Another Woman (1988)

Title: Another Woman
Release Date: 18 November 1988
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Gena Rowlands, Blythe Danner, Mia Farrow, Ian Holm, Gene Hackman
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094663/
My Rating: (9/10) ★★★★★★★★★✩

Gena Rowlands stars as Marion, a 50 year old woman facing a midlife crisis. About to start writing a book, she rents a downtown apartment next door to a psychiatrist's office and due to a bit of acoustical magic, she can hear everything that is being said in the doctor's office (side note, is there really even a doctors office or is it all just a working of her subconscious?).

Marion is the kind of woman who's lived her entire life without actually feeling too deeply. She makes sensible, intelligent decisions and considers herself quite accomplished, but when it comes down to it she's chosen this life over any sense of passion. So when she begins eavesdropping on Hope's (Mia Farrow) conversations with her psychiatrist she begins seeking out that passion she traded and re-examining her own life of sensible decision making.

This film is one of Woody Allen's sparse, Bergman-esque films (shot by Bergman's premiere cinematographer). Gena Rowlands is really incredible, and the camera loves holding on her for minutes at a time. Her deeply analytical stature shrouding a woman desperate to burst free is remarkable. There are other outstanding performances as well, particularly by Sandy Dennis and Barbara Buckley as two different women spurned by Marion's actions. Watch this with Interiors for a different side of Woody Allen!

Airplane! (1980)

Title: Airplane!
Release Date: 2 July 1980
Directed by: Jim Abraham, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Robert Stack, Peter Graves
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/
My Rating: (7/10) ★★★★★★★✩✩✩

I'm ashamed to say I'd never seen this movie before. The fact that it had been on my radar all my life is no excuse. I'll admit I dismissed it partially due to not understanding the appeal of Leslie Nielsen and also due to the love my parents and grandparents seemed to have for it. That made it an *old* film in my mind and my appreciation of comedy was far more in tune and sophisticated than theirs. So last night I watched it for the first time. And this morning I watched it for the second time. Genius!

I love so much what ZAZ did here by casting these serious actors of the genre in these satiric roles. That alone elevates the film and gives it this classic quality. I also understand Leslie Nielsen a bit more now than I used to and actually began to appreciate his deadpan delivery. Knowing he was not trying to be a comic actor helped a lot. The cameos were awesome, especially the cameos by Ethel Merman (in her last film) and Barbara Billingsley as a Jive talking middle aged woman.

I must admit though, much of the references do not stand the test of time. Though the gags still have impact, the social commentary they are making feels a little empty. That simply comes from being 32 years old and out of context.

Man cannot survive on Woody Allen alone

I'm branching out!

September (1987)

Title: September
Release Date: 18 December 1987
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Mia Farrow, Elaine Stritch, Dianne Wiest, Sam Waterston
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093940/
My Rating: (8/10) ★★★★★★★★✩✩

"Life is too short to dwell on our tragedies"

September was intended to be like a filmed play, thus there is only one location and a small cast of characters. Perhaps this is also why there is a touch of melodrama running throughout the piece and a very theatrical way about each of the characters. Elaine Stritch as an old Broadway star, of course gets a free pass. But the rest find themselves again and again in situations where whispers or screams are more appropriate than natural conversation. To the credit of the film though, the quietest scenes are the most engaging and Mia Farrow strikes a chord as a lonely woman recovering from a suicide attempt.

The most interesting thing about this film to me is that it was actually filmed twice. Woody Allen, so dissatisfied with the first attempt, recast a few roles and tried it again. Perhaps in this way it is most like a stage production.

Chronicle (2012)

Title: Chronicle
Release Date: 3 February 2012
Directed by: Josh Trank
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706593/
My Rating: (7/10) ★★★★★★★✩✩✩

Josh Trank creatively and comically weaves together a found footage tale of teenage angst that, under less visionary leadership, could have been a confusing mess. But here, with complete commitment to the aesthetic and adequate time spent developing major far-fetched plot devices, Chronicle does what most found footage films can only hope to do: make you believe both the impossible scenarios and the implausible camera set ups. Couple this with Dane DeHaan's spot-on performance (making you feel for the character even though most of the time he is relegated to off camera VO's or extreme closeups), and you got a winning combo.

Haywire (2012)

Title: Haywire
Release Date: 20 January 2012
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Antonia Banderas, Michael Fassbender
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1506999/
My Rating: (5/10) ★★★★★✩✩✩✩✩

Maybe I wanted to hate it the moment I found out they digitally altered Gina Carano's voice to be lower because they wanted the actress to have more depth. Or maybe I wanted to hate it because it was the biggest waste of an all-star male cast since The Departed (if Michael Douglas had more than two lines I didn't hear them). But if you can overlook the fact that the lead character sounds like she's speaking in a vacuum the whole time (which does NOTHING for immersion), or the fact that Ewan McGregor bears a striking resemblance to Kiefer Sutherland, then you'll be pretty entertained with a few of the ass-kicking sequences...even though the film was a poor man's SALT in terms of production value. I do regard it as also a rich man's SALT in the fact that I didn't have to sit through two hours of Angelina Jolie. And you know this script went to her first. Maybe then I would have paid more attention to Michael Douglas.

Man On A Ledge (2012)

Title: Man on a Ledge
Release Date: 27 January 2012
Directed by: Asger Leth
Starring: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568338/
My Rating: (6/10) ★★★★★★✩✩✩✩

My legs felt stiff every time the camera exploited the fact that Sam Worthington was on a ledge. Which, as it is the central device of the film, was quite often. But we're not here to discuss my fear of heights or my fear of ever seeing Elizabeth Banks in a lead role ever again (love you on 30 Rock girl). Since it is, on the surface, a movie about a man trying to prove his innocence I find it to be a gaping, overlooked plot hole that he had to go about proving that innocence in many illegal ways. But whatever, it's a jewelry heist film. But it's also a quirky buddy comedy in which the Latin girlfriend is actually referred to as a Chihuahua at one point and says spanish curse words a lot (because, hey that's what Latinas do when they're emotional). But don't you dare take her hot pink bra and panties away from her in the middle of a jewel bust or shit is gonna go down.

Jamie Bell is cute though.