I'm kicking off June with a couple of Woody Allen movies, because what screams summer more than a low-budget, highly revered art director's classic and his work nearly three decades later? Coming up on the site, look for reviews for the typical mixed bag such as Shaun of the Dead, Torremolinos 73, Madagascar and Intolerance.



Melinda and Melinda
Review by Jon Waterman

***

A few friends get together at a restaurant and discuss the nature of life and how it translates into art. Since a couple of them are writers, one tragic, the other comedic, they verbally spar. To sort of help settle the question of the night of which genre more accurately portrays reality, one of their dinner companions offers up a story. He tells them of Melinda, a struggling young woman, and her plights and misadventures when dealing with people she doesn’t know so well. Each storyteller takes turns interpreting and riffing off the tale, twisting it to better suit their means.

Writer/director Woody Allen’s latest effort finds himself skating on already very thin ice. After such recent critical and box office flops as “Curse of the Jade Scorpion,” “Hollywood Ending” and “Anything Else” amongst others, Allen’s stock has fallen considerably. Add to that a film that has him taking on dramatic material mixed in with comedy and that just seems to be a sure-fire recipe for disaster. But you know what? Maybe you shouldn’t underestimate Mr. Allen so much.

Walking the tight rope line between tragedy and comedy has to be one of, if not THE most ambitious moves one can attempt, as well as one of the most fatal. The most prominent example I can think of for a movie like this falling off and missing the net is “Patch Adams.” The duality just didn’t work. However in “Melinda”², the dichotomy somehow does.
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+++++++


Annie Hall
Review by Jon Waterman

****

This is a simple story of love. Alvy Singer meets and falls for Annie Hall. The two get together and progress through a normal relationship. However, something goes astray when they begin sharing the same apartment. They both start to realize that their future doesn’t seem quite so bright anymore. Alvy searches for meaning and answers everywhere he can possibly find them. And oh yeah…it’s a comedy.

Director/co-writer Woody Allen (along with “Sleeper” collaborator Marshall Brickman) creates a very unusual yet satisfying film in the form of a romantic comedy tinted with despair. The approach draws most of its most comedic moments from its post-modern approach.
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