Ode to Woody Allen

No movie Tuesday today.  Bummer.

Since I didn't go to the movies today, I found something else to keep me busy, aside from watching reruns of The Office and futzing around with this blog, I started wondering how many Woody Allen movies I've seen.  I counted them up and based on my Netflix history my total is 15.  He's been making movies since 1965.  I've been watching movies since, I don't know, the 80's.  I've got a lot of catching up to do.  That is a friggin lot of movies, especially because most of the story lines are the sameish -- working through the same struggles with the same actors.  I fell asleep through at least one.  I have NO IDEA what Bananas was about.  NO IDEA.  It was one of those times when I thought I was watching, woke up, and was totally confused.  And I have a feeling that may have been one of the only films that did not adhere to the dissatisfaction in romantic relationships, disenchantment with love, cheating, sexual blunders, and bizarre resolutions.  Although, I guess I'll never know.

I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona the other day.  I think we can all agree that Penelope Cruz was brilliant as a totally unstable hot mess.  The basic storyline follows two friends who travel to Spain for the summer and their sexual and emotional adventures.  Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlet Johansson) meet Juan (Javier Bardem); both have sexual encounters with him; one turns someone's life upsidedown and one turns her life a bit more bisexual and passionate.  Add crazy María Elena (Penélope Cruz) to the mix and Woody Allen magic happens.  And in the end, they all go home.  I'm not sure how into Scarlet Johansson I am; her range of emotion and delivery is stunted somehow.  She's the new Diane Keaton.  The new Mia Farrow.

On the list of my favorite Allen movies, Match Point is at the top.  Devastating.  After the first time, of course my emotional reaction was not as viceral, however super fantastic wonderful in a super serious dramatic kind of way.

Don't Drink The Water is a must see.  It is totally a play and I would not have wanted it any other way.

Melina and Melinda.  Great.  I was skeptical, too, but by golly, great.  Will Ferrel as Woody Allen or vice versa.  Love the double storyline.

Crimes and Misdemeanors.  Again, devastating, complicated, messy, emotional.

Play It Again, Sam and Annie Hall working through similar psychosexualsocialemotional muck in a cult-classic-real-neurotic kind of way.

Sleeper.  It's just weird enough.  Robots and future drugs and world domination. 

Also, please absorb the music.  Even if the films are repetitious, the music is always perfect. 

Extract, (500) Days of Summer, Fargo, Daybreakers

Over the past 3 days I watched 4 movies.

Extract: Rented it with some friends, was fun for that purpose, although unmemorable but for one scene that was just enough ridiculous to make it into my shorter term memory, but I bet it'll be forgotten within the week. Not a bad movie, just not a good one either.

(500) Days of Summer: Again. Still think it's great.

Fargo: How come I've never seen this movie?? Coen bros, great job. But they already knew that, yah.

Daybreakers: I was on the fence about it, but I think vampires are pretty cool, so I went for it. Not very good. It was ok, not very memorable. The idea was interesting, but not that interesting. Not really a fan of Ethan Hawke. For all intents and purposes, Ethan is a wimp. Willem Dafoe saved the movie for me (and saved Ethan's butt), but still I'd never watch it again.

Nine

Nine. What can I say, I really liked Chicago.

Nine lacks something, just the littlest something and whatever it was, it does not hit the mark. Things I like: Fergie as a whore and her song and dance number. She does all of those things well. Marion Cotillard is a star. Without her, I wouldn't have bothered trying to stay awake. I found myself thinking, I really ought to see La Vie en Rose. Daniel Day-Lewis is not as awesome as we all know he can be. His character is just similar enough to Tomas in The Unbearable Lightness of Being that I was waiting for someone to point out that his hair smelled of another woman. I felt like we were always approaching a crescendo and then ... nothing. It wasn't a bad movie, it just wasn't all that engaging.

(500) Days of Summer, The Blind Side

First movie I watched in the New Year: (500) Days of Summer. A gem of a movie. I just adore Zooey. Maybe at some point I will write all about my thoughts about the movies she's in and characters she plays.

The Blind Side is a good, good movie. And thank goodness because Sandra Bullock needed a good movie -- I'm sure she's a sweetheart, but stop please stop picking awful roles to play in awful movies. The story is well depicted and uplifting; based on a true story, no less. I may get a little social worky here, but portrayal of race relations, poverty, child welfare, drug use, youth, and family were pretty on target.

Julie and Julia, Sherlock Holmes, Up In The Air, Avatar

FIRST OF ALL, the first movie that I will blurb about is Julie and Julia, which I watched X-Mas night with my family. J&J was a fantastic film, not only for Meryl Streep's undeniable impersonation of Julia Chld, but for the cinematography. I could have just paused the movie during some scenes and just admired the details and composition the sets; the stills could have been put up in a photo gallery.

This afternoon I saw Sherlock Holmes. Not only am I a sucker for elaborately choreographed fight scenes and Robert Downey Jr in all his smug glory, but for movies that I can pretend that I know all about because I pretended to read the book. Fun, well done, good story. I wasn't totally in love with Rachel McAdams, but she wasn't the worst choice either. All in all, loved it.

Please note: I'm pretty easy to please. I basically love every movie I see. Except the Incredible Hulk with Ed Norton. That was awful.
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After a ton of drama to get to the darn movies (who would have thought that the MALL of all places would be so crazy crowded Christmas weekend??) and after a theater change, my friends and I made it to Up In The Air. A poignant film full of vulnerable and bittersweet moments balanced with comedic levity, it was just simply a great movie. As I watched the plot unfold, I drew so many parallels between George Clooney's character and his self imposed isolation and the reasons why I love going to the movies. I cannot completely express how special and, just magical, it is to sit in a theater full of people who -- for all intensive purposes may have nothing in common other than their want to see the movie -- are ready to experience a collective cathartic experience together; it is both isolating and inclusive all at once.

There is an interview with the director on NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120951819.

Overall, all things considered -- the other reviews that I read and listened to, the other George Clooney movies I saw this fall (ALL CUSSIN EXCELLENT, go see them NOW), and the quiet feeling I had at the end of the movie, equal just simply awesome. Go see it. And then go see The Men Who Stare At Goats and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Your life will be a little better because of it.

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Avatar 3D.
I feel the way about Avatar as I do about the Lord of the Rings movies and the "prequel" Star Wars movies: enjoyed it, it was visually interesting, it was long and I will probably never watch it again. That isn't to make light of those movies -- they were really something, but for me, only something special once. The 3D added visual depth, which is the point of adding that third dimension; however, I just have a hard time really believing the hype that this movie will be the movie to change all movies. I hope it does not, and really don't think it will.

You've Seen One, You've Seen Them All

Why bother to shoot this film? Why not release the old one under a new title? You've seen one, you've seen them all.
-- Cosmo Brown "Singing in the Rain"

As I'm sitting here watching the tail end of Music and Lyrics on TBS I'm faced with my very, ahem, eclectic taste in movies. And the sheer amount of them that I watch. I go to the movies every week (nearly). I watch movies at home on DVD (or sometimes even VHS!) and of course on TV (because those are the ones that I just need to drop everything and watch even if I own them and even if I've seen them a million times before). I didn't have television service for 1 year, so I watched movie after movie. I now have basic cable service only, which leaves plenty of time (and money) that isn't wasted on reality TV. So I go to the movies.

I know this is corny, but I was recently totally inspired by Julie and Julia; the Julie character started a blog ... so I started making fb notes of the movies that I see, which now has expanded to a blog! Like a super duper abridged review of the movies. Maybe an unreasonable feat, but nonetheless I like a challenge. I will try to divide them up by month so as not to overwhelm the staggering number of readers that will of course be dazzled with this innovative idea of movie reviewing.