Saw Serendipity

September 2016. Saw Serendipity (Peter Chelsom, 2001). I had seen it before, obviously, but I knew this second viewing wouldn't bore me at all. Screenplay by Marc Klein. Absolutely delightful romcom. Kate Beckinsale is utterly adorable. John Cusack (15 years ago, he was young) is fine. The rhythm is flawless. Good movie to reflect upon the genre and successful formulae. A really good romcom is totally predictable and yet you thoroughly enjoy every second and the predictability in no way ruins your excitement.

Saw Marguerite

September 2016. Saw Marguerite (Xavier Giannoli, 2015). I gather the movie is based on a true story. I also gather the Meryl Streep movie, Florence Foster Jenkins (Stephen Frears, 2016), that I have yet to see, is based on the same true story. A pathetic 1920s aristocrat thinks she can sing, but really she can't. No-one tells her. Some sad moments, some funny moments, some sad / funny moments, but not an immortal masterpiece. I like Catherine Frot.

Saw Get Hard

September 2016. Saw Get Hard (Etan Cohen, 2015). Silly French title En taule mode d'emploi. Etan Cohen is certainly not to be mistaken for Ethan Coen. He directed Men in Black 3 (2012). Very crass humor, as in most Will Ferrel movies, but some genuinely amusing moments. Through the caricature, the script actually says a few interesting things about race in the US.

Saw The Lucky One

May 2012. Saw The Lucky One (Scott Hicks, 2012).
Adapted from the Nicholas Sparks novel (hey, one has to keep up with pop culture, right?). Charming tearjerker if you're in the mood. Sexy Zac Efron and OK Taylor Schilling. Not indispensable, like any Nicholas Sparks product.

Saw The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

September 2016. Saw The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (Guy Ritchie, 2015). Silly French title Agents très spéciaux: code UNCLE. I guess Ritchie can do Camp. When he's Madonnaless and feeling good. But there is not much Camp here, not the kind that could be found in the series, anyway. Still, it is a decent movie, especially if you remember the atrocious Swept Away and Revolver. And there are two hunks for the price of one: Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer.

Saw Mama / La Madre

July 2015. Saw Mama / La Madre (Andy Muschietti, 2013). Very interesting Canadian / Spanish horror movie. Jessica Chastain is perfect, needless to say (in a brunette wig!). They don't make that many gripping horror movies, but this one actually works--playing with the viewers' expectations and intelligently recycling a couple of clichés of the genre.

Saw Move Over, Darling

July 2015. Saw Move Over, Darling (Michael Gordon, 1963). Of course, any Doris Day movie (between 1951 and 1964) is enjoyable. But this one, however efficient, makes me sad, because it's really Something's Got to Give, that Marilyn Monroe never got to finish. I couldn't help imagining her in every scene...

Saw Unknown

November 2010. Saw Unknown (Simon Brand, 2006). A reasonably entertaining psychological thriller. Five guys waking up in a room, not remembering who they are. Anyway, it's got Jim Caviezel and Greg Kinnear, that's good enough for me.

Saw The Blind Side

May 2010. Saw The Blind Side (John Lee Hancock, 2009). One does try to see every Sandra Bullock movie. It's like buying melons, really. Only one in five will be really enjoyable. Not every Bullock movie gives as much pleasure as The Proposal (Anne Fletcher, 2009). Bullock is very blond in this one. This movie is based on a true story and it's full of thick syrup. Too much football for me. Yawn, really. 

Saw Addams Family Values

May 2010. Saw Addams Family Values (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1993). Again. Not bad. Reasonably funny. Perhaps not as much as the other one, or the series. Always a treat to see Anjelica Huston, obviously.

Saw Café Society

May 2016. Saw Café Society (Woody Allen, 2016). A good Woody Allen, whatever some of the critics are saying. No, it's not two films in one, the LA part and the NY part are perfectly balanced. So nice to find Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg together again. They have such a perfect ALCHEMY, as they had shown in the great movie American Ultra (Nima Nourizadeh). Whoever said Kristen Stewart is untalented simply because she just sulks a lot in the Twilight movies does not know anything. The 1930s costumes and the decor are divine (the art-deco furniture is to die for). 

October 2014. Saw Magic in the Moonlight (Woody Allen, 2014). Pity the lovely Emma Stone changes her hot gorgeous low sexy voice for the part. Otherwise, it's an average Woody Allen (romantic) comedy. Not one of his best, but quite watchable. Lovely costumes. Colin Firth does Colin Firth, it's never boring.

Saw Blue Jasmine

September 2013. Saw Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen, 2013). I absolutely love that film. The IMDb pitch goes "A New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister. She looks a million, but isn't bringing money, peace, or love..." Woody Allen: inspired.

Cate Blanchett is ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS. WHAT AN ACTRESS! WOW! Forget the story, it's worth it just for her performance. Plus she's gorgeous.

Saw Irrational Man

October 2015. Saw Irrational Man (Woody Allen, 2015). I have a serious problem with this film. It's classic Allen fare in many ways. The acting's alright. I might even be prepared to forgive Joaquin Phoenix's protruding stomach. I can even identify with a lot of it, as an academic. But, it only works if you suppose that it's really taking place in an alternative universe. In this universe, after decades of PC witch-hunting on campuses, no relationship of the sort that Abe and Jill have would reach week 2, let alone last long enough to end in a big public scandal. There is more verisimilitude in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). But of course, I'm still a Woody Allen fan.

Saw Moonstruck

February 2013. Saw Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987) for the umpteenth time. Wow. What a movie. What a performance. I am so in love with Cher. Great writing by John Patrick Shanley. Great lines. Everyone should see that movie. Much more than a rom-com. That Oscar was SO deserved. Long live Loretta Castorini.

Saw Gnomeo & Juliet

January 2013. Saw Gnomeo & Juliet (Kelly Asbury, 2011). Computer animated movie that has its moments. Charming bits, not PC, and great voices (Maggie Smith, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, etc.). Loved the pink flamingo. Let your garden come alive!

Saw Julieta

May 2016. Saw Julieta (Pedro Almodóvar, 2016). God knows what's wrong with Pedro. Anybody could have made that film. I'm not saying it's bad. It's just not a Pedro Almodóvar film. I'll continue teaching him, but certainly not Julieta. Is Alice Munro to blame? I don't think so. There was a huge casting mistake in Todo sobre mi madre (1999), but the part was small. There was a huge casting mistake in La piel que habito (2011), that was extremely annoying. In Julieta, the two women playing Julieta are about as similar-looking as, say, Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump (and the towel thing simply does not work--no spoiler). Waiting for the next one. He's still in my top five.

Saw Teresa Venerdì

March 2016. Saw Teresa Venerdì (Vittorio de Sica, 1941). English title Doctor, Beware. With Vittorio de Sica and an unexpected Anna Magnani in a small part. Of course, they both did much better later, but this comedy of errors is really quite charming, amusing in an unassuming way. La Magnani wasn't yet La Magnani...