Movies!

[demotu]

The last two movies I've seen in theatres have both been really enjoyable. I'm not a particularly critical movie watcher, in that I generally can get into most any movie that isn't a Will Ferrel comedy (sorry B, and your epic love for Talladega Nights) without worrying too much about anything in particular, but these two stood out as more than just

Comments

[smirnoffmule]

Glad to read your review of District 9, I was dithering over whether I wanted to see it or not (I have really little patience for bad movies).

That said, I do also fucking love Talladega Nights, and am glad to know I'm not alone in my epic approval of it, since most people are all, nooo, Anchor Man is better, which objectively, probably, but that's not the point.

[demotu]

I'm just not a Will Ferrel fan, that's all. I think B's seen it honestly 12 times. But then, he's been watching NASCAR forever. Viva la country boys!

District 9 is certainly not a bad movie. It's challenging and intense and I suspect not everyone will enjoy it, but I think anyone would be hard pressed to call it "bad".

[kel_reiley]

uh, my brother in law LOVES Talladega Nights (and Anchorman, and pretty much all Will Ferrel movies)

[etharei]

I totally agree with everything you said about Julie&Julia! It's so refreshing to see a movie about female characters where it's not about the ~drama of relationships and achieving life fulfillment by getting a man. I loved that you could see the differences in attitude towards women's roles in both time periods, but without making a big deal about it or having the women agonize over it. And I enjoyed the bit of conflict with Julie and her hubby - it felt very natural and part of the learning process. Plus, my fangirl side is totally familiar with the pitfalls of being that passionate about someone

[blue_fjords]

I loved "Julie & Julia"! I have since tried the coq au vin and beef bourgignon (sp?) recipes from her French cookbook. They weren't the tastiest things ever, but really cool to try.

My friend J says that the power lunch was not in the book. And the character of Sarah (Julie's supportive friend) was an amalgam of all of Julie's friends and brother. I think J said that the impetus for the blog was Julie feeling down, her husband suggested she visit her mother, and she found the cookbook there and started up.

So I would have ick-snayed the power lunch, too, but I loved the movie overall.

[thaddeusfavour]

Will Ferrel! ::shudder:: Stop him before he makes another movie, please!

[demotu]

Not really. Bureaucratic power still lies with the whites in South Africa, especially when it comes to the kind of multinational "aid" company they set MNU up as, so Wikus being white was only realistic. And the only other leads were (a) the evil father-in-law who worked for the same company, with an even stronger sense of old white money, and (b) alien. Wikus's second-in-command was black, but there weren't exactly any other "leads" in the film.

[demotu]

But ANC is political, and it was the political arena that got pushed forward. The corporate side is a lot slower to catch up, and MNU is, while sort of a government agency, run by people with coorporate power (from their links to biotech firms, at least). They also seem to be a bit "international aid agency", and from friends who've worked in international aid, those groups are overwhelmingly white, even in a city like Johannesburg.

I don't actually *know* for sure though - this is synthesizing stories from the friends who've worked in that field in South Africa. But frankly, it wasn't a movie with a lot of character options, and I really do think Wikus's job is one that would have likely been given to a white guy.