Julie & Julia

I just got in from Julie & Julia, which filled me with laughter, happiness and sadness.

Laughter at every single time that Meryl Streep spoke. I've never seen much of Julia Child, but if she's anything like Meryl's impersonation, I would've loved her to pieces. The personality was so warm and welcoming. I loved her determination and her attitude to stick to what she enjoyed.

Amy Adams' story isn't as strong as Meryl. But Amy isn't comparable to Meryl. Meryl is a legend. Who has been on a such a hot streak as of late with film choices. From 'Devil's Wears Prada' to 'Mamma Mia' to 'Doubt', 'Adaptation', and 'The Hours' - she just knows how to find a great balance between the serious to the fun. Always committing fully to the character and the project, even if it's fluff like Mamma Mia.

Which is what I enjoyed about this film. It showed that dedication and commitment and working towards a passion will always be worthwhile in the end.  It's something that I've been reflecting on a lot lately. I'm considering a career/life/location change a year from now. I love my present job, but feel like I've done it all and am just starting to repeat myself. It's definitely within my passion, but I'm very passionate about not repeating myself and expanding on what I know and do.

I really enjoyed watching the relationships in the film between Julie and Julia and their husbands. They were supportive, cute, had great sex lives, laughed a lot, ate tons, and it just seemed so great.  Which is one of the things that got me kinda down and mopey (well as mopey as I could ever be).  I realized that both of these characters found their loves and then their passion. Which made me wonder, if I've gotten it all wrong.

Personally, I've always had my priorities like so: work, school, love, art, friends, other. I believe it's important to do a great job at my work and it makes me really really happy. I believe that having access to higher education is an amazing privilege that should be taken advantage of. This is why, I work full time and go to school full time. Finally, I really really enjoy being in a long term relationship, it makes me happy, it's a great comfort - but it always ends due to my busy schedule.

These characters almost lost their loves due to their passion, but they came back. How do I start something new with somebody these days with all that's going on and convince them that I'm worth it? It's been over a year now and I've gone through loads (hehe...loads) of people. Some connections made, but not enough to make them stay...

After all that ramble, I definitely recommend that you go see Julie & Julia. It's a light and enjoyable film and for those like me, it becomes a bit more. :)

500 days of summer is brill!

If you've met me, you may think that I'm a bit insensitive, slightly cold hearted and generally a bit of a non-believer in all things lovey dovey.

It's with that in mind that I highly recommend 500 Days of Summer. A film recently released that stars Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt as a (non) couple. We track them from Joseph's view of the 500 days from the time that they meet, date, and well...SPOILER...break up. Not much of a spoiler considering within the first 10 seconds you read something to the effect of, "This is a work of fiction, it has nothing to do with anybody. Especially you Summer. You bitch."

Either way, this cute little film tracks heartbreak in an non-chronological and creative way through a variety of film styles, genres, and realistically real moments (or as real as something can be on film).

Zooey does her usual cute girlfriend role that she's getting known for and Joseph is the perfect candidate for the boy who loves too hard.

For someone who's had some serious loves and has now been out of love for over a year, I thought it was extremely cute and fun. It's not sappy and that's what is important. Plus, the ending can be interpreted as happy, but I chose not to.

For me, it had a very "before sunrise" feel to it, as it just allows you to be a part of the film without throwing it all at you. Plus, it was well edited and time moves quickly between past and present.

I have only seen a few movies recently (Terminator, Bruno, The Hangover) and this was a perfect mix for what will probably be one of the last films that I see this summer.

I would not quite rate this film as a date movie, but if you do go with your partner, it'll certainly generate some post-movie discussion.