julie and actually came to adore Julia Child.

The biggest surprise in this movie for me was Stanley Tucci as Paul Child. I would have never pictured Stanley Tucci & Meryl Streep as an onscreen couple but they worked perfectly and Tucci was just adorable as the doting husband. If Paul Child was anything like Stanley Tucci’s portrayal of him it is no wonder Julia fell for him and the two managed to stay together until the end of their lives.

One caution I will put out there for anyone that sees this movie is do not go in hungry! You will definitely leave hungry and you may not survive if you go in already wanting to chow down. I honestly want to try some French food now and I have no idea where to go for it.

Director & Writer: Nora Ephron
Julia Child: Meryl Streep
Julie Powell: Amy Adams
Paul Child: Stanley Tucci
Eric Powell: Chris Messina
Sarah: Mary Lynn Rajskub

Paul Child: What is it you REALLY like to do?
Julia Child: Eat!

Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Ricky Bobby "Shake & Bake"
Originally uploaded by bigdawg1511

Ricky Bobby has a need, a need for speed. Since his father told him that anything other than first place is last place Ricky has strove to be the number one Nascar driver and he has succeeded. Until the fateful day that he pushes his sponsor too far and French driver Jean Girard is brought in as his rival. Ricky Bobby pushes himself too far and ends up in a traumatic accident, losing his wife to his partner, and being forced to move back in with his mother while he tries to regain his mojo an be able to drive again.

Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a pretty damn funny film. I kind of regret that I didn’t get to see it with a theatrical audience because I am sure that the jokes were even better with that current of excitement that runs through movie audiences; however, even on my little 13” TV screen, alone in my room, the jokes were still funny.

I have to say that I am a fan of Will Ferrell. I loved the man since he was Alec Trebec and James Lipton on SNL and I am very pleased that his career has continued since he left the show. The best thing about Will Ferrell is that he commits to the absurdity of his character or story situation 100%, no matter what he plays, who he is on screen with he finds the joy, humor and personality in the moment and brings it to life. This makes the jokes play better than they would with another actor in the role because Ferrell is one of the great comedians – a comedian who can make any joke funny, even if it’s inherently unfunny.

Comedy is subjective, and I expect that Ricky Bobby probably has had quite a few people that have watched it not like it, but I thought it was pretty dang funny.

Director: Adam McKay
Writers: Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
Ricky Bobby: Will Ferrell
Lucius: Michael Clarke Duncan
Cal Naughton Jr.: John C. Reiley
Carley Bobby: Leslie Bibb
Susan: Amy Adams
Jean Girard: Sacha Baron Cohen

Cal Naughton, Jr.: Shake and bake!
Ricky Bobby: What does that do? Does that blow your mind? That just happened!
Jean Girard: Is that a catchphrase or epilepsy?

Enchanted

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Originally uploaded by frekemmit89

Enchanted is one in the long line of Disney family films about princesses, their quest for prince charming, and the villainous oppressor that seeks to keep them apart. What makes Enchanted a modern Disney masterpiece worthy of Walt himself is not the tale it tells but how it chooses to tell it; rather than ignore the formula and predecessors of the Disney cannon Enchanted uses the classic Disney formula to its advantage and creates a original and loving homage to the stories that have shaped every generation of children since Snow White.

Bill Kelly and Kevin Lima directly lift from numerous Disney films, the most frequent and obvious being The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, Snow White, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp and Beauty and the Beast. Most of these references are idle and don’t impact the plot of the story but are hidden in the body of the film as extra gems for the avid Disney viewer to find.

Less subtle but perhaps even more for the adept Disney film viewer is the fact that several shots in the film are shot-for-shot reproductions of shots in other Disney films only this time created in the live action realm instead of the two dimensional animated films that they are lifted from. First and beautifully reproduced is when Giselle is scrubbing the bathroom floor and bubbles begin to raise each containing Giselle’s reflection as in Cinderella.

The next and most obvious shots are listed from two of the most influential films in the Disney cannon: Beauty and the Beast and Snow White. Both of these shots take place in the King’s & Queen’s Ball at the end of the film.

Perhaps the most famous shot in Beauty in the Beast is when Belle and the Beast are dancing in the grand ballroom and the shot begins eye level with the chandelier at the top of the ballroom and sweeps down to the Beast and Belle dancing; this is magnificently recreated as Giselle and Robert dance together at the ball. The next is one of the most iconic shots from Snow White; Giselle takes a bite from the poison apple offered to her by the Queen and the next shot after she has fallen to the ground we see her limp arm hit the floor and the apple roll away from her, just like Snow White as she falls to the ground and loses her grip on the apple.

Enchanted is heralded as one of the new gems in the Disney crown; however, this film would not be the critical achievement that it is if it were not for the actors involved. The ability of this story to shift from cheesy and overdone tale of Disney fluff to heartfelt, and iconic Disney tale rests not only on the talent of the writer and director but on the ability of the talented cast to turn the eccentric world in which they exist into reality instead of pretending it’s all camp and no substance.

Amy Adams has been lauded with two Oscar nominations. The first for indy flick Junebug, and the second for her role as Giselle. This nomination for Enchanted is no laughing matter; Adams brings an intense naivety and vulnerability to the character that you can’t help but love her and want her to turn New York into the fanciful place she believes the world should be. A prefect example is the first scene Adams is onscreen after her character shifts from being animated to a three dimensional human. As she sits in her shock, agony and desperation she discovers her new body and slowly the overwhelming new world around her; when Adams embodies the character we uncover the true meaning of Enchanted – Giselle becomes three dimensional and spends the rest of the story discovering that her body is not just three dimensional but she is as well as she takes control over her destiny and her life.

The next character who should be lauded for every film he appeared in this year is the masterful James Marsden. His character Prince Edward is obviously two dimensional, but preformed and written with such skill as his simple mindedness becomes his most endearing quality. Prince Edward is self-involved, vane and single-minded but the performance is played with just enough exuberance that Marsden makes Edward completely believable as a fairy tale prince without turning the character into one that grates on the audience as he delivers every exuberant line.

The final leading character is played more subtly than Adams and Marsden and from the opposite end the of characters spectrum, this character would be Robert played by adorable Patrick Dempsey. Unlike Giselle and Edward Robert comes from a world where love ends, people abandon and his little girl faces life without her mother. He is the biggest skeptic of Giselle’s way of thinking and when played off Adams through the course of the film Dempsey makes his character’s gradual transition from skeptic to romantic flawless, understated and believable. Too often subtle acting is overlooked and Dempsey deserves his due for the ease in which Robert and Giselle slowly begin to realize that their two lives can create one magnificent new reality.

Enchanted creates a fantasy world that perfectly blends fantasy with reality and promises fresh, new potential for the princess films that follow it.

Director: Kevin Lima
Writer: Bill Kelly
Giselle: Amy Adams
Robert Phillip: Patrick Dempsey
Prince Edward: James Marsden
Morgan Phillip: Rachel Covey
Nathaniel: Timothy Spall
Nancy Tremaine: Idina Menzel
Queen Narissa: Susan Sarandon

Morgan Philip: Remember not to put too much makeup or the boys may get the wrong idea. They are only after one thing.
Giselle: What's that?
Morgan Philip: I don't know. They won't tell me.