Movie Review: "Blue Jasmine"

In a movie summer filled with post-apocalyptic tales of planet earth, sieges upon the White House, and comic book super heroes, it has been a pleasure to view in recent days two movies for adults (as opposed the "adult movies", which are completely different things).  Last week it was "Lee Daniels' The Butler", which I noted in the paper this morning led all movies in box office receipts for the second week in a row, and this past weekend was the new Woody Allen movie, "Blue Jasmine".

"Blue Jasmine" revolves around the life of Jasmine, a woman who has recently fallen from the top of the financial and social world because her husband, has been sent to jail for shady financial dealings (think Bernie Madoff).  Stripped of her wealth and social standing, Jasmine moves across the country to San Francisco to live with her sister, Ginger.  Ginger is divorced with two children who lives a day to day, paycheck to paycheck existence, thanks in large part to the shady dealings of Jasmine's husband.  How Jasmine "adapts" to her new life is what the movie is all about.

This is a drama from Woody Allen, not a comedy, although there are some laughs in it.  I predict a surefire Best Actress nomination for Cate Blanchett as Jasmine, and she really is terrific in the role.  Sally Hawkins, who plays Ginger, should also receive consideration for Best Supporting Actress as well. Alec Baldwin plays Jasmine's husband and is quite good.  And remember Andrew Dice Clay, the foul mouthed comedian who had fifteen or twenty minutes of fame in the early nineties?  Well, he is in this movie as well, playing Ginger's ex-husband and is surprisingly - to me, anyway - good in the role.  He is particularly effective in a scene he has with Jasmine towards the end of the movie.  

As is often the case in his more recent movies, Allen does not appear in "Blue Jasmine" nor is there a "Woody Allen character" in this one, but as a screenwriter and a director, the 77 year old Woodman has lost nothing off of his fastball.  I hope that Oscar consideration is given him for this movie, even though everyone knows he will not show up on Awards night.

The Post-Gazette gave this four stars in it's review, and I do not disagree.  Very good movie.

Movie Review: "To Rome With Love"

Marilyn and I wasted no time this weekend taking in the newest movie by Woody Allen, "To Rome With Love".  This one follows Woody's recent trend of filming on location in different European cities (London, Barcelona, and Paris), and, as with those other locations, this movie wants to make you immediately board a plane and visit Rome.  Really, having Woody Allen make a movie in your city has to be the greatest thing that could happen to a Chamber of Commerce.  Rome looks positively beautiful in this movie.


Anyway, this one involves four separate stories taking place concurrently in the Eternal City:

• Woody (actually appearing in one of his movies for the first time in several years) and his wife (Judy Davis, a vet of several Allen movies) traveling to Rome to meet their daughter's fiance and his family.
• An ordinary Italian citizen (Roberto Benigni) suddenly, inexplicably finds that he is a huge celebrity, famous for being famous.
• An older, famous architect (Alec Baldwin) becomes a Greek Chorus of sorts to a young architect (Jesse Eisenberg) who is experiencing some romantic entanglements with his girlfriend and her visiting friend (Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page).
• A young Italian couple in Rome on their honeymoon become separated and become involved with a sexy Italian male movie star and a high priced call girl (Penelope Cruz).  Don't ask how this all comes about.

The four stories are not interrelated, but each tells a separate tale in typical Woody fashion.  Nice to see Allen, now an old man, back on screen playing the "Woody Allen" persona with which fans are familiar.  And we even get a bonus in that area, since Eisenberg also plays the "Woody Allen-part" in this movie.  All the characters are great, but I especially liked the roles played by Allen, Davis, Baldwin, and Cruz, and they are great in them.

In his later years, Allen seems to be taking a more positive tone in the stories he tells, and each of the four stories told here end on an upbeat and positive note.  There a lot of laughs in this one, and we liked it a lot.

One word of warning: about half of this movie is spoken in Italian with English sub-titles, so be prepared for that.