BY MIKEY MIGO
I love me some Woody Allen. The man is a genius and has written and directed some of the best movies of all time. His eye for detail in the area of human nature and obscurity is amazing. If you watch the black and white beauty that is “Manhattan” and don’t find yourself in awe for at least part of it then you’re not really watching. “Annie Hall” is probably the best romantic comedy of all time. “Crimes and Misdemeanors” is probably in my personal top 10 movies of all time. The dude just knows his stuff and I love his sensibility and style. He is a huge inspiration in work rate, quality, and passion. If more filmmakers had a tenth of his drive then there would be a lot more great movies out there. So yeah… I’m a fan. I’m a fanatic, in fact. This means when I have the chance to watch a new Woody Allen movie I not only take it but I embrace it with my arms as wide open as humanly possible. This time we get “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”. It’s a comedic drama and right in the same ballpark as his best works. We have an older couple who get divorced. He, Anthony Hopkins, hooks up with a gold digging hooker, Lucy Punch, and the wife, Gemma Jones, lives her life based on what her fortune teller advises. The hooker cheats on the man and gets pregnant. The fortune teller gets her into more and more shit. Meanwhile their daughter, Naomi Watts is having trouble at home with her struggling writer husband, Josh Brolin. Watts ends up having an affair with her art gallery boss, Antonio Banderas and Brolin forms a relationship with a neighbor, Freida Pinto. All of this… and then hilarity and drama ensues. If you have seen a Woody Allen movie before then you know how this goes. His movies are often a interchanged web of relationships, exploration, and soul defining banter. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. With this movie, it works tenfold. I’ll admit to not really being a fan of anyone in the movie. I can appreciate their individualized works but no one in this movie would make me want to pay to see a movie. I’m here for Woody Allen. This changed my opinion on some cases. Freida Pinto had an allure to her that’s beyond describable. Josh Brolin, someone I am normally bored by, was entertaining and had a good character here. Naomi Watts is always beautiful but this is possibly her best performance. Hopkins was good, Banderas was fun, and the fortune teller (Pauline Collins) did their roles well. The MVP of the movie easily goes to Gemma Jones. Her performance is great stuff. I read there are talks about her and the Oscars. This would be something I could get behind. She brought so much grace and interest to the role. The writing, acting, and technical side of things are never really in question when it comes to Woody. To me, it’s easy to rank a movie of his based on how much heart it shows and pulls up from you. It’s not his very best, but it’s very good and worth anyone’s time. A-
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