The September Issue and Into the Storm

On the face of it, The September Issue is a documentary about the months it takes to put together Vogue’s huge September issue, but really it is a glimpse into the real scary calm rule of Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor, known to most of us nonfashion followers as the woman who Meryl Streep played in The Devil Wears Prada. I kept seeing Streep’s portrayal throughout this movie, without the over top behavior liking flopping the coat on her assistant’s desk, such as the stare of disdain. You know really, the movie isn’t just a portrayal of Wintour, the movie plays up the conflict between the decisive Wintour and the creative director, Grace Coddington, who seems to be the great talent of Vogue magazine. The two of them, women of a “certain” age, go to head to head, while never directly confronting each other. They do try to strong arm the other – of course, Wintour usually way wins, but it is definitely a battle that is fun to watch: reality drama at its finest.

I also watched Into the Storm – another portrayal of a real person: Winston Churchill. The segment of his life we see in the movie is during WWII, and it shows his strength in leading England through one if it’s most difficult times. We also see a quirky, petulant, brilliant side to Winston Churchill, a man I knew little about it before I saw this movie. It was an interesting but probably but not exciting movie for most. My dad, a big Winston Churchill fan, would probably really like it.

Julie and Julia, Guest Entry by my Mom, Doralu

Julie and Julia exceeded my expectations. Meryl Streep, who I have always admired, IS Julia. I went with my two daughters and we all were engrossed from beginning to end. There are two stories to the movie: Two people from different generations, whose lives become entwined by a love of food and cooking. One story centers on Julia Child's life in France and one is about Julie Powell, the blogger who in one year attempted make all of the recipes in Child's famous French cooking book. We had read that the Amy Adams part as Julie was not as good the Streep parts of the movie. But we disagreed and found the blogger Julie played by Amy Adams to be very good in her role and her story very important to the movie as a whole. Despite that I, especially thought Julia Child's life was interesting; her husband was an American diplomat who traveled around the world in China and of course France. After Child's took a cooking class at the Cordon Blue, she became obsessed with French cooking. Her next step was collaborating with two French women on the masterpiece cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Coincidentally when we got back from the movie, we saw Meryl Streep and Nora Ephron on Charlie Rose. A nice ending to the day.

Doubt

I finally saw Doubt after having read about it, seeing actor interviews about it, and catching the Oscar hype. etc. So of course that colors the way you see a movie. Also, I watched it with my Catholic parents, coloring the view even further. My dad's reaction was, "Is this all it is about?" My mom hated that one of her favorite actresses, Meryl Streep, played such a negative character. Besides my mom enjoying some of the music (she sang along to a favorite hymn: "Holy God, We Praise my Name") and thinking that they did show a good side to the Catholic church in the movie -- we don't see the stereotypically awful harsh world of the Catholic church that is often portrayed in the movies -- she got bored with it. Indeed it was slow. The movie seemed like a stage play that maybe should have stayed on stage. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams were also very good in the movie. Hoffman's homilies were probably some of the more interesting parts of the movie. And the part that is in doubt? Well, it seemed kind of ridiculous in the end. It seemed like a nun who is always looking for evil and when not finding proof of it, invents it.

Mama Mia

I had the pleasure of seeing Mama Mia with my mother, aunt, and uncle which really added to the enjoyment of this rather silly movie. Besides the good company, the movie is worth watching to see Meryl Streep belt out Abba tunes and to marvel at the incredible Greek island where the movie is filmed. As a side note, the young groom in the film was the Willoughby in the recent PBS Sense and Sensibility. Gosh, there does always seem to be a Jane Austen connection.