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the_urbanite
Reviews
The Julia Child Challenge (2022)
Julia Is Spinning
I can't help but think that Julia Child would hate this show. I understand amateur cooks make good TV because there is drama when they screw things up, but this show is just bizarre. I also couldn't help but notice the lack of white men on the show. We're talking about French cuisine... something invented and perfected over hundreds of years, largely by white men. So why are almost none of the contests and (five episodes in) none of the judges French men? The casting seems like an effort to be woke. I also think it's incredibly disrespectful to a cuisine you're supposed to be cherishing by lavishing praise on contestants who bastardize it by bringing in elements from other cuisines. Wouldn't it be the most challenging to get to understand the traditional French way instead of just throwing in some Japanese ingredients and calling it inventive?
Julia (2022)
half baked
Darn I wanted this show to work. I really did. But there are just too many problems with it to overlook. First is the opening scene. It is completely unnecessary and feels like a repeat of "Julie and Julia." Then we get to the TV station in Boston where we find they've DELETED the actual producer of the original pilot of THE FRENCH CHEF and replaced her with a FICTIONAL CHARACTER. All the other characters at the station are written as white male stereotypes who couldn't care less about Julia Child, when in real life they most certainly did. The actress they cast as Julia Child is marvelous, she just doesn't nail this performance, so it pales compared to Meryl Streep's. We also get an unnecessary FRASIER reunion with Niles and Marris. So much of the drama in contrived it results in eye rolls. I'm going to watch the entire series just like I did the grotesque AND JUST LIKE THAT, and think of how it could've been so so so much better.
Don't Look Up (2021)
genius on so many levels
If you're intelligent enough to understand satire, you'll love this. But if you're like the 70% of Americans too stupid to understand this kind of comedy, and feel this film is making fun of you (because it is), you might not get it. The performances in Don't Look Up are top notch. And it's wonderful to see DiCaprio and Blanchett reunited, as they were electric together in The Aviator. The many barbs thrown at the media are fascinating and accurate. And after watching it you can't help but wonder if such a life-altering scenario were to play out in real life, would news of it be obscured by the latest contrived Kardashian drama.
Le concours (2016)
Cruel and Unusual
What a strange film. It's shot interestingly and some of the subjects they chose to interview are compelling. However, they never stay with them long enough to see how their journey goes. The individuals performing the interviews and other assessments are often highly unprofessional and over-criticize the students for their demeanor in interviews. As a screenwriter, I have to say I am grateful for the Hollywood system - as flawed as it is - to never resort to personal humiliation like what is shown in this film. France appears to have an abundance of young creatives. I recommend they all purchase one way airline tickets to Los Angeles if this film is indicative of how they're treated in the French film industry.