First we have Julia Child (Meryl Streep) a “high-spirited” American wife, who’s following her diplomat husband in Paris (Stanley Tucci – you know him from The Devil Wears Prada, where they acted together). Bored to death she decides to go to some classes. Bridge seems too complicated for her, while the cooking class for the beginners is really annoying “I know how to boil an egg” she says, asking to be moved to the advanced class. There she’s the only woman among male chefs, who really know their business.

After getting her feathers ruffled a bit, she comes home decided to change the situation. It’s one of the funniest scenes in the movie, she’s cutting onions (there’s a huge pile on the table) and her husband enters the home almost suffocating. Funny or not, she manages to catch up and becomes one of the best students in the class.

She then is invited to cooperate for a cooking book writing, then she’ll be the one to publish it – Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Meryl Streep is an excellent actress and seems to have found her funny side too, the only issue I had with the performance was that the “high-spirited” Julia seemed on drugs. First I thought she’s suffering from the Tourette Syndrome, the way she was speaking and moving. It looks like she’s not sick, not even on heavy drugs or too much Scotch (this was my second guess). So I do believe they could have toned it down, it’s almost clinical. Other than that, Tucci with Streep make a great team once again (it does seem like they got used to each other from the previous movie).

On the other hand we have Julie Powell (Amy Adams), who’s got a sinisterly boring job as a telephone call-taker in a cubicle, dealing with insurance questions after the tragic 9/11. She does feel she’s “really” a novelist, but was never able to actually finish something she’s started. So the project is to cook all the recipes from Julia’s book in one year time. And document this in a blog. 524 recipes in 365 days, all the cooking done in the evenings, when she’s coming home.

Though Paul (Julie‘s husband) is very supportive, Eric (Julie‘s husband) is getting annoyed after a while with her new passion. She does become utterly obsessed, forgetting than in the end it’s not such a huge deal. They live in a stinky apartment in a sordid house in Queens (NYC), one of those “all made of wood panels shacks” Americans like to call “houses” (in my country our houses are made from bricks and concrete – even the interior walls, so you can understand my opinion). Anyway, there are houses made “properly” in New York City too, but the 2 cannot afford rent in a better one. Interesting enough, she can afford all the groceries for her cooking undertaking.

The entire movie has its funny side, it’s very relaxing and a pleasant experience. Meryl Streep is adorable as usual, even if she seems high on something, while Amy Adams offers a cute version for the young chef-blogger. For such a Streep fan as I am, this is a “gotta see it” movie, but it’s a good one for you too. So, it’s totally recommended.

The first 2 episodes are not impressive at all. We find out the main “subject” is Veridian Technologies, a super corporation that’s involved in anything and everything from genetically modified food and killer pumpkins to business strategies and weight loss medication. Each episode comes with a Veridian Technologies TV ad too and some of them are pretty good.

In this mega-corporation there’s cute guy, name Ted (Jay Harrington), who’s raising his girl alone (Isabella Acres) since the wife left to save the world in some god forgotten African country. His boss is Veronica (Portia de Rossi – gotta know her from Ally McBeal). She’s getting older, that’s for sure, but the bitchy boss role does suit her well.

Since some sexual tension is useful in any flick, it’s brought here by Linda (Andrea Anders), the blond co-worker who’s got a crush on Ted (while the feeling is mutual, he’s still trying to keep from dating other women).

The crazy team is complete when we count the 2 nerdy crazy scientists Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Malcolm Barrett)

As already mentioned, for me it was an acquired taste, I had to watch the first 2-3 episodes to actually start liking the show. It is hilarious though, so you should give it a chance.

Grey’s Anatomy

Mark Murray works for Microsoft. His wife, Melinda, has tried for 8 years to have a baby. All the fertility treatments, plus a very complicated pregnancy were paid off from his employee health plan. The medical bills totaled between 1/2 and 1 million dollars. Microsoft covered it all.

Let’s say I had a strong sensation of a “deja vu”, when seeing this movie, Year One.

Jack Black and Michael Cera or, as they appear in the movie, Zed and Oh, are two not very bright primitive people who get banished from thei village after Zed bites the forbidden fruit. Yes, it sounds familiar, right? Right. We’ll meet a lot of other “famous” people for anyone who’s bothered read the Bible and find out about the events back then. We witness the murder of Abel, see Sodoma and Gomora, find out about the first circumcision.

Even if the comedy doesn’t make you laugh as others used to (I do believe people seem to have lost their humor, or maybe I’m the one who’s getting old, who knows), it does have it’s charm. There were scenes that were very funny, especially if you knew what to expect.

So, even if this won’t ever be in my top 5 comedy list, I do believe it’s worth a shot. Please let me know how if you liked it

The Italian physicist, Leonardo Vetra, is murdered and the Harvard symbologist ,Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), is invited to help solve the case. Together with Vetra’s daughter (Ayelet Zurer) he finds out about a secret society, the Illuminati, and a quest for the world’s most potent — and deadly — energy source.

I had the pleasure of seeing Ewan McGregor in the movie, doing a very good job with his role, the action was fast paced and the plot required all the attention. There were times I could predict the next step, but overall the movie proved to be an entertaining one and nothing prepared me for the real end.

The special effects were more than decent (they were able to recreate St Peter’s and the Sistine Chapel in their studio), it felt engaging and thrilling. Some might say the action was a bit too “fast”, I think it’s a good idea to watch it for 2-3 times to get it all, but I have nothing against seeing it again to really understand everything, since the entire experience has been an enjoyable one.

The movie has received mixed reviews, but most critics and movie goers agreed on one thing: with its imperfections it’s a movie worth watching. You don’t have to believe anything from it, you don’t even need to try understand all the details, but you’ll surely enjoy a nice story and some good actors doing their job.

C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe) is a reporter who’s always looking for the next amazing story. For some months he’d been observing the district attorney, Mark Hunter (Michael Douglas), who seems to win too many lawsuits based on DNA evidence. C.J. is almost convinced Hunter is tampering with the evidence, but cannot prove this to anyone.

So, in order to secure a very successful story, and also get the proof about Hunter’s misdeeds, he’s setting himself as a suspect in a crime.

The plan goes from simple to complicated when Mark Hunter “smells” something is wrong and kills C.J.’s partner and friend, leaving the “suspect” with no proof of his innocence.

It’s the moment Ella Crystal, his lover and also Hunter’s employee, has to put her trust in C.J. and try help him get off the death row.

Let’s say the movie is filled with plot “holes”, the entire screenplay lacks logic in many aspects. We’ve been going “come, on” for many times, when the story seemed too far fetched for us. The entire story is not new, the movie is a remake of the 1956 film noir film “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt“, and it’s far from being perfect.

Still, what makes me recommend it, it’s the ending. Even if we were able to predict most of the ‘moves’ in this film, the end really awed us. A not so bright movie, saved by its final 5 minutes.

The policeman is certain it’s not the kid who’s dealing the actual drugs, so he’d like to go after the source, more than the kid. He’s also recently married and had visited Prague with his wife. The “pot” is legal there and he hopes Romania will become more relaxed with the law too. Till then, there’s a big question for him: do I bust the kid or not?

The entire movie is slow-paced following the main character to work, back home, on the streets, in his boss’ office and so on. To me it was way too “slow” and dark. I understand this new wave of “social movies”, but I am firm believer our movie-creators have gone too far with these movies. I can’t remember a “relaxing” movie they created, all are “hard and dark”. If you’re not having a very dark setting, then you’re having some rapes, murders, anything similar filmed to the best details. It’s good to see in a movie, if 90% of them deal with the Communism, crimes and rapes, you’re getting a bit tired of the recipe.

What I like about the movie is that you’re not dealing with the usual forced sex scene you kinda see in most of our latest movies and, even if it’s still dark and somber, the movie doesn’t put a lot  of emphasis on this “misery”. Kinda boring at some point, trying to go way to deep into his normal routine, with interesting dialogues (in some parts) and an overall challenging moral dilemma.

Cannot say the movie is a fiasco, even if I haven’t enjoyed it too much. Would I recommend it? I think I would. It does have some interesting points and it’s not difficult to watch. Lacking some “hardcore” scenes, the movie can be seen even with your entire family, with no fear your kids might be scarred by some of the images. Would I see it again? I am afraid not.

I am not a Michael Jackson fan, let’s get this straight. I didn’t cry when he “left”, I do know some of his music, but I am not a pop listener either. I go more towards progressive or sympho rock, so pop is far down on my choices list. And still I was intrigued.

When the “movie” started I was happy to see that we’re seeing footage with him and not some movie where an actor is playing his role (yes, I was that uninformed to not really know what’s going on in the movie). Saw some dancers do their best to be chosen for the shows, smiled when they said it’s a chance of a lifetime. Yes, it was.

Saw some of the “action” and rehearsals and found myself really enjoying the movie. They would work on any aspect and “MJ” was very strict with anything you can think of. Still his almost whispered voice and feeble speech made me realize the guy was never a “man’s man”, the type of guy who dominates with his attitude. He was licking a lollypop in once scene and, seeing him dressed like that and with that face, I laughed thinking ‘what a weirdo’. But the “kid” like guy was actually knowing his stuff. He knew his music well and I loved his ingenious solutions to make that one more step towards something special.

He didn’t fool around, he danced side by side with the dancing team, sang even when he claimed he should “save” his voice, worked hard and demanded perfection, with that feeble voice and 20 “thank yous” and “god bless” when the team would take his ideas on board.

All the musicians were thrilled to work with him. Even if he did push them to the moon and back, one cannot but respect such a musician. He knew his “sh…t”, better than many other artists, had imagination and all kinds of solutions. And worked like crazy to get that perfect solution.

I am not a fan, will repeat this. I don’t really enjoy pop music, but I loved this movie and how we knew to do his job. In this era when people who look OK think they can make millions by howling like idiots, when all kinds of girls with silicone breasts and less talent than my dog claim to be stars, this guy had a huge talent and worked his minds off. When most people make songs from computer software effects and are actually making money with this crap, MJ was MAKING MUSIC, had an army of musicians with him and was able to pick the cream of the crop in most “jobs” he had to cover for such a huge endeavor.

I was left with a sour taste in my mouth though. I was sad to know this guy messed up his career and life in such way, sad to see his life ended when I felt he had a lot more to say in music. This Is It will make you spend some pleasant time listening to some of his best work and admiring a job well done and a guy for whom less than perfect wasn’t an option.

So, driven by all these reviews and recommendations I spent some time watching it.

Oh, the cliches … yes. It was like watching a Discovery documentary with the civilized Americans going into the jungle to meet god knows what forgotten and savage tribe. Yes, the plot was so linear and predictable, I could have slept the entire movie and woken up at the end, knowing exactly what to expect. And still, I would have regretted this.

Cameron’s movie is not a “difficult” one. I cannot say it’s been a revelation as some of my favourite ones (The Empire of the Sun, The Piano, The Hours, Schindler’s List or any other “serious” movie I have enjoyed), cannot say it made me “smarter” or made me really think about the real values in life etc. Nope, my brain was relaxed, my neurons took a pleasure ride into the beauty of Pandora and that simple and yet beautiful storyline.

The 3D work was superb, all the scenes and filming done to please US, with all it’s “flaws” for someone who tried to find the answer to some universal problems, the movie was a success when it came to really entertain us. I can’t say I’d recommend it for some revelations, because it lacks a serious depth, but I do recommend it for it’s power to present a rather boring story in a very innovative way.

The movie integrated a lot of ideas that are what we call “cliches”, all this nature mambo jambo might make you laugh. The trees and the nature bringing life, the “shaman” woman, the elf like creatures, taming of the “horses”, we have it all. And still, after the movie ends, we still have a smile on our faces. Some consider this movie to be amazing, some call it the best they’ve seen. In the end it depends on our movie knowledge and own values when it comes to the 7th Art.

Cannot say it’s been a revelation. Cannot say it’s my favourite or it changed my life. If we come to discuss plots and how it turned my values upside down, then it’s mediocre. If we discuss about how it was delivered and how in the end it really made my hours enjoyable, then it’s a success.

I’d see it again and, if you are one of the few who hasn’t watched it yet, make the effort. It’s not the ultimate masterpiece, especially if you are a snob as I am, but it should entertain you quite a bit.

And how can one ‘fool’ the Immigration system better than marrying someone who’s got all the paperwork done properly?

When Andrew has to visit his family in Sitka, Alaska, he’s joined by his new “fiancee” to his parents amazement. Imagine a well dressed woman (for the NY social events) getting off the plane in the ‘countryside’. Put in the mix some good situational comedy and you have the ingredients for a pretty nice relaxing movie.

Sandra Bullock shows some skin too, while Ryan Reynolds makes it worth the movie for us gals too. Not to mention a very cute white doggie and a well played grandma (Betty White).

Yes, the plot is pretty simple. Yes, you can kinda guess the end (in most romantic comedies the end is clear from the beginning), but the actors do play their parts and the entire experience is a very enjoyable one. Not a movie for someone looking for something ‘serious’, but, if you need to relax those neurons, The Proposal is just what you need. You might even be interested in seeing it again, as I was.