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Reviews
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Clever Carpe Diem Comedy
Owen Wilson does his Woody Allen impression in this moderately entertaining romantic comedy that does a great job for Paris tourism.
The high points of this film are the beautiful shooting of Paris, the excellent cameos from many of the literary greats of the 20th century in post war Paris and an apposite sound track.
People will always be dissatisfied somewhat in their daily lives. One of the mistakes people make though is romanticizing what they remember of their past through nostalgia, thus creating an unattainable ideal which makes their present even worse. What allen is saying in this movie is that we have to live with the present and make it our personal golden age. Nothing earth shattering but a nice sentiment none the less.
Rag Tale (2005)
A Raggedly Shot Tale
This movie can only be viewed as some sort of "what not to do when shooting a movie". The constant cutting and shifting leaves one feeling physically ill. I watched this movie with another person and we both experienced the same symptoms. A headache, strained eyes and eventually a strong urge to throw up.
The pity was that this movie was kinda promising. There is probably a big market out there for a satire of this kind demonstrating the type of spin that goes into publishing a red-top. However the director doesn't seem to want to do that and the end product is a 100 minute music video.
The acting was also pretty dire, having wondered "whatever happened to Jennifer Jason Leigh" for the first few minutes of this movie, I soon realised why i hadn't missed her.
The final nail in the coffin though had to be the resolution. Absolutely awful, I have never seen such and obvious attempt at a directorial get out of jail card.
Romance & Cigarettes (2005)
A new spin on the musical
Beautifully directed by Turturro. This movie could so easily have ended up as a camp classic but should attain popularity for lots of reasons. The movie is essentially a black romantic comedy, exploring the hurt caused by men's infidelity, the pain caused by a couples failed expectations of each other and their failure to communicate.
Music is used in the movie to allow individual characters to express their hurt, emotions and inner feelings. The best example of this is perhaps Christopher Walken's hilarious rendition of Delilah.
The performances were excellent despite Winslet's so bad its good Ullmanesque accent. Gandolfini impressed especially for someone so obviously typecast in the mobster role.
This is very much a Tuturro movie in the Coen mould if one can say the Coen's have a mould. Good off kilter comedy which explores issues not normally examined in mainstream comedy.