My coworker can't understand how Woody Allen is successful. My reply was that he always makes back more than he spends and he's constantly working. You know
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (three and a half stars total) was shot luxiously on location in Spain, yet cheaply because it's so windy in the beginning that it looks and feels like a home video. The audiobook-sounding
narration is annoying at first but then welcome comic relief later on when the story gets serious. Woody Allen's comedy is difficult for people because he is so serious. His only movies that I like are the ones he's not in, but even when he's missing, he always gets an actor to play him, like Jason Biggs in
Anything Else (2003) or in this case, Rebecca Hall's Vicky. One good thing about Woody's grave seriousness is his reverent attention to music. Between the jazz in
Zelig (1983) and the opera in
Match Point (2005), I can't say enough about the way Woody uses music. In
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it sounds like the singer or guitarist is sitting right next to you. Music is very important in this movie, but never as the background. It's more like a constant third character as it only plays when there are two main characters interacting. "Granda" by Emilio de Benito brought a big smile to my face everytime it was played, which is saying something, because whereas I love
flamenco, I hate repetition. Javier Bardem's bad, patchy beard may be a step up or down from Miami Vice, depending on how lazy a fashion victim you want to be. A slightly bucktoothed Scarlett Johansson looks a child in this movie. Last note on physical appearances - was it conscious decision of Woody's to make Vicky's husband is shorter than her? I'll wrap it up by saying that the themes are honesty versus commitment and the moral to the story is don't marry someone who hates your friends.
Indie darling
Rachel Getting Married (two stars total) is as
exciting as loading a dishwasher. No more, no less. If you judge a movie by how quiet it starts, then you will know everything there is to know about this movie within the first three minutes of the opening credits. Something you should know about me is that I love music when it's playing in the other room. I like it when it's in the same space as me also, on my headphones or in the car, but I like it even better when it's playing down the hall, out the window, or the way it perpetually plays in this movie, but not as background music (just as in
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, although less intimately and more noisily).
Rachel Getting Married is the classic prodigal son story, albeit with a daughter and not a son and the party thrown is not for the wayward one but for the good girl's wedding. All the
media hype may be about Anne Hathaway's performance, but the movie is still about the Rachel character getting married. You may ask, do families like this really exist? Is there another movie that plays jazz back to back with psychadelic rock, or slick, commercial R&B back to back with cowboy poetry? And what's up with the military guy who videotapes everything? One reason to watch this movie is that Debra Winger as the mom uses the physical violence you might have liked to see in
Terms of Endearment (1983). One reason to avoid this movie is that it's like watching someone else's wedding video. Even if you feel like a member of this family by the end of the movie, it's still not your wedding video, so neither the emotional involvement nor technical perfection is reason enough to watch.
Vicky ends well messily while
Rachel has a
Hollywood ending without being "Hollywood."
My coworker can't understand how Woody Allen is successful. My reply was that he always makes back more than he spends and he's constantly working. You know Vicky Cristina Barcelona (three and a half stars total) was shot luxiously on location in Spain, yet cheaply because it's so windy in the beginning that it looks and feels like a home video. The audiobook-sounding narration is annoying at first but then welcome comic relief later on when the story gets serious. Woody Allen's comedy is difficult for people because he is so serious. His only movies that I like are the ones he's not in, but even when he's missing, he always gets an actor to play him, like Jason Biggs in Anything Else (2003) or in this case, Rebecca Hall's Vicky. One good thing about Woody's grave seriousness is his reverent attention to music. Between the jazz in Zelig (1983) and the opera in Match Point (2005), I can't say enough about the way Woody uses music. In Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it sounds like the singer or guitarist is sitting right next to you. Music is very important in this movie, but never as the background. It's more like a constant third character as it only plays when there are two main characters interacting. "Granda" by Emilio de Benito brought a big smile to my face everytime it was played, which is saying something, because whereas I love flamenco, I hate repetition. Javier Bardem's bad, patchy beard may be a step up or down from Miami Vice, depending on how lazy a fashion victim you want to be. A slightly bucktoothed Scarlett Johansson looks a child in this movie. Last note on physical appearances - was it conscious decision of Woody's to make Vicky's husband is shorter than her? I'll wrap it up by saying that the themes are honesty versus commitment and the moral to the story is don't marry someone who hates your friends.
Indie darling Rachel Getting Married (two stars total) is as exciting as loading a dishwasher. No more, no less. If you judge a movie by how quiet it starts, then you will know everything there is to know about this movie within the first three minutes of the opening credits. Something you should know about me is that I love music when it's playing in the other room. I like it when it's in the same space as me also, on my headphones or in the car, but I like it even better when it's playing down the hall, out the window, or the way it perpetually plays in this movie, but not as background music (just as in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, although less intimately and more noisily). Rachel Getting Married is the classic prodigal son story, albeit with a daughter and not a son and the party thrown is not for the wayward one but for the good girl's wedding. All the media hype may be about Anne Hathaway's performance, but the movie is still about the Rachel character getting married. You may ask, do families like this really exist? Is there another movie that plays jazz back to back with psychadelic rock, or slick, commercial R&B back to back with cowboy poetry? And what's up with the military guy who videotapes everything? One reason to watch this movie is that Debra Winger as the mom uses the physical violence you might have liked to see in Terms of Endearment (1983). One reason to avoid this movie is that it's like watching someone else's wedding video. Even if you feel like a member of this family by the end of the movie, it's still not your wedding video, so neither the emotional involvement nor technical perfection is reason enough to watch. Vicky ends well messily while Rachel has a Hollywood ending without being "Hollywood."
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