Movie review: Julie and Julia

Molly and I were part of the packed house last night at the Vashon Theatre for Julie & Julia. There was literally a line down the street that warmed my heart for our almost always starved theatre.

Was the movie incredable? Yes it was. Meryl Streep is some sort of chameleon and genuniely became Julia Child to the delight of the entire theatre. Uproarious laughter through the whole movie, the audience was enchanted.

I had read reviews about the Julie character being sort of insipid and just taking screen time away from Streep. Well, #1 - It has got to be hard to go toe to toe with Streep from screen time. I mean, come on! #2 - that was her character, that is exactly how she was supposed to be. It was true story after all.

So, I thought she was great. A nice, normal, clever, slightly awkward gal who we all could relate to or recognize. Those reviewer that bitched about her were just grumpy. She was just great.

My strongest impressions were the strength and tenderness of Julia Child's marriage. It was extremely touching and quite illuminating that she married so late and was so sad about never having children. She pours her heart into her food and her cookbook ( her baby) becoming a house hold name all over the world.

The nagging thing? During the whole movie I felt guilty for not blogging more. I know, typical. I have been feeling guilty about it and this movie drove it home.

Would I recommend the movie? Yes. But, be prepared to want to make something fancy for dinner afterward.

Molly and I are going out today to try and find Julia Child's famous book. This movie has cemented the idea in her head that she wants to be a pasty chef when she grows up.

For me, it has cemented the fact that I need to try a new recipe every once in a while.

Success and optimism all around.

Bon apetit!

HP and the hurd of teenie boppers

I caught the latest Harry Potter a bit ago and was one of the oldest people there. I forgot that the 7:00 PM show on Saturday night was probably the best time for teens to catch the movie with a date. And, that is exactly what it was.

The entire theater was filled with giggling, gum popping, cooler than cool, hand holding, blushing, goofing teens and it was one of the cutest things I have seen in a while.

As the lights dimmed and the previews rolled, peals of screams ala Beatles erupted when the Twilight sequel trailer was shown. Literally screaming and swooning especially when darling Jacob AKA the werewolf had his shirt off. Except for the high pitched shrieks too close to my ear, I felt like I was getting a very entertaining peak view into the lives and habits of the Vashon teen.

So, yes, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was good. Very, very good. As good as the rest. They keep on cranking out excellent flicks. Can you say, "Cash Cow"? I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it or read the book.

But, because of all the young throbbing hormones in the theater and all the young throbbing hormones in the movie, I sure felt smuggly "been there, done that" old. Not old in a bummer kind of way but old in a "thank god I don't have to live through all that again" way.

At least something comes with age.

Up: can Pixar do anything wrong?

Up. What a terrifically wonderful, touchingly poignant, entertainly scary movie. Those Pixar folks are literal geniuses!

That being said, if you have any fear of heights, no matter how small or scary dog phobia - be warned. This movie may send you over the edge.

There are enough vertigo provoking episodes in this movie to keep you off ladders for months. But, don't worry, it is a happy ending.

The dogs. The dogs? The dogs almost stole the show. Each outfitted with a transmitter that gives it the capability of human speech...priceless.

It was a full house at the old Vashon Theatre for opening night. Literally the entire theater was packed and howling with laughter.

Tons of kids, nice and cool and dark inside; a great outing for a Friday night.

Would I see the movie again? Absolutely. Would I buy it? Plan to.

Twilight AKA The sexy vampire story

Always just a little behind the times over here, we are finally catching up to the mainstream.

Molly has plugged into these Twilight books and therefore so have I.

First the book:

If there is a better example of teeny-bopper chick lit, I would be greatly surprised. This story has it all. Teenage angst, annoying yet lovable parents, crushes, being a new kid at a new school and, of course, forbidden love. And, when I say forbidden, wow, I mean it.

I don't need to tell the story as we have all heard it before. But, I was struck with it's undeniable comparison to Romeo and Juliet; just different problems. Oh, and then, of course, there is the somewhat happy ending with the inevitable sequel with yet another sequel on it's heels.

For Molly this is the first real romance book and frankly I think it is ok. I read it, it is quite chaste really. I mean, what can happen? He is vampire for goodness sake! But, one sex pot of a vampire I have to admit. The majority of the book is page after page of gazing longingly at each other. A little tiring for me but oh-so-exciting for the likes of my kid.

She is, of course, devouring the books. She just finished the 3rd; a 600+ page book in less than a week. Needless to say, she has been bitten.

Ok, now the movie.

We decided to both read the book before we would see the movie. No time like the present, so we rented it this weekend and, yes, it is a pretty darn entertaining movie.

Molly LOVED it. I liked it too. All the gazing woefully at each other was a little over the top but then again who wouldn't gaze at that kid, vampire or not. I call him Sedewick (from the Harry Potter movie) but I guess his name is Robert Pattinson. And, he is undeniably a hottie. I realize that it is undoubtedly inappropriate for such an old bag like me to notice. It sure annoys Molly.

The movie was shot beautifully. Forks, WA never looked so good. Somehow they drained the color from a lot of the footage so it has a very unearthly, pale look. The scenery is striking and for those who don't live in Washington state it may seem hard to believe. But, yes, it looks like that.

Effects? I thought the running really fast and up the trees was a little fakey but Molly was eating it up. The scary vampires vs. the "good" vampires was interesting. And, they were scary! But, he gets his and you are very glad. The baseball game was really fun to watch but, of course, ends all too soon. I won't spoil the whole darn thing!

All in all, a sweet little love story. Lots of complications though, making real life seem easy in comparison.

What the hell was I thinking?

Well, I did something really, really stupid last night. I rented a movie that Molly should not have seen. It was a PG-13 and I did not do the due diligence to make certain it was appropriate for a 10 year old. It wasn't. Not at all.

It was a great movie in a lot of ways but there were several scenes in it that I wish I could just erase from her consciousness.

The movie? The kite runner. Exquisitely done, very disturbing story...with a sexual assault on a child as a main story point. I sent her out of the room during the Taliban "punishing" the adulterous couple in the soccer stadium.

Boy, did I screw up and I am not sure if I will ever really be able to forgive myself.

After the movie was over, she kept saying, "That movie was too adult for me." I agreed and apologized profusely.

I tried to frame it better or make a teaching moment out of it or pull my ass out of the fire; "Honey, there are ugly, evil things in this world and you should not trust everyone. There are people who hurt others and have been hurt out there and it colors their decisions, choices and lives. No one has the right to steal a persons dignity. No one. It is evil. But, it is my and daddy's job to protect you and make sure that nothing like that will ever happen to you. It was a story and a not very happy one. I am sorry that you saw that."

I slept horrible and am writhing with quilt. I feel like a terrible mother and that I have crushed my daughter's innocence.

This morning she said, "You know, it really was a good movie but there were some things that were too adult. But, you really can learn from them." And, then she bubbled off talking about the kite flying scenes. I guess that is as about as good of a reaction that I could hope for. She is resilient, she will be fine but I still feel like shit.

I promised her that I would never get a movie again that I hadn't done the research on. And, she said she is more interested in romance and comedy. Ok. With those two directives, I think, I hope we can move on.

Movie review: The Tale of Despereaux

I took the kids to see Despereaux last night and we all really, really liked it. First, the animation was just beautiful, incredible. The movie strayed pretty liberally from the book but we weren't too upset by it. The book had a simplicity and was so enchantingly written that it would have been very hard follow it closely for the movie.

I would highly recommend this movie for old and young alike. The discrimination that Despereaux suffered because he was different from all the others really hit home for me. But, it gets resolved successfully and creates a very good, positive message.

Yes, I would buy this movie and watch it several hundred times with the kids. It also made me want to read the book again, just to see how far they strayed.

Good flick!

Movie Review: Bolt

Both kids and I checked out "Bolt" last night. We hooked up with a variety of mom & kid friends and took over nearly a full row at our wonderful little Vashon Theatre.

The new Disney movie was a predictably tour-de-force adventure with consistently top wrung voice talent and Bolt was no disappointment.

The story was about a dog who plays an adventure hero on television with a kid spy. He doesn't realize that the adventures are just pretend since the truth has been kept from him intentionally. He has a rude awakening, makes some friends and has a wowzer of a cross country trip to get back to his beloved "person". Hilarity ensued.

For me, my favorite character was the hamster living his life in a Lucite ball watching way too much TV. And, the pigeons; all of them were just incredible.

One disturbing side story was the mother of the child star who was continually ignored and disregarded by the selfish and greedy agent. Reminding me of my severe skepticism for parents who push their children in that arena. At the end, the mother pays him back with a satisfying "We quit!" and kicks him out.

I thought it was a pretty solid lesson on how empty, lonely and weird growing up as a child star must be. Then come to find out, the voice for the child star was no other than Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana. Speaking of pimping your kid to Hollywood. The irony was not lost.

Basically, it was a fun movie. Molly really liked it but it was a little much for Shea. I would rent it again but not sure if I'd buy it.