Cineplexus

Julie & Julia ★★★★

Hey, It's on Netflix Instant Watch.

Biopics are tricky things. When the inspiration for a film is a real person's life, there's a severely limited range of possible outcomes, and the opportunities for plot points. Nora Ephron's latest film, Julie and Julie, has a unique way of dealing with the often static or clumsy nature of the biopic. Instead of telling one story, it tells two – those of the eponymous Julie, a reluctant, almost-thirty government worker who starts a cooking blog in 2002 Queens, and of Julia Child, the famous chef and co-author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the book that serves as the blueprint for Julie's blog.

The film is based on a book of the same name, but since I haven't read it, I can't speak to how faithful the adaptation remains, nor do I know how the book handled the "Julia" part of the story. As fascinating and remarkable a subject as Julia Child was bound to have a film made about her eventually, and her scenes in this movie are unfailingly charming. Both stories, in fact, are interesting and engaging, well cast and marvelously acted (of course) by Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. But it's the intersection of the two stories, their parallels despite 50 years of separation, that reveal the art of the movie's 2-story device.

Julie and Julia isn't a perfect movie; it has some moments of forced conflict, including a scene where a personal crisis for Julie is resolved by her personal discovery that she is "a bitch," and the film ends with a truly odd and abrupt freeze-frame, but maybe I'm being picky. The real issue here is that the movie is bound to seem saccharin to some, as sweet films often do. But touching films don't have to be silly, and this one isn't. There is a moment near the end of the film when a potential publisher cooks a dish from the manuscript of French Cooking, not yet knowing that she's about to produce one of history's most famous cookbooks. As she leans over for a second taste of the delicious product of her labor, engrossed in her labour, a bit of wine sauce splashes out into the pages of the recipe. It's a moment that anyone who loves to cook would savor. Sure, it's sweet. But for my part, I don't mind sweet, especially when it comes from the kitchen.

Inglourious Basterds ★★★★½

Quentin Tarantino. A devisive figure to be sure. Is he the great modern filmmaker of his generation, or is he some sort of sick psychopath with a thing for old movies and squirm-inducing violence?

He may, of course, be both. But Tarantino-haters may have to stifle themselves a bit in the wake of the director's most recent film, Inglourious Basterds. Along with a whole bunch of shooting, stabbing, cutting, and bleeding, Tarantino has included a fascInating plot, captivating characters (villain Col. Landa, played by Christoph Waltz, and heroine Shoshanna, played by Mélanie Laurent, are two for the ages), and suspense that proves positively nailbiting. Literally. As in, this particular moviegoer is admitting that her teeth met her fingernails during this film. Oh, and much of it is in French and German with subtitles. How mature and appropriate!

Tarantino reportedly labored for ages writing the film, which he's characterized in interviews as his "spaghetti western." God bless him for that. While the director's cinephilia is very evident throughout Basterds, to describe it as the "Tarantino version" of anything we've seen before is selling it short. Here we have an astonishing melting pot of genres–drama, action, comedy, war, arthouse, and, sure, some westernia–that pays homage to the cinematic arts of the decade it portrays even as it creates something entirely new. And though the film's violent scenes are horrific, they are always brief or balanced with a fair amount of plot development and dialogue. Most of the film's duration–and it's very long, though I didn't mind–is devoted to another kInd of pain: the soul-twisting suspense of not knowing who's going to win each of the film's many battles of wits.

Bravo, Mr. Tarantino, you crazy basterd. I was expecting to enjoy this film, but I ended up loving it.

In the Loop ★★★★

The past few years have been jam packed with movies showcasing different perspectives on the Middle East, and on war in the Middle East specifically. Babel, Rendition, Grace is Gone…not too many of these movies have been gutbusters. I cannot, nor will I ever, subject myself to Delta Farce, so I can't speak to its comedic value. But British comedy In the Loop manages to offer an original, scathing take on Western government that is both hilarious and timely, even if its references to going to war in the Middle East refer largely to events that have long since passed.

The film focuses on a few mid-level figures in both the English and the American government, and is thus set in London and D.C. The role each government's minor players begin to take on in each other's worlds builds until it has a major effect on world events. If that sounds pretty serious, that's the beauty of In the Loop. Throughout the film, serious events are unfolding at the hands of especially un-serious people. And the most threatening figures are also the most hilarious – two Scots who can't go more that a few seconds without swearing while screaming are in charge of the English government's public relations.

A constant barrage of accents, sycophants, sarcasm, and cultural-reference jokes keep what could be a dry political "thriller" a fresh, funny, and biting political comedy. Go see it at your local indie house ASAP if you're good with accents (Chicagoans, it's showing at the Landmark Century at least through this weekend). Otherwise, wait for the subtitled DVD so you won't miss a beat.

500 Days of Summer ★★★★½

From the very start, 500 Days of Summer asserts that it is going to be different from other movies. It has a quirky, ironic voice-over by an omniscient narrator, an unuaual dedication, a decidedly unorthodox timeline. And, it states, it is not a love story.

Jumping around from the ending to the middle to the beginning and back again, the film tells the story of somewhat starcrossed couple Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Breaking the traditional gender roles (as promised), Tom is a born romantic, looking for his perfect match, and taking the whole search very seriously, while Summer is somewhat afraid of commitment, obsessed with her own independence.

500 Days of Summer is definitely not a "chick flick", but I found myself warmly relating to Tom's character, both his sensibilities and his dilemmas. There's a wonderful chemistry between Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel, who both do the film an amazing service as tremendous, recognizable-but-indie actors. Their endearing take on two very realistic characters combines with an offbeat sensibility that pervades the whole movie (there's a post-coital musical number, for example) to create a finished product that's captivating, hilarious, and, above all, totally orginal.