Leap Year - Mini Review

Let me just say that Matthew Goode in a Fisherman's Sweater, even with a scruffy beard, is no hardship to watch for an hour and a half.  I'm a sucker for a romantic comedy, and went out to see Leap Year to cheer myself up one night recently.  It's a decent enough Rom Com, even if it didn't have all the sparkle and cleverness I might have liked.  Really, after the excellence and newness of the writing in (500) Days of Summer, the standard formulaic romantic comedies come off a bit creaky.

You've seen the many commercials, so you know the set up.  Amy Adams sets off to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend of four years on Leap Year Day, a long Irish tradition.  Her plane is forced to land nowhere near Dublin due to a storm, and she hires Declan, played by Matthew Goode, to drive her across scenic Ireland to rejoin her fiance to be.  Madcap adventures ensue, and shock upon shock, she ends up with dishy Declan in the end.

I liked the movie well enough, and it's difficult to say if my sour mood going in shifted my perspective on the movie.  The one great kiss between Goode and Adams, when of course they are forced to pretend to be married to stay the night at the only B&B around for miles, was pretty darn hot.

But that was about it, not much sparks flying otherwise.  Amy Adams is beginning to wear on me a bit, too.  I adored her in Enchanted, where her perkiness was perfect.  After her turn in Julie & Julia, meh, not so much anymore.

Matthew Goode I have been praying would be in a romantic movie since way back when I first discovered him in Chasing Liberty with Mandy Moore. Yes, I actually own that DVD just because I fell in love with him in this scene, and it's more the talking than the kissing.

Please, Gods of Moviedom, get Matthew Goode a better romantic script, soon!  I haven't seen him in A Single Man yet, but although he looks dreamy in the trailer, that's not exactly what I have in mind.  Oh, I don't know, how about something crazy like chemistry with his co-star and a love scene, not a chaste kiss scene?   What about sharing a bed with a girl not just because he's forced to pretend to be married?  I know, I ask for the moon and the stars...

Leap Year I have to give only two and a half stars.  See it at a matinee with your gal pals, or just wait to rent.  Besides gorgeous Matthew, the Irish countryside scenery is pretty nice to look at, too.  Watch the trailer here.

Matthew Goode and Amy Adams in Leap Year Trailer

Anna, a girl who is always in trouble, is expecting to get an engagement ring from longtime boyfriend, Jeremy, during a romantic dinner. When their four-year anniversary passes without a marriage proposal, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She then follows Jeremy to Dublin to get down on her knee February 29, known as Leap Day, during when women are allowed to propose to men based on Irish tradition.

However, her plane lands on the other side of Ireland and she is forced to enlist the help of handsome and surly Declan to get her across the country. As the two travel across the Emerald Isle, they discover that the road to love can take them to very unexpected places.

I've been waiting anxiously for the trailer of this Rom Com ever since I heard they were filming it. Matthew Goode hasn't been forced to share a bedroom pretending to be a newlywed since Chasing Liberty, my first jaw-slacked introduction to him. This time he doesn't sleep on the floor, I'm gathering! God, he's just gorgeous.

Leap Year comes out in early January.

Julie & Julia - Mini-review

Julia Child's first cook book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, has made it to the top of the NY Times best seller's list, almost 50 years after it was first published. All because of a little film called Julie & Julia. I'm one of 22,000 people who purchased that book last week after seeing the movie, because I've just got to try that boeuf bourguignon recipe! (And even Amazon is back ordered, so I'm still waiting.)

I remember watching Julia Child on PBS growing up, and let me tell you, Meryl Streep nailed her. She, as always, has the perfect accent, and especially her joie de vivre. I felt like she made Julia Child a real person, and we were invited to this incredibly fun dinner party during her parts of the film. Her former assistant Sarah Moulton, who has her own Food Network show now, thinks Meryl Streep really captured Julia, too:

There’s a scene in the film when Julia is being put down by the dour female director of the Cordon Bleu where Julia was taking classes in Paris. Julia has just sit down to take her final exam and the director comments, “I don’t know why you want to do this, you are a terrible cook, but if you cook for Americans, they won’t know the difference.” Julia’s response in the film? She sticks out her tongue as the director walks out the door. The real Julia might have given the finger. She was so spontaneous, and yes, at times, a little crude. If somebody pissed her off, she might shout, “Balls!”

There's not a ton of conflict in Julia's story, just whether she'll get published (Gee, ya think?). The whole film is as light as a souffle, really. But I love Stanley Tucci's portrayal of her husband Paul, and it was so great to see a happily married couple on screen, with a sex life even! They would send out sexy Valentine's Day cards to their friends, and the film recreates on they photographed in the bath tub together!

I do adore Amy Adams, but I'm not sure she was the right pick for Julie, the blogger who cooked all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. I have a feeling the real Julie swore a bit more, and was more snarky. As Amy played her, the parts where's she's being bitchy come off more whiny.

I enjoyed the film, but mostly the parts about Julia Child's life in France, based on her own memoir and letters she and Paul wrote during that time. Nora Ephron has made a nice film, but I'm glad I paid the matinee price. It's a love story to food and cooking, and as I said, drove me straight to Amazon where Julia's cook book is on sale for $22.

The film is 2 and a half to three stars. Enjoyable especially for Meryl as Julia, but you could wait to rent it.

Julie & Julia Trailer!

Meryl Streep NAILS it!

Doubt Trailer

Doubt stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams and the play that the film is based on, centering around a molestation accusation in a Catholic boarding school, won the Drama Desk, the Tony Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2005.

With the play’s original writer, John Patrick Stanley, also adapting the screenplay as well as handling directing duties, this should be fantastic, and a movie people will be talking about.

Set against the backdrop of a Catholic school in 1964, DOUBT is the story of a strong-minded woman faced with a difficult decision. Should she voice concerns about one of her male colleagues...even if she's not entirely certain of the truth?

Meryl Streep stars as Julia Child

Just Jared posted this first pic of Meryl Streep as Julia Child from the upcoming film Julie & Julia.

Frustrated temp secretary Julie Powell (Amy Adams) embarks on a yearlong culinary quest to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She chronicles her trials and tribulations in a blog that catches on with the food crowd. The film also covers the years Julia Child and her husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) spent in Paris during the 1940s and ’50s, when Paul was a foreign diplomat who was eventually investigated by Sen. Joseph McCarthy for alleged communist ties.

Julie & Julia is currently filming and is slated to be released in 2009. The film is based on Julie Powell’s memoir Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. Directing is Nora Ephron, whose film credits include Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail and Bewitched. Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters) and Mary Lynn Rajskub (24) also costar.