Television: I like Drop Dead Diva (good acting and writing overall; scenario so far has also been fairly handed well), but it has to stop with these totally happy ending completion of Debs' cases. Today a suburban mom/nurse turns out to be a fugitive who long ago was a driver in felony murder case. Her sympathetic turnaround (helped when, after hearing her on the stand, her husband forgave her) led to a lesser charge conviction. She was given community service. After all, even a day in jail would be depressing, right? Come on! Deb/Jane's friend hooking up with her guardian angel/mail room clerk also is a bit much for me. I can let that go.
Meanwhile, the ending of Army Wives today was a bit much -- as if CJ didn't have enough already. It was a cliffhanger, so it's unclear exactly what happened, but she has already been part of a hostage situation and a murder, each which led to deaths (the latter, including her own daughter). Enough already.* Overall, it was a good episode -- the grandmother from Gilmore Girls has popped up places before, and generally appears to have a lot to offer. Also, the show continues to balance a lot of serious subplots (including soldiers dealing with emotional issues and young girls' body images) rather well.
Film: I have not seen many films at all recently, partially because it has been thin fare. The few I did or could see tended to be independent or foreign type films, including a small scale option like Easy Virtue (pretty good). There are a few big ticket films out there, but they are not generally to my liking -- I even had negative feelings about Star Trek, though liking parts of it. One much praised horror film turned out to be a disappointment. And, now, I read that basically everyone seems to think the new time traveler movie is like totally lame. Julie & Julia is somewhat of an exception to this.
The idea is that "Julie" (Powell) is a wannabe writer who decides to write a blog (before they were as popular) in which she discusses how she went through "Julia" Child's cookbook in one year's time. Meanwhile, we watch Julia Child learn how to cook and struggle to write her own book. Amy Adams, who was great in Junebug, Enchanted and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day played the modern day character. This was better than Sunshine Cleaning,** lame indie, but it was pretty bland stuff. Nora Ephron might relate to this writer couple (one an editor -- though the husband is totally forgettable -- the other a writer just waiting to come out), but I'm not sure how much of the general public will. Amy is due for a better role soon.
The reason to see this film is the Julia Child. Might be a bit too long; her story seems to run out of steam toward the end, popping up again when her book is finally picked up by a publisher. Still, you don't really mind because Meryl Streep (again, as in Mamma Mia!, playing someone younger than her) is wonderful -- it's not too early to raise talk of Academy Award nominations. But, Stanley Tucci as her husband is wonderful as well (supporting nomination nod?). As are a few others in smaller roles [talking about that, the film makes her look very tall here ... figure it was some sort of filming trick] in her story. The movie also does a nice job with the middle aged love story angle as well as touching upon some politics (McCarthy).
Overall, "yum!" I'm sure there is a food/social history aspect that can be injected here. How her French cooking book for the regular housewife sort etc. was some important moment or something, though the film does not really go there. It is more about her personal story and love of life, including how much her husband adores her. This inspires the modern day Julie, who needs some self-confidence. She too loves food and has a supportive husband. But, they are a pretty bland couple, and when she's told by a reporter that Julia Child was not impressed with her blog (just heard secondhand, we don't really learn what this is all about), we can relate. [JP explains a bit more here.]
But, Julia and Paul Child provides reason enough to see the film. The rest goes down okay. I guess Amy Adams' character can be like us -- being guided by a great, but being relatively mundane. Still, what a contrast!
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* I don't like to watch "scenes from next week," but apparently they suggest something not too bad. Previews of Lifetime shows at times are spun in misleading ways, such as what turned out (not too surprisingly) to be a dream sequence in Drop Dead Diva today. Anyway, it still was -- either way -- a sort of "enough already" type ending.
** This film did have Mary Lynn Rajskub, a quirky supporting actress, perhaps leading the way for her small role in this one. Many might recognize her from 24, but I'm not a fan of the show. Oh, Mary Kay Place plays Julie's mom on the phone. For fans of her voice, that's a nice touch.