Julie and Julia (Amy Adams, Meryl Streep)

(Amazon UK link)

We watched the film ‘Julie and Julia’ nearly nine years ago, and liked it very much. So we decided to watch it again last night. I had forgotten the plot, but did recall that it was based on a true story, and also that it was about cooking.

What we had not remembered, until it got going, is that it’s actually based on two true stories. One is that of Julia Child, who was an American living in France in the 1940s. In the film, played brilliantly by the wonderful Meryl Streep, she is quite an outspoken woman who adores French cooking.

Julia's husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) is a diplomat who is regularly posted in different places, but Julia doesn’t like to be inactive. So she decides to take cookery classes, and ends up amongst a group of men training in Cordon Bleu. And when - eventually - she finishes, she determines to write a book that will help American women learn to cook in the French way.

It’s a long and complex journey to publication, but the end of the film sees her holding in her hands a copy of ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’. It’s not a spoiler to say this because the other storyline, running concurrently through the film, is that of a young woman called Julie (Amy Adams), in 2002, who is persuaded by her husband Eric (Chris Messina) to start a blog. For her theme, she determines to work her way through every one of the recipes in Julia’s book in the course of a year.

In a sense there isn’t much plot. We know that Julia’s book is eventually going to be published, and we assume that Julie is going to succeed in her challenge. But there’s a great deal of characterisation, and many little subplots, laced with some humour and also some poignancy. Julia’s relationship with Paul is contrasted subtly with Julie’s relationship with Eric. Both are strong, loving marriages, but Julie’s inevitably has a different kind of balance; for one thing she’s working full-time as well as learning to cook.

There’s also a huge contrast in the large house where Julia and Paul live, versus the small flat with a tiny kitchen where Julie and Eric find themselves. And Julia is a much stronger personality, while Julie is sensitive and easily upset. They have friends; Julie does a lot of entertaining with the dishes she produces, and Julia collaborates with various people over her book.

But the four main characters carry most of the story.  And they’re all excellent, but of course Meryl Streep still stands out; she IS Julia. Stanley Tucci is great as her husband, and the two have quite a believable chemistry. But he’s still Stanley Tucci, and I was reminded, several times, of other roles I’ve seen him in. I didn’t recognise the younger couple at all, so they were easy enough to believe in. But Meryl Streep is unique. We’ve seen her in many, many roles but each one is entirely different. Other than a few facial expressions and a characteristic eye roll, we kept forgetting that it was an actress, let alone one we’ve seen in many other parts.

The ending is a little strange and abrupt, but generally encouraging. And there’s a ‘making of’ documentary with our DVD which was watched, and found very interesting. 

Rated 12A, which seems a little high; there's some bad language but it's not excessive, and nothing explicit. The only bit I really didn't like in the film was a scene involving a live lobster (shudder). Overall, I would recommend this to anyone with any interest in cooking, or who would like to see something rather different from most films. 

 However it's not likely to be of interest to children anyway.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Maid in Manhattan (Jennifer Lopez)

(Amazon UK link)

We wanted to watch something light, not too deep and not too long. We hadn’t seen ‘Maid in Manhattan’ since 2011, shortly after we acquired it, and although we had entirely forgotten the storyline, it looked as though it would meet our requirements.

The main character in this film is Marisa (Jennifer Lopez) who works as a maid at a hotel in Manhattan. She is a single mother raising her son Ty, who must be about eight or nine. His father is notoriously unreliable, regularly promising to do things with him and then letting him down at the last minute. Ty is a likeable boy, very realistically played by Tyler Posey but quite lacking in self-confidence. We see him, early in the film, forgetting a speech he has been working on, as he becomes nervous.

Marisa works hard and conscientiously, and is very good at her job. So when a position comes up in management, her colleagues think she should apply. She’s not at all sure, and is distracted by one of her friends persuading her to try on an extremely expensive outfit belonging to a wealthy socialite called Caroline who is staying at the hotel.

We had remembered this scene, and some of the story started to come back to us as Marisa is mistaken for the wealthy lady in question, after Ty meets another guest - a guy called Chris Marshall (Ralph Fiennes) who is hoping to become a senator. Chris has a large and friendly dog, and Ty loves dogs. The two form a surprising bond, and Chris then sees Marisa dressed up and persuades her to go out for a walk…

In a nutshell, it’s a predictable rom-com, with a strong Cinderella theme. But there are a great many stumbling blocks in the romance, with Caroline (Natasha Richardson) playing the part of a pushy, arrogant ‘ugly sister’. There are some one-liners that made us smile, and some quite poignant scenes too, particularly one where Chris takes the time to help Ty understand how he too becomes nervous when he makes speeches.

But it’s extremely well done, with a good pace, and some excellent supporting cast including Stanley Tucci as Chris’s harassed press officer and Bob Hoskins as the hotel butler. There's good chemistry between the two main characters, and the scenes involving Ty are delightful. There are some thought-provoking comments about how hotel staff can seem invisible, and are sometimes considered inferior to wealthy socialites, but it's not done in a heavy way.

All in all, it was the perfect film for our requirements, and we enjoyed it very much.

Although apparently it was previously rated 12 in the UK, it’s now PG, which seems about right. There’s minor bad language and hints of nudity, but nothing explicit. However I can’t imagine it would be of any interest to anyone under the age of about fourteen or fifteen. In the US it’s rated PG-13.

Definitely recommended.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Mystic Pizza (Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor)

(Amazon UK link)

We knew we had watched the film ‘Mystic Pizza’ nearly ten years ago, but neither of us had the faintest recollection of the story, or any of the characters. We wanted something lightweight so it seemed like a good idea to watch it again.

The story is about three very different young women who all work at a pizza parlour in a small American town called Mystic. Kat (Annabeth Gish) is a very likeable character. She’s kind, highly intelligent, and gets along very well with children. She works hard in several jobs, as she’s saving up to go to Yale University.

Kat’s sister Daisy (Julia Roberts) is different in almost every respect. She’s flighty, hot-tempered, and seems to have few, if any ethics. She treats men as disposable commodities, and keeps landing her sister with extra hours at the pizza parlour.

Then there’s JoJo (Lili Taylor), whom we first meet when she’s about to get married to Bill (Vincent D’Onofrio)… until she realises exactly what she is promising. She doesn’t feel ready for quite that level of commitment.

All three grow up a little in the course of this film. Kat falls in love, although she knows she should be careful as the guy is married. Daisy starts dating someone from an entirely different walk of life, and starts to see herself differently. And Jojo has to work out what she really feels about Bill after an argument where he throws some home truths in her face.

Much of the story is set in the pizza parlour, which is presided over by the Italian Leona (Conchata Ferrell). People travel a long way for her pizza, which is made to a secret recipe that she refuses to divulge to anyone.

It’s a well-made light-hearted film, contrasting the three girls quite cleverly. Daisy and Kat inevitably have some arguments, but are fond of each other deep down. There are one or two poignant scenes, and a few places where we chuckled. We both recalled one or two incidents from the film, but nothing much about the storyline, possibly because it’s not particularly deep - three girls have relationships with three guys, with different levels of success.

And yet the whole is quite engaging, and made an excellent light evening’s viewing. While we watched, we could believe in this small town and each person’s problems. The minor characters are fairly typecast, but somehow it doesn’t matter too much. It was made in 1988, so inevitably it’s somewhat dated; but that also isn’t a problem.

Rated 15, which seems about right. There’s a fair amount of bad language, though mostly used in appropriate situations. There’s a lot of talk about sex too; no nudity or explicit bedroom scenes, but plenty of innuendoes and implications.

Recommended in a low-key way to anyone who likes light-hearted rom-com films.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Mansfield Park (Sylvestra Le Touzel)

(Amazon UK link)

I have liked Jane Austen’s novels since my teenage years. But I have to acknowledge that, in places, they can be a bit slow-moving. So although in general I prefer books to their film adaptations, I have very much enjoyed some of the film versions of Austen’s books.

Except for ‘Mansfield Park’. I’m not even going to link to my review of the bizarre version we saw back in 2008, with Billie Piper extraordinarily badly cast as the gentle, strait-laced Fanny Price. 

So I was delighted to learn that there was also a BBC version, in several episodes (rather like the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice which was so well done, and so popular). It was made in 1983 as a mini-series. We were given it years ago, but had not actually watched it, thinking - at first - that we would need a full afternoon to see such a long adaptation.

It made more sense, of course, to see just one episode at a time, as would have been the case with the TV version. And although my husband had never read ‘Mansfield Park’, and couldn’t remember the story from the other version, he appreciated this almost as much as I did. With six episodes, this version is able to be very true to the book. I haven’t read it for some time, but when I checked particular scenes after watching them, I saw that the dialogue and action was close to the original.

Fanny Price is played sensitively by Sylvestra Le Touzel. She sometimes seems a bit flat, but Fanny is a poor relation. She is given a home by her wealthier uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, at their home in Mansfield Park. They don’t exactly mistreat her - this is no Jane Eyre story - but see her as inferior, and expect her to do a lot of menial work. She’s quiet and retiring, and happy to do anything, so she becomes quite invaluable to her frail invalid aunt (Angela Pleasance).

I found Lady Bertram rather irritating, but think that’s how she’s supposed to be. And she’s a great deal kinder than her sister-in-law, the widowed Mrs Norris, who idolises the two Bertram girls, Maria and Julia, and treats Fanny as little more than a servant. Mrs Norris is one of Austen’s ironical creations, and she’s played extremely well in this adaptation by Anna Massey.

I very much liked Nicholas Farrell's portrayal of Edmund Bertram, Fanny's favourite cousin. He is kind, and generous in his time spent with her. He helps with her education, discusses philosophical issues with her, and it's hardly surprising that she starts to fall in love with him...

A six-part adaptation is necessarily fairly slow-moving, but we didn’t lose interest. The main part of the story - in my mind - happens when the young people decide, in Sir Thomas’s absence, to stage a somewhat risque play. They take over more and more of the house to do so. That doesn’t happen until the fourth episode, by which time the characters and their situations are well established.

There’s a great deal of satirical humour in the situations, often at the expense of some of the less likeable people. The scenery is good, the dialogue faithful to Austen’s original, and the pace exactly right. Even knowing how it would end I found myself quite tense in the later episodes.

The ending, although it ties up several plot-lines and leaves everyone satisfactorily situated, feels a bit abrupt. But then it all takes place in a single chapter in the book, with a lot of reflection and inner dialogue which wouldn’t work in a film.

All in all, we thought it a very good adaptation. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Austen’s works and would like to see a version of Mansfield Park that sticks as close to the original story as is possible with a film.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews