Movie Review: Woody Allen's Irrational Man Philosophizes on Vigilante Killing

Woody Allen's Cafe Society opened the Cannes Film Festival yesterday, the same time that I watched his offering for last year, Irrational Man.

Interestingly, our new elected President would find a similar characteristic to the main character in this movie, played by Joaquin Phoenix, a severely depressed hotshot college philosophy professor.

Both of them have no qualms about killing somebody who is a blight on the society. This is basically the central question being posed by this movie - is it ok to get rid of a person who is making life miserable for people around him?

You'll find out what Woody thinks about this in the last scene of the movie but it's a theme he has already explored in his other better movies, Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point.

Everyone is in top form in this movie. I especially love how glowing Emma Stone is in her scenes. I enjoyed watching her move from being the flirtatious college student to becoming the moral conscience of the story.

Movie Review: The Ravishing Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

Although Cate Blanchett's character in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine is heading towards a downward spiral, I couldn't help but gush at how regal and tall and beautiful Cate was in the movie (even though she had a lot of breakdown scenes!) and how sleek and sophisticated her character's fashion sense was.  If I were a woman, that is exactly how I would dress up - understated but very elegant and sophisticated- but of course, I would have to have Cate's really slim and tall physique to pull it off!

What I like about this Allen creation is that unlike most movie heroines, she is as flawed like the rest of us and even though she tries her best to regain her footing after her free fall from the top, it is precisely those faults that hinder her from coming dangerously close to a full blown nervous breakdown.

While I was watching the movie, I told myself that this could have been easily a Forbes Park wife of a corrupt government official, who finds herself losing everything after her husband gets caught!  It actually reminded me of Napoles sans the glamour and beauty of Blanchett's A-star wattage - but the gist of the story remains.  These are bad people who did bad things to ordinary people - people who just looked away when the stealing was happening!

This is also the most Filipino-like movie made by Woody Allen!  The concept of family and the constant battle between the have and have-nots made me really wonder why a movie like this has not yet been made for local consumption! Iza Calzado or Angel Aquino could easily essay the role since it really has to be a classy lady on a free fall.  I was actually thinking of Hilda Koronel in her younger days.  She would've been perfect for this role.  Less histrionics, that steely resolve not to show one's wounds even though one is hurting so much.

I also loved the fact that Sally Hawkins, Louis C.K and Andrew Dice Clay were given meaty roles in this movie, even though their roles were smaller.  Andrew Dice Clay can act!  Unbelievable!! Even Louis C.K. had to play a cad here and I think he did a good job in it!!

In Stitches Over Woody Allen's 'Love and Death'

Dianne Keaton is one of my favorite actresses and in her interview with local journalist Ruben Nepales, she mentions this movie, Love and Death, which she did in 1975.  I decided to check the trailer of the movie on Youtube and I was really in stitches!  It's probably one of the funniest movies Woody has ever done!  It has physical comedy and the dialogue is just hilarious!  This movie was done before the Oscar-winning Annie Hall.

Wishing that Woody Allen's To Rome With Love Gets Shown in Manila

It's really a pity that local movie distributors think that we Filipinos are too dumb to watch a Woody Allen movie.  I was very happy when they showed Vicky Cristina Barcelona here but I was befuddled when they did not show his Oscar-winning Midnight in Paris!  To think it was his biggest box-office hit and probably his most accessible film.  

So with fingers crossed, I hope they show his latest movie, To Rome with Love here.  It's always better to watch a movie on the big screen rather than at home.  You just lose the sense of community when you watch it alone.

Rome is again beautifully photographed here and there's another intriguing story to watch here.

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True Blood Is Still My Favorite TV Show of the Week

 

HBO dominates my programming choice for this week! Spots 1 and 2 go to the two last episodes of True Blood for this season, which I both saw this week.

Here are my favorite TV shows for the week ending September 28, 2012 -

#1 HBO -True Blood - Bill becomes 'Lilith'

#2 HBO - True Blood - Edgington bites a fairy

#3 HBO - How To Make It In America - the story becomes interesting as their model friend sleeps with Bryan Greenberg's ex-gf

#4 HBO- Radio Days- Woody Allen's bittersweet homage to radio 

#5 HBO -Bored to Death - father likes son-in-law

#6 CNN - Open Court - feature on Steffi Graf and the other German players

#7 Nat Geo - Locked Up Abroad - escape from Mexican prison as a woman - Escaped?  I Do! 

# 8 Nat Geo - Air Crash Investigation - SAS collides with a CESNA in a foggy Milan runway

#9 -BBC World - One Square Mile: Tres Fronteras - the Amazon triangle of three countries, Peru, Colombia and Brazil

#10 - Jack - Big Bang Theory - bachelors party

The Movie I'm Really Looking Forward to See: Midnight In Paris

Well, I am a big Woody Allen fan so the bias is there. And he keeps making these sumptuous movies set nowadays in Europe that it's impossible for me to get disinterested in them. The trailer looks beautiful and Owen Wilson plays Woody Allen perfectly! Well, I hope I won't get disappointed. I don't think he ever disappointed me though.