V for Vendetta (James McTeigue, 2005): USA
Reviewed by Anthony Hampton. Viewed on DVD.
Ok…so do me a favour… think of all the action/adventure films you’ve ever watched throughout the course of your entire life. Ok, got it? Now ask yourself how many of those films had not only exciting action, but also an intriguing story. How many of those films did you enjoy because of both aspects? And how many did you enjoy simply because there was a lot of cool action sequences? If you allow me to read your mind for a moment, and I’m quite good at this, I think it’s safe to say that the majority were held up by their eye candy and lacked the ability to capture you very deeply from a story stand point as well. Am I right? If not, feel free to berate me. But I think for most people, I am. Action films are about…action. So naturally, story takes a back seat to it often times. Which brings me to V for Vendetta. Such a lovely cocktail this film is. Yes, it’s an action/adventure film. But it also has an equally intriguing
Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986): USA
Reviewed by Kevin Tran. Viewed on DVD.
As with all of Allen’s best work, the setting of New York City is an important one. Nowhere else in the world can people feel more alone and depressed in huge crowds. It is a place where dreams of being noticed are held in limbo. Where the ruling class is full of (pseudo) intellectuals who read Tolstoy and go to the latest expedition at the Met. Yet there is something about the city, the architecture, the melting pot of culture and people, which brings about an air of romance that is undeniable. Allen relates all of these elements of New York to his characters in Hannah and Her Sisters, which makes them just so incredibly interesting and endearing.
Woody Allen brings to the table his usual charming humor, playing Mickey, a TV producer who is a hypochondriac and fearful of death. His ex-wife is the eldest sister Hannah (Farrow), and now is married to Elliott (Caine), a business manager for rock stars, who’s fooling around with her beautiful sisters Lee, who’s living with Frederik (Max Von Sydow), an older, bitter SoHo
