Well, let's try that one again. Julie & Julia & Julie

Okay, this is a recreation of yesterday’s post that appears to have sailed into an internet black hole (rat burgers). I don’t think this will be as fresh at the first time I babbled it, but I think it’s worth typing up again.

Went to see Julie & Julia with my pops on Sunday (two thumbs up from me & Dad). You’ve heard all about it by now. The Julia section is just wonderful. The Julie section is less so. But I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as some critics have laid on it. Amy Adams is playing a less that perfect person, who is still in the early stages of development as a person. She’s not adorable. She’s just human. And makes mistakes, and acts like a jerk, and has flaws. Americans are less tolerant of flawed characters than, say, Europeans. Especially when they’re women. Which I think makes a lot of parts for young women kind of boring. This is actually a fairly honest portrait of a young woman going through one of the less adorable phases of growing up. Kind of uncomfortable to watch. But not in a bad way.

The other thing that I noticed was during the previews. This may go down as a banner year for women in movies. Sandra Bullock has officially hit playing “the Mom” role in The Blind Side. And that’s not the “quirky single mom with an adorable daughter looking for love”, which doesn’t really count. This is the mom-mom role with a husband and kids and family drama kind of problems, which is a whole different ball of career wax. It’s a major milestone for women. One that Cameron Diaz passed this year too, with My Sister’s Keeper. Oh, they may be in this gray zone for awhile, but they are officially into the long slow slide into movie menopause, where they’re no longer the hot chick who may show up in an underpants scene. And it looks like Susan Sarandon is hitting the next big hurdle. Because she’s playing the grandma in The Lovely Bones. Yep. Louise is a granny. No more cliff jumping for you, my girl.

On the other hand, this also means that none of them will ever have to appear again with some age inappropriate geezer who they’re supposed to pretend would ever happen in some place that’s not wet dreamed up by a geezer movie executive. Which kind of has to be a relief.

But that doesn’t mean they have to give up hope. This also appears to be the year that Meryl Streep becomes a sex symbol. Not only does she make like naughty bunnies with Stanley Tucci in J&J, she’s also going to be in a movie called It’s Complicated where she has to choose between Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Boo hoo. We should all have that kind of relationship problems.

Overall, they all look like pretty decent flicks. (I read the newspaper article that The Blind Side is based on and just cried my little eyes out. Good tears.) I’d say, for women, this is a great year to go out and support women in film. See a movie starring a woman. Or at least one where female characters are well drawn. It would be nice to see Hollywood worry about selling us tickets for a change.