Julie & Julia
This movie was very good, and a lot of it has to do with Meryl Streep's wonderful performance. I didn't expect such an attention-grabbing plot. I was never alive during Julia Child's heyday, now I wish I would have been. Meryl plays the part so naturally. I also have to give major props to Amy Adams' performance. This movie was really good, and this is my own judgment. Whether or not Ebert thought it was good does not matter.
It is films like this that redeem the mistakes of modern film-making. An excellent effort, that doesn't try to be artsy or grand, it's just good.
Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time
Following a wonderful film like Julie & Julia is not a good position to be in on movie night. I tried my best to avoid the movie, because Uwe Boll literally destroyed any spark of interest I could possibly have for a video game adaptation. To add more to that, the trailers weren't doing this flick any favors. So I decided it best to never watch it. Thanks to Dish, and my parent's need to watch EVERYTHING, we watched this wonder of modern cinema.
I actually enjoyed what was presented to me. It wasn't as engaging, or casted as well as it could have been, yet I felt it had some good things.
I haven't played any of the games, so I don't really know much, but judging from what little exposure I've had to the games, I would say it did better than most adaptations. If you look past Jake Gyllenhaal's poor Persian portrayal, he does better than expected. I still think it was a bad casting decision. While actors Ben Kingsly, and Alfred Molina can basically play any ethnicity they need to, and in some respects, they add colour to the film.
The problem was that I didn't really care for what was going on. Dastan (Prince of Persia) is too much of a badass, so you can't relate to him, and you don't fear for him. He is going through trying times with no problems at all. Then he has the ability to fix any mistake he makes.
Visuals 5/5
Music 3/5
Casting 1/5
Story 2/5