FOOD MOVIES TO GORGE ON - AND TO AVOID

GREAT to see Meryl Streep on such top form again in Julie & Julia (12A) which I'll be reviewing in Friday's Birmingham Mail.

Having turned 60 in June she's putting the likes of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro to shame as they seemed to have almost given up the ghost by this point.

Watching this film about learning to cook earlier this week set me thinking... about other related movies.

Adapted from Julie Powell's own book and efficiently directed by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle / You've Got M@il / Bewitched), Julie & Julia is one of the great films about the joy of food and first we've had for some time if you overlook Ratatouille (2007).

If Julie & Julia puts you in the mood for other movies featuring food, try gangster thriller Dinner Rush or Gurinder Chadha's What's Cooking? from 2000 or German classic Bella Martha (aka Mostly Martha) from 2001.

But do avoid indigestion with lumpy puddings like Sarah Michelle Gellar's Simply Irresistible (1999) and Penelope Cruz's Woman on Top (2000).

Watching either of these two 'turkeys' struggling pitifully for life could put you off your dinner for a week.

PS. I'm hoping to meet John Lasseter tomorrow. The creator of Toy Story and the soon-to-be-seen 3D movie UP is the nearest thing to a 21st Century Walt Disney. And he always comes over in the most amazing Hawaiian shirts. Watch this space for more.