Day 190: Vicky Christina Barcelona

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Bill

Okay. Given the hype surrounding Vicky Christina Barcelona at the time it was being shot (it was reportedly a trouser-tenting romp with steamy scenes between Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz), I remember feeling quite underwhelmed when I saw it in the theater.

I don’t feel any more “whelmed” seeing it again now.

Vicky Christina Barcelona is – as you might expect – set in Spain. And it begins when scruffy faced and sexy Javier Bardem approaches American friends Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Christina (Johansson) in a bar and asks them to fly off with him for sex.

Christina wants to immediately. Vicky swears she will not.

But both do.

After awhile, they eventually part ways, with Christina staying with Bardem.

Enter fiery temptress Penelope Cruz, who complicates things greatly.

Vicky marries a straight-laced guy and begins to lead a normal life, which is what she thought she wanted.

But she secretly pines for Bardem.

This is a movie – with its story told via voice-over narration – is about relationships, love, infidelity, sex, and…hmmm.

In other words, it’s another Woody movie.

Who sleeps with whom? Who stays with whom? Who’s happy? Who’s not?

Watch and see.

Day 179: Deconstructing Harry

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Bill

As if the cast of Everyone Says I Love You wasn’t big enough, Deconstructing Harry raises the bar even higher – at least in body count.

The cast for Deconstructing Harry reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood:

Caroline Aaron
Kirstie Alley
Bob Balaban
Billy Crystal
Judy Davis
Richard Benjamin
Eric Bogosian
Amy Irving
Julie Kavner
Eric Lloyd
Hazelle Goodman
Mariel Hemingway
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Tobey Maguire
Demi Moore
Elisabeth Shue
Stanley Tucci
Robin Wiliams

Unless all those people opted to work for peanuts, the cost for the cast, alone, must have been the entire budget of the movie.

Deconstructing Harry is about an oversexed novelist (Woody Allen) who writes – when he doesn’t have writer’s block – without conscience or guilty about the people in his life, spinning thinly veiled yarns that ruin lives.

“I still love whores,” Harry tells his shrink as they “deconstruct” his life, which is told in flashbacks and covers various relationships and/or sexual conquests he’s had over the years.

Deconstructing Harry is another caustic, foul-mouthed Continue reading →

Day 176: Don’t Drink the Water

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Bill

Woody Allen adapted this 1994 movies from his 1966 play of the same name.

Don’t Drink the Water, the 25th film Woody Allen directed, opens to voice-over narration, delivered in that sonorous, well-modulated radio-announcer (or TV news anchor – a la Ted Baxter, “The anchor man”) style, and period visuals of the Cold War, circa early 1960s.

But the narrative is convoluted, hard to follow, runs on too long, and uses too many words.

Sort of like the movie itself.

By the time Michael J. Fox appears – and he seems woefully miscast – I’m not only not hooked, I’m turned off.

Plus, Woody used hand-held cinematography again. Yuck. It totally interrupts the flow of the movie, although it appears he was going for a documentary style. So perhaps he Continue reading →

Day 175: Bullets Over Broadway

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Bill

Bullets Over Broadway is the 24th film Woody Allen directed.

This time around, he co-wrote his movie with Douglas McGrath.

Released in 1994, this “crime-comedy” – according to its entry on IMDB – is about:

In 1920s New York, a struggling playwright is forced to cast a mobster’s talentless girlfriend in his latest drama in order to get it produced.

It’s a heck of a cast:

John Cusack … David Shayne
Dianne Wiest … Helen Sinclair
Jennifer Tilly … Olive Neal
Chazz Palminteri … Cheech
Mary-Louise Parker … Ellen
Jack Warden … Julian Marx
Joe Viterelli … Nick Valenti
Rob Reiner … Sheldon Flender

And there are some great performances.

However, this movie is loud, talky, and frenetic, even by Woody Allen standards. Shouting appears to be the preferred method of delivering lines. And, when that fails, bullets from a Tommy gun help punctuate a scene.

The end result is loudness. Times 10.

For example, Continue reading →

Day 165: Hannah and Her Sisters

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Bill

Hannah and Her Sisters, the 14th film Woody Allen directed, was awarded the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

I can see why. It is a very consistent, compelling movie.

From its entry on Wikipedia:

Hannah and Her Sisters is a 1986 American comedy-drama film which tells the intertwined stories of an extended family over two years that begins and ends with a family Thanksgiving dinner. The film was written and directed by Woody Allen, who stars along with Mia Farrow as Hannah, Michael Caine as her husband, and Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest as her sisters.

The story is told in three main arcs, with almost all of it occurring during a 24-month period beginning and ending at Thanksgiving parties hosted by Hannah (Mia Farrow) and her husband, Elliot (Michael Caine). Hannah serves as the stalwart hub of the narrative; her own story as a successful actress (a recent success as Nora in A Doll’s House) is somewhat secondary, but most of the events of the film connect to her.

Part of the film’s structure and background is borrowed from Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander. In both films, a large theatrical family gather for three successive year’s celebrations (Thanksgiving in Allen’s film, Christmas in Bergman’s). The first of each gathering is in a time of contentment, the second in a time of trouble, and the third showing what happens after the resolution of the troubles. The sudden appearance of Mickey’s reflection behind Holly’s in the closing scene also parallels the apparition behind Alexander of the Bishop’s ghost.

An interesting exchange occurs in a segment titled “The Hypochondriac.”

The scene is with Mickey (Woody Allen), a TV writer and Ed Smythe (J.T. Walsh), a Standards & Practices representative. Gail (Julie Kavner) stands nearby, offering support for Mickey.

Mickey: Why all of a sudden is the sketch dirty?

Smythe: Child Molestation is a touchy subject with the affiliates.

Mickey: Read the papers. Half the country’s doing it.

Smythe: Yes, but you name names.

Mickey: We do not name names. We say the Pope.

Smythe: That sketch cannot go on the air.

This subject – child molestation/pedophilia – is one that recurs in Continue reading →

Day 156: Love and Death

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Bill

Love and Death (1975) is Woody Allen’s sixth outing as director.

This movie breaks from tradition in that it doesn’t open with Dixieland jazz playing over black-and-white credits. This time around it’s Mussorgsky’s The Great Gate at Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition over black-and-white credits.

But not breaking from tradition are two of Woody’s favorite cinematic themes: love and death.

My favorite parts of the movie are:

Woody’s voiceover narration, which is witty and clever. As usual.
Woody as a child: “I recall my first mystical vision. I was walking through the woods thinking about Christ. If he was a carpenter I wondered what he’d charge for book shelves.” (Suddenly, the young lad encounters Death.)
The philosophical debates conducted in earnest seriousness despite the incongruity of the setting.
The opera scene with Woody flirting with Countess Alexandrovna, played by Olga Georges-Picot, a French actress who committed suicide on 19 June 1997. She was 57.

Death is a recurring topic in Woody Allen movies. So is a protagonist with Continue reading →

Day 152: Take the Money and Run

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Bill

Take the Money and Run is a hilarious film.

Woody’s second movie as director (and writer), tells the story – in the now-popular “mockumentary” format – of a bumbling small-time crook named Virgil Starkwell.

The opening dialogue sets up the premise:

“On December 1, 1935, Mrs. William Starkwell, the wife of a New Jersey handyman, gives birth to her first and only child. It is a boy. And they name it Virgil. He is an exceptionally cute baby with a sweet disposition. Before he is 25 years old, he will be wanted by police in six states…”

It’s important to note that December 1, 1935, is Woody Allen’s birthday…and that the protagonist in the movie is a skinny, red-headed lad who wears glasses with thick black frames.

Essentially, this 1969 movie is about Woody playing what would become the public image of Woody – a lovable nebbish trying to get ahead in a world where the cards are perpetually stacked against him, a theme that will repeat itself in many subsequent Woody Allen pictures.

The jokes – especially the sight gags – come fast Continue reading →

1095 Days With the Masters and Me

In Which I Spend Three Years Exploring the Works of the World's Greatest Composers, Authors, Filmmakers, Musicians, and Actors. I'm Not Crazy. Just Insatiably Curious. (Oh, like you're not?)

Category Archives: Voice-Over Narration