Two More Cinematic Issues This Christmas : Does Wonder Woman Divide Families In Ways You Don't Expect? And Is Julie And Julia "A Woman's Film" ?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Tell you what. As we all get older picking a movie that we all can watch gets more difficult for this family. When wife and I were courting it resolved itself by us agreeing on alternate choices. When daughter was much younger we acquiesced on whatever her Disney cartoon choice turned out to be. But as I've mentioned in a previous post when we as a family have the opportunity to watch a film together  now there is a massive debate.

Yesterday was such a day.

As I've mentioned before the biggest (and I'll admit widest) obstacle to the family picking a movie is me. The testosterone elephant in the room. A lot of the choices were clearly designed "for the woman's market" and I wasn't going to risk in the rare opportunity for us to watch something that there was a possibility I was going to fall asleep over (And before you say. Regular readers will know that I'm prepared to experiment with books that appear to be solely for women to see if the covers were different male readers would be interested. But books offer you solitary time that films watched with others do not).

Neither wife and daughter were impressed. Wife said "But you like Julie and Julia. And that's a woman's film."

Now I must admit that threw me. I could have gone into an argument with my wife on it but just couldn't be bothered to do so. But as I have a blog I'll just mark down my response here.

Julie and Julia for those who have never seen it is a favourite movie of mine. It's central characters are two women, Julia Childs who wrote Mastering The Art Of French Cooking and Julie Powell who wrote a blog where she attempted to cook all of the recipes in that book in a year. However neither could be considered "girly" (the lobster scene with regard to Julie Powell aside).

The men in their lives are not cardboard clichés. They are loving partners. But again the relationships are realistic. They are already there. If this was a "woman's film" then the cliché would suggest they would have started single and found romance

I'm sure I'm not the only man who is a fan of this film. I've always liked it. Perhaps because I'm a regular blogger now. But also because early this year it was one of those things that pulled me along whilst looking after my mother in Essex exile. And for that I will always be grateful.

So I think of it not as " a woman's film" but a film with women as it's central characters. Which is different. Not really sure why wife thinks differently but there you are.

But let's talk about the movie we eventually saw. Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot. Daughter wanted to see it and I was OK with the choice. Only wife was reluctant but eventually gave in. Though I wouldn't claim any scientific research in what I'm going to say next I have noticed that, shall we say, "women of a certain age" don't seem to be all that interested in this film. Perhaps it's for the same reason that Disney movies have lost their charm for me now. It's just the passing of the years. To be honest though I have no idea.

For me though it did have curiosity value. But let's be clear here. despite Ms Gadot's unquestioned beauty trust me when I say that in all of my life's testosterised fantasies Amazonian warriors have never played a part. No being a comic book reader as a child I was just curious how it would turn out. In the same way I've chatted about The Flash and Ant Man and the Wasp during the summer.

Let's start with Ms Gadot. There are some actors who are immediately the comic book character they play with no issues whatsoever. Christopher Reeve as Superman, Robert Downey Junior as Iron Man. She is unquestionably Wonder Woman for those who read the comics with no Ben Affleck issues whatsoever.

The movie has been praised to the heights. It isn't perfect. Here I come back to the wife who moaned that the beginning was slow. And she was right. It is slow. Noticed Daughter looking at her Ipod during this period.

However when Wonder Woman enters into battle then it picks up and we were all watching the TV with no comments. From that moment on you got a sense of the comic (though slightly more adult) which is I think the best praise I can truly give it.

So in the end the choice worked.....dreading the next time we have to choose a movie as a family though.

Until the next time.