Friday, August 14, 2009
Open Thread Empty Plate: Mastering the Art of Our Weekly Open Thread
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 7:00 AM
First bites at the new Judge Bean's in Brentwood, second thoughts about the Golden Eagle in Lenox Village, kosher-salt-and-fresh-cracked-pepper chocolate bars from Olive & Sinclair--all that and more was on tap in last week's Bites open thread. What's on your mind this week? New restaurants? Idle chatter? Curious experiences? Questions? The floor is open to you.
On last week's thread, some idiot wrote:
Hey, so am I the only person who was pleasantly surprised by Julie & Julia? I expected slow torture, and instead found it pretty delightful. Even the Amy Adams sections weren't as dire as I expected--although blogging may be the least cinematic occupation going--and the luminous goofiness of Streep's performance kept it from becoming a Great Lady of the Screen endurance test.I also liked that the last shot with Stanley Tucci (who's wonderful in the movie) was something of a reprise of the end of Big Night: a wordless affirmation of life's pleasures and the bonds of affection. (Shame about that freeze-frame, though--if ever an occasion called for an iris, to hone in on just the two of them, that's it.)
Anyone else see this movie, or actually cook any of those dishes? If so, spill. In the meantime, if you've got comments, questions, tips, gossip, etc. that you want to send us privately, write cfox (at) nashvillescene (dot) com.
Comments (17)
Showing 1-17 of 17
"blogging may be the least cinematic occupation going"
I don't know-- I always thought it was compelling when they would show Doogie Howser typing on his computer at the end of every episode. That was kind of like blogging, no?
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I also liked Julie & Julia, although I would agree with other reviewers who said that the "Julie" sections of the movie don't quite hold up to the "Julia" sections and I could have watched a whole movie of Meryl Streep's wonderful performance. I think it's a shame because I really enjoyed the book Julie & Julia but I don't think even a stellar performance by Amy Adams could have held up to Meryl's larger than life Julia Child.
Also, if anyone was wondering about Julia Child's opinion of the Julia/Julie project after seeing the movie, there was a great story in the LA Times this week by the writer who first brought it to Julia's attention
http://www.latimes.com/features/la-fo-living-1,0,117094.story
I personally loved the movie. I did agree that Meryl's performance was out of this world, and I think she should do (or should have done) the entire movie about her life. The story was cute, although I hear it is nothing like the book. A lot was lost from the book to the big screen...the book is now on my "must read" list. I am curious to see the diference.
Ryan B.: Thank you! That explains so much—
SPOILER ALERT!
—because in the context of the movie, that comes as a complete slap in the face. I think that actually works to the movie's benefit: without explanation, that rejection makes Julia a far more complex person than we see through Julie's (and up to that point, the movie's) prism. She won't let herself be reduced to a cute old dear, or her life's work to some dilettante's hobby.
Liesl: I agree that the Julie half is far less interesting, but Streep's performance is so rich in mannerism, inflection and reaction that a whole movie of it might have been too much, like a five-course meal of boeuf bourguignon. Probably my favorite acting moment in the whole movie, though, is Tucci reacting to Streep's orgasmic first bite of sole meuniere—this great little worldly, conspiratorial nod that expresses grand passion in a single deft look. His performance is essentially a master class in underplaying.
Mr. Pink - You're welcome, it was the one part of the movie that really bothered me as I walked out of the theater. It did come across as a slap in the face and I left wondering what the real story was. Luckily I came across that article a few days later and it made a lot of sense.
One more gush on the movie and Meryl Streep's performance. There is a subtle but brilliant way they portray Julia's well known large stature as being sort of awkward and uncomfortable everywhere but the kitchen. In the scenes where she takes Bridge lessons and learns hatmaking, it's a great physical performance by Meryl Streep to look completely out of place and then we see her get into the kitchen at Le Cordon Bleu and her mannerisms completely change and she looks like a duck in water. Even in what looks like a small kitchen in their Paris apartment, she looks completely comfortable, fluid, and natural. Brilliant.
I saw the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve read both books and all of Julie’s blog and thought she was portrayed much more favorably in the movie than she came across in her book. Tomorrow is Julia’s birthday so I making this menu from Bon Appetit...might skip the Pissaladière Niçoise, but doing the rest for sure.
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/cookingclub/happy-birthday-julia
OG DG: Cleveland Pete and I were having this discussion a few days ago—that any kind of computer activity is the most surefire buzzkill in movies. (Doogie Howser is of course the exception.) It might take a hail of bullets and Tom Cruise descending from a trapeze to get to the mainframe, but the second the strike force actually has to start entering codes, zzzzz.
For a side-splitting attempt to turn data entry and retrieval into something remotely cinematic, see the Michael Douglas-Demi Moore vehicle Disclosure, where boring-ass files appear on screen as floating avatars wielding swords. See also: Tron.
I loved the blog because it was relatively pure - a simple recounting of how she followed Julia's instructions, with occasional forays into tales of going to get the ingredients. I thought the book was terrible because a good half of it was about her dumb friends and their search for love or shoes or whatever and you would go pages and pages with no J&J project-related stuff. The movie corrected some of that but still - the big problem is that Julie Powell herself is not a very interesting person, at least not as presented in the book or movie. The only thing that makes her interesting is that she decided that what Julia Child did was interesting.
WestEndGirl: The movie Julie could definitely have used more sharp edges. I wish the movie had been structured less as a parable of empowerment (ugh) and more as the meeting of two prickly kindred spirits across time.
But, again, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the movie. It takes pleasure seriously, and that in itself is unusual for recent movies.
So I had a fantastic stromboli at Mama Mia's on Trousdale today for lunch. Looks like they have spruced up the interior, which was a nice twist. Wasn't liking the 103.3 playing overhead, maybe the usual classical CD was scratched?
"The only thing that makes her interesting is that she decided that what Julia Child did was interesting."
Well put. That's my problem with the Julie half in a bouillon cube, even though Amy Adams' charm and comic timing compensate.
Claudia has a nice post/thread about the movie, along with the cool news that Sony Pictures made her site its blog of the day on the movie's official website:
http://www.cookeatfret.com/not-food/2009/08/08/j-j/#more-2592
I made my first Coq au Vin in honor of Julia's birthday on Sat. night. Had some friends over and we all loved it. I also was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie. It was 2 hours of pure pleasure. I thought both books were just o.k.
Dave: I haven't been to Mama Mia's in a long time, but I really liked it back in the day. Was this a meatball stromboli?
Finally made it to Gabby's today, with my sister. Loved the adventure of going past the road-closed signs, loved the confusion once inside (their signage doesn't really tell you how to do it, even though they think it does) and really really loved the cheeseburger. I love a burger dive and Nashville falls woefully short when it comes to them. But Gabby's I can get behind.
Love the idea of sweet potato fries, but they don't have the crunchy-outside, fluffy-inside quality of the regular kind. It's not Gabby's fault; it's the sweet potato. Overall, though, I can give it the highest dive compliment: I'd take my Dad.
So, Julia basically said:
-my work is clearly flawless, so if you have any problems cooking those recipes you're just a mess
and
-Julie's personality isn't the same as mine, therefore she sucks
I never would have imagined Julia was stuck on herself that way, but I guess you never know.
