Julie & Julia (2009)
Bottomline: Excellent movie about adults made for adults.
Pros: Meryl Streep. Amy Adams. 1940s Paris. Food. Fun. Happily married couples.
Cons: Some bad language. Children may get bored. Julia Child part of movie is much stronger than the Julie Powell part.
Where Can I See It? It is in theaters now.
Discovery!! Linda Emond is brilliant as Child's colloborator, Simone Beck.
QMR Opinion: Go see this movie and show the studios that you support films made for grown-ups about grown-ups. It is sincerely refreshing and uplifting to see a film that so clearly illustrates not just one but two happily married couples. If you like to eat food, cook food or savor food, you must go see this movie. Meryl Streep is phenomenal as Julia Child. She inhabits the character but doesn't turn it into an SNL skit. Amy Adams is excellent as Julie Powell. She is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses. The Julia Child portion of the movie is better than the Julie Powell portion but the deck is stacked in her favor -- set in 1940s Paris, she is a larger than life character, Jane Lynch plays her sister, Stanley Tucci (who is brilliant) plays her husband, and, well, she is portrayed by the best actress working today -- Meryl Streep.
WARNING: TRAILER IS UNCENSORED!!!
Funny People (2009)
Bottomline: Good movie about guys for guys from the guy who makes movies for guys.
Pros: The movie is funny. Adam Sandler is excellent. Loved Seth Rogen, Jason Schwartzman, and Jonah Hill. Eric Bana is hilarious. Great cameo appearances by comics and others.
Cons: It is way off-color. If penis jokes offend you, then do not go see this movie. Leslie Mann, Apatow's real wife, plays Bana's wife and is not good.
Where Can I See It? It is in theaters now.
Particularly Funny Moment: There is a scene with a rapper, a former TV star and comic that is absolutely hilarious.
QMR Bottomline: You'd be hard-pressed to find a movie this year that has received such opposite reviews. My advice? If you like Apatow and you're a guy, go see it. Sandler, who I'm not crazy about, is great. My favorite part is the relationship between the three roommates -- Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, and Jason Schwartzman. There are moments where Apatow could have cranked up the tears, but about the time you reach that moment, he throws in a penis joke. One of the main reasons this movie worked for me is that Sandler remains constant -- he is a jerk at the beginning of the movie and he's a jerk at the end. There is no cliched glorious transformation as a result of his near-death experience.
Waltz with Bashir (2008)
Bottomline: See this documentary only if you are prepared to not get any sleep or have a good therapist.
Pros: An honest portrayal of one man's search for memories that he doesn't want to find.
Cons: This documentary is INTENSE. It is not for the faint of heart. It is violent. It is gruesome. It is incredibly disturbing.
Where Can I See It? It is available on DVD.
Interesting Notes: It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and is the first documentary to use primarily animation as its medium. Movie is sub-titled.
QMR Opinion: Ari Folman was a 19-year-old infantryman in the Israeli army in 1982 during the Lebanese War. He is haunted by occasional memories from that time and decides to seek out the truth. This involves interviewing a number of people who are there. The animation evokes the idea that this is not real just yet. Yes, he is interviewing real people. But there are also fantasy sequences mixed in. Bashir Gemayel, a member of the Lebanese Phalange Party and president-elect, is assassinated in 1982. His supporters are allowed by Israeli forces to enter the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps where they then systematically murder hundreds (possibly thousands) of Lebanese civilians -- men, women, children. Folman comes to this realization that his countrymen, the victims of the single greatest systematic murder spree in history, stood by and watched this occur. At the moment of this realization, the last 10 minutes of the film are composed of actual footage after the massacre.
Young At Heart (2007)
Bottomline: Solid documentary and well worth your time.
Pros: Inspiring, uplifting and, at times, downright funny.
Cons: Some of the chorus members died during filming. The music videos are awful.
QMR Opinion: In Massachusetts, there is a chorus led by Bob Cilman whose members average age 80 or so. They used to sing the old classics. Now they sing contemporary classics by Coldplay, Sonic Youth, The Clash, Jimi Hendrix, and others. I wanted more about Cilman (why does he do this? Where is he from?) and less music videos, which are awful and take away from the reason I want to see this documentary -- watching the group sing live. Highlights for me were watching 92-year-old Elaine Fligman sing "Should I Stay or Should I Go" and Fred Knittle, with his oxygen tank keeping an odd beat, sing Coldplay's "Fix You."
Lakeview Terrace (2008)
Bottomline: If you have nothing else to watch, then skip this and watch TV.
Pros: Interesting premise. Samuel L. Jackson.
Cons: Gets formulaic at the end. Patrick Wilson.
Where Is It Available? You can rent it on DVD.
What Should I Watch Instead? Rent Pulp Fiction (1994) for a better Samuel L. Jackson.
QMR Opinion: Not much to say here. The movie's interesting premise is setting up Jackson as prejudiced against a mixed race couple that moves in next door to him. Then the movie devolves into some craziness about Jackson having bad days at work, taking out his frustrations on his neighbors, his neighbors never doing anything rational, arguments about birth control pills, and, oh yeah, there is a fire raging (yes, we get the symbolism) in the distance and getting closer and closer. . .
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