For The Author Julie Powell, It's Lights! Camera! Cooking!

A delightful conversation with Julie Powell, author of "Julie & Julia", was had earlier this week. Julie is a passionate cook whose life was in freefall just seven years ago. Julia Child, the iconic cooking legend and author helped inspire Ms. Powell and soon the Austin, Texas-born Ms. Powell started a blog and cooked more than 500 of Ms. Child's recipes in one year. The film "Julie & Julia" which is based on Ms. Powell and Ms. Child's separate books, opens in the U.S. and Canada on August 7. Here's the feature story. Enjoy. And eat!

"Julie & Julia"

Look out for "Julie & Julia" -- I saw it last night. The film, based on two true stories, is about cooking master Julia Child and cooking aspirant-turned-famous cook Julie Powell, and is directed by Nora Ephron. Meryl Streep and Amy Adams (both of "Doubt") star in Ms. Ephron's film. "Julie & Julia" opens on August 7 in the U.S. and Canada.

"Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince"

Pottermaniacs: This "Harry" Gets Better With Age. David Yates gets this edition right, with a few imperfections. http://www.popcornreel.com/htm/hpotter09rev.htm

Back On The Popcorn Trail

It's been a while - have neglected The Reel more than I'd like. I've been very busy and have also fallen under the spell of Twitter -- I can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/popcornreel. I will also be blogging here regularly.

When Obsession Is Beyond Obsession

I don't have the words to explain. But something has to be done. Just read on, please.

"Spinning" Into Coincidence?

Sarah Jessica Parker as Dean Sarah Daniels in the new film "Spinning Into Butter".
(Photo: Screen Media Films)
Last Wednesday (March 25) was one of coincidences. I had posted an early review of the film "Spinning Into Butter" which depicts racial tension and racism on a college campus in Vermont. Sarah Jessica Parker (above) stars and does a good job in the role of Dean Sarah Daniels. Strangely enough, I had not realized (I found out later) that March 25 was Ms. Parker's 44th birthday. Also on that same day, the renowned and revered black historian John Hope Franklin died, aged 94. He had experienced racism and racial tension first hand and wrote books about it and many other topics. What did these three events have to do with each other? Not much perhaps, but they are related by topic, timing and circumstance.

A very interesting Wednesday indeed.

In Hollywood Films Today, Where Are The Women Of Howard Hawks' Day?

Howard Hawks and his star Lauren Bacall, who made her debut in
Mr. Hawks' "To Have And Have Not", opposite Humphrey Bogart.
Miss Bacall was just 19 at the time, and she told ol' Bogey where to
get off. (Photo: UCLA Film Archives)

The recent spate of Hollywood girl-power love stories and romances ("Bride Wars", etc.) showing women as inept, self-pitying, spoiled rotten brats crescendoed last month with "He's Just Not That Into You", which has become a moderate hit since its release a week prior to Valentine's Day in the U.S. and Canada. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times pointed out the stupefying depths of degradation and dumbing down of women in these Hollywood comedies, longing for the days of tougher women like "Thelma & Louise".

Which brought me to thinking: what about the women of American filmmaker Howard Hawks' films from the 1930s through the 1950s in particular? What has happened to that kind of women in today's Hollywood film? Read on . . .