Friday, February 19, 2010

Manhattan: A Quick Review


Once there was a middle aged named Woody Allen. In 1979 he made a great movie called "Manhattan." He wrote, directed, and starred in the aforementioned movie. He filmed the movie in black and white and on location in New York City. This director also surrounded himself with a exceptional cast including Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. The plot surrounds Woody Allen as Isaac Davis. He's in his 40s and his girlfriend is not quite a legal adult. Yes, that is disgusting and repulsive and yet pretty typical of a Woody Allen movie...just bear with me though. It really is a great movie. He finds out he's not in love with the young girl...I'm sure multiple people in New York could have told him that was an awful idea. But I guess when your ex-wife played by Meryl Streep becomes a lesbian things get a bit crazy. Well anyways Isaac then starts falling for his best friend's mistress (Diane Keaton). The dialogue is great and the characters are dynamic and real. They are severely screwed up and have multitudes of problems that they need to work out. People aren't perfect...so why should movie characters be? The film is a great romantic comedy...or relational comedy...the whole romance thing gets kind of sketchy. The dialogue is smart and funny...something sadly missing from many, many romantic comedies out there. The cinematography and scenery is beautiful! The only thing better than New York City, is New York City in black and white. Woody Allen and the person actually handling the camera got some great shots that add so much to the overal plot and theme of the movie. And a little...actually a lot of George Gershwin music doesn't hurt. I'm not sure, I might like this better than "Annie Hall." Watch this and then watch "Whatever Works"...the second movie will completely depress you...Woody Allen is a much better director than that movie showed. See "Manhattan" though...and if you don't like it...don't even bother to explain it to me.

-Joseph Sbrilli

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