Julie & Julia

We went to see the movie, Julie & Julia, last night, based on a favorable review from World magazine.

The movie, based on a young woman's goal to cook all of Julia Child's recipes in one year - and blog about the adventures, does a masterful job of paralleling young Julie with Julia Child's life.

I enjoy watching Meryl Streep's craft and she did yet another great job in portraying Child.

I wouldn't take my teens to this because of the seemingly-obligatory bad language. Plus the zest for cooking extended to a zest for one's spouse, although we didn't see more than long kisses and lights turned out. And, surprisingly in Hollywood terms, the couples were married and happy.

I gained a new fascination for Child's life. She had spunk and determination, something that seemed to be passed on to young Julie during the year of cooking. Child had the fortitude to see a project through, something Julie had not done before.

Some Hollywood politics were wedged into the plot as well, as Child's husband was a critic of McCarthyism and debated briefly with her father, who was an outspoken Republican. On another occasion, Paul Child was summoned to Washington (he worked for the government) to answer questions from three stern men who, in Hollywood symbolism, were probably stiff-necked McCarthy conservatives.

In yet another scene, Julie's boss said he wouldn't fire her for blogging on the job. He inexplicably explained that he wasn't a Republican and he wasn't a schmuck.

What politics had to do with Julia and Julie wasn't made clear and I saw it as another way that Hollywood attempts to subtly train its viewers in an acceptable point of view.

I liked the scenes from the movie where Julie recognizes her own vapid nature and is inspired by Julia to complete a task and overcome difficulty. I appreciated the positive view of marriage. The husbands were not bland fools but actively encouraged their wives.

I didn't care much for Hollywood's additions of gratuitous language and political undertones.

PluggedInOnline offers helpful reviews before spending your money on a film. Click here to read their review of Julie & Julia.

Fireproof

If you haven't seen Fireproof yet and you're married, put it at the top of your date-night list. You have a date-night list, right? If not, go see the movie anyway. You'll get the equivalent of a marriage course in a two-hour story.

If you haven't heard, Fireproof has been storming across America, surprising many with its ticket sales. Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia has issued three movies now. The first, Flywheel, was a small-budget film that was followed by Facing the Giants. Giants did surprisingly well in the theaters, providing some of the capital for a bigger-budget ($500,000) production this time in Fireproof.

But co-producers Stephen and Alex Kendrick see Fireproof as a ministry, just like the earlier movies. And this one is about strengthening a marriage.

Professional actor Kirk Cameron plays Caleb, a firefighter with a marriage about to end. His father begs him to try a series of activities, laid out in a book The Love Dare, in a last-ditch attempt to save his marriage.

Cameron, a committed Christian, is the only professional actor in the movie, although some surprisingly good performances are given, especially by Erin Bethea who plays Caleb's wife, Catherine.

Fireproof is definitely a movie to see.

A few things I didn't care for:

• The screenplay needed one more edit. It is rather uneven, with some very good dialogue and imagery laid against some cliched-laden conversations.
• A movie should show but we had to sit through some sermons by Caleb's father. The father gave a strong gospel pitch - which was good - but there was a lot of telling rather than showing in that. I can imagine ways of showing the power of the cross.
• I was slightly bugged by the fact that The Love Dare was written by the Kendricks. There's the hint of self-promotion in that.

But the value in Fireproof is far greater than the shortcomings. See it soon with your spouse and bring along some tissues. It's an emotional, moving voyage through the dying throes of a marriage.

A movie idea: Atonement

I enjoy a thought-provoking movie and, when I ran across this review, wanted to share. I haven't seen the movie yet but plan to. Ben Witherington writes a compelling report on the movie Atonement.

And here's a question for you: why does it seem that movies which engage most thoughtfully in Christian themes (like atonement) are so often made by non-believers?