Julie & Julia And Hurt Locker

[WARNING: SPOILERS ALERT]

Nora Ephron's latest feature "Julie & Julia" chronicles the lives of Julia Child and Julie Powell right up until they made it big. Meryl Streep plays the mildly demented but totally affable Child who turned herself from a housewife of a diplomat to a master chef of French cuisine. You would have thought Streep over-acted this role if you haven't seen what the real Child was like in person or in person on TV. She was bigger than life and I imagine if a turkey can talk, it would probably sound exactly like Julia Child. Amy Adams plays the neurotic, sometimes combustible but always likable office drone Julie Powell who decided to cook all the recipes of Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" all within the time frame of a year and blogged her cooking endeavor along the way. At the end of the movie and as in real life, Child became this iconic figure of gastronomy eclipsing whoever before and after her. Powell became a writer she was trained to be, got herself a book deal and now this movie adaption of her book. These two characters never shared any screen time, much like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in another Ephron's quintessential chick flick of the 90s, "Sleepless in Seattle." Julie & Julia is not so much about relationship though it's a theme, as both characters have very supportive husbands to help them through their lows--there is a man behind every successful woman. The movie is more about women making a career for themselves. Some critics think the movie is uneven being that Streep's performance and Child's story overshadowed Adams' and Powell's story. That's a fair assessment. But I do think Adams as a young actor holds her own pretty well and the Powell's post 9-11 story adds a contemporary narrative to the movie that would have otherwise lacked. Adams just did a fine job much like what Anne Hathaway did in "The Devil Wears Prada." Of course, Hathaway was luckier and with it faced more of a challenge and privilege of actually sharing the screen and acting with and against the one and only Meryl Streep. The movie is enchanting and enjoyable.

If "Julie & Julia" is about existential issues confronting and confounding women, then "Hurt Locker" is about the survival of the craziest. If you think Julia Child is nutty wait till you see Hurt Locker. Kathryn Bigelow is one crazy director who prefers characters that are as nutty as herself. Blue Steel (1989), Point Break (1991) and Strange Days (1995) are all movies even the good guys are crazy. Hurt Locker, set against occupied Iraq, is about a team of three EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) bomb specialists who go to places where others including soldiers flee. William James, played by Jeremy Renner, the nuttiest among the three bomb specialists depicted in the movie, would not let anything get into his way when dismantling a bomb; not his partner's direction, or even the one hundred bomb suit that meant to protect him if he thinks it doesn't allow him to die comfortable anyway. Bigelow aims to be realistic in this movie, and on many levels I think she succeeded partly because first I don't know much about war, second there aren't any coverage from the main stream media on the war in Iraq. What appears in the movie does look realistic maybe except a few scenes which I found just a bit over done or contrived. The very first explosion was done in super slo mo, according to Bigelow it was shot using a phantom camera that can capture 1000 frames per second. It gives a very intimate look of the detonation and yet it somewhat takes the edge and ugliness out of it. Then you have the thinly veiled homoerotic scene where James is drinking and almost gets himself killed when horsing around in the dorm with his teammates. I have my doubt that's all I can say. And then there is the corniest of the corny, James takes a shower with his uniform on. I don't know how many times I saw a similar scene like that before in other movies. Can his guilt and sorrow be expressed any other different ways other than taking a shower, and with clothes on? At the end of the movie, James is still alive and ready for another rotation in Iraq where every stranger is a potential enemy and every wrong move can mean death. I think I even see his faintly defined smile behind the shield of his helmet as he is on his way to dismantle yet another bomb. I don't know if the war needs James more or James needs the war more. What I take away from the movie is both the war and James are pretty messed up.