If you cannot do it, do not do it.

[rubbrducky115]

julia
cast: jane fonda, vanessa redgrave, meryl streep
what imdb says: At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.

1. As everyone in my life knows, I'm slowly but surely working my way through the Meryl Streep filmography. And seeing as this was the first to ever put her on the big screen, clearly it had to be watched. Unfortunately, she is in two scenes. So, as far as Meryl movies go, this wasn't a big one. If it had been made later on, she probably would have been cast as one of the leads (I think she was actually considered but then dropped because of her lack of fame -- certainly not for lack of talent). Anyway, moving on to actual comments of worth I suppose.
2. The movie calls for you to revere and worship Julia, but I certainly did not. I thought the things she asked of Lillian and her behavior towards her best friend weren't very admirable. They did not seem like best friends at all, Lillian just worships her for the whole film and I never understood what she did to deserve this worship.
3. Seeing these older actresses in their prime is always interesting though, because Jane Fonda is just this old lady now who's been suckered into playing grandmothers and stuff. She's beautiful in this movie. Vanessa Redgrave does an excellent job as well
4. I liked that it was a nazi movie without actually being a nazi movie. I didn't have to endure much suffering like I did when I watched Sophie's Choice. Now that movie hurts. This showed the slow uprising I suppose. There was a lot of paranoia about, necessary paranoia but paranoia nonetheless. I was concerned much of the second half for Lillian and the crazy shit she had to pull for Julia. Especially since she was a Jewish woman asked to smuggle money into Berlin. THE BERLIN IN GERMANY.
5. I read a review-ish thing on this movie recently, and I may have to steal some ideas from it, considering it gave me a lot of information in a more concise voice about what I was feeling. The movie was based on a book and a lot of points were swept over very quickly in the movie, especially the character of Anne Marie played by Ms. Streep. It was obvious that more could have been said but for the sake of the film were not. I feel it would have been better if they had used all the material, even though that hardly ever happens -- even in big franchise movies. Yeah, I'm looking at you Harry Potter
6. Not much else to say, I suppose, besides that it's weird to see blonde acting sensation Meryl in two scenes as a brunette. Although she's pretty much the same.

coming up: eternal sunshine, happy-go-lucky, in bruges, quantum of solace, away we go, star wars (IV-VI), postcards from the edge