Movie: Post Grad * Official Site	In Theaters: Aug. 21, 2009
Runtime: 89 minutes	Directed by: Vicky Jenson
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual situations and brief strong language	Gecko Rating:

"Post Grad" is one of those movies that’s fun while you’re watching it, but you probably won’t remember it the next day. Or even 10 minutes after you leave the theater.

It stars the adorable Alexis Bledel as Ryden Malby, a girl who’s just graduated from college and is ready to go out and conquer the world. Or at least her own little corner of it.

Ever since she was a little girl, Ryden has had a plan: get good grades in school, graduate from college with honors, and get her dream job at a prestigious publishing company. She’s done the first two, but getting the job? Not going as planned.

So Ryden moves back home with her family, which includes dad Walter (Michael Keaton), mom Carmella (Jane Lynch), little brother Hunter (Bobby Coleman), and grandma Maureen (Carol Burnett).

Meanwhile, her best friend since childhood, Adam (Zach Gilford, who plays Matt Saracen on "Friday Night Lights"), has been harboring a serious crush on her forever, only Ryden just sees him as a friend. She’s much more interested in the hot Brazilian guy next door, David Santiago (Rodrigo Santoro), who actually helps her land a tie-over job as an assistant where he works, directing infomercials. He’s not so happy with his job either, though.

The strong part of this movie is Alexis Bledel. She’s sweet, funny, and cute. She could handle a leading role if the rest of the movie was good, but this one just isn’t. I love all of the actors, and it’s nice to see Michael Keaton in a movie again. But the characters are somewhat one-dimensional.

Keaton plays kind of a kooky dad who’s always looking for that next big thing; Jane Lynch seems like she did this role in her off-hours while writing her grocery list; Carol Burnett is the also-kooky grandmother who decides she needs to pick out a casket now; Zach Gilford is the sweet and adoring guy-next-door who never gets the girl; and so on and so forth.

You get the drift. There’s really nothing new here, and Bledel’s character isn’t strong enough to carry the movie on her own. Still, it does have a good message about the importance of family and following your dreams, even if those dreams change over time and you need to be conked over the head to figure that out.

Ivan Reitman is the producer, which is surprising because most of his recent projects have fared better, including "Disturbia" and "I Love You, Man." By the way, his daughter, Catherine Reitman, plays Bledel’s college rival, Jessica.

Image: TM and © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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Movie: Julie & Julia * 7 Clips * Official Site	In Theaters: Aug. 7, 2009
Runtime: 123 minutes	Directed by: Nora Ephron
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and some sensuality	Gecko Rating:

Sometimes I feel a lot like Julie Powell (Amy Adams). She’s a girl-next-door type who’s just trying to get by in the world, but coming up against roadblocks at every turn. Ok, I like my job a lot better than she likes hers, but I can certainly see where she’s coming from. We all need something to get us through the tough times, something that’s ours and ours alone, something to make us get up in the morning and keep fighting the good fight.

For Julie, that something is a blog. Ok, I identify with that, too, since I write several blogs and teach an online blogging class, to boot. Julie’s blog is very focused and even has a deadline. She realizes that the one thing she loves to do after a hard day in her cubicle dealing with people who want to talk to someone in power (of which she has none), is come home and cook. Thus, she decides to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Childs’ cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

Based on a true story and a real book, "Julie & Julia" follows Julie Powell’s life as she takes on this noble task. She feels like Julia Child is in the kitchen with her, helping her to get through all the recipes, bolstering her during the kitchen disasters, and cheering her on – even through the horrible tasks of boning a duck and cooking live lobsters.

The fact is, that Julia Child (Meryl Streep) doesn’t even know about Julie Powell. But as the film follows Julie’s life, it’s also following the parallel life of Julia Child, based on her real-life book, "My Life in France," co-written with her nephew Alex Prud’homme.

The way these two lives intertwine — even though they’re decades apart and on opposite sides of the planet — is amazing. Like Julie Powell, Julia Child endured all sorts of problems, too. After moving to France with her loving husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci), she learns how to speak French (enough to get by), figures out what she wants to do with herself (hint: it’s not making hats or playing bridge), decides to take cooking classes at the Cordon Bleu (the only female student), and falls in with two other women writing a cookbook. She does it all with grace, determination and fearlessness, even when all the odds are stacked against her.

And so also goes the life of Julie Powell. She’s working at a dead-end secretarial job in New York City, living in a tiny apartment in Queens, and feeling like she’s going nowhere as she turns 30. Her one saving grace is her "saint" of a husband, Eric (Chris Messina) — although he finally says he’s "not a saint," because part-way through the project he wishes it would all go away.

Along with the husbands, we get to meet Julia’s sister, Dorothy (Jane Lynch), Julie’s no-nonsense friend, Sarah (Mary Lynn Rajskub), and assorted other friends and coworkers.

Along with a great story, the remarkable talents of Meryl Streep and Amy Adams really shine through here. Great casting on both counts, and you feel like you really know these characters by the end of the movie. I wish it would have continued so we could see where their stories went from there.

This movie also gives you hope and inspiration that good things do happen if you keep persevering and believing in yourself, even when you just don’t feel like it.

Note to Parents: A few scenes show married couples falling into bed together. Language includes "bitch," "f*ck" (used only once), "ass," "crap," "sh*t," and the phrase, "…it’s as stiff as a hot cock," referring to a food item. That said, it’s not nearly as adult-oriented as some PG-13 movies, which is why I think it’s ok for kids 13 and older who love stories about cooking, being fearless, and persevering against the odds.

Images: Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Movie: Spring Breakdown * Official Site	On DVD: June 2, 2009
Runtime: 84 minutes	Directed by: Ryan Shiraki
MPAA Rating: Rated R for crude humor and sexual references	Gecko Rating:

Got 84 minutes. Need a laugh? Don’t care if the movie is riddled with sex and crude humor? Then you need to watch “Spring Breakdown,” my friends.

There’s nothing new here. It’s the familiar story of nerdy kids wanting to be cool. But when you’ve got Amy Poehler, Parker Posey, Rachel Dratch, Amber Tamblyn, Jane Lynch and Seth Myers in the cast, you know you’re in for a few good chortles.

Poehler, Parker and Dratch are in their 30s now, and lamenting the coolness they missed out on in high school and college. So they head to South Padre for Spring Break. Parker’s main task is to keep her politician boss’s geeky daughter (Tamblyn) from pulling any shenanigans. Meanwhile, it’s beers, bikinis and upside-down shots.

So pull yourself away from all the heavy movies about war and family drama, and take a walk on the Spring Breakdown side. It’s “Saturday Night Live” meets “Where the Boys Are” meets “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

Image: Amazon.com

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